Dum-Dums VNT 2.1TD OEM+ Bianca Estate. (loads of pics and video now added)

[Piggy]

Awesome!!!!! Nearly there!


Dibs on left over boost pipe bits

[Dum-Dum]

There will definitely be left over pipe as it actually uses less pipe but I'm tempted to keep it for the next project.

It really isnt much of a list is it.

[Piggy]

Lots of little its...but its them that took me longer.

I could do with just a couple of bits of pipework...let me know bud!!!

[Dum-Dum]

Drop me a PM with what your after dude and I'll have a rummage.

[Dave]

So she's almost back together, drive shafts are in, gear box is filled, wheels are on, run the power wire through the car, had forgotten how much of a pain in the arse it is as drilling even a 12mm hole isn't big enough for the wire. Engine has some oil in, most of the exhaust is welded and so the list is very minor.

Mount battery tray in boot (I'll need to make a couple of brackets).
Run the earth wire (or 3) and crimp an end on it.
Wrap a fucktonne of tape round the power wire and jam it in the hole in the bulkhead so it cant chafe.
Crimp some ends on a few wires in the fuse box and bolt them to the live.
Re fit the turbo.
Finish welding the exhaust.
Cut the oil drain line to length and fit.
Splice into a boost feed for the actuator.
Find some decent clamps for the boost pipes.
Fit battery.
Fit air filter.
Change fuel filter.
Disconnect LDA (to prevent it piling in fuel if it boosts on idle).

Cross Fingers.

Say a little prayer.

Fire her up.


(maybe 2 hours work there)

Haha definitely half a days work here...

for the purpose of having her driavable I would definitely sack off a few things before going for a spin I had my in the passenger footwell I was so excited to drive it bahaha the welding of the exhaust isnt essential eithe :p

Why would you dump fuel if the LDA drops?

[Dum-Dum]

Haha definitely half a days work here...

for the purpose of having her driavable I would definitely sack off a few things before going for a spin I had my in the passenger footwell I was so excited to drive it bahaha the welding of the exhaust isnt essential eithe :p

Why would you dump fuel if the LDA drops?

Yeah, I'd better get on with it as I've only just got home from finding a 3" exhaust clamp.

If I don't weld the exhaust now I'll put it off for months.

Oh and my LDA preload is set at a really low boost so it it hits that boost on idle (like piggys did) it'll start removing the restriction and letting in more fuel and cause it to start running away.

[Piggy]

It wont run away like that mate. Fuel input wont increase with throttle/revs even with the lda fully down. Just wind the max fuel screw back a turn, das what I did. Plus make sure the vanes are held open a fair bit on the stop and you'll be fine

[Dum-Dum]

So I didn't finish welding the exhaust as I ran out of welding wire again. All that's left to do is bolt the battery tray in and get it started. I tried earlier but had no luck as the battery went flat very quickly. I had power to the glow plugs but forgot to check the stop solenoid. Battery is on charge but I've given up for the day as I think I'm going to be sick.

[Piggy]

Nearly there. Have a snooze, some food, charge battery and give it another go this evening

[Dum-Dum]

Nearly there. Have a snooze, some food, charge battery and give it another go this evening

I think I need to leave it till tomorrow. I have a splitting headache and feel like being sick. I thought it was dehydration but I've drunk loads in the last 2 hours and had something to eat and still feel crappy.

The battery is on charge however so should be good for tomorrow.

Thought a bit more about it trying to start and I have a feeling I need to check the stop solenoid as it was spinning over nicely but didn't even feel like it was trying to run which with the glowies in and pressing the throttle it should at least be trying. Also there was no smell/sign of partially/uncombusted fuel.

There is 2 straight holes drilled in the chassis for the battery tray and the brackets each have 2 holes drilled in it (out of 3) and both need a 90* bend knocked in them. If I am being a functioning human it can't be more than 15 mins work.

[Dum-Dum]

I'm f*cked off with it now. Got it all back together, bolting in the battery tray was a monster pain in the cock as I could only reach one side of the bolt at a time so had to wedge a spanner on one end then get under and tighten the other. Anyway its in and all looking good.

Sadly the car wont start. It was spinning over but slowly and the charger was saying it was fully charged. checked the plugs and stop solenoid and they both had power but only about 9.5v arse, thought it might be an earth issue but then remembered i'd forgotten to unplug the battery when i started welding. Checked the battery and low and behold only 9.5v fully charged and it was dropping off fast.

Went and got the battery out the rallye and it as a nice healthy 12.5v. Bolted it in and went to start it and *whir whir nothing*, Arse! thats probably dead from having stood for 2 months so thats on charge in the car now.

If it doesn't start this time I'm going to assume its an earth issue. The main earth chassis to battery is well in the battery terminal and I sanded the bit of metal it was going to sit against and its a seat belt bolt so its a thick bit of chassis, well in the hole, no rust etc. There is only one earth from the engine to the chassis but its only an OEM battery cable so not very thick so I might run a second earth from the other side of the engine to the other side of the chassis to see if that improves its chances.

Photos tonight once I've got a longer ethernet cable to move my router as currently I am limited by sockets so its a choice of either hard drive or internet.













EDIT: Just been out and the battery was showing charged which was suspiciously quick. Multimeter says 12.7v at the battery. Tested it and about 10.5v at the glow plugs and at the stop solenoid. Gave it a go at starting and got another *whir whir nothing*. Off to buy earth leads now to bulk it up a bit.

[Piggy]

Just wack the battery at engine bay end with some jumpers and see if the voltages improve?

[Niall]

Sounds like either 2 dead batteries or a connection issue. Will await the pics of the relocation.
Shame your not in Hayes still. I'd pop in with my battery tester.

[Ruan]

Why would you dump fuel if the LDA drops?

This!

Have a look at how the LDA system actually works, it won't do anything on idle

[Dum-Dum]

Just wack the battery at engine bay end with some jumpers and see if the voltages improve?

Sadly I don't have jump leads. This did cross my mind though.

Sounds like either 2 dead batteries or a connection issue. Will await the pics of the relocation.
Shame your not in Hayes still. I'd pop in with my battery tester.

Nah I'm 99.99% confident the rallye battery is good (should probably throw it in the rallye and test it there) but I am alot more confident that its an earthing issue.

The power wire is connected exactly how the HDi one was with the main battery wire via a crimp on terminal (used the bench vice) straight from battery to starter motor so I know the live is spot on so if its not getting the power to turn over then the problem in the circuit MUST to be on the return to the battery and thus the earths. I have a bit of a suspicion that its a combination between the front earths and the back earths so I'm going to have an even more thorough go at stripping the paint off the rear earths and add another couple of earths at the front and possibly at the rear too.











Oh and sorry about the lack of photos, the computer is still without its hard drive.

[John1.4]

Love this car - i've said it before and i stick by it...

[Niall]

So just to check, you haven't run a earth all the way to the front have you? Just run a strap from battery to body and then engine to body as well?
Don't know about the HDi but the GTi has several earth cables from the gearbox and i noticed when i forgot one when i fitted my new engine, i had no end of electrical problems.

[Dum-Dum]

John, cheers mate, hopefully tomorrow evening will be all systems go.


Niall, no I haven't run a full length earth as it shouldn't be necessary.

I have all the oem wiring loom earths in place and the main oem earth system goes [engine to battery], [engine to body] and [body to battery].

I have one engine to body and two body to battery from different earth points, the bigger of which should be a very good earth point.

I'm going to get the wire brush out and clean all the earth points tomorrow and add a pair of engine to chassis ones from different points on the engine to different OEM points on the chassis. At the back I'm going to clean up all the earth points I'm using again and add a third earth wire to a totally different point (the 2 points I'm using are already about a meter apart). If that doesn't make her run I might have a bit of a hissy fit.

[Niall]

You shouldn't need two points mate. Just need a REALLY clean connection to the body at both ends of the car. Also needs proper size cable. A lot of people under spec the cable size but you need to remember that because you have extended the positive run, you need a thicker gauge cable to deal with the voltage drop and you also need to match the cable size for earth even though its only a short run.

[Dum-Dum]

Yep I know about cable size and voltage drop. 35mm2 live and 35mm2 main earth plus a 25mm2 second earth as I'd rather the earth was the best contact because of how much of a f*ck on earth issues are.

I know I shouldn't need numerous cables but if it helps it helps and it's a good back up plan if say I can't get the earths clean enough. I think engine to chassis being a tiny 15mm2 ish cable is possibly the weak link so I'll double it up.

[Dum-Dum]

f*ck

THIS

SHIT

!!!!!!


Sitting playing with a lighter in my hand looking out the window at the car contemplating.


I went out and had a play with the earths starting at the rear. Voltage across the battery terminals was still about 12.5v. Voltage between the positive terminal and a bare screw hole just above the battery was only a little over 10v so I knew I had a voltage loss.

Cleaned up the 2 earths till they were absolutely shining bare metal and bolted them back down and the voltage improved but still wasn't perfect so added a third earth between the earth point in the roof and the battery and happy days, voltage across the battery 12.38v, voltage between the screw hole and the positive 12.38v, voltage between the starter motor and the chassis 12.38v.

Hallelujah problem solved, went for a test start, ignition on and starter motor, stop solenoid and glow plugs to the chassis were all only just over 10v and in trying to start still only got the *whir, whir nothing*

Right we'll sort some front earths then. One runs from the engine side of the top engine mounts to the offside chassis earth, there is still the original gear box to rear nearside chassis earth and I added a third between the front nearside earth point to a different bolt on the gearbox, I also did my best at cleaning up earth points.

There really can't be a problem now, ignition on, voltages have improved at the starter motor, stop solenoid and glow plugs so I went to start it and again *whir whir nothing*. f*ck IT!!!!

Surely the battery that was fine the last time i started the rallye cant of gone and died in a couple of months over the summer. Checked and it was still practically fully charged, popped it in the rallye and *whir whir whir nothing* so somehow I have ANOTHER dead battery, thats 3 sitting under my work bench in as many months.

Really didn't have the money to go and buy another one On the up side at least with the battery if it doesn't work it can go in the rallye.






Oh and my hard drive is plugged back in so I'll have pictures later.

[Paul Baldwin]

Have you tried shorting any of the batteries out with a piece of thick wire to make sure that you have amps and not just volts showing on the meter?

Modern batteries are useless when left to go flat ime. Nothing like the old ones. They HAVE to be kept charged or they simply die and can't be re-charged.

Can't you borrow some jump leads and a car to make sure it's not your connections?

[Connor]

If this piss up happens tomorrow, ill bring a 740ah battery with me

[Dum-Dum]

Have you tried shorting any of the batteries out with a piece of thick wire to make sure that you have amps and not just volts showing on the meter?

Modern batteries are useless when left to go flat ime. Nothing like the old ones. They HAVE to be kept charged or they simply die and can't be re-charged.

Can't you borrow some jump leads and a car to make sure it's not your connections?

I'm hopefully gonna get some bought up tomorrow morning to test that option

If this piss up happens tomorrow, ill bring a 740ah battery with me

Cheers babe, that would be a huge help.

[Poodle]

You really need to start disconnecting them when the car is parked up dude, this is getting daft.

Getting properly close to finishing this now!

[Dum-Dum]

It was disconnected (both sides) in the rallye.

Anyway, new battery is in, power is much improved, still not starting or attempting to start. Gonna crack the intector lines and make sure it is is actually pumping. Think its a pretty vegy mix but should still start in this weather.

[Niall]

Sigh....So after all of that it was a flat battery.
Batteries being left to sit on a car isn't good. If the car is going to sit, take them off and store them indoors or somewhere warmish.

[Dum-Dum]

Sigh....So after all of that it was a flat battery.
Batteries being left to sit on a car isn't good. If the car is going to sit, take them off and store them indoors or somewhere warmish.

No, that was one of several issues. The main one that stopped it starting was the stop solenoid being f*cked.


Anyway


IT RUNS, IT RUNS, IT RUNS!!!!!!!1


It's like someone hit a hyperdrive button when it comes on boost and it holds its boost ALL the way as far up the rev range as I dare or till it blows a boost hose.

Its peaking at and then sitting at just shy of 20psi. At 70mph on the flat it is just off boost, any throttle above cruising at all and its on boost.

Sadly the boost doesn't come in anywhere near soon enough. In a 30-70 run its not really coming in well till past 45mph.




The plan when it cools down is do something with the boost hose that keeps coming off, wind the stop screw back alot and maybe wind the actuator a turn or 2 to bring it over 20psi.

[Chris_90]

Awsome work! Well done for not smashing it up need videos of the new found speed

[Dum-Dum]

Awsome work! Well done for not smashing it up need videos of the new found speed

Will do later if it stays dry and I can get the turbo adjusted. I tried a 30-70 in 3rd and it was nothing for about 3 seconds till 40, 40-50 the coal got so bad I couldn't see the car behind me and still not alot was happening, 50-60 was in the blink of an eye and like hitting hyperspace and past 60 I had to brake for a roundabout as 30-50 had taken so bloody long.