Yes now I have looked back over everything I have done to get to this point, I have realised I had the ignition map arse backwards. I had way, way too much advance at WOT.
Hell those poor pistons must have had hell, good job they are forged! With a bit of luck its just the head gasket! cos if I have to strip another 24 valve head or get that big ass lump out of the car..... well... I'll shlt a cactus!
What I must have been doing is getting the wrong combo of VE to Ign and tricking the WBO2 to give me the reading I was looking for, this must have produced knock that I couldn't hear or the knock i did hear for the second or so dealt the fatal blow.
Not to worry though, its a good excuse to have a look inside the engine after 2 years and see what has gone on, hopefully nothing too drastic as the head has been skimmed and the block ground during the last rebuild in '06, if I can get away with just the head gasket that will be outstanding.
I have this glimmer of hope inside, as the motor still runs quite smoothly, so there shouldn't be too much damage to the head. fingers most fucking enthusiastically crossed.
The major PITA is that this engine is the best part of a days work to get the head off, its a well complicated bit of kit with loads of bits in awkward places.
Having had the bitch out before is going to help a shed load though, especially as I made all the special tools to set the timing correctly.
But on the up side the exhaust manifold has to come off so its an ideal opportunity to fit the stainless equal length manifold, and at the same time the FSE fuel pressure regulator can go on. and measurements for the supercharger bracketry can be sorted and if there is any damage to the pistons (which I doubt) than I could change them for the dished 8.3:1 forged set I have in the loft and get the SC bolted on there pretty damn quick.
So even though the shit has hit the fan, or rather the coolant has sprayed all over the MS2 there is always an up side. yes I fucked up, but hey that's all part of a learning curve, I won't make the same mistakes again.
And in fairness it would be all too easy to blame the MS2 but that would be total bollocks! It did exactly what i told it to, right up until i disconnected it and chucked it in the passenger footwell. This is a prime example of operator error and inexperience, creating a very valuable lesson in how not to do it.
Oh and while writing this Fred posted and commented on him having the rina running sooner now, so... I hope you do my friend, but I
will have the bitch up and running in a week at the outside as I have to get back and fore to work 20 miles away so the motivation is there. this is, in some peoples books a major thing, for me its a fucking big hiccup, but a hiccup all the same.
I may have the same episode with FreeEMS but its not going to be down to the firmware or hardware it will be the human element which is the let down.
Learning curve, what more can you say eh? just a kick ass ski slope for some and a white knuckle snowball effect MOFO event for others.
