Winter re-spec

[taipan]

There are quite a few sleeper vids out there. The Swedes seem particularly besotted with them :approve:

Parents had a burgundy Volvo 240 estate when they were in Canada in the 70s/80s. What I would do to track that car down now (if it even survived). Brilliant motor and just looks so right to my eyes, though I think the 140 edges it in the retro stakes!

Going to keep things simple for now Brett. I'm able to get my FI kicks in the daily and I'm pretty set on keeping the vee n/a really.

 

[taipan]

Have had a very reasonable quote from Chris at EFI-Parts for the install and mapping of a standalone ECU. The car will be going to Cheshire in the New Year.

Happy bunny

 

[Brett]

Is that megasquirt?

 

[taipan]

Nope, adaptronic.

 

[Brett]

Ahhh i remember now. Arent they the ones who have that silly horsepower 172 powered R5? Ifso, im sure your onto a good thing.

 

[taipan]

Not sure about adaptronic themselves, but from what I can gather they do solid mid-range ECUs that offers some of the bells and whistles of the top notch stuff. For my limited needs it sounds spot on.

EFI have done some crazy stuff. Have a squizz at the customer cars section of the website. There are some absolutely mental creations out there!!!!

 

[hualpa_jo]

Is this going to be a complete standalone setup or more like a piggyback where the standard ECU stays in the car?

 

[taipan]

Is this going to be a complete standalone setup or more like a piggyback where the standard ECU stays in the car?

It sounds like it'll fall under the "piggyback" umbrella though that seems to be a capture-all term for anything that doesn't involve stripping out and binning the existing ECU and loom.

From what I can work out there is no intercepting, modyfying and fooling of the OEM ECU signal as there would be with some piggback installations. This would be a "standalone" ECU running the engine via a sub loom with the OEM ECU taking care of all the dash dials, ABS and other OEM functionality.

This is ideal for my needs as all I want to be able to do really is mess about with engine parameters. I don't want a stack dash/sadev/traction control etc etc, so anything above and beyond what I'm opting for would be better put towards the ITB fund.

 

[taipan]

Wheels back to OEM, plenum spacers back on, trophy coils and leads changed, oil and filter service done (about 20 miles travelled since last service) :rollseyes: .

Just the wrap to come off now then before it heads off for brain surgery.

Bits and bobs to go in/on in the next few weeks:
- Ph2 OEM spolier (in Iceberg)
- Ph1 rear lights
- Full ph2 interior carpet
- Ph1 headlights
- Full chrome badge set.
- Amber side and front indicators

Yes, shock horror. I'm going back to an (almost) 100% OEM exterior. Will offset the bonkers engine/interior rather nicely I think

 

[Brett]

Sounds perfect mate. Ph1 rear lights = Win!
Sooner or later, stock looking ph1's will be a force to reckon with and icebergs will be proved to be fastest!

 

[Lankan]

Just the wrap to come off now then before it heads off for brain surgery.

What's it like as regards the paint once the wrap was removed? Do you have to do any touch up?

Seems like you are on roll now Jon :approve:

 

[Kett]

Bits and bobs to go in/on in the next few weeks:
- Ph2 OEM spolier (in Iceberg)
- Ph1 rear lights
- Full ph2 interior carpet
- Ph1 headlights
- Full chrome badge set.
- Amber side and front indicators

Yes, shock horror. I'm going back to an (almost) 100% OEM exterior. Will offset the bonkers engine/interior rather nicely I think

Sounds perfect!

 

[Brett]

So come on, spill the bean Jon! What's going to turn this ph2 motor into a bonkers power plant?

 

[V6 2HOT]

So come on, spill the bean Jon! What's going to turn this ph2 motor into a bonkers power plant?

Nothing as its a ph2 engine not a ph1 engine Oooooooo phase wars being reignited! :rofl:

 

[taipan]

Sounds perfect mate. Ph1 rear lights = Win!

Enjoyed having the more modern look of the Ph2 rear lights but, must say, I’m quite getting into this OEM malarkey now and the rear lights (and spoiler and plastic grills to the keener eyed) are the most obvious difference between the two. Ph1 and proud. Lol.

What's it like as regards the paint once the wrap was removed? Do you have to do any touch up?

I’m told that the level of touch-up all depends on how professionally the wrap was put on in the first place. I’ve seen a butchered GTR that had knife cuts and chips and scratches all over it once the wrap was removed. [smilie=icon_eek.gif]

The guys that did mine have a very good reputation, so I’m not too fearful that horrors are lurking. From (very distant) memory there were a couple of blemishes to get sorted with the Iceberg paint anyhow, so the car will need to go to the bodyshop at some stage. Can just get everything done in one go if needs be.

Sounds perfect!

Cheers Kett, definitely at unexpected turn for me, but I’ve become an old married man since I first bought the Vee. A bright blue smurf mobile wasn’t befitting my new found love of pipes and slippers! Lol

I imagine the end result (pre-ITBs) will be similar to your car. Perhaps mine will be a fraction down BHP-wise. Whatever the result should be brilliant fun

So come on, spill the bean Jon! What's going to turn this ph2 motor into a bonkers power plant?

Well, perhaps bonkers was an overstatement. I’m still just going to keep things within the bounds of sensibleness and persist with my ITB aim and continue the weight-loss diet. Having an easily mappable car will make things a bit more fluid in the engine mod dept. but I don’t want some FI monster that spends it’s whole time broken, sorry "being tweaked"!

You had the right idea matey. Bung a proven power plant/box in there with a whole load of off-the-shelf parts available. Do it once and do it properly and all that! I’d just keep nibbling away with the OEM motor and probably end up blowing something up!

Nothing as its a ph2 engine not a ph1 engine Oooooooo phase wars being reignited! :rofl:

Back in your box, you. Or else no more free car washes.

 

[jimm]

good job man . have been thinking about a wrap myself. unsure on what colour yet though

 

[taipan]

good job man . have been thinking about a wrap myself. unsure on what colour yet though

I would recommend wrapping to anybody. The technology has moved on so far in the last few years, and the price is forever being driven down. As with all things you need to be careful about who you choose to undertake the work, but they really are a no-brainer for someone that wants a reversible colour change. Free paint protection throw in as well

What colours are on the shortlist?

 

[taipan]

So quick trip across the country on Saturday to collect a whole bunch of parts that have been sitting around at Scott’s for a while. Was one of those cold sunny mornings, with very light traffic. Avoided motorways and stuck to A and B roads. Brilliant little drive and surprised how composed the MPS is with only a basic LSD and fancy map keeping all the torque in check. Tyres (Pirelli P-Zeros) are simply dreadful though, with the same shortcomings I found with the Audi (also on Pirellis). Just really wishy-washy with no indication of what’s going on up front. The only other thing I noticed was the springs could do with a change. Dampers are perfect but OEM spring rate does leave a little to be desired with quick direction changes. Ominously, I’ve started a mod shopping list, but really happy with the standard car for now.

Anyhow, this is meant to be about the vee! Hadn’t seen it in a while, so took the opportunity to have a good nose around. Must say the bulkhead is absolutely first class workmanship and is exactly what I envisaged in my mind’s eye. With the covers/carpet/foam gone there are bits of the engine bay that do need a bit of cleaning/tidying up, but there’s a lot less finishing to do than I thought. Really happy with the “on-show” look. Haven’t started/driven the car so I can’t say whether the engine noise is much louder (expect it will be), but it’s a weekend indulgence not a daily driver so comfort is pretty far down the priority list.

Having “forgotten” what the interior of a ph1 looks like I must say it wasn’t a pleasant recollection! Lol. Such a horrid effort, though you have to cut costs somewhere I guess! Luckily there is an excellent trimmer near me, so I’m already scheming in terms of lifting/modernising the cabin a bit. Nothing too extravagant, just beautifying what’s already there; hopefully tastefully! I’ve got a road-trip planned for early Summer next year - which I’m pretty confident I can make - so I don’t want to balls that up by biting off more than I can chew. This stage is very much about getting the mechanicals on song though. The car has been pencilled in up North for early January, so there is light at the end of that particular tunnel!

 

[Brembov6]

Looking good mate :approve:

 

[taipan]

Crazy day of driving last week to collect the car from Scott’s and drop it off at Chris’s for the next stage of the project. Day started at 7am and finished at 7pm! Fantastic little road trip though and a huge thanks to Nas for helping me out on the day; you saved me many miserable hours on the train matey :approve: :approve:

It was my first proper drive of the car since September 2011 and, to be honest, I felt like a new owner again having to get used to everything! Lol. I was a bit worried about the exhaust system and lack of covers = bleeding ears, but, to my surprise, though a conversation would have been a bit more shouty than usual, the noise levels were really rather refined. Whilst I didn’t once stray over 4k rpm, it was really nice to see that when it wants to be it can still be a refined cruiser. 2+hrs of solid driving and I wasn’t deaf or knackered and I couldn’t smell any petrol/oil/engine at all; a real credit to Scott’s bulkhead fitting skills then. The car itself feels great to drive with the BCs set to soft - just hoovers all the lumps and bumps up. I will most likely spend a lot of time once the car’s back driving up and down the same stretch of road to dial in the optimum suspension settings. The inner geek is really looking forward to it!

There are only a couple of niggles:
1) The driver-side washer nozzle is blocked so it creates the usual super soaker passenger side vs dribbly driver side. Nothing a needle shouldn’t be able to sort out but thankfully we were heading North and not South or else the lack of ability to clean a dirty windscreen would have been a real issue!

2) The return to idle is spazzing out now the TTV is installed leading to stalling if, when coming to a stop from high speeds (motorway exit junction roundabouts for instance) you don’t downshift through the gears with throttle blipping. I should say at this point that the car is running a Ph2 engine with a lot of extra inlet air on a ph1 ECU and hybrid loom and so it's already pretty grumpy. Having spoken to others that have had the TTV installed they report no ill-effects, so don’t read this and necessarily decide against the TTV; the benefits - particularly against the ph2 OE DMF - far outweigh the unique downside I have. Chris says he sees RTI problems a lot with aftermarket supercharged cars where the engine isn’t used to the load of the supercharger at idle and it’s a relatively simple thing to solve. Worse-case scenario he’ll have to run an independent throttle controller to give him full access.

3) Brake discs and pads will need doing all round. More out of caution than anything else as it seems there will be an increase power. Though pedal feel is also pretty ropey at mo. Guess it sitting around for 2 and a bit years really hasn’t helped!

Got a chance to have a nice long chat with Chris and immediately got a good impression. He seems extremely knowledgeable and diligent and took the time to really try and understand the car, the modifications that have been done/will be done, me and what I ultimately want from the car. We agreed that 270-280bhp is reasonable at this point and that 300bhp with ITBs is probably selling the car a bit short - 310-320bhp would be ball park based on his experience. On the whole though, we both agreed that I shouldn't really care what it puts out as long as it performs reliably and drives well. 255bhp and I’ll be happy!

Took the chance to have a nose around his 5 GT turbo drag car. Once upon a time it was one of the fastest FWD in the country with a 10.3 at 140mph, though he’s dropped down the rankings a bit since he took a step back in 2010. He’s building it back up again for summer 2014 with 850bhp (from 700bhp) and aiming for the 9’s. Unbelievable (and intimidating!) little machine close up considering the amount of power in something that weighs less than 800kg with him in it. Must be a giggle to drive and with a couple of quick mods it can be made road legal - surprsiingly good in the twisties apparently!

Anyhow, other than the above minor niggles, the car is faultless and everything I hoped it would be. So, so pleased [smilie=yay.gif] Once the engine is behaving itself it’s time to enjoy the thing, with the next stage of the project not due to start until the winter. Be great to be able to attend some meets in 2014 with my actual car!!