Da Groj

Jamie: That is a sweet Mini! I'd prefer a VTEC model, but hey, supercharged anything has my new found respect!

Received my order from BTR and Chevrolet to do comparisons on valve springs:

OEM LT1/LT4 spring and shim-seal combination vs BTR spring, locator, and seal:



Driverside valve cover access:



Never been touched and it is missing a valve cover bolt - odd:



Quite the valve cover baffling:



Blue Grass tool...works pretty good:



Springs are quite pretty:



BTR's installed:



I spent time measuring both the installed height and pressures related. Using my not exactly the best tools (spring micrometer did not fit the narrow LT1 spring pocket...defaulted to a metal ruler and 14 year old eyes.

With the OEM spring seat/seal combo - installed height is 1.9375 inches.

OEM spring seat pressure: 94
Over nose of intake lobe: 304
Over nose of exhaust lobe: 294

BTR's setup includes a thicker spring locator and the valve locks are .050 lower - decreasing the installed height to 1.8875.

BTR spring seat pressure: 124
Over nose of intake clobe: 328
Over nose of exhaust lobe: 324

I elected to include a .015 shim under the intake spring...bumping pressure a touch to fully offset the ~11 psi boost:

BTR with .015 spring seat pressure: 128
Over nose of intake lobe: 342

Hopefully the other 14 springs replace as easily.

Note: putting the engine at TDC only allows the valves to drop quarter of inch or so (more on the exhaust side). No air or rope trick required.

Desire is to return to 6500 shift points and possibly 6800 when required.

And down to the last cylinder for the spring change and ended up with this image...what is missing?



Fortunately, I had eyes on when it flipped off the retainer...fell externally to the engine into the bowels of the engine compartment. So waiting for a replacement...bought 2 weeks of downtime. It was newbie mistake...not employing any catch rags.

Hopefully the FAST website will continue?

Doug - think you would be a worthy partner for the effort! Anyone else want to join Doug? :-) I think a higher speed layout is in order! J/K...

Gave it the college try to seek the missing lock - pulled all the underbody trays off...no luck.



Part should be here this week...

Another 120 miles covered on my trusty plastic mountain bike...hey 38 mph on a curvy, gravel path is exciting too!

What causes orange spark plugs? Any guesses???

Tim_M wrote:What causes orange spark plugs?

Fuel deposits. Didn't you say you were adding an octane booster to your gas?

Jamie - you are correct...octane booster is the culprit. Without it, the porcelain is bone white. Add some Torco and you get orange insides!

The lock shipment is going on three weeks. So dislike having an inoperative car...I reused a set of the OEM locks and reassembled the car. I did this on an exhaust valve so the .050 increase in installed height (BTR locks are .050 reduced height) results in a bit less spring pressure...still more than OEM. The intakes are the main concern.

Did a quick loop to warm the oil, drove like OEM. Back for an oil change.

Friday I'm scheduled for an alignment - going to attempt the strut mod to gain another ~.4 negative camber up front. That evening is a trip to Nurburg...weather is always a concern.

Took the Camaro in for an alignment check...was supposed to gain negative camber up front with a strut mod, but failed to arrange the proper tools in a timely manner. Nonetheless, 8500 miles since last visit - car specs returned to -2.5 up front and nicely toed.

Quite the assortment of iron on the grounds, counted 9 GTR's, 2 Porsches, and a few other fun cars.



Weather may hold off on Sunday for another quick visit to Nurburg...cross fingers.

Another trip to Nurburg brought lackluster results thanks to HEAVY traffic. Best of 7:59 which was a surprise.

A positive is my valve spring change seemed successful - no defects and nothing came apart on the 400 mile round trip. Feel much more confident on redline shifts. Only the DOD lifters are a concern...

The alignment worked as advertised...

Another plus was meeting up with another 1LE driver:



Will wait until the European vacation time has passed for another trip.

18 months and nary a tire issue - until this week before a nice 3 day weekend - screw picked up just outside of work. Heard it...turned around and made it home before it got flat on the bottom.



Luckily local race shop can get me in for a tire swap (older 'extra' tires on hand!). Hopefully, it will tide me over until end of season...2 months?

Local performance shop got me in while I waited. Swapped both rear tires for an older set I had. I disposed of one and the other will be a spare - useful with 8 day lead time for new tires (pretty good!).

Impressed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJcFKv55K2Y

You have way too much faith in other drivers.

Holy shit. With limp valve springs too.
You need a cape to drive that car.

Doug: actually it had fresh upgraded valve springs...but it sure seemed like it hit a wall.

Unfortunately, the LT1 seemed to give it's all...:



Apparently the crankcase is getting some of that 12 pounds of blower pressure...so ordered a compression tester to check health of the originally 455 HP engine:



A new rear main seal and associated parts are on order...not looking forward to pulling the trans on one's back - despised the Corvette's ZF 148 pounder over half a dozen times...

Might have another project on our hands!

Tim_M wrote:Impressed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJcFKv55K2Y

Doesn't seem you are passing the other cars nearly as fast as I would think for doing a buck ninety. Are all the other cars doing 150?

lddavis91 wrote:Doesn't seem you are passing the other cars nearly as fast as I would think for doing a buck ninety. Are all the other cars doing 150?

It's possible. I know when I've been out on the unrestricted stretches, the "slow" lane is doing 70-80 (trucks), the middle is doing about 100-130, and the left lane what the road will bear.

I remember heading to the golf course, just west of Frankfort back in the 80's, riding in my friend's Merc, and 150 was a norm. Etiquette on the Autobahn is taken serious, and enforced. (unlike our interstates).

It is unfortunate Chevy equips the Performance Data Recorder with a 720P camera. I would think it would be a minor impact to profit margin on the $1300 option for a 1080P. Then again - the data and vehicle lines is the main focus and quite useful. It does not equal a Go Pro for sure.

Possibly my travels are off times, but I don't see many vehicles above ~130 mph. We keep our Toyota Highlander at the recommended speed limit (83 mph) and see most passing cars in the 120 mph range. I cheer everyone of them too! We drive out of our rear view mirror as much as the windshield...pacing our use of the passing lane when not interfering with the 'enthusiasts.'

Driving here is an absolute joy for how it is supposed to be done. Rarely do you see no turn signal. Rarely do you see a left lane driver. Merging is done respectively, both sides - no blocking, etc. Cars are a very high state of condition (hardly an old vehicle past 5 years on the road even!) Off autobahn, hidden speed cameras everywhere - very strict limits (3 kmh tolerance...=1.9 mph!) or you get mail 45 days later with your picture and fine, no quibbling...from 10 EURO to 90, so far. And we really try to follow the speeds limits...

Tim_M wrote:Off autobahn, hidden speed cameras everywhere....

And even that doesn't often feel restrictive, because the speed limits are set pretty reasonably. 50kph feels reasonably quick when the lanes are the width of an autocross gate, and lined with stone buildings!

Jamie wrote:And even that doesn't often feel restrictive, because the speed limits are set pretty reasonably. 50kph feels reasonably quick when the lanes are the width of an autocross gate, and lined with stone buildings!

Agreed...it is the transitions that get you...unlimited to 120 (77 mph) or 50 to 30 (18 mph)...no warning/speed zone ahead signs. And you can't coast down after passing the sign - posted limit is the limit! I just received a 5 km/h over ticket nearly 10 months later in the mail...45 Euro and a point!