Fuel Injected VX Beta Spyder

[mangocrazy]

Having looked closer at my oil breather, the external spigots are 23mm o.d. and 24mm o.d. not as stated. But having re-read your earlier post it's the spigot on the cylinder block I should be measuring. I'm hopeful of getting back to Stafford in the first week of March so will measure up then. Does your Mk. 1 solution still use the OE oil breather, or does the block spigot vent straight to the catch tank?

[WestonE]

Hi Graham

My Mk1 uses the Oil breather outlet. You would only go direct to block with a dry sump set up The alloy item does the initial job of re-directing oil back to the sump and we want as much oil as possible to stay where it belongs. Catch tanks on sound engines mostly have water and some emulsified oil in them.

Eric

[squiglyzigly]

There is another slightly alternative option to the catch-tank route.
I chose to try something a little different due to my Asthma. In later years I became sensitive to oil and fuel residues so I sought a different path to manage and improve the crankcase breather management, not wanting any kind of open venting. Modern cars have had improved vapour management imposed on them over the years so it seemed an obvious route.
Most of us notice the oil residue and emulsified water that Eric mentions in the breather pipe where in enters the air filter housing. On higher Millage cars with a bit more ‘blow by’ on the piston rings it starts to become a little oily and a lot more mist will be ingested to lower performance. As Eric has mentioned before this costs some power as it is diluting the fresh oxygen rich air the engine would rather breathe.
Both my cars now have a second oil breather/separator between the original alloy block mounted unit and the carb intake/air filter. I used a Land Rover TDi part and it has a lower drain pipe that I have draining back into the sump. Yes I had to weld a union on the sump for this but the result is pretty much zero oil or water residue exiting the breather back into the intake.
Now this is never going to be as good as a catch tank in performance terms but it is a good step forward from the standard single stage breather.

Ian

[WestonE]

Hi Ian

An interesting approach and the return could be done via a steel blanking plate with a pipe in place of the redundant manual fuel pump. This is how the Volumetrico Supercharger oil return was done originally. For many people this can be fairly easy to make and fit and leaves the tricky to remove sump un-disturbed.  Probably an old water rail spigot flat steel plate and a Mig.

Enjoy.

My catch tank is staying because it allows free breathing for the engine and also pleases scrutineers at track days.   

[mangocrazy]

That's an interesting idea - a two stage breather. And I very much like Eric's suggestion of using the old fuel pump mounting point as a return route for the oil.

Having said that, the simplicity and visibility of a catch tank appeals so if you want to pm me with further details and a price Eric, I'm very interested.

[Nigel]

Sorry to hijack Erics thread,

Ian, is this separator close to what you used?

Thanks, Nigel

[WestonE]

For my latest amusement I have been cleaning and painting arch shields with some added Frankenstein joining of bits from several arch shields to make a better drivers side front section. This is the one where generations of mechanics have tugged it before removing the 2 fixing screws to the subframe. I would love better arch shields but will put them on the maybe one day list.

Eric

Too dull for photos sorry

[squiglyzigly]

Sorry to hijack Erics thread,

Ian, is this separator close to what you used?

Thanks, Nigel

That’s the one.

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Not had chance to look, but I do have some spare wheel arch protectors, but cannot remember which side they fit. Will do so over next few days.

Peter

[WestonE]

Hi Peter

Thank you. Please be aware it is the late version fitted to the VX & IE I am looking for not the earlier part metal part plastic assembly.

Eric

[john930]

Hi Eric
What are the specifications of your gaz gasmatic  coil overs. Can these be ordered from gaz directly. Are they bolt in. I have a 1980 spider I am restoring.

Thanks

John

[WestonE]

Hi John

I do not know if Gaz have kept the design work and would sell directly. They would certainly need rear struts with sound lower sections because these were transferred. I took hubs wheels struts and top mounts to them and had them custom made probably 7 years ago. I used front Beta Top mounts on the rear and Ford Escort Racing multi adjustable front top mounts. I have a note of the spring rates somewhere and spent some time working out what to start with. The units are Gazmatic Gold with 14 clicks of adjustment for damping and re-bound. I use a similar Leda set up on my Montecarlo. They are in a totally different league for both ride and handling.

Eric
PS John Lyons is the design engineer at Gaz formerly he was at Leda.   

[peteracs]

Hi Peter 5.5cm rivet center to rivet center on the straps. I could drill them out later if needed. I have clamps on my hold down bar not buckles so I can adjust the tension without buckle holes.

Eric

Hi Eric

Just revisiting this, I suspect that 5.5cm is incorrrect looking at your photos and measuring my bars where they probably should fit. Could you recheck please?

Thanks

Peter

[WestonE]

Just to say it is back from the Paint shop and this time has actually been painted. I have nearly bolted back on enough to make forward progress again.

Cheers

Eric

[Nigel]

Glad to read this Eric.
It must have been so frustrating the time it took.

Looking forward to seeing some more pics as you build it up.

Best wishes!
N

[mangocrazy]

Looking forward to seeing some pics! I can imagine the frustration...

Graham

[WestonE]

Some photos of VERY slow progress

[WestonE]

Battery wiring challenge and custom radiator side air shields

[mangocrazy]

Wow. That looks to be a top quality paint job. Is that an OE Lancia colour? When I had my light metallic blue Spider repainted I actually used a Mercedes colour that was close to original but had a bit more zing. Whatever shade/colour it is, it looks fabulous.

Liking the heavy duty crimpers. They won't take any prisoners.

[WestonE]

Hi Graham

The Colour should be very close to the original. It was done by the kind loan of a Petrol Filler flap being scanned before test spray outs and some adjustments. Some serious effort went into panel fit and match given NOS Coupe doors and front wings converted to Spider items and a bonnet made from the perfect parts of items rusted in different places.   

My latest annoyance is the sill trim rubbers (brand new from Italy) have a different profile shape that does not match the end caps like the original. Of course my originals have shrunk and gained overspray and deep scuffs.

Working out the large amp power supply and signal routing for the Amp in the boot has seen some head scratching to keep power away from signal wires. I am using 2 pairs of decent QED shielded RCA cables and Cambridge Audio silver speaker wires to 4 Rainbow 50 watt RMS speakers with good sensitivity and a Focal amp with decent signal to noise. So hopefully I will sound crisp through the useful volume range eventually.

Making good speakers fit is a job in it's own right because they come with big driver magnets.

Eric