Right....
 

I am about to pick up the final parts of my EXi and will be undertaking the majority of the build over the coming weeks, months, years....

I built stage 1 & parts of stage 2 without realising this forum even existed. Have spent the last few weeks reading all the discussions on here during my lunch times and I now have several points I have learned from your experiences;

1) Flock the dashboard
2) Have the rear hubs turned so the discs will fit
3) Diesel drive shafts for the T series engine
4) Larger fuel pump, in line with the disconnected Rover pump
5) Larger rear discs to help lessen front wheel lock-ups
6) MG F gear linkages & hydraulic clutch assembly.
7) 1.8vvc Radiator

Have I missed anything?
I may have dropped a dingdong and not saved all the parts of the ECU/immobiliser from the Rover 600, haven't come across any posts about this but then, I haven't finished reading all threads yet....

Thanks all :D
Spike

Welcome.

The most active poster on the forum, who will be best able to answer questions about the T-series, is Limpabit. Drop him a line.

Spike

I am happy to help if you were building a 1600K, but I agree with alackofspeed, limpabit has built the 2Lt series, there are a few others who have as well. I must say after going in one you will be pleasantly supprised, look out 911 owners.

Now you have found the forum, hopefully you would be able to have any concerns or isues answered.

In the matter of the ecu, you may find a breakers / ebay can help.

You may also find some benifits looking at the Marlin owners club websites.

http://marlinownersclub.com/

Steve

Hi Spike.

You've got most of them. Another is chargecooler. One project I'm looking at now. As intercooler in it's current position, is causing more harm than good.

Make sure you have the "new" turbo engine mounts from Marlin. This sets the position better for the driveshafts.

Rover used a quite few different ECU's throughout the Rover range. These varied, dissy or wasted, flywheel gap. Also can with an immobilser separate paired with ECU.

Matt gave me a good tip. Get ECU (when you get it), decode for immobilisation. A lot of the Rover guys use Best of Bristish. Matt has used these to decode.
http://www.automotiveecu.co.uk/aecu....&mainpage=home

Don't forget power steering pump. Either electric conversion (can be costly) or fluid to run it.

Use mk3 starter, main relay box, etc. Nice and neat. Rover 800 ECU holder. Can hold ECU and relay box together. Mk3 fuse box.

I used the mk2 fuel pump and sender unit from the turbo. But need some anti surge as it cuts when fuel is low and going a bit quick around corners.

Enough to be getting on with. If I think of some other "turbo"tips, I'll post them up.

Spike

If you are having problems with the ECU and 5AS give me a PM and I will try to increase you knowledge of the needs. I have full ECU and 5AS pin outs and Technozen can also assist with programming and technical understanding but he lives a long way away...

I have just completed the powered chassis and fitting GRP now. I have a lot of trouble with a sensor fault so went round and round the systems many time before I found the solution (I hope?).

I now have all the nice bits like interior lights on when de-mobilised, hazards flash when locked, clam open switch and automatic FOB detection to demobilise.

The GRP is a developing source of pain so be prepared.

Other nice things to have?

Plugs and sockets on the clam loom
Good engine bracing
Rear suspension changes (talk to Track Developments, 'Alackofspeed', and as well as Marlin)
Hydraulic clutch was recommended to me but you may have gone too far for that, but then again its more difficult later.
Double clip all the plastic pipe to rubber joints after scuffing or belling the plastic ends for good measure
There has been some issues with seat/chassis mounting strength and SVA, one to think about
Inertia reel (three point) seat belt top mount is an SVA issue, and don't use the lotus seat mounted clip either...

Regards

eaa53
(JohnC)

You might be interested to learn that Limpabit is reviewing his standard engine mounts, as his engine moves lots (as witnessed on the rolling road I understand).

I'm on engine mounting version 3 on my car...... still room for improvement too.

I'm looking at the cam side mount at the minute. As there's a lot of movment when I pull away. Just might be a dodgy rubber mount. Will have a look the weekend.

Also, looking at John's (alackofspeed) method with a bar at the back of the car. One to strengthen the rear end and two as to brace the engine from it. To be continued on this....

Ok... that's some things to digest.
The final stage of my kit is ready and waiting at Marlin HQ, I'm just waiting for my Girlfriend's dad's transit to be free, hopefully on Friday! I will remember to quiz them about the new engine mounts. I bought the first stage of my kit a long time ago so i may have missed out on some of the updated components.

Limpabit,
Chargecooler sounds very interesting. I hung on the the intercooler rad but i wasn’t sure if it was needed. I only have the first build stage CD from Marlin so far, so the latter parts of the build are still a mystery.
I’ll worry about the ECU and immobiliser once the engine is in a state where it can be started (long way off yet I suspect :S)
Power steering pump. I haven’t looked at my engine for a while, it’s buried under junk in the garage but if I remember rightly, the power steering pump and the air conditioning pump seemed to be redundant when used in an EXi but I couldn’t remove them as they were driven by the cam belt... I thought the easiest thing would be to close the circuit and fill with some oil and let the pump carry on pumping. Is this what you’re talking about? Was there ever a Ti engine produced without the PS pump and AC compressor that I could buy the cam belt for?
Mk3 starter, main relay box etc – could you give me a little more info please on what a Mk1, 2, 3 is, are we talking Rover 200 here? I.e. the mk1 is the square shape, mk2 the early bubble 200 and mk3 the facelift Rover 25/MGZ thingy?


Eea53,
Loving the sound of the interior lights, hazard flash, ‘central locking’ for the front/rear clams... I was just gunna buy an aftermarket alarm system to do a similar job.
Automatic fob detection, I love all those sorts of gadgets, I will deffo be coming back to you for more info!
I will be adding plugs and sockets to the clam shells, all lights (if they don’t already come with them) and any other electrical device so it can be easily removed.
I have mounted my seats by attaching 2 studs to each of the pair of rails per seat. I then drilled 8 holed right through the bottom of the EXi, and bolted them from underneath. I used 4 x 4mm metal plates to reinforce the underside and these plates in tern will be bolted to the chassis rails..You think I have a chance with the SVA?
Getting excited one pay-day, I bought some 4-point harnesses off eBay . After they turned up I suddenly thought, are 4-point harnesses even road legal? Will they pass the SVA? And apart from that, the harnesses aren’t branded. They don’t even have any marks on them to say they have been tested or comply to any sort of standard! Anyone got any info on harnesses?

Looking back through the forums topics, I read a fairly heated discussion about the front upper wishbone fouling the springs. What was the outcome of this?

Thanks everyone for your assistance :)

The official line was that those affected were sold upper arms intended for the rear, minus the tab for the toe link.

I was one of the affected owners, and I was supplied with new front arms at no cost. The new arms didn't foul the spring at ride height, but did when in droop. It got the car through the SVA, which in my case is all that mattered, as the Marlin arms have since been scrapped.

Do you mean aux' belt?

Err I guess so. Like I said it's been a while since I even looked at my engine. I just remembered the power steering pump and air con compressor were driven by a belt which also drove at least one other thing, so I couldn't remove it all together. Tell ya what I should stop being lazy and just go look instead of guessing!! Will check in a sec

You will find that the power steering and water pump are one unit that attach to the side of the engine block.

You have 3 options.
1) Plumb power steering in with fluid
2) Use electric water pump and make some way of connecting to the block.
3) Use old O/M series water pump at the cam side of engine. Very rear now.

Oh I used leatherette for the dash.

Craig reminded me. You need a remote oil filter kit for the turbo. Break into the oil cooler line.

Mocal remote filter, sierra filter, connected with oil hose and hose connectors. You will also need to block the place where the original oil filter would have gone.

Marlin did a kit to do all this....

Hey all just to let you know I haven't died and I still do own my EXi.. just taken on another project over the past year. I had car problems which left me stranded so I ended up buying an old banger to get me from A to B while I replaced the engine in my day-to-day car.. Just so happened to come across an old MK2 Vauxhall Cavalier which was red/brown and shonkey and I ended up loving it - so a friend and I have stripped it out and turned it in to a track car.

This is turn has helped me to improve my fabrication knowledge and learn to weld, spray, machine, tap, die, cut, grind etc and now I feel I want to revisit the EXi, strip it down and start again! It's amazing how you never stop learning and improving at these things.

Hopefully have the Cavalier finished by Christmas, I have now rented a workshop so will be taking the Marlin there to finish that too shortly after.

Hope you are all well
Spike