Wednesday 1st June 2005

TVR Cerbera gets power boost

Induction specialist ACT launches new inlet kit

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ACT inlet kit as fitted

The kit, prior to fitting

Cerbie not fast enough? TVR tuning and induction specialist ACT has teamed with Austec and Mark Adams to give Cerbera owners a complete tuning package.

Power graph before and after

The new ACT induction system features new design, fuel resistant silicone pipes carbon fibre back plate to fit to the existing air-box, and eight large, flared carbon fibre trumpets. The icing on the cake is the Mark Adams / Austec re-map with bigger Bosch injectors as an option, which add more mid-range torque.

Performance testing was carried out at Austec Racing. With two kits fitted for back to back testing, ACT achieved between 32-48bhp more power at the wheels, along with more low down torque. After full tuning set up the driving experience was described by ACT's Tim Lamont as "nothing less than staggering".

Talk to Austec Racing for tuning and the new kit. Trade enquires from other established specialists will be welcomed.

Price £650 plus VAT, plus + two hours' fitting time

• Austec Racing

[joospeed]

.. interesting ...

[Paul McHenry]

Why do you say interesting? Is that negative or positive?
My 4.5 hit 400 with the remap and is due to go in for the induction. With vat & labour, thats £1k for the kit to be fitted. Do you think that it is worth it?

[_DeeJay_]

I take it the power graph is measured at the wheels?

[flashheart]

Great! Just what we need! More fuel for the fire leading to another 6 page thread of you boys arguing. I'm off....

[Mr Freefall]

_DeeJay_ said:

I take it the power graph is measured at the wheels?

Yes, Paul will do you one at the wheels and and one for the flywheel.

[dinkel]

'Cerbie not fast enough?'

That's the understatement of the year . . .

Amazing what a piece of plumbing can do for your motor. Does it sound OK? The Cerb is pretty loud already . . .

But hey: the V8 can't be loud enough.

Good work.

[_DeeJay_]

Mr Freefall said:

_DeeJay_ said: I take it the power graph is measured at the wheels? Yes, Paul will do you one at the wheels and and one for the flywheel.

345 at the wheels must be around about the magic 400hp figure at the flywheel! Looks like another great Cerb upgrade (I'm sure they waited until I sold mine before releasing them all!). Looks like Tim's design works then

[Steve_T]

Well done to Tim, Mark, Paul and the Austec team, another good result.

Steve.

[gazzab]

I'm starting to crack ! Induction and remap and injectors - Yummmmmmmmmm!

[GreenV8S]

Quite an abrupt corner on those trumpets with no apparent area reduction? Assume it works OK though, if Tim has OKed it.

[S------X------S]

flashheart said:

Great! Just what we need! More fuel for the fire leading to another 6 page thread of you boys arguing. I'm off....

C'ya!



Anyway back to topic....

Lurvly work Austec & ACT, hope to see you guys set up a future Rolling Road Shootout to show the results off!

I hear Paul has also unlocked the MBE unit? what features has he discovered?

Hey Joo, just thinking out loud, but that picture above looks just like what CeeJays intake setup looked like back at the Surrey Shootout earlier this year, were you, ACT and Austec working on this upgrade together???



Interesting,



The graph looks a lot smoother, that looks like a smooth output. Like it!

>> Edited by S------X------S on Wednesday 1st June 18:47

[Steve_T]

GreenV8S said:

Quite an abrupt corner on those trumpets with no apparent area reduction? Assume it works OK though, if Tim has OKed it.

Works just dandy

[ceejay]

Impressive results.

Tim, could you clarify one thing for me re the power increase. I'm trying to improve my understanding of this complex subject and need to know what I'm looking at on the graphs

What state of tune is the 'original' graph for e.g. totally standard 4.5, MBE re-mapped 4.5 or MBE re-map plus new injectors?

Also would I be right in assuming that the only changes then made for the 'after' graph are installation of the induction kit and then an MBE re-map?

Cheers in advance.

Ceejay

[lap_time]

Mmmm, sexy. Reminds me of the trumpets you used to see in the engine compartments of old Fazzas and the like. Much better than the plastic turtle shell seen in the bays of most modern cars. Problem is, even when you remove the turtle shell, it still looks like crap, because the designers never bothered with engine bay aesthetics, 'cos they thought no ne would take off the turtle shell. As for the Cerbera? Great, more power, just whatit needs...



>> Edited by lap_time on Thursday 2nd June 07:00

[dinkel]

Still, how does it sound?

And looking at the torque curve I assume the car would feel more linear in power delivery?

[Cyclone1]

Bit Confusing really.

Is the advert saying that after remapping and injectors that the addition of the ACT Induction kit will add an extra 32-48bhp?, or all of the above combined result in an extra 32-48bhp?

What are the gains on an unmapped car with just the addition of the ACT Induction kit?

[Steve_T]

I had the bosch injectors and MBE mapping done, then the prototype kit was fitted and she gained 32bhp. In the graph seen below, you see the results of fitting the kit to I believe an MBE mapped car. This is where the 48hp mentioned comes from.

[Cyclone1]

Ahh I think I understand now.

The gains of 32-48bhp are from a combined result of mapping, injectors and ACT Induction kit.

I would have been amazed if just the induction kit made that much difference, so it's still negligable as too what BHP is gained from the ACT Induction kit alone. £695 + vat and 2 hours labour = £1k, on top of around £750+vat for the MBE remap (not including minor parts etc) and £££?? (how much) for the new injectors, it's alot of money, around £2.5k all in?, especially as I thought the remap gave around 30-50bhp gain on it's own?

But the kit does look very good and the car will be more powerful and driveability will have inevitably improved.

>> Edited by Cyclone1 on Thursday 2nd June 10:57

[TimW]

flashheart said:

Great! Just what we need! More fuel for the fire leading to another 6 page thread of you boys arguing. I'm off....

HaHa yeh, give it a few more hours/days.....

[Steve_T]

Agreed Cyclone. It is not cheap, but here's my reasoning. I wanted to get the car mapped, since from reading this forum and a few conversations I had, it was clear there was power there for the taking. I wanted to map mine early in the car's life as a health check and to gain maximum benefit from the modifications.

Replacing the existing TVR induction components is not cheap and on checking my Cerb, they were in a bad way (purple hoses collapsing and the glass fibre airbox take offs crushed). In had a chance meeting with Tim and he mentioned he had bought a Cerb and was developing a kit. It made sense to replace with his setup. Since the car was in for mapping anyway, I avoided a later extra hit of mapping for the new induction setup.

The Bosch injectors aren't cheap, but I do love this car and had good results from fitting them on the previous Chim'. It is icing on the cake, possibly unnecessary, but the result is lovely to drive. The induction kit will need mapping, to avoid running lean and potentially damaging your engine. However it you've decided to get your car mapped, it's certainly well worth considering getting it done at the same time. The gains shown are in addition to mapping the car. Mine was (iirc) 325 @ wheels with mapping and injectors only. With the kit fitted and further mapping 357 was achieved.

Cheers,
Steve.

>> Edited by Steve_T on Thursday 2nd June 11:52