- Joined
- Jul 11, 2011
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... Continued
Monday evening, t-minus 4 days... Wasted no time getting back in to things with the aim of having it at least running that evening. Got the loom all plugged in, fuel lines plumbed up and the front end/intercooler loosely hung in place.
Turned it over for a good while with the plug out first to get oil circulated properly before there's any pressure on any engine components, this is equally important to do on an engine that's been sat for a few months. . . Got the plug in, and went for that moment of truth. Anyone who's done an engine swap will know this is always a tense moment, even if it's not your car... Let alone when it is your car and it's the first ever engine you've built form the ground up!
Here's what happened...
Started pretty much first turn, which was nice! . . Lots of beeping and warning lights as there was no coolant in it, also the injectors were quite noisy, I'm pretty sure that's cos the CTS was unplugged and the ECU was overcompensating for not knowing engine temp.
Didn't leave it running for long, but while it was running I checked the voltage across the battery (bearing in mind the "new" alternator), and still only 10v... WTF!? But yet again it was late and time to go to bed without dinner again.
Tuesday evening, t-minus 3 days... While the front end/alternator was easily accessible I thought I'd have a look at this alternator issue. Luckily my mum has a TT and was away, so I went about butchering her car for an alternator. A lot of faffing about later I had the TT alternator on the A3 and sure enough I was getting 14v across the battery. So much for my new alternator!!! More to the point that had pretty much wasted an evening. There was just about enough time to get the front end bolted on properly, and then to go to bed without dinner.... Again :-/
Wednesday evening, t-minus 2 days... Got some coolant in the ol' girl and ran her up to temp for the first time, everything seemed to be going well. So before getting the wheels on and getting her on the ground I though I'd check for faults first. . . 17748, cleared, checked, nothing, checked again, 17748. . .
For those of you that don't know, that's the camshaft/engine speed correlation error... Tried 3 different cam sensors, 2 crank sensors and checked timing again and again. This 17748 kept coming back
So I went to bed without dinner. . . . . . AGAIN!
Thursady, t-minus ONE DAY! . . I started the day with this post, appealing for help. The general out come being that it HAD to be something to do with the chain/tensioner. When I got home that evening I whipped the tensioner out only to find it like this:
Which could have easilly been the culprit! . . So I swapped it out for another tensioner I had lying about, but alas to no prevail. 17748 kept coming back. . . I messed about with a few more things but eventually gave up about 9:30 that evening. So I messaged Bill (to which he was really pleased with the notice I gave him, sorry Bill!) and finally found time to have some dinner for the first time all week:
Friday, mission fail By this point I was actually f*cking sick to the teeth of it, so I left her in the garage and went on a massive bender for the weekend!
I've since come to the conclusion that the chain is stretched, also I'm not sure of the condition of the tensioner I've put in there as it does seem to rattle a bit... I've ordered some bits to try and rectify this, however being a plumb i accidentally ordered some bits from Hong Kong so I'm still waiting. ha ha!
Got a couple other minor mods coming soon as well, but for the moment, here a "work in progress" shot using a jazzy filter and that stuff... WooOOOOOooo!
Monday evening, t-minus 4 days... Wasted no time getting back in to things with the aim of having it at least running that evening. Got the loom all plugged in, fuel lines plumbed up and the front end/intercooler loosely hung in place.
Turned it over for a good while with the plug out first to get oil circulated properly before there's any pressure on any engine components, this is equally important to do on an engine that's been sat for a few months. . . Got the plug in, and went for that moment of truth. Anyone who's done an engine swap will know this is always a tense moment, even if it's not your car... Let alone when it is your car and it's the first ever engine you've built form the ground up!
Here's what happened...
Started pretty much first turn, which was nice! . . Lots of beeping and warning lights as there was no coolant in it, also the injectors were quite noisy, I'm pretty sure that's cos the CTS was unplugged and the ECU was overcompensating for not knowing engine temp.
Didn't leave it running for long, but while it was running I checked the voltage across the battery (bearing in mind the "new" alternator), and still only 10v... WTF!? But yet again it was late and time to go to bed without dinner again.
Tuesday evening, t-minus 3 days... While the front end/alternator was easily accessible I thought I'd have a look at this alternator issue. Luckily my mum has a TT and was away, so I went about butchering her car for an alternator. A lot of faffing about later I had the TT alternator on the A3 and sure enough I was getting 14v across the battery. So much for my new alternator!!! More to the point that had pretty much wasted an evening. There was just about enough time to get the front end bolted on properly, and then to go to bed without dinner.... Again :-/
Wednesday evening, t-minus 2 days... Got some coolant in the ol' girl and ran her up to temp for the first time, everything seemed to be going well. So before getting the wheels on and getting her on the ground I though I'd check for faults first. . . 17748, cleared, checked, nothing, checked again, 17748. . .
For those of you that don't know, that's the camshaft/engine speed correlation error... Tried 3 different cam sensors, 2 crank sensors and checked timing again and again. This 17748 kept coming back
So I went to bed without dinner. . . . . . AGAIN!
Thursady, t-minus ONE DAY! . . I started the day with this post, appealing for help. The general out come being that it HAD to be something to do with the chain/tensioner. When I got home that evening I whipped the tensioner out only to find it like this:
Which could have easilly been the culprit! . . So I swapped it out for another tensioner I had lying about, but alas to no prevail. 17748 kept coming back. . . I messed about with a few more things but eventually gave up about 9:30 that evening. So I messaged Bill (to which he was really pleased with the notice I gave him, sorry Bill!) and finally found time to have some dinner for the first time all week:
Friday, mission fail By this point I was actually f*cking sick to the teeth of it, so I left her in the garage and went on a massive bender for the weekend!
I've since come to the conclusion that the chain is stretched, also I'm not sure of the condition of the tensioner I've put in there as it does seem to rattle a bit... I've ordered some bits to try and rectify this, however being a plumb i accidentally ordered some bits from Hong Kong so I'm still waiting. ha ha!
Got a couple other minor mods coming soon as well, but for the moment, here a "work in progress" shot using a jazzy filter and that stuff... WooOOOOOooo!