In two weeks time we will be racing at Castle Combe for Rounds 7 & 8 of the championship. The engine is far from ready however. We did a compression test after last weekend and it showed up an issue with cylinder 2 and perhaps cylinder 3. If you want exact numbers then cylinder 2 was 60 psi below cylinder 4 (the highest).
We took the cylinder head off to investigate further, and whilst doing so confirmed that the cam timing was correct so this was not an issue. Putting fluid in all of the cylinders and in the cylinder head to check for leaks revealed that the piston rings seem fine and we have a valve issue. I was glad in some respects that it is a problem with the cylinder head as any issues with the bottom end of the engine would involve taking the whole engine out and that means even more work to fit into a short time scale.
We have three issues to solve; poor compression, high oil consumption and smoke on decelearation. The last point is illustrated during the video below (camera car is two places behind me).
My experience as an engine builder is zero, it might be painfully obvious but I can’t see it at the moment. It seems to me like quite a precision part of the car to be messing about with and the potential to make things worse is enormous. I’ll update this with any more information as we progress.
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