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35071

General Discussion Area / Re: Petrol - does it really go 'off'

« on: 17 April 2007, 22:26:19 »

If it doesn't smell too bad I think the best way to get shot of it would be to add it to a car with an already almost full tank. It shouldn't do any harm when well diluted. It may well cause problems if used undiluted.

Kevin

35072

General Discussion Area / Re: performance

« on: 19 April 2007, 15:17:14 »

There is no such thing as an accurate rolling road, especially if you have the figures in flywheel (which is just a guess).

If you guess at the losses of course your result will be a guess. If you measure them accurately using a coast down test and the dynamometer itself is calibrated you'll come close to the results you would see on an engine dyno.

Most rolling roads work on the "Guess" principle however, IME. Either that or the "tell the customer the figure he wants to talk about down the pub" principle.

The problem is, measuring power "at the wheels" isn't any good either because the figures are very sensitive to tyres, tyre pressure, weight on the rollers, etc. OK if you're comparing runs from the same car on the same day but not between vehicles.

I think rolling roads have their uses in tuning, especially when making comparisons between settings that the seat of the pants isn't sensitive enough to notice or when you need to be kicking out 200 odd BHP and tweaking a parameter at the same time. Having mapped a car solely on the road I wouldn't complain if someone gave me a rolling road. There's only so long you can spend at 200 BHP on the A31! Then again, map a car on the rollers and you'll need to finish it off on the road.

Cold morning are good, especially if you have a turbocharged car!  

In a Turbo you've got the double whammy of cold intake air to the compressor and an intercooler / chargecooler working really well too!


Kevin

35073

General Discussion Area / Re: performance

« on: 18 April 2007, 09:44:36 »

Do not underestimate the importance of a cool intake charge.

Which explains why I have always felt that my car runs better at night then!

Yes. I've noticed this too. My other car has the intakes poking out of a hole in the bonnet (it's a Westfield, not a Nova, BTW) and the difference between performance on a warm day and a cool evening is ... well, .. like night and day!

Kevin

35074

General Discussion Area / Re: performance

« on: 17 April 2007, 22:08:35 »

I've seen a 1.8 K series make 253BHP on an accurate rolling road. Not much of it was standard though. Certainly none of the moving parts! That was at circa 9,000 RPM by the way

They can be made reliable these days if you use something like a scholar conversion that keeps the liners located more accurately. Deep pockets required though.

I can't imagine a cone filter would improve the Omega much. The designers wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of fitting the multiram system only to put a restrictive airbox on it, and the air intake is right at the front, making best use of the cold air.

On my last car I rebuilt the engine and after a few weeks noticed a big drop in power once it had warmed up. I found some of the intake ducting had come apart so it was drawing air from the engine bay rather than the normal location in front of the radiator. As soon as the engine warmed up the radiator started flooding the engine bay with warm air. Do not underestimate the importance of a cool intake charge.

Kevin

35075

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega MV6 Performance

« on: 29 March 2007, 10:52:39 »

Not sure I'd be rushing to lighten the flywheel on an Omega. On a very light car it can make quite a difference because not only do you lose the weight of the flywheel but also the engine doesn't have to accelerate it up to 6/7/8k RPM (depending on state of tune) with each gear. On a light car, the loss of momentum when pulling away doesn't really matter too much either.

On an Omega, the car is pretty heavy to start with so losing 10 Kg is neither here nor there. I suspect, whilst the engine might "feel" more lively when revving in neutral, the effect of the flywheel on acceleration in-gear is probably negligible. The car is also a heavy vehicle to pull away so the reduced momentum in the flywheel will probably make it less pleasant to drive in traffic.

The exhaust manifolds look really poor to me. There is no "primary" at all, with the 3 ports on each side connecting straight into the downpipe. Some tubular manifolds with proper tuned primaries would be a very interesting mod to try.

Kevin

35076

General Discussion Area / Re: Omega MV6 Performance

« on: 29 March 2007, 10:04:09 »

A 4 bar fuel pressure regulator

Presumably you'd change the fuel pressure only in conjunction with a chip that's calibrated for a higher fuel pressure? Otherwise, you'll just end up over-fuelling the engine.

Kevin

35077

General Discussion Area / Re: Worst roadkill road??

« on: 18 April 2007, 23:54:38 »

I LOVE driving on that road...... Do it on the way to croyde bay....
 
So open... can really loose perception of speed!

Yeah. I miss going down there every so often. Used to love climbing those hills in the Westfield when all the caravanners were about, grinding up the hills at 40 MPH. 200BHP and 650Kg meant you didn't really notice you were climbing!

Kevin

35078

General Discussion Area / Re: Worst roadkill road??

« on: 18 April 2007, 10:31:05 »

Don't remember ever seeing road kill there before. Some of the speeds I've taken that road at in my youth a pheasant could have been really nasty.

There's a little lane near us with a sign up, around this time of year "Peasants crossing". Seems they breed pheasants nearby and the young ones like to cross this lane in an almost continuous procession at a particular spot.

Anyway, you approach the spot in question and there are a queue of pheasants crossing the road. There are always half a dozen squished ones on the road. The alive ones look at you as you approach in a ton and a half of metal, then stop and look at their squashed brethren, then back at you. You'd think the penny would drop and they'd think "Sh!t! I'm going to get flattened by that big lump of metal". But no, they just continue ambling along, oblivious.

The lane's also a particularly good hill climb in the Westfield but I am nice to the pheasants. A mate of mine got a rabbit wrapped round his propshaft at <mumble> MPH once, and that was not a pleasant clean-up job!

Kevin

35079

General Discussion Area / Re: My hand...

« on: 19 April 2007, 09:57:07 »

couldn't get hold of any assembly grease so easily.. do they sell it in halfrauds?

Don't worry. I've got a bottle of Torco MPZ left over from and engine rebuild. I'll bring that along.

Kevin

35080

General Discussion Area / Re: My hand...

« on: 19 April 2007, 09:33:47 »

I've got one.  

If the belt's used you have to align the tensioner marks differently. I guess this allows for a new belt to "give" a little bit.

Kevin

35081

General Discussion Area / Re: Interesting Cam Belt article

« on: 17 April 2007, 15:22:07 »

Even I know all Senators used Chains.....

Yeah, that raised an eyebrow with me too.

Kevin

35082

General Discussion Area / Interesting Cam Belt article

« on: 17 April 2007, 13:30:38 »

http://www.gates.com/europe/file_save_common.cfm?thispath=Europe%2Fdocuments_module&file=018_019_PMM_MAR04.pdf

Kevin

35083

General Discussion Area / Re: Lights on chime....

« on: 18 April 2007, 09:47:38 »

next time pop the gearbox selector lever cover up (hooks in at end nearest ashtray, clips in at handbrake end - note that on the facelift it's the entire black plastic bit as opposed to just the gaiter on pre and mini facelifts), you can then push down the yellow tab on the left of the selector and move it out of park  

Ahh, yes. That would have done it too. Thanks for the tip.

Kevin

35084

General Discussion Area / Re: Lights on chime....

« on: 06 April 2007, 20:41:35 »

Well, my head was in the driver's footwell today and I remembered this poll. Mine comes from a little white relay-like object with a louvred cover in the relay panel under the fusebox cover. So driver's side but not the switch.

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to pull it out while I was working on the stereo instead of letting it slowly drive me insane. (Had to have gearbox out of "P" for access, had to have driver's door open, wouldn't let me remove keys!)

Kevin

35085

General Discussion Area / Re: Broke my hand :(

« on: 16 April 2007, 07:19:32 »

Ouch! Really sorry to hear that. Best get yourself down to A+E as you say.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

Kevin