Wednesday, 16 February 2011

MC4 Puzzle

There was some concern after the MC4 had been wired in, as i wasn't getting a spark when the engine was turned over. 2 evenings were used up going over and over the wiring checking all was well. The puzzle was particularly strange as the tests suggested in the manual worked fine, the LED indicator was flashing twice per revolution and when the right wires were grounded a spark was produced.
What i didn't know was that it it is designed not to spark at very low RPM, and as soon as i tried cranking it with the offboard starter it sparked away happily.

The counter shaft sprocket has arrived back, i had to tweak it slightly as i'd specified the wrong size for the nose bearing (by 0.05mm) I realized how rubbish my lathe was when i tried to do it as it simply couldn't cope with the weight of the sprocket spinning and the hardness of the material. The finish i got was rubbish but at least it does now fit the bearing.
I'm very pleased with the sprocket which was made to spec by Talon. I paid more for a secondhand one from the states last year, and this one is not welded either, it's a solid billet item.

This evening i finished some mods to the lockup clutch. One of the problems when making adjustments (which is done with shims to alter spring pressure) is getting all the bits to stay put while you refit them into the pressure plate. In the past I've just superglued them on whilst it's being assembled but this is a real hassle, and it doesn't promote experimentation between rounds, especially when time is short.
So i've altered the standoff spacer things so they are now pressed into the lockup ring and should not move. It should be possible to just stack shims over them as required and the whole lot bolted back on.

And lastly, the cylinder head has been removed in readiness for fitting the Star head. I fitted it temporarily to find out which of the head studs will need replacing with longer ones, 6 are ok and a further 6 will be required. I've managed to find all but 2 of them so far.

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