Feels like a new car

[adevxr]

Hi all - haven't posted for quite a while due to work commitments and personal family stuff but finally starting to see the other end of the tunnel and had let my R8 go a little (have it serviced every 5k irrespective) had got a leak on the air con condenser and had the weld break on the manifold branch - has anyone contacted HSV/Holden about this design fault?

Anyway yesterday I went and got everything fixed and damn it feels like a new car - a lot of the little noises are gone that were associated with the air con - and the pick up, response, power and NOISE are W O W!!

I have the very newest manifolds 1-7/8" 4:1 supersports into 100 cell supersport cats and the difference on the way home was awesome. I was down on power and pedal response, pick up was poor sometimes especially if I was on the border of two gears but yesterday felt like I was driving a new car.

And did I mention the noise - so looking forwards I am now planning Fast cathedral and intake plus cam and OTRCAI - should be looking around 520bhp N/A and thats how I want to stay - had the R8 5 years on Monday and love it.

Hope to see some of you soon and catch back up with the forum and meets - take care all

Ade

[MyM8V8]

Glad the love is back!

[snowwolf]

Do you mean the inlet manifold welds breaking where the info plate is welded on ? every VXR8 with original manifolds will eventually get this problem.

[adevxr]

Yes Snowy, the inlet manifold ID tag weld and Gareth I never lost the love just didn't find the time

Ade

[R8heron]

How obvious is it if the weld has gone, I have a hissing sound on acceleration but have always thought it was just the induction noise

[adevxr]

R8heron said:

How obvious is it if the weld has gone, I have a hissing sound on acceleration but have always thought it was just the induction noise

I had that for quite a long time Heron, but mine was coupled with noise from the air con too which Id had re-gassed before but didn't make a difference. I had a sound that was like holding the inside of your cheek in your teeth then blowing air past it lol when I accelerated - the noises were confusing as they sometimes sounded like transmission noises from the gearbox/gear lever area, air coming into the cabin through a bulk head grommet etc so for me it wasn't just the one sound. If you can either get under the car or use an angled mirror you can locate the plate close to where the inlet manifold joins the side of the block, they welded the small tag to the inlet manifold pipe and that is what wears and then blows out leaving a 3-4mm hole i guess.
Been out this afternoon and the smile is most definitely back on my face - all the noises I was hearing have now gone too.

Ade

[R8heron]

cool, thanks for the info mate, glad you got it all sorted tho and can enjoy it now. It's horrible when you hear noises and it don't feel right and don't know exactly whats wrong as it ruins the fun of driving it, but when it's all fixed it feels like a ton of weight off ur shoulders