Performance Cars

[Austin]

quite jelous of some of your cars, im running a ford focus 2002 ex police with lpg conversion, theres a few mods done by the cops like suspension, nothing major but im needing the cv joint replaced pretty soon.

 

im planning a carpc install running Centrafuse i.c.e software as soon as i get my 7" Lilliput touch screen for the dash and obdII reader for a digi dash read out that centrafuse has.

 

 

no pics yet it looks terrible as it needs to be resprayed and trim bits put back on, the cops really kicked the crap out of what is really a good car

 

I'd suggest going looking on the lexus owners forums about carpooters one of the members did a massive amount of posting about the hows and whys and pitfalls of putting them in it may be for a lexus but its going to be pretty generic. As for cv joints eurocarparts is your friend on that one if you can do the work yourself i did the entirety of my megane driveshafts discs brakes suspension and springs all round and an air filter for under 250 notes

 

Steve,

 

The zeds need to be FI to be real fun and you have to do some stripping away of the excess weight but its very much horses for courses if you want a daily driver then you don't want to be pulling out alot of gear. Ever thought about the idea of an engine swap rather than going with an uprate on the lotus? and you are right its sacreligious to make the lotus a looker rather than a driver its meant to be a sports car the next step would be more basic and more handling/power not more tim westwood

[Steve Walker]

Yawn.

I've got a 20 year old Peugot 406

 

It's got a wheel in each corner and takes me and three other adults from Southampton to Glasgow in eight hours, in relative comfort, without having to take on fuel.

 

 

We also have a cheap boring comfortable practical motor (see below) though being petrol and four wheel drive it isn't so economical. The other cars are a hobby, though, the fact that they are also perfectly good A-B transport for a child-free couple is by-the-by

 

The fishing wagon:

 

 

I do have a soft spot for big internal combustion engines but you'll need to squeeze another 90,000 bhp out of it before it'll whet my appetite.

 

Youtube Video ->

 

That's not the biggest version any more. The latest has 2 more pistons and is a straight 14.

 

Lightness through clever engineering is more my cup of tea

[Steve Walker]

Ever thought about the idea of an engine swap rather than going with an uprate on the lotus?

 

Maybe at some point in the future, if I keep it long enough. Of the S2 cars the earlier models with the Rover K-series make a better starting point for a Honda swap because they are lighter out of the box, so almost all of the off-the-shelf conversions are for those cars. There is one company now putting the K20A (with or without supercharger) into Toyota engined Elises, but it ain't cheap. The other alternative is just to supercharge the Toyota, but reliability then suffers.

 

I'm just going to spend a few hundred quid on it for now and concentrate on making it nicer to drive rather than necessarily quicker. The remap doesn't give it any more power, it just lowers the point at which the variable valve timing switches to high lift, meaning you don't drop out of the high lift zone if you upshift before the redline. To be honest, opportunities to use what performance it already has on the road without getting clapped in irons are limited!

[chesters1]

To give people something to point and gawp at and to swap tips and get infor have a new car thread

 

Heres mine and an abbrieviated list of mods

 

 

It runs a 2jz-gte hybrid twin off a stand alone engine management system with launch control4, 650cc injectors, HKS Intercooler, Greddy boost controller supplied by a 450lph fuel pump through a TRD limited slip diff onto Tien coilovers with a full TRD race chassis support and sway bar set up which gently touch the road on 19" Finelli recessed alloys. its rolling roaded at 450bhp when my new big single goes in and some different internals i am expecting to see that raise by at least 50 -75bhp (this is at the wheels btw)

4 wheel geometry is set up by Chris at Centre of Gravity mods and upgrades by yours truly. And yes i am considering nos if i can figure out how to uprate the tiptronic gearbox without having to buy a boostlogic one i'm waiting for this one to go pop as it is

got a 20 year old volvo 240 with 280,000 miles on the clock it will still be running when yours is being sorted for the scrap by 6 year old indians

hopefully your insurance company knows of all those mods?

Edited November 2, 2010 by chesters1

[Austin]

got a 20 year old volvo 240 with 280,000 miles on the clock it will still be running when yours is being sorted for the scrap by 6 year old indians

hopefully your insurance company knows of all those mods?

 

lol its a pre problem lexus the 2jz is absolutely bulletproof and supports upto 500bhp without even looking at any of the ancilliaries and will probably be still going when the volvo has turned into a fossil or rusted away

and yes all mods are declared to a specialist company its not worth my while to lose about 5-6k of supporting mods plus a car for the sake of a few pounds on insurance.

 

You're a real ray of sunshine you are what do you do for fun read obituaries

[Austin]

Maybe at some point in the future, if I keep it long enough. Of the S2 cars the earlier models with the Rover K-series make a better starting point for a Honda swap because they are lighter out of the box, so almost all of the off-the-shelf conversions are for those cars. There is one company now putting the K20A (with or without supercharger) into Toyota engined Elises, but it ain't cheap. The other alternative is just to supercharge the Toyota, but reliability then suffers.

 

I'm just going to spend a few hundred quid on it for now and concentrate on making it nicer to drive rather than necessarily quicker. The remap doesn't give it any more power, it just lowers the point at which the variable valve timing switches to high lift, meaning you don't drop out of the high lift zone if you upshift before the redline. To be honest, opportunities to use what performance it already has on the road without getting clapped in irons are limited!

 

Owners club track days are your friend for trying out the cars performance and that a very good choice for a utility car. I'm not that familiar with the lotus but remember anythings possible with a big enough hammer plus the amount of tuning equipment for jap cars is immense might have a look into it as an "intellectual" exercise

[watatoad]

I'd get too embarrassed about mine to put a photo up.

[Austin]

I'd get too embarrassed about mine to put a photo up.

 

Whys that toad? i always run a smaller car for economy as well as the lex and the slight of hand and cunning thats put into keeping them roadworthy is as difficult as performance tuning. I suppose it would have been better to call the thread modified rather than performance as adding something to carry your tackle is in the same ballpark as the modified cars you see around

[Andy_1984]

I'd suggest going looking on the lexus owners forums about carpooters one of the members did a massive amount of posting about the hows and whys and pitfalls of putting them in it may be for a lexus but its going to be pretty generic. As for cv joints eurocarparts is your friend on that one if you can do the work yourself i did the entirety of my megane driveshafts discs brakes suspension and springs all round and an air filter for under 250 notes

 

yup there's quite a few pitfalls but nothing i don't think i cant handle, the one im more worried about is shock/vibrations im still trying to think of the best way to protect it. there's also the problem with using windows as the os, id much rather have Linux but centrafuse doesn't run on Linux and i don't like Linux carpc software so im currently messing around with Xpe (windows xp embedded) to try keep boot times down and keep it as bare bones as possible.

 

for the brains im using a tablet pc(Fujitsu st4121) behind the glove box and taking a cold air feed directly in to the back of the glove box if temperatures become a problem.

 

ive already got a car charger to power it and ill be making some sort of usb relay to tell it to stop charging when the battery is at a certain percentage. later ill be split charging so i dont need to run off the cars battery if i feel the carpc is causing problems for the cars own battery.

 

ill have a laptop dvd drive in the dash flush with the bottom of the touch screen.

 

i haven't decided if i really want to shed out loads on a Lilliput touch screen when i can achieve the same with an ordinary 7" tft(headrest monitor can pick them up around £30) and usb touch screen overlay(£30) all for more than half the price of a Lilliput(£180 roughly). this will take place of the stereo. with a visor to hide it from thieves and easily detachable if i wish.

 

for the audio amplifier i reckon ill go with my after market stereo (cops stole ford stereo!) setup to stay on the aux and get a little equalizer to mount under the dvd drive mentioned earlier.

 

going to go for the elm327 reader for the obdII read out.

 

ive already been thinking about coding my own plugins. first one im going to try (when i find time) is to have a digital tv tuner and have news, weather, what ever as currently centrafuse and other carpc software's ive seen all get this data from the internet.

 

even if the project isnt a good long term investment id be happy enough knowing i pulled it off.

 

as for euro car parts they have one just around the corner from me so i get all my stuff from them. ill do a fair bit of my own auto diy but ive always felt that anything to do with or relating to wheels should be left to someone who knows what they are doing. i get good deals off a local mechanic, he even lets me just pop up to use his garage & tools. so anything im not too comfortable with he gets the job. nice little arrangement

Edited November 2, 2010 by Andy_1984

[watatoad]

Whys that toad? i always run a smaller car for economy as well as the lex and the slight of hand and cunning thats put into keeping them roadworthy is as difficult as performance tuning. I suppose it would have been better to call the thread modified rather than performance as adding something to carry your tackle is in the same ballpark as the modified cars you see around

 

 

The Red one on the left is not mine and I have a few more...Sorry I just like some cars.

 

 

 

I usually use the white one for fishing but have had to buy something a little larger now.

Edited November 2, 2010 by watatoad