clubstylus

Hi everyone My names Ross, And I recently purchased my first kit car... A stunning Stylus RT!

The Journey

Begun with a 6 hour train journey, 2 of which the girlfriend spend in the virgin trains toilet with travel sickness
then a short cab ride we arrived at Greg's brother in laws house just before 11.00 am

The Car!

Looked absolutely beautiful! But I have to say I was abit disappointed at first, after all the add did say how over £6k has been spent getting the car perfect...

The bonnet has a small crack under the light, and either side where it closes there was some light damage where it had closed onto the body of the car.
There was also bad paint damage where the doors weren’t adjusted properly.


The engine

Fired up beautifully, not even a hint of a tap, though the fuel pump was screaming its nuts off, Greg said this was down to the MOT blokes running the car out of fuel and the pump had picked up a bit of crap and blocked it.
Couple of small things that I noticed is the RPM didn’t work, i pointed it out to Greg and after a small rev it sprung into life!


The mistake

Was when all the excitement overwhelmed me and I the thought of a test drive didn’t even cross my mind! Anyway, Handed over the cash and took the keys and went on our merry way….

The Real Journey!

Began when we was leaving Gregs Brother in laws, I pulled away very carefully and the engine was very reluctant to go any were! Soon as I accelerated it would cut out! I was getting quite emotional at this point, with my previous car doing the same thing on my journey home from collecting it.. and that car turned out to be problem after problem after problem!
I turned straight back round and explained what was happening to Greg and he assured my it was fine when he was driving back from the mot place, so I offered to take him for a drive, after about 10 minutes Greg asked to take over.
In the end Greg gave me back 150 pounds, and in Gregs defense he did seem very genuine about not knowing about the misfire, and he was also very apologetic,

I was extremely disappointed at this time, and quite emotional that id just forked out thousands of pounds and I though it was going to turn out like the previous car!

Never the less we set off on our way home!

We had to take an emergency trip to Halfords on the way home to purchase a couple of packets of cable ties as Greg had kindly replaced the battery but it was too small and I wasn’t convinced it was going to stay there, after all we had a 250 mile ahead of us, Also purchased some wire and insulation tape so I had power for my TomTom, not ideal, bit it was a quick fix and it worked,
Also purchased a 5 ltr petrol can, and some bolts as Greg lost the ones that hold the roof down.
Cost £30

Whilst securing the battery down properly I noticed a kink in the fuel hose which explained the squealing pump…The braided fuel line (12mm ID) had been kinked and was crushed,(pics to come) After repositioning the pipe and trying to un-kink the pipe it seemed to run much better.

So we set off from Halfords, I was much happier now the car seemed to come on boost properly, in first and second, how ever I was suspicious of fuel starvation as it seemed to hold back at higher speeds, so I took it very gently from there onwards.


The journey continued.
….on and on and on!
Due to fuel starvation I daren’t push it over 60-65 mph,
Never the less it was a fantastic car to drive even on such a long journey!
Petrol tank is ridiculously small though!

Rain!

Ahh panic! Horrible dark clouds and it just started to rain, so I pulled over at the side of the motorway and we put the hood up. We were prepared! Had already brought some nuts & bolts from Halfords For the roof!
Major panic! Rain and the roof had studs already fitted to it, so only nuts were required, not bolts, and the bolts we picked up were the wrong size!

We shot down to the next service station, and there was a choice of Little Chef or BP petrol station, obviously neither of these had any nuts!

Superhero AA man to the rescue! There was a very kind AA chap who had some nuts in his van! What a relief!!


Petrol stop #3

Was a little more eventful then I would have hoped,
I switched the ignition on and soon as I pushed the start button all the lights on the dash went off! Did this 3 times so decided to push the car out of the petrol station, and wiggled about at the wires, didn’t make any difference, so when the ignition came back on, we just gave it a little push and I jumped in and jump started her!
And off we went,


Almost home!

So I decided my new pride and joy deserved a clean as it looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned for months!

Finally Home!

And all I wanted to do was to take it out for another drive!
Instead I set about fixing the drivers side door handle as the linkage managed to pop out at one of our many petrol stops!

.

Other Bits,

RPM Gauge not coming on turns out to be the voltage is low(11v) until you rev it up to about 1500-2000 rpm and then the alternator kicks in and Voltage jumps straight upto 13v, that will be getting changed shortly!


This was the first of many parts to be changed on the car.
since changing the fuel pipe the pump is almost silent again!
Cost £5


The car has been hesitating intermittently and this came down to the Facet fuel pump which feeds the swirl pot/catch tank in the engine bay was shot (pics to come)
The new one arrived today so that will be on the car shortly, Hopefully this will fix the hesitation!
Cost £80 pounds

Manifold to head gasket was blowing by the time I got home, which wasn’t a biggy, so I ordered a new one, and in preparation for the new gasket I begun to removed the manifold,
Cost £20

At this time I also noticed that the exhaust pipe from the turbo to the back box had blown through the weld so whilst taking that off I managed to sheer one of the turbo bolts!

The manifolds not with a friend at the moment getting welded up and he is going to see if he can ‘easy-out’ the sheered bolt…. Fingers crossed!
Cost TBC!


I am going to try to keep this updated regularly with any progress on the car, any problems, and any modifications!

I will update sometime this weekend if I mange to get it all fixed up!


Lots of plans so watch this space

Couple of pics of the car
The pic of the cup is what i got out of the facet pump! all metal swarf, oh also a spring and a plastic thing!

Looks like an eventfull buy. But it still is a good looking car. And I guess it can only get better now.

Astonished that the fuel pump was still running fine. But I'd check the high pressure filter and pump too, as debris might be in there too, even up to the injectors if parts are small enough. Hesitation might come from other debris still in the system.

Hi Ross & welcome to the Stylus world.

It is disappointing to read about your niggles. Have you owned a kit car before? as you seem to be taking these faults in your stride.

It looks like my fuel system is similar to yours. I have had several problems over the years, some of which may be due to its frequency - or lack of - use.

The facit feeder pump - I assume you are talking about the solid state unit. These are designed to run on carburetors, so require an amount of back pressure which they dont get on a continuous loop system. I have run this method in 2 cars now over a 12 year period, but have had to replace 3 units over that time.

Due to deposits from low fuel levels & dormant periods (work & time), the injection side has suffered. The fuel regulator seized, making the high pressure fuel pump work way to hard. I went through 3 pumps before I discovered this!. I now have a regulator with a pressure gauge on it (£35ish inc pp from USA when the exchange rate was ok). This may of also been the reason why 1 of the injectors fouled up at the same time. I replaced all the injectors with cleaned & flow tested units of the e bidding site.

The fueling is now spot on. Most of the faults where found during a rolling road session as I was convinced it was the engine management setting.

This car has a VERY long history so I wish you well to get everything sorted Don't judge Stylus's by your very unlucky problems . Just hope you didn't part with too much cash for it

Rob(pm to chat )

Werner Van Loock wrote:Looks like an eventfull buy. But it still is a good looking car. And I guess it can only get better now.

Astonished that the fuel pump was still running fine. But I'd check the high pressure filter and pump too, as debris might be in there too, even up to the injectors if parts are small enough. Hesitation might come from other debris still in the system.

It wasn’t running, I popped down to the garden centre and it gave up completely, after about 20 minutes I managed to get it running, well limping. but it was enough to get me home! that’s when I took it apart

kevp wrote:Hi Ross & welcome to the Stylus world.

It is disappointing to read about your niggles. Have you owned a kit car before? as you seem to be taking these faults in your stride.

It looks like my fuel system is similar to yours. I have had several problems over the years, some of which may be due to its frequency - or lack of - use.

The facit feeder pump - I assume you are talking about the solid state unit. These are designed to run on carburetors, so require an amount of back pressure which they dont get on a continuous loop system. I have run this method in 2 cars now over a 12 year period, but have had to replace 3 units over that time.

Due to deposits from low fuel levels & dormant periods (work & time), the injection side has suffered. The fuel regulator seized, making the high pressure fuel pump work way to hard. I went through 3 pumps before I discovered this!. I now have a regulator with a pressure gauge on it (£35ish inc pp from USA when the exchange rate was ok). This may of also been the reason why 1 of the injectors fouled up at the same time. I replaced all the injectors with cleaned & flow tested units of the e bidding site.

The fueling is now spot on. Most of the faults where found during a rolling road session as I was convinced it was the engine management setting.

No this is my first kit car As I said my previous car was a real nightmare! I always expected there to be work to do on the Stylus, even if it was “perfect”

Yep it’s a solid state pump made by facet, I brought the most powerful one I could find which was 45 GPH, at 10 psi,
You say it requires a amount of back pressure to work, Perhaps I could put a restrictor in the return line to the tank, Whats your thoughts?

Eventually I will take the tank out and have one made with a built in swirl pot eliminating the need for the second pump,
A solid state pump uses the fuel as lubrication, which makes it completely in appropriate for this job as It should only be placed where fuel will be continuous because when you go round a corner and the pump is starved of fuel it begins to wear out very quickly(metal on metal)
I shall be replacing all filters and I am going to purchase a new set of injectors and send them to be ultrasonically cleaned before they go in,

I have been looking into getting a fuel pressure gauge to put on the dash, due to all the fuelling issues I’ve had already so it would be nice to be able to moniter it to see any potential problems.
Last thing I want is fuel starvation.

welcome, its a very nice looking car, i hope you get it sorted. Did he take you for a test drive before you bought it?

As I mentioned on the phone -- cars that are near you Ross .

ORANGE Nissan turbo - Jasper
RED zetec TB's - Mike B
GREEN zetec carb's - Brian B
RED zetec TB's - Matt D
BLUE - Stuart P

There are others too just a bit further but the above stretch from BRIGHTON TO WATERLOOVILLE , not far really

hi ross
i am a new stylus owner too ive had the stylus for about a month now mines a 1300 cross flow version with the early fury chassis i bought it from dave hunter, and just like you i had mamoth journey home with her mine was situated in newcastle and i had to drive her back to somerset ,357 miles 5 and a half hrs later i was home. but unlike you i had not problems except the ehaust started to blow. no biggy i was really impressed, as the car is quite old now. i do agree the tanks are quite small. i had a tiger avon before i bought the stylus which i built myself but once id finished the bug attracted me again although i didnt want the hassel of building from scratch, ive stripped mine in the interior and im in the middle of fiting a new exhaust not as easy as it seems when youve bought one for a westfield i think some chassis mods may have to be inserted and the battery moved oh and the alternater lowered.
anyway enough of me blathering on. all i really wated to say is dont worry about all the little teething probs it all part of owning a kit and the stylus is a pretty formidable one of great quality i think we both have made a great decision to puchase them,
speek soon cheers
from craig allen

Ahhhh - your the guy that bought the 'it is now I think the best spec'd Stylus around' car from Pistonheads. I'd be very interested in taking a look, I was starting to think mine was a bit overpriced on there (well, it is a bit I know, buit I don't really want to sell it!!!) but now hearing about the troubles I don't feel quite so bad!!

Anyway, as others have said, all kit cars have their niggles and lists of things needed to be done. You're very welcome to come down and compare notes.

Ross, if you need a decent set of injectors the ones in my car (standard SR20DET) ones will be coming out to be replaced by 555's. They are perfect and covered 55k miles.

Jasper

Sorry for the lack of updates, been very busy!!

So...heres the progress report!

1.Changed the manifold gasket which worked out quite well.

2. Next task was to remove the exhaust downpipe and get it welded up as it was blowing,
This didnt turn out how I planned, I managed to sheet one of the heads off the bolts, I new it was coming and was soo gentle with it but the inevitable happened.
Managed to remove the stud with an 'Easy-out'
After that I bolted the manifold back on and she was good to go again!

3. I started to notice the key got very hot after driving around at night. it turned out this was due all the electrics of the car running directly through the ignition and not through any relays, infact I havent found 1 relay on the car yet!
I decided to investigate the state of the wiring!
The wiring was an absolute state as you can see so I set about removing as much of it as I can! Thats the dash removed and most of the appauling wiring too!

After removing all the wiring I set about removing the crap job of the firewall etc!

Here you can see where I cut out the return from the standard bonnet, and the bodge fibreglass either side!

The existing firewall was just a mess and I had no choice but to remove it completely, I pulled lightly and the whole thing peeled off in 1 go! took about than 30 seconds! And after a little bit of cutting and straightening the edges

This is the sidelight/indicator which was just stuck behind the hole in the bonnet with a shed load of silicone!!

Thats all the updates for now!

Loads of parts been delivered in the past week!
Will get pics of it all soon

good work, but i have to say Oh Dear you must be dissapointed at having to do so much work to it, but it WILL be worth it in the end.