It's been a while since the last update, mainly because, since getting it back on the road, I've spent most of my spare time either tuning the engine or preparing the vehicle for it's first real off road outing since the transplant - the Steve Maddison 3 Peaks Challenge in Ireland.
It was a bit of a stressful time during the run up to the event as there seemed to be so many things to do, I had to cut a few corners here and there to get the motor into a position where it was capable of driving to the event and wouldn't let me down during the event. Silly things like making a mounting system for the new ground anchor, covering in all the fuel pump/filter/regulator, all took a lot of time but I made it, just
Ireland went really well, the whole vehicle performed well and did everything asked of it with the only problems all weekend being a snapped winch rope and a blown fuse on the ARB compressor. The winches and electrics behaved themselves with the new model of alternator coping much better with the loads. The only cause for concern was a particularly deep water section where, with no snorkel fitted as yet, I was getting very twitchy - driving along with one hand on the ignition switch trying to visualise where the air intake/filter was in relation to the water level as the water reached bonnet height. Fortunately the water, helped by the bow wave, was just shallow enough to avoid disaster and the engine never missed a beat despite the coil packs being immersed in water.
One interesting result of the weekend is that, as the engine topped the 1000 mile mark I started to open it up a bit more and I now know what a spinning Simex sounds like on Tarmac
I can now spin the wheels on dry tarmac at 30 MPH and, now I've got used to it, it's not as scary as it was the first few times I did it ! Driving my Range Rover now seems really pedestrian and I find myself missing the overtaking power of the Defender... maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll put an LS1 into my Range Rover.
Fuel consumption is difficult to peg atm because the transfer box is way too low geared so "cruising" at 70-80 mph was a steady 3000-3500 rpm. Once I get a higher ratio box in I'll do a proper MPG test so I can calculate the required fuel tank size for Australia. In Ireland it managed an average of around 12 MPG including some "enthusiastic" off road driving which didn't seem much different from the 3.9.
The engine has a couple of niggles at the moment, The rear crank oil seal is leaking oil and, especially when cold, the engine has a really bad case of piston slap. The oil seal is a bit of a pain but is easy enough to fix but I had been a bit worried about the piston slap so had done some research on t'internet and it seems to be a characterisic of the engine...
See:
http://www.pistonslap.com/ No, really !
I was a bit miffed if this was due to a manufacturing tolerance thing, especially as the engine is stripped and tolerances checked by the supplier when they add all the LS6 mods to it. The other LS1 has no sign of it at all and the consensus seemed to be they either do it or they don't...
Anyway, spoke to the engine builder last night and he's sending the parts for the oil seal and explained a) why I get piston slap and b) why the older engine doesn't... seems that they change the pistons anyway (so it's not a manufacturing thing) but they changed the type of piston they are fitting this summer and mine uses the new piston whilst the other engine uses the older style. The new pistons are forged molysomethingorother which are lighter and stronger than the old ones but are quite slack fitting until they get some heat into them. When you see a picture of the piston you suddenly realise why they may be prone to a bit of slap... (this is a factory version)
Anyway, good news is that it's normal for this type of performance piston and won't do any harm, bad news is I'll have to put up with the noise when it's cold.
Hoping to get the new transfer box in this weekend and do an MPG test on Sunday... fingers crossed !