V8s - cheap & easy upgrade avaliable?

[pwissel]

Hi all,

can´t drive my S because I´m waiting for parts...
To spent to time off reasonable I think about upgarding the engine. Read some of the tips in the bible, but I´ve no idea where to begin. Does anybody now some easy things to upgrade the engine? Is a chip for the engine avaliable? Does anybody have experience whith a throttle & air flow meter upgrade kit? Looking for tasks that doesn´t need an motor mechanic education...

Thanks
Peter (The alien S)

[V8Smith]

There is the CF twin throttle plenum conversion with flared trumpets from ACT? And yes there is a chip available from Mark Adams the Tornado chip, I had mine fitted ont eh rolling road and remapped 2 weeks ago and its wel worth the money, around £700-800 all in!

Mike

[GreenV8S]

What do you use the car for, and what is your budget?

[WildfireS3]

www.actproducts.co.uk

Not only does it make the car go better but it looks very cool.

[pwissel]

My Budget is around 2000 EUR for 30-40 HP...
So the GreenV8s kompressor modification isn´t in my budget yet :-)
The twin throttle option and the chip sounds intresting! Where ist the chip avaliable and is it possible to mount it by myself? It´s a long way for me to visit Mark...
What do I exactly need from the act portfolio for the throttle option? Is it also a problem to install it by myself?

[WildfireS3]

The best thing is to give ACT a ring or an email. I think ACT sell the chimp, but once it is all one I believe you need some rolling road time to set it all up correctly. So you could probably install the kit yourself but setting up is a different matter.

[pwissel]

Is the setup a trail and error procedure or do I have to have instruments for adjustment? What about the chip? Is it only a EPROM to change?
Tim from act recomments me to fit the superlafre trumpets...

[old64er]

pwissel said:

Is it only a EPROM to change? .

That depends on your ecu.
Some are socketed and some not, take out the ecu and split it apart its the only way you can tell.

[GreenV8S]

pwissel said:

My Budget is around 2000 EUR for 30-40 HP...

It is certainly possible to gain 30-40 bhp by carefull induction tweeks (not sure if your budget will go that far but ACT Tim would advise), but more power may not be the best way to spend your money. Depending what you use the car for, it may be better to concentrate on handling, brakes or tractibility rather than outight bhp. What do you use the car for?

[pwissel]

I don´t use the car for racing - It´s my 2nd car just for fun when the sun is shining...
Sometimes when I accelerate I whish to have a little bit more power. Last time when I´ve had this feeling I upgraded my S3c to a V8s. :-) Some people would recommend to upgrade to a Griffith or Chimera now but they´re to expencive and I don´t like the modern shape...

[GreenV8S]

pwissel said:

I don´t like the modern shape...

My path down the slippery slope started with a very nice induction upgrade from ACT on top of the standard 4.0. The overall package consisted of stage III heads, a 214 cam, bored out manifold/trumpet base, carbon trumpets and plenum and a bored out throttle body.

The result was a nice crisp 4.0 that would pull strongly past 6000 rpm instead of fading at 5,500, and almost 40 bhp more than standard. I spent a long time talking to Tim (actually, mostly listening) before I decided to take this route. In hindsight, two things stand out about this experience. Firstly there was absolutely no hard sell from ACT, Tim talked me through the pros and cons of the various alternatives and left it to me to choose. Secondly, Tim's power and torque predictions for the package were absolutely bang on.

I seem to remember the final bill came to quite a bit more than E2000 by the time I included a Mark Adams session to set it all up. But I also know that ACT's product line has been refined over the years and also there are some new cam choices available now that work better than the 214. It may well be that 30-40 bhp gains can be achieved with less drastic gains these days so it would be worth talking to Tim.

One thing to bear in mind though: these changes moved the power band up the rev range and produced a nice revvy engine that was a joy to drive hard. But the price for this was a significant reduction in mid range torque, it was actually less fun and felt slower and less tractible in normal driving. I do spend a lot of time on track and the engine suited that. Another thing to bear in mind is that six months down the line I had got used to the extra power and felt the car needed a little more just to pep it up a bit. After than one thing lead to another and some years later I'm looking at a supercharged 4.6 and thinking it doesn't *always* spin the wheels, maybe just a little more boost ...

[pwissel]

Have been talking to Tim an decided the following next steps:
First I replace the exhaust - You remember my questions regarding my broken manifolds GreenV8s - I´ve discarded the plans to repair them cause you don´t know when they are going to break next time and I don´t want to unfit them anymore. I negotiate with Tim about the new twin cat manifolds at the moment.
At the same time I´m going to order the act thrumpets and the tornado chip to start upgrading. The twin throttle option etc. is a task for the future. Think it makes sense changing not to many things at the same time but step by step.
Maybe it makes also sense to let these things been installed and set up onsite while spending some days off on the nice island where my S comes from...
Would you agree with me or do you have another recommendation for me?