Cooling air intake
Cooling air intake
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Horse_Apple

Original Poster:

3,795 posts

271 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Any ideas?

I had a new engine dropped in a couple of years ago by TVR Power, it's pretty much what they now package up as the Taraka.

The other month I had some work done by Austec so that I could run the engine un-retarded and had some gas work done as well as the Mark Admas stuff.

Engine is now running very, very smooth and has a lot more oomph.

However, I've just spent the weekend in Europe with a mate in a 996T and was tantilizingly close to being able to keep up.

Basically, they are matched to 60 and then the porker just starts to munch away. The porker is just an awesome wagon and I was pretty surprised that the griff could fair anywhere near as well as it did.

An extra bit of power could well resolve this little problem.

I noticed that the air pipe runs alongside one of the manifold banks and gets rediculously hot. Was wondering if anyone has gone down the route of trying to keep this ducting cooler or tried getting colder air into it?

TIA

ian8542

615 posts

281 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
There is a heat reflective wrap around item from Demon Tweeks. (Air Intake Cover Kit. part number 010417).£69.84 plus drat.
Essentially it is a long rectangular piece of metal foil backed insulating material with velcro down the long sides.
You wrap it around the intake tube to the airflow meter and fasten it all together with the velcro.

starmist

1,052 posts

271 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Have you got the ACT silicone air filter to AFM pipe? If not, it insulates the incoming air much better than the standard pipe, and gives a much less restrictive air path.

Also worth fitting the Bosch air flow meter, but you will need the Mark Adams chip to be able to read this. By the sounds of it you already have the chip anyway. Those two mods should give around 10bhp.

The Porker's power to weight ratio will be about the same as your car, but as acceleration tails off over 100, the weight has less effect and it's all down to power and (more importantly) aerodynamics.

shpub

8,507 posts

301 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
The 520 has air temp sensors permanently wired into the air intake so I can see what temps the air actually gets to.

In practice with a moving car, the air flow is so much that it makes no real difference. The air is sourced from outside the engine bay which is the key thing. You can insulate the pipe but it will do very little in this case.

When the car is stopped, then the air temp will increase but will go down quickly as the car starts to move. Insulating the pipe will help but it will simply delay the heating. Given a long enough wait the temp will reach that of an uninsulated one. Insulation delays the heating up process nothing more.

In effect, it won't do any harm but equally it is unlikley to magically transform everything. If you want to play, buy one of those digital thermometers from Maplins for about £5-10 and put the probe inside the air intake flow and see what it does before making any changes.

Horse_Apple

Original Poster:

3,795 posts

271 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Thanks chaps,

I do already have the Bosch meter and new ducting.

Am just looking for a cheap way to squeeze a little more oomph

Currenlty getting nearly 270 and with the high lift cam, where the power comes in much higher than it used to it pulls like a train over 125mph and will pull away from a normal 500.

What is the most that people have heard of getting from a 4.5BV without spending huge sums?

shpub

8,507 posts

301 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Loose weight

Every 10kg lost is equivalent to 2 extra BHP.

Seriously you probably have reached the limit or are close to it. You have reached the point where nothing is cheap except weight loss.

Horse_Apple

Original Poster:

3,795 posts

271 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Probably right.

No weight to lose, unfortunately.

Unlike a lot of TVR owners, when I haul ass I don't have to make two trips.

shpub

8,507 posts

301 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
The alternative is to declare yourself moveable ballast...

RichB

56,219 posts

313 months

Tuesday 10th August 2004
quotequote all
Horse_Apple said:
No weight to lose, unfortunately.
Blimey - tell me your secret you could make a fortune, I've got about 3 stone I could shift. Not drinking the red wine would help I guess But life's too short. Rich...

Horse_Apple

Original Poster:

3,795 posts

271 months

Wednesday 11th August 2004
quotequote all
RichB said:

Horse_Apple said:
No weight to lose, unfortunately.

Blimey - tell me your secret you could make a fortune, I've got about 3 stone I could shift. Not drinking the red wine would help I guess But life's too short. Rich...


3.5 stone ditched in 5 months. Started going to the gym again.

z_chromozone

1,436 posts

278 months

Wednesday 11th August 2004
quotequote all
shpub said:
Loose weight

Every 10kg lost is equivalent to 2 extra BHP.

Seriously you probably have reached the limit or are close to it. You have reached the point where nothing is cheap except weight loss.


I chucked my spacesaver and got a can of tyreweld. Should loose you about 10-15KG, although some people say "what will happen if you have a blowout".

The seats also weigh a fair amount, must be over 10Kg each. Perhaps some secondhand carbonfiber rally ones will loose you another 20KG.

Theres 6-8 bhp already, a trip to the gym should get you the last couple

I have heard a few people go on about carbonfiber roof sections, but after talking to a friend at Jaguar F1 DIY carbonfiber seems expensive and difficult.

If you are feeling brave loose the roof altogether Mine feels like at least 50 KG/ section, should be good for another 50 BHP.




Z

shpub

8,507 posts

301 months

Wednesday 11th August 2004
quotequote all
loose the roof and it will add about 0.5s to 0-60 time and klnock about 15-20 off the top speed at circuits. It also makes the car very suspectible to cross winds. Been there done that.
Screws up the aerodynamics pretty badly.

The roof section is CF anyway.

>> Edited by shpub on Wednesday 11th August 18:23

steve-v8s

2,924 posts

277 months

Wednesday 11th August 2004
quotequote all
Have to agree about the roof. Acceleration is significantly hampered with the roof off, shame it is so heavy.

Removing the radio, 4 speakers and CD changer, emptying the washer bottle and fitting a small race battery loses about 24 Kg. Who listens to the radio anyway ?

maca

146 posts

288 months

Wednesday 11th August 2004
quotequote all
what's the mass of the engine? dump that and the relative horsepower increase would be really noticeable!

griffter

4,143 posts

284 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
shpub said:


The roof section is CF anyway.

>> Edited by shpub on Wednesday 11th August 18:23


Are you sure?

When I dropped mine a few weeks ago and the corner chipped it revealed what looked like yellow resin and fibreglass. I assumed the carbon sheet on the inside surface was decorative only.

deeen

6,400 posts

274 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
Well I dont believe aerodynamics significantly affects 0-60, certainly not 0.5 sec. I also dont think the relation between weight loss and "equivalent" power is linear or constant, at top speed the power is fighting the air much more than the weight.

I suspect you have proved the Porsche has better aerodynamics than the Griffith, in which case even if you found your extra 30hp the Porsche might still pull away in the end, albeit at a higher speed.

Maybe the question should be: how to improve the TVR aerodynamics? Anyone put one in a wind tunnel?

jam1et

1,536 posts

281 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
Funny that, about the aerodynamics. You'd think with such perfect curves and so little interruption to the lines of the car (no door handles, arials etc) the Griff would have superb aerodynamics.

deeen

6,400 posts

274 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
I guess a wind tunnel is the only way to be sure. I would guess the Porsche roof has less drag. I would also guess Porsche put theirs in a wind tunnel and TVR didnt... sometimes little details like wing mirrors can have a disproportionate impact on drag. And Porsche may manage the flow of air under the car.

I would guess that the TVR would have the lower frontal area, though, which should help it.

RichB

56,219 posts

313 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
deeen said:
I would guess the Porsche roof has less drag.
Why would you guess that? Rich...

deeen

6,400 posts

274 months

Thursday 12th August 2004
quotequote all
RichB said:

deeen said:
I would guess the Porsche roof has less drag.

Why would you guess that? Rich...


Because the Porsche tapers smoothly towards the back, I would guess it keeps a smoother airflow attatched for longer. I would guess the fairly sharp cutoff of the TVR roof and the flappy sides generate turbulence.

There must be cdA figures for them somewhere... ?