Project: RS2 ABY

[Sonic]

Tell me about it

Yeah Will is going to be diagnosing and fixing it up.... can't wait for some good news for a change

[Greg_S]

Yeah you deserve some now! Fingers crossed he can track down the issues. Im hoping mine goes a little more smoothly when I do finally come to starting the car

[newsh]

What a nightmare journey, I once did a similar one in the ur when the clutch master blew a seal

Really hope that Will gets to the bottom of this and you get back on track with the car mate

[Jamo]

Saw the car sat very very nice install and very neat the cars looks the ******* stick with it will be a beast once running right

[Sonic]

Cheers gents - sorry i couldn't make it up Jamo but glad you were able to take a quick look at her.

I'm sure Will'll have her running 100%... can't wait until that time arrives!

[martinjs]

Is it sorted Sonic?

[Sonic]

Not sorted yet, the car is at Will's being worked on... i'll release more details within the next few weeks as things are resolved.

[Sonic]

Ok update time...

I've kept quiet about the situation with the car for a while because the news is not good, and i wanted to resolve the situation with the involved parties without the witch-hunt and blame-game that always seems to results from threads like this.

Before i start, i'd just like to say that the situation is being resolved by everybody concerned. Luckily i had used only the best people for this project, and this fact is shown by the concern and professionalism displayed by everybody, with the end goal to get the car running again.

As people are aware the car is at Will's (VRS) in Northampton.

When Will looked at the car it was immediately clear there was a complete loss of compression resulting in the running problems exhibited on the journey up and over the last few months. A compression test confirmed this on all cylinders.

Will proceeded to take off the head, and again it was immediately clear that something was very wrong, with the oil heavily contaminated with particles. Something appeared to have entered the inlet and was slowly dissolving the engine until the point it lost compression.

Over the last few weeks the engine has been completely removed and opened up, and every part inspected for damage. The damage is quite severe when you consider the whole engine had only just received a rebuilt and most of the parts were brand-new.

• The head sustained damage including to all the valves and guides
• The cylinders were heavily scored
• The pistons were heavily scored, and the piston rings also non-existant
• The crank was heavily scored
• The oil-pump was damaged
• The turbo also sustained heavy damage

This left me with a dilemma. Given that i'd put everything into the car to get the first rebuild complete and i am getting married in September, i wasn't in a position to go through the whole process again, and i was on a knife edge to cut my losses and just get rid of the car.

However, i quickly realised that i'd probably regret that for the rest of my life, and thanks to all those concerned, the car is well on the process of being fixed back up.

The engine is now at JP's, who is rebuilding and refurbishing the head with new parts where required. The block has been saved and re-bored to 81.5mm with oversized pistons and the crank has been re-ground.

JP will be rebuilding the engine back up over the next couple of weeks, returning it to it's full glory.

The turbo has gone back to Rich (Hoffer76) where it came from originally, where he'll be fixing that up where possible.... everything is slowly getting there

When the engine is complete i'll need to re-evaluate the situation and decide whether i have enough funds left to have it re-installed immediately, or need to store the car and engine until a later date.

Out with the old...













In with the new...




Again, i'd just like to say thank you to all those concerned - Will, JP, Rich (in Cumbria) and other Rich (in Plymouth) for helping me work through this situation as best as possible.... any flaming posts after this will be removed.

[Rusty]

Sorry to hear the bad news mate, glad it's being resolved and you're putting it back together. As you say, it would be a real shame not to finish this off, despite the time, effort & money involved.

[prj]

I just hope we can get it back on the road and mapped properly.
I'll be over for a month in summer, and probably at some point closer to winter.

[Error404]

What was the physical cause of the failure Andy? Insufficient ring gap? It appears to me that an unhealth percentage of 20vt rebuilds end in premature failure and it would help others I think to know what can cause this

glad the problem has been diagnosed and the car is on the road to recovery mate

[driftin jo]

Is that shot blast media in your inlet manifold ?

[Jamo]

Is that shot blast media in your inlet manifold ?

*duck & cover asking that*

Glad to see it's being rebuilt, take your time and dont rush it. hope it's on the road this year if not next year

[Sonic]

I just hope we can get it back on the road and mapped properly.
I'll be over for a month in summer, and probably at some point closer to winter.

I'm hoping to have the car running before the summer if all goes well, so that would be ideal

What was the physical cause of the failure Andy? Insufficient ring gap? It appears to me that an unhealth percentage of 20vt rebuilds end in premature failure and it would help others I think to know what can cause this

glad the problem has been diagnosed and the car is on the road to recovery mate

Is that shot blast media in your inlet manifold ?

Yes. It looks like that was part of the problem, and it is suspected that the rings may not have bedded in correctly due to that, setting off the run-away train.

[prj]

If you look at the picture of the sump, that shows just how much of that cr*p was flying around the engine.

Really a nightmare. I wish it was possible to sue whoever is responsible for this.

Also pretty much explains why you were seeing what you were seeing when driving around. Air was literally pushed through the rings into the sump.