OV9

Had a small run out tonight to check nothing is / has fallen off the Exige. I have a slight rattle on the exhaust / undertray and a bloody annoying immobiliser / alarm red flash on the dash but its playing up ( no idea how to sort this one, it will be a google! )

Got a couple of pics.

I have sprung an oil leak.

I noticed a small puddle of oil under the car direct under the middle of the 3 naca ducts.

I removed the undertray and spotted one of the nuts on the sump was coated in oil. There appears to be no leaks though. The rocket cover I removed and replaced is also dry. No seeps.

I drove 68mi , stopped and didn’t notice any signs of oil loss. Only when I the car was in the garage.

I guess I’ll have to get the car in the air , and validate where the leak is coming from.

In anticipation of a O ring arriving and my RTV in case its not that I took the under trays off the car and got it in the air






However the sump I have on the car is freaking massive! I cannot see anything other than the oil filter ( one tiny drop of oil on the outside ) and the sandwich plate.

I cannot work out for the life of me where the oil is coming from , or where the dipstick actually enters the block. I have removed the top 11mm bolt but its seems pretty tight still.

Have to changed your O ring? How did you do it? I am still assuming its that. I have rules out it being the rocker cover that I changed over as there is nothing wet until 3/4 the way down the long block.

Suggestions or answers on a postcard are welcome.

Evening.

I have done the following ;
Undid the dipstick bolt, tugged the tube, put it back , retorqued
Retorqued the cam cover bolts
Cleaned the engine block/sump up as best as I can.

I then ran the engine upto temp this afternoon, water was warm ( 90degC upto 96degC at one point due to being in my garage ) and oil was indicated 65-67degC and running 32psi idle and around 72psi when I was revving and holding to 7k RPM.
I inspected the sump , and all around and got warm fingers so I left it a few hours.

I have identified what I think is the leak. Its what I can only describe as a blanking bolt in the sump. It appears to be weeping from the copper washer thats just infront of the bolt. A found a drip there , and only there. It would make sense as the bolt is at the lower part of the sump, where its angled down and forward and the oil would run.

My son was out with me and he was checking everywhere and that is all we can come up with.

Picture of the offending bolt on my 3500l sump ( I am being factious , its just a massive sump )



I do not plan on doing an oil change for around 9 months , so I might bodge it with some RTV for now and look for a more permanent solution when I have the oil out.

Ill put the trays back on the car and if it leaks like mad again Ill , well , I dunno!

A brilliant day at Blyton park today with @Fonzey
I went out in the first session with rears set at 26 cold, fronts 24.

That might have been a mistake because after two laps this happened :



Ill upload some more pictures and videos in due course ..

Summary.

After spending many thousands of pounds on a plastic shed , and the spending a while lot more on it getting it just right with some on point geo the exige clicked. I have learnt a good few things in my exige ownership namely.

1) Geo is vital. Shit geo , shit laps
2) Suspension is king. Leaking shocks , or worn parts mean shit laps
3) I can be faster. I need tuition.
4) Its really hard to feel the edge of the grip at Blyton, is it the tarmac or is it me?
5) I dearly love driving the exige on track , or on the road.







Standard blyton food. I am sure this knackered my power to weight ratio



Not even the sticker could stay on I was going that fast



Some "arty farty" shots as someone called them



The 410 is a ballistic missile painted blue and wheels installed



Some of @Fonzey car pics.

Ooh, Mark_BT52 style crustiness.

Looks lovely though; those alloys and that rear spoiler really suit the Exige.

These images were taken from the Javelin paid photographer ..

Not often you get to follow your own car. Someone filmed me!

Immo now fixed.

The 2A fuse in place 11 ( bottom left on inspection panel fuse box ) was blown. Not quite sure why.

However , swapped for another 2A fuse and voila. No flashing immo.

Squeaking belt, rear discs and pads + fluid change to go.

I have had a new driveway laid this week and a metric shitload of dust made it into the garage.

Few pics ;

Out if the front window


Dusty as .


Post clean

I have done a buy and bought a pair of Tillett b6 XL seats of win.

I haven’t got them yet but was bored while wife Bond watched something girly so I popped out to the garage and did things in the garage such as remove roof, took seats out.

I found a McDonald’s McFlurry spoon, 2 plastic plugs, a flat head screw and a button. No cash sadly.



More pics when the seats arrive. Will also let my insurance co. Know about the modification once fitted.

These arrived today ..

A big thanks to @lotuslee and @Fonzey for bouncing ideas off them here. I have zero GRP experience ...

I had to take the head off the clunk bolt , and I needed to remove the metal bracket to let me create an inspection panel to see whats what.



I then cut out an inspection panel so I could see if the captive nut was spinning, or something else



It is the captive bolt that's spinning. I have some really small plyers that I can pinch the nut with to stop it spinning and the headless bolt now stops spinning.

I am awaiting some isopon40 to be delivered and I am going to place this inside the inspection chamber towards the bottom to get the nut to stop spinning again ( in theory ) Ill let that cure and give the headless bolt a twist to see if it breaks the isopol40 bond that's just been created.

Assuming it doesn't I am torn here as

1) I have found a nut that fits on the end of the headless bolt and will clamp the metal bracket that is used to hold the roof down. Its a non OE fix, but it works, and works well. Even with the captive nut twisting!
2) I could cut a groove in the headless bolt and try and unscrew the headless bolt out, but doing so could jeopardise 1) as the nut might not go back on any longer. If not I would have to goto . . .
3) Cut out the whole piece and wreck my headlining and reset in the captive nut.

Choices , choices ...

This afternoon straight after work I have managed to ;

Tap with my 1.25*M8 the thread. It took some doing and blunted my tap at the end. My son was pinching the metal part that was visible whilst tapping and after a short while the tap turned freely. Success.

I can now get a m8 straight in and out with minimal fuss. This will yet to be seen when its on the car!

I then mixed the isopon40 up in a small quantity and tried to use the spatula to wedge it in. No dice. Too small. Used my fingers and pressed loads into the void to try and hold it all together. I have put a m8 in place to try and create the void for the bolt to reside in. I am hoping it doesnt set and stick to the bolt.

Pic :

Fixed! Feels secure.

As if you are still reading ..

Nothing more than pushing the car out of the garage and adjusting the damping on the coil overs.

Car was 14f12r , I have adjusted it to 12f10r
I felt I was having a bit too much oscillation when going over undulating roads. I’ll test this sometime soon.

Today I dropped my car off at @seriouslylotus to have its annual service and a couple of goodies fitted.

This is the first time I have driven any distance with my new tillett seats. They are seriously comfortable for what essentially is a plastic bucket. One thing that did make me laugh is in my jumper I could create a pretty strong vacuum behind me and it made it tough to actually lean forward in the seat! I am blaming a KFC for tea last night ...

Car has had a thorough service care of @seriouslylotus

I have on back order a new tensioner for my supercharger to have fitted yet

I also treated the car to some goodies-
1) gearbox cooler
2) new removable steering wheel so I can get in and out of my car easier with these seats!