RRC Running Rough

If anyone is still following this thread, I have done the hotwire conversion. Seems to be heavy on fuel with not much power increase. It cuts out every time I come to a stop, I suspect that will be the VSS not sending a signal to the ECU as I don't have the VSS on there. I'm going to fit that and see if it fixes the problem.

I'm doing a fair bit of work to it now to get it ready for a comp at the end of June. Swapped over a few panels, still need to change the roof. Fitting flares, rebuilding the front diff and fitting a locker. I'm also swapping housings as I need to change the angles to give me a bit less caster, it will be easier to do that than to cut and reweld the brackets on the existing diff. Getting all the plates water jet cut. Swapping the transfer case over to a D1 LT230, I have an early 80's LT230 in there at the moment.

The flares are the ones from Paddock Spares.

A few progress shots.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/418.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/419.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/420.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/421.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/422.jpg

Just adjust up the base idle screw in the top of the manifold (3/16 allen screw) and your stalling will disappear. I really really hate the way the vss keeps the engine revs up until you stop. It means you need the brakes a lot, very annoying.

Thanks mate, I'll give that a go.

Update time again. Finally it's back together after fixing everything that mud and water wore out or seized up.
Swivel hub and spindle on.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/320.jpg
New brake rotors and pads. The old ones were a bit on the thin side.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/321.jpg
All back together. A few interior bits to fix and then paint it, all go for the comp this weekend.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/06/322.jpg
Had a go at the roof lining, but the material I had wasn't compatible with contact adhesive so I found out after applying it, soaked through and basically melted the pattern on the other side. If I use that material, I think I'll go with a studded look instead of glued. Won't have time to do it before the weekend though. Really hoping to do a "test and tune" tomorrow night. Haven't driven it since about August last year.

After a fun filled weekend we drove the car back onto the trailer at the end of it so for us, it was a success. Didn't place, won't know the full result for couple of days as to where we ended up on the score sheet. Here are a few pics from the weekend.
Loaded up and ready to go.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/973.jpg
Saturday morning at 7am after a night of heavy rain. Rained for most of the morning too.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/974.jpg
End of day one, ready for the night stage. 2 hot laps of a short course on infield of the speedway track. There were a few people talking about doing it in rear wheel drive so I thought what the hell and unlocked the front hubs with it in high range. Found out after that everyone had it in 4WD still, very hard to grab traction in rear wheel drive but had fun drifting it around the track. Sideways over the last jump and nearly took out the marshalls.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/975.jpg
Lining up for the last track of the day on Sunday.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/976.jpg

My navi getting wet hooking up the strap.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/977.jpg
Recovery in action.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/978.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/979.jpg
And out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/980.jpg
Lining up before the mud run.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/981.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/982.jpg
A shot of a few cars waiting to start one of the stages. We are just about to head to the start line between those two flags.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/983.jpg

We got the results in the other day, official line up was 38 cars at the end of day 2.
Out of the 14 in Modified, we placed a respectable 6th, only 93 points off the lead. 2 DNF's, out of which we only managed 52 points between them, but we also got 6 perfect 100 point runs. The 2 DNF's was all the difference between a place, maybe even the win and where we finished.
Equal 21st overall, which I'm quite happy with. 150 points off the overall winner.
No major dramas with the car, we did have an issue with the power windows, as we started the mudrun, my navi thought "****, the windows", so he was putting them up as we hit the mud. Water must have sprayed up into the door and shorted the motor as when we finished, the windows wouldn't go down. Quick trip back to the pits soon had it sorted as the fuse had blown. After fixing that, the car wouldn't restart. Worked out that when pulling the fuses to find the blown one, I bumped the fuel pump fuse making it lose contact. Fixed that and we were back out on the tracks.
It was a fun filled weekend with some very nice cars and skilled drivers. Can't wait for next years comp now that I know what to expect.

Some photos from the event photographer.
From the morning line up, nice and clean.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/129.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/984.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/985.jpg
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https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/988.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/07/989.jpg

Rather than start a new thread I thought I would keep updating this one. I still have the running rich issue, it has never been good on fuel since the hotwire conversion. I had a couple of problems with it last week, it started blowing black smoke and missing quite badly around 2000rpm and above, and used way more fuel than it did before. Replaced the leads and cleaned the plugs and it ran better. I tried setting the idle speed using a guide from BritishV8, but the revs wouldn't change.

The procedure was
Turn ignition on, unplug stepper motor, turn ignition off. Start car and adjust the idle screw until it reached ~650rpm. Plug stepper motor back in, switch car off, wait 10 seconds, restart car and blip the throttle and revs should stabilize back to ~650. Mine would not idle below 1800rpm with the stepper unplugged. I have gotten the idle about where I want it though.

I have since found a different method that you remove the bypass hose, blank the ends and adjust the idle screw. Haven't tried that yet.

I have 2 ECU's one from the car that I took the hotwire parts from, a '94 RRC, and a '96 Disco ECU. They have different part numbers, but I "think" the car runs better with the Disco ECU in there. Bit harder to start, but it seems to be more responsive. I haven't driven it with the Disco ECU though, only started and revved it.

I have tested the coolant temp sensor, it reads correctly from cold to hot. The TPS is reading correctly. I have cleaned the IACV and stepper motor. I have cleaned the MAF. The timing is at 10 deg BTDC, the specs for this engine says 2 deg, it runs like it's pulling a caravan at that, it runs a whole lot better at 10 and I'm running 95 RON. The air gap is correct. The vacuum advance is working, the mechanical advance is working. The dizzy cap and rotor button are new as are the leads.

Just wondering if anyone can suggest anything as to the rich running and lack of power that it apparently has.

G`day ,

have a look at the pressure regulator vacuum hose and if the diaphragm is holed smell/look for fuel but as it`s above 2000rpm probably not .

Put an ohm meter on the coolant temperature sensor , the one that talks to the ECU not the sender for the gauge and if it is open circuit replace it .

Other wise find/google the test for the coolant temp sensor and the fuel temp sensor .

Check any of the intake pipe work is not being restricted with revs , sucked closed , swallowed a rag .

Something else i can`t think of at present .

If it runs like crap then clears after you turn off the ignition and restart, it's a sign that the MAF is faulting. The ECU goes into limp mode and clears on restart. Could also be a dirty wiring plug if it's intermittent.

Secondly, what is the arrangement of the upstream components in the air intake before the MAF? They are quite sensitive to not having linear air flow into them, and an elbow will direct the air off centre. The flywire mesh disc is supposed to straighten the airflow but can't correct for asymmetric air flow.

PLR

I have put an ohm meter on the sensors and they check out fine. The intake does not suck in and there is nothing restricting it.

BU

It may have something to do with the MAF, when I pulled it off it had some debris in the filter side and what looked like stains from muddy water ingress. I put on the spare I had. It does actually run better when switching off and restarting, then every now and then it will do it right from firing up. I will have to clean the plug properly, it did some weird things after driving through some puddles a while back.

I have the snorkel with the pod filter on top, where it comes through the cowl it does a 90 degree turn through a mandrel bend then has a 300mm piece of spiral wire reinforced rubber hose to the MAF. After the MAF to the throttle body it still retains the factory pipe in a subtle S bend that is about 1/4 of the diameter of the pipe. I wouldn't think it matters, the MAF sensor just reads the difference between the air on the hot wire and the sensor wire, it doesn't matter how the air is flowing past it as long as it's moving.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Not_An_Abba_Fan

I wouldn't think it matters, the MAF sensor just reads the difference between the air on the hot wire and the sensor wire, it doesn't matter how the air is flowing past it as long as it's moving.

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Having fitted a hotwire MAF injection system to a 110 County, I can tell you it matters very much. It took me a few goes to get the MAF to read properly. The trouble is that the sensing element lives in a small channel off to one side. I ended up fitting the MAF to a RRC metal cylinder air cleaner and putting all the ducting elbows downstream.