Stirlsilver's Disco Ute Project

OMG! I feel your pain. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while, but come on, to put the same part back in is just ridiculous! I’ve only entrusted my Disco to one workshop in the 11 years I’ve been in Australia. A simple wheel alignment. The mechanic forgot to tighten the track rod nut and there was no sign of a new split pin. I was wondering why the steering felt floaty on the way home around corners at 100kph on the freeway! You can imagine how white I turned when I discovered the problem. I’m just lucky the nut held onto the last few threads until I stopped.

Well the saga is finally over... The correct flex plate was finally installed and the car got another couple of hours on the dyno.

In the end 18 degrees of advance got taken out of the whole ignition map (the engine was getting real hot when put under constant load!) And we also had to wind up the pressure of the LPG evaporator by 10%. Anyway, we got it to a point where it was good enough to continue being run in with 10psi of boost. I'm sure there are quite a few more ponies left in the engine at 10psi if more time was spent on the ignition map and fuel map. And then even more when we move on to 14psi of boost later.

A youtube video of the runs:
Land Rover Twin Turbo V8 Ute Project - Dyno Tune Continued - YouTube

The power & torque curves are below. The torque values are at the dyno rollers, which is not the same as what is at the flywheel of the engine.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/320.jpg

On the final run, I datalogged that ECU and there are all sorts of interesting bits of information there about the run.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/321.jpg

P.s. the late night post is because I have a 6am flight on Sunday back to the middle east and I'm working myself up to staying up for it...

At last, I reached the 99.99% point!!

Sanding basically done
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/358.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/359.jpg

And after applying some primer filler, I can now really appreciate the shape. I think I'm happy with it! It looks pretty 'factory' to me!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/360.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/361.jpg

Now for the remaining 0.01%, filling the few locations where I have a bit of porosity that came up after doing all the finishing sanding.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/362.jpg

Now time to go and pack and then head off to the airport. I'm looking forward to seeing the bonnet on the car!!

when working with glas you can get a product called qcell, its a powder you mix with resin and works very easy. Used when finishing off boat hulls etc
cheers
blaze
ps
like your work

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bblaze

when working with glas you can get a product called qcell, its a powder you mix with resin and works very easy. Used when finishing off boat hulls etc
cheers
blaze
ps
like your work

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Thanks bblaze, in the end I only had some bog left over so it was really the easiest way for me.

Anyway, after a stint for a week in Oman, I was back for some more light sanding and fixing up here and there. In the end I finally got there. The bonnet was finished.

First up putting some insulation to keep the bottom of the scoop cool so that it doesn't heat the air going into the intercoolers too much.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/684.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/685.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/686.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/687.jpg

And then the grand finale!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/688.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/689.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/690.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/10/691.jpg

Next up, the tray, and on Monday I've got someone coming in to look at the rear and side windows! Getting there!

Oh no - once this long running build is over what are we going to watch!
I am sure you will enjoy driving your unique vehicle every time you take it out making the effort worthwhile.

Right, so these days after work, I am normally in the workshop trying to finish things up. Here is Ana taking a sneaky photo of me!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/203.jpg

A few bits an pieces have happened in the last few weeks. Some good, some not so good.

I FINALLY got around to putting in those crush tubes into the rear winch mount which which Isuzurover suggested I do years ago. So with that done, it could all be painted up.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/204.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/205.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/206.jpg

I got to take the car for a nice long drive (around 60km round trip), the trip was to take the car over to have the tray measured up for the aluminium panels that would be fitted on top. The drive was the first real time I got take the car up to about 90km/hr. And frankly, it hauls! The way it accelerates on boost is a thrill that's for sure! [bigsmile].

On the drive, I datalogged the ECU, and there were a few more things that were interesting to see. For example, when I started the car, the engine oil temperature was 20degC. After 8 minutes of driving it only got to 49 degC, so it does take a very long time to warm everything up with such long oil lines... I need to keep an eye on that because oil pressure suffers on cold thick oil (especially since I'm still running on mineral oil).

A few novelty pictures.
Filling her up. Once again, after putting in 90 or so litres of LPG, the cashier told me to grab two things from the shelf because they were free from me? Not that I was complaining.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/207.jpg

Arrived at the sheet metal fabricator.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/208.jpg

Anyway, now for the bad news, I left the car parked in the sun for the day, and the scoop must have gotten too hot. Because it deformed on some of the edges. The places were deformation happened is where the fibreglass was thinnest, when sanding it was hard not to take off too much from these areas. So... Before painiting, the bonnet has to come off and bogging + fibreglass + sanding all over again...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/209.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/210.jpg

Having said that, the scoop and intercooler seem to be working well. On the long drive, intake air temperatures never went above 40degC despite the turbo outlet temperatures reaching up to 80degC! Also, when you compare the intake temperatures when the engine is idling with the bonnet open or closed, there is about a 5degC temperature difference!

Lastly, TRS sent me a set of knock sensor studs, so I was finally able to install the knock sensors, now I need to wire them into the cabin to a connector so I can hook them onto a laptop and record the signal and also listen for any detonation with a pair of headphones.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/211.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/212.jpg

That's it! more to come later [bigsmile1]

Thanks for the update. How are the radiator fans going? On and off as you'd expect, or running quite a bit? I ask because you've got that, (now sadly deformed!), bonnet scoop which I thought might pressurise the engine bay a bit. I think you'll need a decent 40-minute or so run on a highway to start checking that.

I'm still fumbling along with that testing I mentioned here months ago. I sealed up the bonnet gap and put a deflector under the bullbar, and took the two bonnet scoops I had facing forward and reinstalled them facing in reverse instead. Testing off the car with liquid smoke heated up with a soldering iron showed that airflow over these things would suck air out of the engine bay. Of course the opposite happened once they were on the car! So I must have a hell of a low pressure area in the engine bay. I'm still trying to work out how to measure that and get some idea of what the radiator airflow is. It never ends!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Davo

Thanks for the update. How are the radiator fans going? On and off as you'd expect, or running quite a bit? I ask because you've got that, (now sadly deformed!), bonnet scoop which I thought might pressurise the engine bay a bit. I think you'll need a decent 40-minute or so run on a highway to start checking that.

I'm still fumbling along with that testing I mentioned here months ago. I sealed up the bonnet gap and put a deflector under the bullbar, and took the two bonnet scoops I had facing forward and reinstalled them facing in reverse instead. Testing off the car with liquid smoke heated up with a soldering iron showed that airflow over these things would suck air out of the engine bay. Of course the opposite happened once they were on the car! So I must have a hell of a low pressure area in the engine bay. I'm still trying to work out how to measure that and get some idea of what the radiator airflow is. It never ends!!!

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Hi Davo,
So far the car is keeping cool, i've driven out a few times in stop-start traffic and also at 90-100km/hr. Earlier today when I was driving it at high speed, the coolant temperature was sitting at 78degC. So it doesn't seem like I am having trouble keeping the engine cool. However having said that today, for the drive it was abour 22degC outside. As for the bonnet scoops, some older muscle cars used rear facing bonnet scoops so that they would pick up pressure from the high pressure zone at the base of the windshield. That's the reason why all cabin air vents take their air from that location as well.

Ok, for another update.

The knock sensor wiring went in, below are the connectors being put on to some nice shielded cable. The cable was run into the cabin to some RCA connectors which I will use later when the headphone amplifier arrives. It will be important when the boost starts being dialed up on the engine later.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/664.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/665.jpg

Another one of the engineer's requirements were ticked off. Fitment of reflectors to the back of the car.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/666.jpg

I mounted a magnehelic gauge which measures the dP across the intercooler core to test how well the scoop is capturing the air. In the end the gauge is for too high a pressure range for being useful. But early tests indicate that the scoop is capturing additional pressure at 90Km/hr but it should be higher. It is possible the engine bay is pressurising as Davo mentioned. I need to do more tests to work that one out.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/667.jpg

The trailer electrical plug was fitted, so the car is ready to tow something.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/668.jpg

And finally, earlier today I went round to collect the aluminium panels for the tray. Now I need to fasten them down onto the frame.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...017/11/669.jpg

Getting close now! Springs need to be done soon!

The process of building the bonnet scoop.

https://youtu.be/42ltGJ80-k4