Are you madabout kit cars      
 "We've Got Kit Cars Covered" Information about Madabout-Kitcars.com Contact Madabout-Kitcars.com         Home of UK kit cars - madabout-kitcars.com Various kit car write ups All the latest kit car news Kit car related and general discussion

Search
Manufacturers
Kit Cars
Kit Car Data sheets
Picture Gallery
SVA Knowledgebase
Clubs & Communities
Build cost estimator
Kit cars for sale
Knowledge Base 
KitcarUSA.com
Classic-Kitcars.com
 

Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Phantom GTR/Vortex Builds

Phantom GTR/Vortex Builds In a Vortex with your Phantom build? Share your build experiences here.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 21st April 2009, 23:01
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default Radiator

Anyone had any problems with thier radiators? Looks like mine might have started to leak from the drivers side end cap.
Reply With Quote
Available from eBay
  #2  
Old 22nd April 2009, 22:26
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

Funn you should post this as its something I wanted to talk to you about at Stoneleigh.

My rads ok still, don't think they've ever had one go wrong, but are you still using the standard rad even with your engine? thought you might have gone bigger?
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 24th April 2009, 00:12
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

I think Norman supplied a larger radiator for my car but can't remember what it was from, will have to talk to him at Stoneliegh.
I had thought it was from a Mondeo but looking at pictures it's totally different (shame really as ally replacements for the Mondeo are going for £65 on ebay at the mo' if I had to replace mine)
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 27th May 2009, 22:31
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Don't have to worry about the radiator at the moment but the blown head gaskets are a bit of a pain in the arse!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 27th May 2009, 22:52
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

Doh, Any ideas why they went Ken? is it both heads gone?
Can you get uprated gaskets?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 29th May 2009, 00:05
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Did it on 10th May. Went to Donongton for the masters racing (fantastic meeting - love seeing classic racing machines from my youth being thrashed around the track as though any bits that might break are still available off the shelf at your local motor factors)
On the way there giving it a lung full and the noise from the back suddenly increased about 20 dB. Stopped in the next laybye and my second silencer had come adrift (joining pipe not quite long enough - no. 21 on the list of things to do). After waiting for about 20 mins for it all to cool down a bit it was easy enough to put back together and tighten the clamp up a bit more to stop it coming apart again. So off we go again but taking it a bit steadier now, get to Donington no problems apart from missing the first race.
On the way back take it fairly easy as well but coming through Stoke temp guage quickly rises to about 109C and steam coming out the back! Pull off onto a side road to investigate sharpish. After it cooled down I filled it up with about 3 litres of water but no sign of any leaks. So off we go again keeping a close eye on the temp guage. Rock steady at 84C until we get just the other side of Nantwich when it starts climbing rapidly. Pull over sharpish and let it cool down again. Takes about 3 litres of water again (kindly donated by some sheep in a field from thier drinking trough) but still no signs of any leaks. This time we just got onto the drive at home when the temp started to rocket again plus the engine felt as though it was missing on one cylinder as well. So suspect head gasket failure.
Checked the oil in the morning and there was a lot more of it than when we set out the day before plus there was milky crap around the breather filters, so pretty sure one of the head gaskets had given up and at least some of the water was ending up in the sump.
Well no big deal, I had never opened the engine up before I bolted it in the back so the gaskets were probably the originals, 15 or 16 years old and left standing for best part of a year then subjected to 12 psi of boost they never expected (and maybe a big boost spike when the exhaust came apart) so just replace them. Well Honda could get the left hand one in 2 days from Belgium but the right hand one was on back order from Japan, expected mid July! Plus they were £54 each after discount! Nobody in the UK does any aftermarket gaskets either.
Ebay to the rescue. Supplier in the states with no name gaskets $25 for a pair of head gaskets, $45 for a full top end set and $49 express international carriage, total price £74 for 2 pairs of gaskets and all the rest of the top end bits and pieces. Ordered last friday and they arrived tuesday, bloody brilliant service, just hope the gaskets last till at least July.
Bit of investigation today revealed one plug very oily but compression on all 6 cylinders is spot on, very strange. Hope to do the gasket swap this weekend so should find out more then.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 29th May 2009, 00:08
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Did get in touch with Cometic in case they had any MLS gaskets but no luck. Didn't fancy spending more than the cost of a new engine for them to develop a set for me either.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 18th June 2009, 09:48
Flip Flip is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Czech Republic
Posts: 34
Flip is on a distinguished road
Default

Going back to the initial problem on this thread, I noticed that my large rubber pipes going into and out of the radiator are beginning to crack! What about anybody else. Have I just got an old part or something?
Flip
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 18th June 2009, 20:00
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

Norman had some faulty ones IIRC, mention it to Chris and he'll sort you out
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 19th June 2009, 10:24
Flip Flip is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Czech Republic
Posts: 34
Flip is on a distinguished road
Default

You are veritable mine of information. Thanks. Will mention it in my next email to him. May the Vortex by with you forever.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 27th June 2009, 23:20
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Well car back on the road on Monday, cheapo ebay gaskets lasted till Wednesday!
Bought another Legend on Friday to donate it's engine. This one has only done 86,000 miles though and it will be getting stripped down and put back together with genuine Honda parts before it gets transplanted into the Phantom.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 28th June 2009, 10:02
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

DOH

Are leg end engines cursed or something?
As its being stripped down, maybe a good time for some head work?
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 2nd July 2009, 23:10
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Seems the 3.2 does have head gasket issues but 'O' ringing the block cures it at least up to 550bhp!
The later 3.5 engine is almost identical internaly but doesn't suffer blown head gaskets so I will be fitting a set of them. Only differences I can see are very slight alterations to the coolant passages and they are a bit cheaper than the 3.2's.
To be fair to the last engine it was 16 years old with 120k miles on it, then it was left standing without any oil or water for best part of a year. When it was installed in the Phantom it was given 12 psi boost and red line raised 1,000 rpm I supose I should be surprised it lasted as long as it did.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 15th March 2010, 00:00
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Engine out today and only 7 hours!
Knew the mods I did to the chassis last time would be useful. Shame I didn't remember about the 'p' clip holding the wire to the CPS, amazing the amount of engine weight such a thin cable will support before it breaks.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 24th March 2010, 22:07
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

So will it be at Stoneleigh Ken?

I'm confident mine won't be done, so might trailer it there instead.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 25th March 2010, 22:09
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Yeah, pretty sure it will be ready sometime over Easter. Have had the heads ported and three angle jobs done on the valves plus some stronger valve springs (heard rumours of valve bounce causing problems and big power loss at high revs) so will hopefully have it booked in for a remapping session before Stonleigh. Might also try and get to Cadwel Park on the Saturday for PPC in the park as well.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 21st April 2010, 20:18
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Car was finally all back together on Sunday 5.00 p.m. ready for it's mapping session on Monday which had been booked about 5 weeks before coz' of all the race cars coming out of hibernation. Just as well really as there is still plenty of tidying up left to do.
Mapping session went well and dropped the boost to 8psi and finally got a power run done in 4th gear as too much wheel slip in 3rd. Peak power 317 bhp at the wheels @ 5000 rpm so about 360 bhp flywheel - quite happy with that and hopefully this engine might hold together a bit longer now as well (not really surprising the last one let go, had the boost set at 12psi with a few seconds of overboost to 14.5 psi, probably pushing out 450 bhp).
Really good garage as well, had me involved all the way through and 4 hour session came to £129.25 including V.A.T.
Couple of things to be addressed are the very high inlet temps which I think are down to the massive heat soak from the large ally plenum and inlet manifold sitting in the engine "v" and the boost droping off slightly at higher revs.
Boost drop is easy to sort, just need a boost valve plumbing in and a quick dyno session to map the ecu to control it. Intake temps will take a bit more thought, might even have to fabricate a new plenum and inlet.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 21st April 2010, 20:50
EddyP EddyP is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 226
EddyP is on a distinguished road
Default

Excellent news Ken!
Bargain mapping session too.

You going for one of the Audi/VW boost valves?
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 23rd April 2010, 22:55
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Yes vw/audi boost valve - about £60 new on ebay. Might wander down to the local scrappy tomorrow and have a look for one with electrical plug and pipes still connected, at least I will know how it is all plumbed in then.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 11th January 2011, 22:16
kenmorton's Avatar
kenmorton kenmorton is offline
Senior Member
Enthusiast
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wrexham, N. Wales
Posts: 190
kenmorton is on a distinguished road
Default

Radiator now at the stage where it has to be repaired or replaced. Had a fantastic 2 day New Year break up in Inverness - 860 mile round trip - no problems with the weather, no snow or ice on the roads despite the temps hovering a few degrees either side of freezing. Driving at sensible speeds managed nearly 28 mpg overall - very happy with that.
Only problem (well minor irritation really) was having to top up the cooloing system with about 1 Litre every 200 miles. So as soon as the weather warms up enough the radiator is coming out and I will have a slightly higher capacity one made in ally.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +0. The time now is 08:12.

copyright © madabout-kitcars.com 2000-2024
terms and conditions | privacy policy