Lada TC from north...

[Brit01]

. I have certainly known engines to detonate when suddenly put under very hard load after sitting revving up on the start line - from build-up of underhood heat over a relatively short period of time.

C.r.a.z.y idea but plausible - could you not install a 10 inch or so high powered slim fan into the bonnet air intake with an automatic relay for when it's stationary to blow cool air in from above?

[WhizzMan]

I don't think converting the car to almost a hovercraft with yet another large fan would be smart. Apart from more moving parts and weight, you'd be sucking in dust from road sides, unless you add more manual fan switches adding more complexity. K.I.S.S. is a wonderful principle to adhere to in anything technological. Never add more, unless there's a solid case proving it's beneficial overall.

The "clean" solution would be to get a cold air intake to the carbs. It's just a challenge to design a good air box in this particular case.

[Urbancamo]

Small update.

IDF airhorns.JPG (37.82 KiB) Viewed 802 times

20 mm high unused air horns came from UK. Real pargain price in bidding and nice, heavy piece of horns. Quality work.

This car have now air filter socks, but the problem is dirt that gets very easily in the float chamber and - you guessed right, straight to idje jets.
Week a go engine died suddenly and i found huge lump of dirt in the no. 3 idle jet. So it was 3-cylinder engine in idle jet phase...it goes nowhere!

There is room only for soft foam filters, like Pipercross PX300 or similar, hard filters cannot be used due the clearance issues.

I ordered also 52 idle jets for IDF's, well see how the progression phase feels with those.

I also adjusted cams a little bit, there was LATDC 2 mm for inlet and 1,5 mm for exhaust. Now it's 1,5 mm for inlet and 1 mm for exhaust. This gave much beefier mid-range torque and much more softer inlet noise.

Do you have measured stock LATDC values for stock TC cams? All the blocks i have seen has been decked for compression and therefore cannot be measured for stock cam timing.



T

[Brit01]

This car have now air filter socks, but the problem is dirt that gets very easily in the float chamber and - you guessed right, straight to idje jets.
Week a go engine died suddenly and i found huge lump of dirt in the no. 3 idle jet. So it was 3-cylinder engine in idle jet phase...it goes nowhere!

There is room only for soft foam filters, like Pipercross PX300 or similar, hard filters cannot be used due the clearance issues.

I considered socks/foams at one point but now reading your issues with dirt entering I will definitely stay with my K&N panel filter.

Won't that cause rapid contamination of the oil leading to bearing wear?

[Urbancamo]

IMG_5487 (Small).JPG (53.27 KiB) Viewed 795 times

Problem is mainly that IDF (and DRLA) carbs have these exposed air corrector jet holders. These dont exist in sidedraft carbs, they are covered.
I once tried to wrap jet holders inside the socks, but then there's a huge gap between jet holders and air horn..

So therefore the next step is to find and install box-type foam filters. Those cover air corrector jets inside filter and no more garbage is going inside to carb tiny channels.

[Brit01]

Yes I have DRLA and the same issue (Alfa designed the 90 degree inlet nicely to filter these also).

Ramair have a oval/box type foam that covers both trumpets and you can cut a small hole in them for the long air correct jets.

Very cheap for a pair also on an internet auction site. Check them out.

[Urbancamo]

Ok, new trumpets arrived from UK.

IMG_5700.JPG (42.59 KiB) Viewed 762 times

Old Dellorto DRLA trumpets, or should i say smoothed pipe ends, goes to retirement.

IMG_5685.JPG (58.18 KiB) Viewed 762 times

IMG_5686.JPG (56.03 KiB) Viewed 762 times

Official trumpets installed. 20 mm high, so plenty clearance with upcoming double trumpet socks. Until that, using trumpets socks...
These fit barely without cutting the baseplate, just possible to remove jet holders.

As you can see, plenty of room behind reat trumpet!

T

[Urbancamo]

This car works just fine. It tooks its owner to work on daily basis. So very quiet in here.

IMG_5777.JPG (58.78 KiB) Viewed 736 times

Just received my new SK syncrometer, very neat little thing. Of course i had to test that immeadiately. Very easy and fast to use and it's real accurate - no need for fancy column-type meters.

If this works for Guy, this might work for me also.

-T

[Brit01]

Just received my new SK syncrometer, very neat little thing. Of course i had to test that immeadiately. Very easy and fast to use and it's real accurate - no need for fancy column-type meters.

nice gadget. But not much use on my flat4 boxer unfortunately. I have to resort to vacuum meters on both carbs at the same time as when you adjust one the other side changes, it's a back and forth balancing act which takes some practice and when you think you have it just right it, after a quick drive it unsettles a little again.

Need to get a carbtune one of these days. Very useful for the boxer engine.

[Urbancamo]

This car has worked fine, but it generated very odd problem.

When it was first time -20C, engine wouldn't even promise. We checked all and found that spark seems to be bit weak. Even at atmospheric pressure. It means that it is very weak inside the cylinder.
When it's -5 C, car starts fine. But when it gets to -15 range, nothing. Won't even promise.

Here comes the odd part; when you heat Crane ignition box with something, like hair dryer or similar, cars starts like it should be. If you don't heat that, you can drain your battery with starter and it won't start.
Ignition system is Crane XR700 wich is mentioned in the first post.

I don't get it. Do you have any ideas why 10 degrees kills the whole system? And why even one minute heating brings things back to life? I'm not master with fine electronics, so give your opinion.

Tommi

[Brit01]

Can't think of any related to the electronics with just 10 degrees or so affecting it.

Oil came to mind but then you said you only heat it for 1 minute. Would take much longer to thin out the oil.

Are you getting frost/ice particles on the contacts inside the iginition box?

[TomLouwrier]

I can, it could be soldered connections from a connector or another component (usually one of the power semiconductors) that has gone. Either not a good contact from start ('dry solder joint' is the term, I believe), or it may have gone brittle over time due to vibration or corrosion. Or a very small crack in a copper strip on the PCB.
That stuff can give you intermittent faults and/or sensibility to temperature.

I would take the box out, you know the problem is in there because you can provoke it. Apply heat and it works again.
If you can, take it apart. Inspect it yourself or have it inspected by someone who know (automotive) electronics.

If the unit is under warranty, contact the supplier and/or send it back.

regards
Tom

[Brit01]

aah yes 'dry solder joint'. Now I'm very familiar with that as I build valve amps!

Didn't click. Was thinking along the lines of temperature issues.

[Urbancamo]

Thanks for your comments, especially Tom.

This ignition box is not really serviceable. If I remember correctly, whole PCB card and the box inside are covered with some insulator stuff (epoxy?) It's very bullet-proof until something like this happens.

No warranty for these parts for sure. Ignition system is bought about 6 years ago and whole Crane Cams went to bankruptcy. So we are at our own.

I would definately like to use original Magneti Marelli or Bosch Hall-based ignition system, but those are pretty hard to find in good condition. And I'm definately not gonna install points never again!
Some people have modified Lada's Hall-ignition to TC engine, it requires shortening the distributor shaft, but otherwise it's pretty straight forward. Ignition curve is pretty good for stock TC engine and it has vacuum port also.

We'll see what's the best solution.

T

[badlyworntoy]

Tommi
You would be far better off building your own wasted spark ignition system with a DIY Megajolt ECU you can then live map it yourself and get impressive results? Its made up from mainly Ford parts which you can get from the scrap yard. The parts You need are from any ZETEC engined Focus or Mondeo using Fords EEC5 engine managment, What your looking for is the Wasted spark coil pack, the HT leads and the "EDIS 4" Ignition module. You can then buy the ECU and download the program from the Autosportlabs website. It uses all the ford base ignition limp settings, i.e 10 degrees BTDC and you can build a 2D ignition map from there,or as I do adapt one thats already been done and fine tune it around another engine. It is also very reliable,much more so than distributor ignition.

I have this set up on a Vauxhall Viva with a C20XE engine and the results can't be compared with mechanical ignition....like you said "as different as day and night". You seem like the sort of bloke with the intelligence to make it work and I know I'd enjoy reading about you on here doing it. So If you intrested in having a go. I don't mind helping with more details and pictures,The whole setup won't cost anymore than around 300GBP.

Catch you soon
Ian