Next mods on my 500... choices
Discussion
I'm still getting my Chim up to scratch, but planning ahead and trying to incorporate some performance improvements with my preventative maintenance. I've been over to the ACT web site and added stuff in the shopping basket a dozen times now, but keep walking away...
I like the idea of the smooth bore induction and carbon fibre trumpets, but this leaves me short on the decat Y-piece. If I get the Y-piece, it leaves me short on something else. Needless to say, none of this stuff seems to be available 'used!'.
So my question is, which combo first?
1. Carbon trumpets and smooth bore induction system
2. Carbon Trumpets, smooth bore elbow and improved air filter to replace standard (keeping remaining induction)
3. Smooth bore elbow and decat Y-piece
Whilst I appreciate the elbow offers a reasonable improvement, will the rest of the standard air induction (apart from the elbow) make a huge difference given the restriction in the AFM?
I also notice that ACT have some 45mm alloy trumpets (not too dissimilar to the 44mm of my 500), albeit slightly cheaper. What is the difference between these and the carbon fibre trumpets in terms of performance?
Big difference in price between Clive's Y piece and the ACT one?
I plan on removing my pre-cats this month when I do my manifold gaskets. I'd love to do the ECU and stealth cam etc, but I think that is a project for next year as I want to start to enjoy the thing. Please don't suggest turbo or supercharger... it'll only depress me!!! Its about bang for buck at the moment.
I like the idea of the smooth bore induction and carbon fibre trumpets, but this leaves me short on the decat Y-piece. If I get the Y-piece, it leaves me short on something else. Needless to say, none of this stuff seems to be available 'used!'.So my question is, which combo first?
1. Carbon trumpets and smooth bore induction system
2. Carbon Trumpets, smooth bore elbow and improved air filter to replace standard (keeping remaining induction)
3. Smooth bore elbow and decat Y-piece
Whilst I appreciate the elbow offers a reasonable improvement, will the rest of the standard air induction (apart from the elbow) make a huge difference given the restriction in the AFM?
I also notice that ACT have some 45mm alloy trumpets (not too dissimilar to the 44mm of my 500), albeit slightly cheaper. What is the difference between these and the carbon fibre trumpets in terms of performance?
Big difference in price between Clive's Y piece and the ACT one?
I plan on removing my pre-cats this month when I do my manifold gaskets. I'd love to do the ECU and stealth cam etc, but I think that is a project for next year as I want to start to enjoy the thing. Please don't suggest turbo or supercharger... it'll only depress me!!! Its about bang for buck at the moment.
GasMunkey said:
3 all day long
Combined with a full engine health check
+1 by far the best option!Combined with a full engine health check
I wouldn't expect much difference between the aluminium and the carbon trumpets, I went for the carbon ones because I preferred the way each trumpet nests together around the flares, if there is a thermal benefit, I would expect it to be negligible.
The Clive's Y Piece is by far the better looking when compared to the ACT, I went for this one on looks alone as I suspect there will be no difference in performance or sound, be sure to remove your pre-cats at the same time!
I fitted the smooth bore induction kit, the carbon trumpets and Clive's Y Piece at the same time and the shunting on my 500 is greatly reduced, not sure which mod made the difference or a combination of all 3, but they are all worthwhile mods.
Have fun........
Edited by Andav469 on Wednesday 17th April 07:46
Edited by Andav469 on Wednesday 17th April 07:48
Andav469 said:
GasMunkey said:
3 all day long
Combined with a full engine health check
+1 by far the best optionCombined with a full engine health check
The smooth bore elbow is cheap & I noticed a difference when I fitted it.
Decating your existing Y-piece (cheap), or fitting the ACT/Clive's one (both not so cheap) will release a good amount of power.
Some claim over 20hp!
When I fitted an ACT Y-piece to my 4.0 litre, it felt like a good 10-15hp.
It now sounds like a TVR should too
ChimpOnGas said:
The smooth bore elbow is cheap & I noticed a difference when I fitted it.
Decating your existing Y-piece (cheap), or fitting the ACT/Clive's one (both not so cheap) will release a good amount of power.
So what sort of costs does this option represent v gains in performace?Decating your existing Y-piece (cheap), or fitting the ACT/Clive's one (both not so cheap) will release a good amount of power.
In two weeks my ACT smooth bore elbow will be coming off to be replaced by a carbon fibre one which is part of ACT's plenum kit. I have no further use for it so if you paypal'd me the postage and a tenner or so to charity you could have it. It was new last summer and has been wrapped in thermal matting so should be 'as new' when it comes off.
KateV8 said:
In two weeks my ACT smooth bore elbow will be coming off to be replaced by a carbon fibre one which is part of ACT's plenum kit. I have no further use for it so if you paypal'd me the postage and a tenner or so to charity you could have it. It was new last summer and has been wrapped in thermal matting so should be 'as new' when it comes off.
YHM!Sorry guys, but fitting of a smooth bore elbow alone will not make a noticable difference IMHO. It may help with improved plenum, cam, trumpet base, porting etc, etc. but on it's own,,, forget it. It's a start, but definately not the end. Don't get me wrong as I have all the above, but, it's only a part of the whole. IYSWIM.
macdeb said:
Sorry guys, but fitting of a smooth bore elbow alone will not make a noticable difference IMHO. It may help with improved plenum, cam, trumpet base, porting etc, etc. but on it's own,,, forget it. It's a start, but definately not the end. Don't get me wrong as I have all the above, but, it's only a part of the whole. IYSWIM.
I don't intend to fit it by itself and am also looking at the trumpet set and complete decat.chris1972 said:
macdeb said:
Sorry guys, but fitting of a smooth bore elbow alone will not make a noticable difference IMHO. It may help with improved plenum, cam, trumpet base, porting etc, etc. but on it's own,,, forget it. It's a start, but definately not the end. Don't get me wrong as I have all the above, but, it's only a part of the whole. IYSWIM.
I don't intend to fit it by itself and am also looking at the trumpet set and complete decat.
the silicon elbow is one of the few mods that does give a repeatable improvement, you can test this back to back with the std pipe on the dyno and see the power increase with the better elbow. Likewise changing the trumpets/trumpet base. On an otherwise std 5 litre you would reasonably expect to see 15bhp gained from a trumpet base and elbow change. For the price of those things it's a no-brainer pair of mods to do.
see this graph .. std 5 litre .. the graphs are BHP at wheels and flywheel .. see how the blended base makes more hp at the top end with no losses lower down. This was tested with a silicon elbow already fitted.
see this graph .. std 5 litre .. the graphs are BHP at wheels and flywheel .. see how the blended base makes more hp at the top end with no losses lower down. This was tested with a silicon elbow already fitted.
macdeb said:
Sorry bloke, I'm often mis-read on here. I was merely pointing out that some people say that there is a noticeable difference, even a transformation in the car from very little outlay/mods'. It doesn't happen, some believe it does, I don't. Just offering a realistic view. Good luck with the mods', I like mods'.
No worries!;)spitfire4v8 said:
the silicon elbow is one of the few mods that does give a repeatable improvement, you can test this back to back with the std pipe on the dyno and see the power increase with the better elbow. Likewise changing the trumpets/trumpet base. On an otherwise std 5 litre you would reasonably expect to see 15bhp gained from a trumpet base and elbow change. For the price of those things it's a no-brainer pair of mods to do.
see this graph .. std 5 litre .. the graphs are BHP at wheels and flywheel .. see how the blended base makes more hp at the top end with no losses lower down. This was tested with a silicon elbow already fitted.
Similar results to mine. I'm looking at trumpets, induction and decat this year, followed by cam and ECU next year. Mine as standard was just under 275 and that's with a Piper 218 cam (not the best for BHP). There should be some good gains to be made... fingers crossed!see this graph .. std 5 litre .. the graphs are BHP at wheels and flywheel .. see how the blended base makes more hp at the top end with no losses lower down. This was tested with a silicon elbow already fitted.
probably more expensive than decat, elbow and trumpets though....But more gain I bet Chilli, I'm getting through doing mine up, soon I'll be looking at better this and that for performance.
It's a good point maybe it's better to save up and do a proper job in all the right areas thus having fundermentally better chances of hike! I find it hard to believe a carbon trumpet is better, the length is the important thing, so some bird told me. Sorry, didn't mean to offend.
If you do all the mods around the engine it's ok but if you change how it works, different league. Saying that lucus works bloody well under the stress. I know nothing but a lad at Snett can't bloody remember his handle had a 4.0 Chim supercharged with 70,000 on the clock, just about as quick up the straight as anything there, he was screaming by, not a puff of smoke out the thing, I was frightened for him into that big old turn 1, brake lights late, he was monstering it around. I loved it. One if the best cars and driver there I reckon. Brave mother.
Excuse my usual digression but you can see the point,
Chris it's a case of what takes your fancy, when! If I could afford it I'd turbo it tomorrow. 5.0 L with Turbo, just think about it, nothing much could get anywhere near you!
It's alot of money but your also getting disi less elecs, job done.
Main thing is to enjoy the mods your doing.
It's a good point maybe it's better to save up and do a proper job in all the right areas thus having fundermentally better chances of hike! I find it hard to believe a carbon trumpet is better, the length is the important thing, so some bird told me. Sorry, didn't mean to offend.
If you do all the mods around the engine it's ok but if you change how it works, different league. Saying that lucus works bloody well under the stress. I know nothing but a lad at Snett can't bloody remember his handle had a 4.0 Chim supercharged with 70,000 on the clock, just about as quick up the straight as anything there, he was screaming by, not a puff of smoke out the thing, I was frightened for him into that big old turn 1, brake lights late, he was monstering it around. I loved it. One if the best cars and driver there I reckon. Brave mother.
Excuse my usual digression but you can see the point,
Chris it's a case of what takes your fancy, when! If I could afford it I'd turbo it tomorrow. 5.0 L with Turbo, just think about it, nothing much could get anywhere near you!
It's alot of money but your also getting disi less elecs, job done.
Main thing is to enjoy the mods your doing.
Andy JB said:
ChimpOnGas said:
The smooth bore elbow is cheap & I noticed a difference when I fitted it.
Decating your existing Y-piece (cheap), or fitting the ACT/Clive's one (both not so cheap) will release a good amount of power.
So what sort of costs does this option represent v gains in performace?Decating your existing Y-piece (cheap), or fitting the ACT/Clive's one (both not so cheap) will release a good amount of power.
1. Buy a cheap elbow off EBay = £35 and add 5hp
2. Fit your de-catted Y-piece = £0 and add 20hp
So if you're really lucky you'll be getting 25hp for £35, making it the best bang for your buck you'll ever spend on the car.
You would need to be reasonably lucky to get the full 25hp, but change the plugs for something better, clean the air filter, set the timing and you could easily get there.
The worst that could happen is:
1) You'll swear a bit changing the Y-piece over
2) You'll be £35 worse off
3) You'll get better throttle response
4) The engine will idle a bit smoother
5) You'll release a bit more TVR sound
Well worth a punt of £35 (plus the plugs) and an afternoon under the bonnet
Oh, and go from the two throttle springs to one, it obviously doesn't add a single pony, but removing one spring is totally free and the throttle will feel transformed.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff