Lemon's X47 track ST

Stripped the engine down today to try and find out what happened.

Firstly did a compression check and had 180 across all cylinders which was a surprise, but when I looked into the bores it was clear that something had been banging around in there. The pistons and head had massive chunks taken out of them and there was vertical scoring along the bores. There was some small blank chunks of metal pressed into the head and bits kept falling out as we stripped the car down.

I pulled the turbo and split it and found that the turbine had broken apart. The turbine material is a match with the small black bits of metal, but what I can't understand is how exactly they got in there. I would have expected them to go straight out the exhaust but they have made their way into the combustion chamber.











Annoyingly when we pulled the cam covers off the cams look perfect, almost like new! It's a shame that this engine has survived so much only to be taken out by a Pumaspeed turbo



Picking up a replacement engine next week and will hopefully get it fitted over the weekend. I'll go back to stock turbo for now so it runs, but will be going S280 in the near future.

Picked up a replacement engine last week - JTJB engine on 55k miles with an S280.



Was a big day yesterday - firstly went to Thruxton to sit my ARDS exam which I passed. It's the exam you need to sit in the UK to get your MSUK competition race license. This will allow me to compete in circuit racing, Time Attack, hill climbing or anything else I might want to do. It starts with a classroom theory test and then you go out with an examiner on track and they asses your driving to see if they think you'd be safe in a grid full of other cars.

Afterwards drove to the garage to get the engine fitted. Took about 12 hours to get the old engine out, do the timing belt and water pump and then get everything refitted. Haven't been for the maiden voyage yet, but should hopefully get it booked in with TRS at the end of the month to have it tuned for the S280.





The replacement engine was on its original belt but was at least in time. The engine came with a new FoMoCo timing bet kit so swapped it over while the engine was out.



Back together and running by midnight!

I probably would've done the water pump as well while it was all apart (unless you removed and inspected it and it was in perfect condition?).

The photo is from before I did it - the water pump was done too!

Yet to decide if I want to do Time Attack or club racing next year, but either way there's a few things I need to do (and a few things I want to do) to be ready.

First up was to install wire tow loops - the MSUK rule book says that 1 front and 1 rear is required, but 2 at each end is preferred. I wanted to preserve the fixed front tow hook so I have them coming out of the grille. I used an M10 12.9 bolt with a thick washer on top and bolted them into the crash bars with nylock nuts. While I had the bumper off, I also installed the MGC splitter brackets. Still need to pick up some plywood to make the splitter.

The last few big items to do before I can get a test scrutineering are:
- Fit an FIA approved seat
- 6 point FIA harness
- Plumbed in fire extinguisher
- Replace my existing battery cut off switch with one that's accessible from outside the car
- FIA rain light

And the things I don't need to do, but will:
- Refit oil cooler
- Drop the car 10-20mm - just need to make sure I'm still above the 40mm minimum clearance