Questions to Noble Owners

[slidein]

Hi There

am interested in a noble 3R , and have read some topics on here about the car. I was wondering about reliability as would like to drive a bit in europe , Italy maybe but i heard temperatures are uusually 30 'C + in the summer. Can the Noble handle the hot temperatures without over heating problems? How is general reliability any major issues to worry about or are they just niggles that can be easily fixed by a ford garage ? Would the M400 be more reliable for long trips ?

Any help would be appreciated .

cheers

[mgbond]

A 3R has most if not all issues sorted so mainly niggls. If you can get one with after market exhaust then thats one issue gone. The cars don't over heat. 9 of us were at the ring and SPA a week ago and it was very very hot and the cars were on track. The issue with the temp is heat soak so the car just looses some grunt.

A pro alloy Intercooler helps this and can be yours for about 700 I think.

Bondy

[sundance02]

slidein said:

Hi There

am interested in a noble 3R , and have read some topics on here about the car. I was wondering about reliability as would like to drive a bit in europe , Italy maybe but i heard temperatures are uusually 30 'C + in the summer. Can the Noble handle the hot temperatures without over heating problems? How is general reliability any major issues to worry about or are they just niggles that can be easily fixed by a ford garage ? Would the M400 be more reliable for long trips ?

Any help would be appreciated .

cheers

Hi Slidein,


I will be taking mine to spain, (Cost del sol) Where the temp easily exceeds 35 degrees and will be tracking her, admittedly I have done alot more than would be needed in mods, but like Bondy said just a few minor changes can make these cars go anywhere on tarmac.
So the answer is yes you can take it to Italy and yes ur love it

No not any Ford garage can work on these cars IMO. There specialist.

Edited by sundance02 on Thursday 8th July 15:43

[hoyin]

As Bondy said. About 7 or 8 of us drove to the Ring and then on to SPA.

The weather was very hot. I drove almost 800miles. Others would have done much more.

No problems with heat at all. In fact my air con got too cold at one point and my car is standard.

[slidein]

thanks guys much appreciated. i read up on the mods looks like intercooler seems to be the thing most changed , and hard pipe ..... not sure what header tank does is it water or something to do with cooling ? also saw oil breather ? Does this package help to reduce heat soak and Bondy said about 700 for intercooler . Interesting to hear the guys here went to spa and the ring must have been an amazing trip and the cars seemed to cope very well .I see so not just any ford garage ... would jaguar dealers know how to work on these engines abroad ? or any suggestions thanks

Edited by slidein on Friday 9th July 13:19

[slidein]

which garage would i need to look after the car when i am abroad Ford or ? thanks

[Blu3R]

slidein said:

thanks guys much appreciated. i read up on the mods looks like intercooler seems to be the thing most changed , and hard pipe ..... not sure what header tank does is it water or something to do with cooling ? also saw oil breather ? Does this package help to reduce heat soak and Bondy said about 700 for intercooler .

Hard pipe kit isn't necessary at all. Header tank is required when you fit the hard pipe kit because it fouls the standard plastic one. Some will tell you the plastic header tank can crack and thats why they fitted the alloy one. In reality, they fitted it because it looks nice. If your plastic tank cracks then fit another from a breakers for about a tenner. Too dirty? Dishwasher is perfect when the wife is out
Intercooler is not a bad idea but with it comes the whole fuel pump wiring upgrade and remap which will start to set you back and again, not strictly necessary.

IMHO oil breather IS A MUST! I'd say its the only necessary mod to have on an otherwise standard 6 speed 3R. Everything else is just on the 'nice to have' list.


Rob

[sundance02]

slidein said:

which garage would i need to look after the car when i am abroad Ford or ? thanks

I would imagine being the type of marques they build in Italy or used to,
you should not have a prob finding someone who can do the work, The labour cost I would imagine though would be high.

Unfortunately I havent that lux in Spain, so mine will be coming back to uk for any work other than minor stuff.

[Ash 996 GT2]

I did the Gumball 3000 in mine.

It will be fine.

[sjc]

Blu3R said:

slidein said:

thanks guys much appreciated. i read up on the mods looks like intercooler seems to be the thing most changed , and hard pipe ..... not sure what header tank does is it water or something to do with cooling ? also saw oil breather ? Does this package help to reduce heat soak and Bondy said about 700 for intercooler .

Hard pipe kit isn't necessary at all. Header tank is required when you fit the hard pipe kit because it fouls the standard plastic one. Some will tell you the plastic header tank can crack and thats why they fitted the alloy one. In reality, they fitted it because it looks nice. If your plastic tank cracks then fit another from a breakers for about a tenner. Too dirty? Dishwasher is perfect when the wife is out
Intercooler is not a bad idea but with it comes the whole fuel pump wiring upgrade and remap which will start to set you back and again, not strictly necessary.

IMHO oil breather IS A MUST! I'd say its the only necessary mod to have on an otherwise standard 6 speed 3R. Everything else is just on the 'nice to have' list.


Rob

I'd say fuel pump wiring is pretty much a must.
I wasn't aware you needed a re-map just for the intercooler and or wiring, thought it was with the exhaust?

[Blu3R]

sjc said:

Blu3R said:

slidein said:

thanks guys much appreciated. i read up on the mods looks like intercooler seems to be the thing most changed , and hard pipe ..... not sure what header tank does is it water or something to do with cooling ? also saw oil breather ? Does this package help to reduce heat soak and Bondy said about 700 for intercooler .

Hard pipe kit isn't necessary at all. Header tank is required when you fit the hard pipe kit because it fouls the standard plastic one. Some will tell you the plastic header tank can crack and thats why they fitted the alloy one. In reality, they fitted it because it looks nice. If your plastic tank cracks then fit another from a breakers for about a tenner. Too dirty? Dishwasher is perfect when the wife is out
Intercooler is not a bad idea but with it comes the whole fuel pump wiring upgrade and remap which will start to set you back and again, not strictly necessary.

IMHO oil breather IS A MUST! I'd say its the only necessary mod to have on an otherwise standard 6 speed 3R. Everything else is just on the 'nice to have' list.


Rob

I'd say fuel pump wiring is pretty much a must.
I wasn't aware you needed a re-map just for the intercooler and or wiring, thought it was with the exhaust?

You only really need to do the wiring if you intend to up the amount of fuel required. If you want a standard car then you don't need to touch it.
Why would you bother to fit an uprated intercooler? Or exhaust? Or anything?
More power I presume then you'll want to maximise that gain by having it remapped to take advantage of it, otherwise what's the real point?

[sjc]

Blu3R said:

sjc said:

Blu3R said:

slidein said:

thanks guys much appreciated. i read up on the mods looks like intercooler seems to be the thing most changed , and hard pipe ..... not sure what header tank does is it water or something to do with cooling ? also saw oil breather ? Does this package help to reduce heat soak and Bondy said about 700 for intercooler .

Hard pipe kit isn't necessary at all. Header tank is required when you fit the hard pipe kit because it fouls the standard plastic one. Some will tell you the plastic header tank can crack and thats why they fitted the alloy one. In reality, they fitted it because it looks nice. If your plastic tank cracks then fit another from a breakers for about a tenner. Too dirty? Dishwasher is perfect when the wife is out
Intercooler is not a bad idea but with it comes the whole fuel pump wiring upgrade and remap which will start to set you back and again, not strictly necessary.

IMHO oil breather IS A MUST! I'd say its the only necessary mod to have on an otherwise standard 6 speed 3R. Everything else is just on the 'nice to have' list.


Rob

I'd say fuel pump wiring is pretty much a must.
I wasn't aware you needed a re-map just for the intercooler and or wiring, thought it was with the exhaust?

You only really need to do the wiring if you intend to up the amount of fuel required. If you want a standard car then you don't need to touch it.
Why would you bother to fit an uprated intercooler? Or exhaust? Or anything?
More power I presume then you'll want to maximise that gain by having it remapped to take advantage of it, otherwise what's the real point?

As far as I'm aware, the wiring can cause the car to run lean even on a std car because the quality is crap and causes the current to the pump to drop.
And the intercooler effectively gives you back the power you would otherwise lose through heatsoak( sitting in traffic, track work etc) rather than you gaining any extra horses, so no real need for a re-map.

Of course I absolutely reserve the right to be talking bks.

[wirestriker]

I own a 3R in Italy, in the last month I drove with up to 35°c ambient temperature, no problems at all. Just a little less grunt when pushing hard, due to some heatsoak, even with the proalloy IC.
I have a Defi digital display to watch oil and water temps, Steady 95°C water and 110°C oil when driving "sportly" up and down the mountains.

If you need assistance, there are a couple of places where they'r happy to work on a Noble. They're general "motorsport" service stations which I know personally and can help you if necessary.
In Milan: http://www.biraghiracing.it/
Near Vicenza: http://www.kitcar.it/index.php

[slidein]

Thanks very much guys.

[slidein]

wirestriker said:

I own a 3R in Italy, in the last month I drove with up to 35°c ambient temperature, no problems at all. Just a little less grunt when pushing hard, due to some heatsoak, even with the proalloy IC.
I have a Defi digital display to watch oil and water temps, Steady 95°C water and 110°C oil when driving "sportly" up and down the mountains.

If you need assistance, there are a couple of places where they'r happy to work on a Noble. They're general "motorsport" service stations which I know personally and can help you if necessary.
In Milan: http://www.biraghiracing.it/
Near Vicenza: http://www.kitcar.it/index.php

thanks for that, is yours a left hand drive and i presume u have the upgraded intercooler?

[Jim O.]

Blu3R said:

You only really need to do the wiring if you intend to up the amount of fuel required. If you want a standard car then you don't need to touch it.

Sorry, but I disagree with this. Just put a voltmeter across your fuel pump and see what happens. I did this on a relatively stock M400 in our shop - at idle, I saw around 11.5 volts. Just blipping the throttle to around 2500 rpm dropped the voltage down to 9 volts. That's with zero boost - since the fuel pressure will go up with boost, causing the fuel pump to work harder and thus draw more current, I wouldn't be surprised to see the voltage dipping to 7-8 volts at the pump under full boost.

Which means that you're at huge risk of running out of pump capacity at full stock power levels - the output of Bosch pumps drops roughly by half if you run them at 9 volts vs. 13.8-14.4 volts. If you run out of pump capacity, the engine runs lean. Seems pretty silly to risk engine damage for a relatively cheap and easy bit of wiring...

[sjc]

Jim O. said:

Blu3R said:

You only really need to do the wiring if you intend to up the amount of fuel required. If you want a standard car then you don't need to touch it.

Sorry, but I disagree with this. Just put a voltmeter across your fuel pump and see what happens. I did this on a relatively stock M400 in our shop - at idle, I saw around 11.5 volts. Just blipping the throttle to around 2500 rpm dropped the voltage down to 9 volts. That's with zero boost - since the fuel pressure will go up with boost, causing the fuel pump to work harder and thus draw more current, I wouldn't be surprised to see the voltage dipping to 7-8 volts at the pump under full boost.

Which means that you're at huge risk of running out of pump capacity at full stock power levels - the output of Bosch pumps drops roughly by half if you run them at 9 volts vs. 13.8-14.4 volts. If you run out of pump capacity, the engine runs lean. Seems pretty silly to risk engine damage for a relatively cheap and easy bit of wiring...

Exactly what I was trying to say earlier but you put it better!

[Blu3R]

Fair enough, but he's after a 3R, the M400 pump is not the same, its a higher spec I believe and therefore will pull more current and make the problem worse.

I'm not suggesting that its not a good idea to replace the wiring (as per my original post), just that there are many standard cars that haven't had it done, mine including. So I'm not suggesting anyone is wrong, just that IMHO I don't feel its essential for regular road use.

Mind you, we are haggling over a £5 job here and one that I too have on a list of things to do...

[slidein]

hi, thanks for that , is an M400 a more track oreintated car ?

[slidein]

is the m400 more expensive to service and maintain