With the new head and cams fitted it was simply a case of bolting on the inlet and exhaust, change the required fuel settings in the ECU, along with a slightly revised map, adjust the fuel pressure, and start the engine again.
Again the engine started first time, but this time I had to get it running at fast idle of 2000rpm in order to reduce the load on the lobes. This is where the closed loop function of the ECU came in very handy. I was able to allow the ECU to control the injector duration based on the wideband sensor input, whilst I gave it a target voltage to achieve. This meant all I had to do was wind the throttle stop up to the rpm I wanted and let the ECU adjust the fuelling to give me a slightly rich. It’s cheating a bit, but it certainly took the stress out of trying to get the engine running well straight away for the cams. I let the engine run for 20 minutes like this, and I continuously checked around the car for leaks in the water, oil and the fuel system – but didn’t find any.
That was it, after around 4 months of lots of hard work and pretty much continuous learning on my part, the main upgrade of the year was complete. All that remained now was to get the car out on the road and some more learning, this time about engine mapping.