November 2008
Sunday 30th November 2008
I've done a little research on the emissions of my Subaru 2.0 Diesel engine, and it appears to be producing some 2000% more particulates (grammes / kilometer) when compared to a Ford Mondeo 140ps Diesel from the 2008 range. The Subaru engine throws out some .021 g/km and the Mondeo, .001 g/km. This may explain why you hardly ever see a Mondeo smoke, but the Scooby, being 2000% worse, gives out a cloud. The BMW 3 Series is even better, with a claimed 0.000 g/km, but I find that hard to believe. Check out the following sites and make up your own mind. Particulates are shown in the bottom left corner of each page.
Subaru 2.0 Diesel [opens in new window]
Ford Mondeo 2.0 Diesel [opens in new window]
BMW 3 Series 2.0 Diesel [opens in new window]
Search for your vehicle [opens in new window]
I've not had a response from Subaru yet. It'll be interesting to see what they have to say. Euro IV limits are .025 g/km, so the Subaru scrapes through. But the Euro V limits, introduced in 2009 are .005 g/km, which would mean a return to the drawing board to get the Legacy through. The Impreza diesel which comes out in 2009, has changed to a closed type DPF, which may be the fix that needs applying to the Leggy.
Another busy week, with a flight to Glasgow midweek and a couple of days spent north of the border. I've still spent a few hours in the garage this week. I've reattached the engine steady bar from the Zetec, to the Duratec, but the engine does need a steady bar at the sump level, to stop it from pitching around. I'll mock something up this week. I will probably go for a solid mounting, with rod ends for adjustment. I've moved the webcamera too, so that the front of the car is in shot, rather than the back. I also tried the carbon bonnet again for size, and I'm going to use some Aerocatch's to keep the mountings as flush as possible with the bonnet.
Sunday 23rd November 2008
Hey, I won an award, for 2nd in Class in the Midland Speed Championship. Graham Millar took 1st place in his Escort Mk2, and I scraped 2nd with only 3 events, a reflection of the climate at the moment. I'll be doing more events next year with the Duratec installed. I started my new Consultants job in October, which is a 3-6 month contract, so I cant really afford to start planning that far ahead with all the uncertainty with the economic slow down at present. Still, I'll get the car finished in time for April's first round at Croft, though I'm not planning on entering anything until the car is running.
I've joined the Bloodhound SSC 1K supporters club, so I can help contribute to Richard Nobles latest World Speed Record. They have a meeting in Bristol on the 7th of December for supporters, so I may drive down in the Scooby to see how the project is progressing. Bloodhound SSC project
Wednesday 19th November 2008
Well, the Subaru now has 2,500 miles on the clock, which is a fair amount given that the car isn't 5 weeks old yet, and theres a niggling problem which I've written to Subaru UK about, which is to do with the volume of soot that is expelled whenever I accelerate. I've had the car back in to the main dealers once already, but they said that everything was within tolerances. However, the sheer quantity of smoke which the twin exhausts expel, is pretty embarrasing, and I cant even accelerate on the motorway without the lane behind me disappearing. I've tried different fuels, but the problem hasn't gone away. I wonder if any other Diesel Boxer owners have reported the same symptons. There is a Diesel Particulate Filter which collects the particulates and burns them off when the exhaust temperature reaches 600°C. But I simply dont believe that the filter could have the capacity for the extent of the smoke I'm seeing.
Monday 10th November 2008
I've bought another Rally Design Mk2 Escort pedal box, which will replace the one thats presently in the car. The new pedal box has a hydraulic master cylinder for the clutch, as the IB5 gearbox is hydraulic activated. I'll be selling the one off the car, which I adapted in 2006 to work with the Fiesta clutch release mechanism, once I've removed it first of course.
Sunday 2nd November 2008
I have clocked over 1200 miles on the Subaru already, from a very busy week spent toing and froing between home and Bury St Edmunds and Crawley. The car is superb to drive. The handling in the wet is far better than the Mondeo, and whereas before I'd opt to select a higher gear coming out of a roundabout, and avoiding wheelspin, with the Legacy I can just bury the throttle and the AWD system simply pulls it round. Amazing. I found a very intersting Subaru press release on the Diesel Boxer, which is a very smooth and quiet engine, given its producing 350NM of torque. And I'm getting 55mpg too.
I bought some M12x40mm high tensile bolts and M12 stainless washers from RSWWW this week, which I've used on the gearbox and engine mountings.
Congratulations to McLaren Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton on winning the F1 World Championship today in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I've never seen anything quite so dramatic as that last lap win. Incredible.