lol you caught me out!
Well anyway, I finally got the flames I wanted...from the wrong end of the car unfortunately! Took it up to BB today to get the decat pipe swapped over and do a couple of power runs, one normal and the second one on gas. Ive not had it on the rollers since I put in the controller and 100 jets over the summer. The first run was fine so then for the nitrous run I programmed the controller to bring the gas up from an easy 30% start, but ramping up to full power in 3 seconds, forgetting that the rollers would take a few seconds to load up the wheels even once the gas was firing...oops. Reason I set it like that is that normally when quarter miling or on the road a mild setting like that is perfectly safe, even at fairly low revs/high gears ie. 4000rpm/4th gear.
Anyway, the result was that it was floored as usual in 4th, the gas was firing but (I think because the rollers were loading up against the torque and bogging it down) it started pinking, so obviously he let off, and at that point there was a huge bang, the bonnet lifted on its hinges and a flame shot out from under it! Apparently a big flame came out the tailpipe as well but I didnt see that. Turned the engine off and looked under the bonnet to find it full of black soot and bits of crap; the induction pipe, airbox and home-made throttle body adapter had all blown apart. There were bits everywhere and the throttle body was still smoking. When I started the engine it did seem to be OK apart from the clouds of steam that were rising up from the bottom end! Undriveable.
Luckily John (night icon) & Clare were with me so they gave me a lift back to Southend. Looks like bad news one way or the other, at the very least its a blown head gasket. Or maybe a piston gone. So BB are gonna get it sorted whatever it is, but if it turns out to be a bottom end problem, I might just get them to swap it for a 2.0 rather than take it apart.
So, anyone know where theres a cheap 2.0 bottom end going at the moment? I suppose it doesnt really matter whether its Willy or Megane, although Willy would be nice.
Well, you live and learn I suppose, what would be the point of trying stuff out if it didnt blow up occasionally?
Thats life it seems - best to take it on the chin, although I could have done without it after just replacing the gearbox, driveshaft, sump, wishbones and power steering pump only a few months ago.
