Today I took the racingMetro to a Wigton Motor Club organised rolling road day at JDM, near Carlisle. I was supposed to take the Peugeot but when I started it up yesterday to put it on the trailer, it started leaking coolant and it was clear that the cooling system was pressurised as the expansion tank filled up. Further inspection revealed a split bleed valve. I hope it's just sucking in some air and not something more serious but I didn't have time to fix it so I popped the Metro on the trailer instead.
James and I set off at around 8.15am for the journey down to Carlisle. When we arrived, there was a diesel Citroen being abused on the rollers. Turned out it was Peter Garforth (who had organised the day), getting his towcar chipped.
We set about getting the car unloaded whilst the other cars got tested in turn. There was a lovely old Lotus Cortina which made about 110bhp, Peter Keen had a wee mg Midget with a mini A-series engine on a big Weber carb. I never saw what power it made but it sounded good. Dave 'the destroyer' Exton brought his MR-2 and seemed surprised when it made 169bhp - only 1 short of what it had when it left the factory 20 years ago.
My turn came round and I warmed up the Metro before driving, with some trepidation, on to the rollers. The guy asked if it had any engine work and commented that you don't see many of these anymore. Anyway, first run and the car sounded sweet. Peak power was 114bhp. Second run and it made 116bhp at 5770rpm. It was about 10bhp more than I expected so I was well pleased.
Thanks to Peter for organising the day and it certainly got me thinking I should get the Metro sorted sooner rather than later......
The dyno graph
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