Engine Rebuild Project (260hp/ton)

[rdoxenham]

Bit of an update, things have been moving pretty quickly behind the scenes.

I got my block back after being bored out to ~84mm and set about cleaning it up ready for paint.

After one coat of high-temperature enamel paint I think it came out OK...

Thanks to Andyrg, I've now got rods and bolts, and to renault Wolverhampton, I now have everything ready for the bottom-end rebuild.

 

[Addicted]

Building the dash from a Raspberry Pi as the base, now that is cool.

My only worry would be the fact that the Pi likes to chew up memory cards every now and again, so make sure you backup whatever you're gonna put on it, multiple times!

 

[rdoxenham]

Building the dash from a Raspberry Pi as the base, now that is cool.

My only worry would be the fact that the Pi likes to chew up memory cards every now and again, so make sure you backup whatever you're gonna put on it, multiple times!

Haha, yeah thanks mate, I've already built the UI, ignore the randomly generated information...

 

[rdoxenham]

Oh, and the spelling mistakes !

 

[SharkyUK]

Just out of interest more than anything, but what software / programming language are you using to create the dash display?

 

[Chip-mk1]

Oh, and the spelling mistakes !

lol @ degress

not exactly hard to fix though!

 

[tristanpalmer]

Really interested to see the results of the home-made dash.

Have to say it'd be a crime to not let it look epic visually though... Would love to discuss designing the 'front end' visuals for it with you.
Perhaps drop me an email if it's of interest: workwith@tristan-palmer.com

T

 

[rdoxenham]

lol @ degress

not exactly hard to fix though!

vader:src rdo$ grep -ir degress .
./cc/WindowMain.java: this.proOilTemperature.setDescription("degress");
vader:src rdo$ sed -i s/degress/degrees/g WindowMain.java

;-)

 

[rdoxenham]

Really interested to see the results of the home-made dash.

Have to say it'd be a crime to not let it look epic visually though... Would love to discuss designing the 'front end' visuals for it with you.
Perhaps drop me an email if it's of interest: workwith@tristan-palmer.com

T

Hi Tristan,

Thanks! I do agree that it would be nice to make it look epic. The problem, is that this is a track-only car... I need to have large non-confusing information available at a glance. If this was a road-car then sure, it would be a crime ;-)

Cheers
Rhys

 

[Chip-mk1]

That answers Sharkey's question too then, lol.

 

[rdoxenham]

Just out of interest more than anything, but what software / programming language are you using to create the dash display?

Oh, sorry, I missed your comment...

Yeah, it's Java at the moment, but I need to test the performance on Linux/arm on the Pi. The update rate may not be ideal.

Plus, the above screenshot is a real beta, it will look a bit nicer and more polished when finished

 

[SharkyUK]

That answers Sharkey's question too then, lol.

It sure did! LOL!

Hmm... I'm not a fan of Java and I'm not sure how well it would meet your requirements/expectations here mate. Admittedly I've never tried writing a digital dash in Java though... LOL! I look forward to seeing where you go with it mate

 

[rdoxenham]

It sure did! LOL!

Hmm... I'm not a fan of Java and I'm not sure how well it would meet your requirements/expectations here mate. Admittedly I've never tried writing a digital dash in Java though... LOL! I look forward to seeing where you go with it mate

Thanks mate, I'm more of a Python guy really, but Java seemed like the most appropriate to code a prototype.

And Java will work just fine for this use case, just need to find a way to pump the raw CANBUS data into a socket and pull it apart for implementation.

The CANBUS library that I've found is Python, so I may switch to use that instead.

 

[Andyrg@ ClioTurbo]

Glad the rods arrived safe! Happydays

nice car!

 

[Chip-mk1]

I quite like Java although not done a huge amount with it, just some file processing stuff for financial applications, nothing real time.

Last time I did any real time programming it was in C, which is pretty old school now Im sure, lol.

 

[SharkyUK]

Thanks mate, I'm more of a Python guy really, but Java seemed like the most appropriate to code a prototype.

And Java will work just fine for this use case, just need to find a way to pump the raw CANBUS data into a socket and pull it apart for implementation.

The CANBUS library that I've found is Python, so I may switch to use that instead.

Fair enough mate. I'm a bit more 'old skool' like Chip. I'd look to write it in C/C++ (or maybe C++ core with C#/.NET UI and wrapper). At the end of the day it's what you're used to and familiar with. Regardless it sounds like something fun to do and that's the important thing. Do you mind sharing a link to the Python CANBUS library? (No worries if not). I'm not a Python developer but I'm interested in perhaps developing something for fun with it (and/or learning). I'm also interested in talking via CANBUA anyway as I have a few ideas for things I'd like to try in the future (time permitting). Good luck with it mate

I quite like Java although not done a huge amount with it, just some file processing stuff for financial applications, nothing real time.

Last time I did any real time programming it was in C, which is pretty old school now Im sure, lol.

I think we are a rare breed these days. Apart from the guys I immediately work with and a few on here, the 'old school' ways are slowly dying out. There's a severe and significant lack of talented coders at the moment Chip. We are struggling like you would not believe to recruit experienced (or graduate) software engineers with the relevant and demonstrable skills. Anyway, I'm going off-topic. I'll shut up!

 

[Chip-mk1]

Fair enough mate. I'm a bit more 'old skool' like Chip. I'd look to write it in C/C++ (or maybe C++ core with C#/.NET UI and wrapper). At the end of the day it's what you're used to and familiar with. Regardless it sounds like something fun to do and that's the important thing. Do you mind sharing a link to the Python CANBUS library? (No worries if not). I'm not a Python developer but I'm interested in perhaps developing something for fun with it (and/or learning). I'm also interested in talking via CANBUA anyway as I have a few ideas for things I'd like to try in the future (time permitting). Good luck with it mate


I think we are a rare breed these days. Apart from the guys I immediately work with and a few on here, the 'old school' ways are slowly dying out. There's a severe and significant lack of talented coders at the moment Chip. We are struggling like you would not believe to recruit experienced (or graduate) software engineers with the relevant and demonstrable skills. Anyway, I'm going off-topic. I'll shut up!

I'd love to get back into real time, but I am SO far out of touch now!

 

[rdoxenham]

Fair enough mate. I'm a bit more 'old skool' like Chip. I'd look to write it in C/C++ (or maybe C++ core with C#/.NET UI and wrapper). At the end of the day it's what you're used to and familiar with. Regardless it sounds like something fun to do and that's the important thing. Do you mind sharing a link to the Python CANBUS library? (No worries if not). I'm not a Python developer but I'm interested in perhaps developing something for fun with it (and/or learning). I'm also interested in talking via CANBUA anyway as I have a few ideas for things I'd like to try in the future (time permitting). Good luck with it mate


I think we are a rare breed these days. Apart from the guys I immediately work with and a few on here, the 'old school' ways are slowly dying out. There's a severe and significant lack of talented coders at the moment Chip. We are struggling like you would not believe to recruit experienced (or graduate) software engineers with the relevant and demonstrable skills. Anyway, I'm going off-topic. I'll shut up!

Chip-mk1

I wrote my university end-of-year project in C with a front-end in Java, so I'm familiar with both, but what I do in my job is definitely not realtime programming or anything low-level.

Check out: http://python-can.readthedocs.org/en/latest/

I'd rather write it all in Python, including the UI as that'll be easy with Linux. Will keep you up to date here

 

[Chip-mk1]

Deffo something I would like to take a look at if I had more free time.

 

[rdoxenham]

Time for a bit of an update; spent this weekend starting the rebuild of the bottom end. Managed to get the main bearings, main cap studs, main caps, the crank, rods, and pistons in.

Here's how it started...

Some preparation bits...

Main cap studs installed with bearings...

New oil jets...

Piston rings gapped and installed...

Piston rings compressed and piston inserted into bore...

ARP rods throughout...

And DONE for the day...

Got a few questions-

1) Can I re-use the ARP rod bolts? I torqued them initially to 42lb/ft, but wasn't happy with the bearings, so readjusted and re-torqued. Any problems with this or do I need new bolts?

2) My piston ring gaps were perfect out of the box. I'm slightly concerned with this as I assumed that I would have to adjust to suit. I went for 0.015" top ring and 0.020" for second.

3) My bearing clearances for mains was 2thou, which I believe is perfect, and I got between 1.5 and 2.0 thou for big ends, but a lot closer to 2thou - any concerns here?

Thanks for your help guys.
Rhys

 

[Welsh.Dan]

@rdoxenham
Just stumbled upon this thread. Looks and sounds a good project. Look forward to the custom dash!

Any progress to report as your last post was a while back now. [emoji5]