So near yet so far.....
Discussion
Back in March I started a thread that ended I only had 9 days left until I picked up my beloved cerb again...
Well that 9 days turned into 5 months, but all that waiting was finally over tomorrow...
Then it went to TCS and Jools gave it the final tuning only to report back that my 4.5 with brand new ACT induction kit and custom made exhaust with comp. manifold could only produce 380hp...
Lament with me brothers...it now has to go back to RT Racing to find out where the rest of my horses are hanging out.
Remind me why I'm doing all this?
Well that 9 days turned into 5 months, but all that waiting was finally over tomorrow...
Then it went to TCS and Jools gave it the final tuning only to report back that my 4.5 with brand new ACT induction kit and custom made exhaust with comp. manifold could only produce 380hp...
Lament with me brothers...it now has to go back to RT Racing to find out where the rest of my horses are hanging out.
Remind me why I'm doing all this?
. Gazzab said:
Whats the story? Did you have an engine rebuild? Who are RT Racing?
RT racing are I believe a company owned/run by Richard Thorpe, they used to be better known in the TVR world but have been a little quiet for a fair few years now. They were the ones who were meant to do the E36 M3 engine conversion for a Cerb, not sure if it was ever finished... 
BCA said:
Big Al, with all due respect, I dont think anyone is saying anything bad about anyone?
I fully understand that, it's what happens (in print) if gattor can't find the missing horses or there is an unpleasant reason for the horses being missing! (if you get my jist) that may become a N&S issue. BTW hope you find them safe and sound.
Ed to amend
He removed gattor added.
Edited by Big Al. on Wednesday 25th July 21:44
gattor said:
Back in March I started a thread that ended I only had 9 days left until I picked up my beloved cerb again...
Well that 9 days turned into 5 months, but all that waiting was finally over tomorrow...
Then it went to TCS and Jools gave it the final tuning only to report back that my 4.5 with brand new ACT induction kit and custom made exhaust with comp. manifold could only produce 380hp...
Lament with me brothers...it now has to go back to RT Racing to find out where the rest of my horses are hanging out.
Remind me why I'm doing all this?
Gattor, you may well find it's something relatively minor that's holding the car back such as cam timing, so don't let it get you down. Do you have a base line run for the engine - as in engine rebuilt, run in and with just standard manifolds and induction on? You need to be sure the engine is working as well as it can in standard form, before you start adding the performance components. Then add one thing at a time and measure the change. Good luck. Well that 9 days turned into 5 months, but all that waiting was finally over tomorrow...
Then it went to TCS and Jools gave it the final tuning only to report back that my 4.5 with brand new ACT induction kit and custom made exhaust with comp. manifold could only produce 380hp...
Lament with me brothers...it now has to go back to RT Racing to find out where the rest of my horses are hanging out.
Remind me why I'm doing all this?
Steve.
Edited by Steve_T on Thursday 26th July 09:33
Certainly don't want to apportion any blame here am very happy with work that RT Racing have done and TCS, they have both done exactly what I asked them to do.
The fault is really mine for taking on such a sickly cerb and hoped that I could bypass major engine overhauls went for a “suck it and see” approach.
The car is a 1999 4.5 has had no engine mods and covered 56k miles, was running with a tired and bashed up sports exhaust system, from grounding and various collisions. The chap that had it before me didn’t look after it and whilst spent a lot of money repairing remedial problems didn’t focus on the care and attention it needed and deserved.
I came along and to be honest it ran ok, was quick sounded good but I knew from what I paid for it had a project to do on it to get it just right.
The project was split into three stages:
Firstly to stabilise the car as we had reliability issues during this phase we did the following
New clutch, master and slave cylinders
Power steering rack rebuild (excessive travel and wear)
gearbox old unit purchase and rebuild (kept popping out of 3rd)
replace alarm immobliser unit
reskim all brake disks
rebuild brake calipers
brake pads, fluid and flex pipes
Second Phase
Identified a long list of ‘snagging’ work required during first phase from faulty windscreen wipers to areas of corrosion on chasis.
Third Phase
Performance related activities
ACT Induction kit
rear stainless exhaust
Comp cat set
de cat pipes
ACT Comp manifold set
ECU remap and custom setup
During Phase three several areas of concern where raised e.g. the ECU had no EPROM chip and so thus had never been setup properly, most of the sensors were faulty and had to be replaced etc. After these issues had been rectified, I believe before any mapping was done it was producing about 280 bhp which after some TCS magic became 380 bhp. From discussions it should have been expected to make 420 bhp, hence the concerns all round.
Unfortunately, after aprox 11.5k spent so far and what I had hoped was only one day left too wait I have an agonising wait as we start to take the engine apart. I sincerely hope that I might have something as straight forward as cam timing issue or even a warn cam that needs replacing, but I guess as this project has expanded I have only encountered one problem after another and as my heart sank a bit at yesterdays news I faced the dreaded prospect of an engine strip, I needed an avenue to vent my woes…
I’m sure that this will be worth it when I get her back and if I thought it was fun at 280bhp what will I make of one with 400 plus??
The fault is really mine for taking on such a sickly cerb and hoped that I could bypass major engine overhauls went for a “suck it and see” approach.
The car is a 1999 4.5 has had no engine mods and covered 56k miles, was running with a tired and bashed up sports exhaust system, from grounding and various collisions. The chap that had it before me didn’t look after it and whilst spent a lot of money repairing remedial problems didn’t focus on the care and attention it needed and deserved.
I came along and to be honest it ran ok, was quick sounded good but I knew from what I paid for it had a project to do on it to get it just right.
The project was split into three stages:
Firstly to stabilise the car as we had reliability issues during this phase we did the following
New clutch, master and slave cylinders
Power steering rack rebuild (excessive travel and wear)
gearbox old unit purchase and rebuild (kept popping out of 3rd)
replace alarm immobliser unit
reskim all brake disks
rebuild brake calipers
brake pads, fluid and flex pipes
Second Phase
Identified a long list of ‘snagging’ work required during first phase from faulty windscreen wipers to areas of corrosion on chasis.
Third Phase
Performance related activities
ACT Induction kit
rear stainless exhaust
Comp cat set
de cat pipes
ACT Comp manifold set
ECU remap and custom setup
During Phase three several areas of concern where raised e.g. the ECU had no EPROM chip and so thus had never been setup properly, most of the sensors were faulty and had to be replaced etc. After these issues had been rectified, I believe before any mapping was done it was producing about 280 bhp which after some TCS magic became 380 bhp. From discussions it should have been expected to make 420 bhp, hence the concerns all round.
Unfortunately, after aprox 11.5k spent so far and what I had hoped was only one day left too wait I have an agonising wait as we start to take the engine apart. I sincerely hope that I might have something as straight forward as cam timing issue or even a warn cam that needs replacing, but I guess as this project has expanded I have only encountered one problem after another and as my heart sank a bit at yesterdays news I faced the dreaded prospect of an engine strip, I needed an avenue to vent my woes…
I’m sure that this will be worth it when I get her back and if I thought it was fun at 280bhp what will I make of one with 400 plus??
Disappointments aside.........you might actually enjoy it at 380bhp? The question I would ask is that if there is something that is mechanically amiss with the engine then the higher power may well accelerate catastrophic failure. Therefore, if you are thinking about a rebuild then why not enjoy it in it's current state, and then when it eventually goes bang (which it might never do) then you can do the rebuild. It will also mean that you can save up the readies for the inevitable.
Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this. Joolz is as good as it gets at extracting power so if there was more to be had then he would have found it.
Be positive though and enjoy what you have..............it'll be a fair bit quicker than most other cars on the road......
Jules.
Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this. Joolz is as good as it gets at extracting power so if there was more to be had then he would have found it.
Be positive though and enjoy what you have..............it'll be a fair bit quicker than most other cars on the road......
Jules.
"Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this" - Jules
Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
Gattor, how much work was done to assess the general health of your engine? Your first post reads as though much has been done to enhance the engine externally, but you don't say what was done at the start to check the standard engine's internal condition - compression test / leak down test / cam timing etc etc. 280bhp indicates quite a poorly Cerb (320-350 is a normal starting range before modification). So 380 might actually be a very good number considering the start point. I get the impression TCS have mapped what they were given, was anything else done?
Steve.
Steve.
Steve_T said:
Gattor, how much work was done to assess the general health of your engine? Your first post reads as though much has been done to enhance the engine externally, but you don't say what was done at the start to check the standard engine's internal condition - compression test / leak down test / cam timing etc etc. 280bhp indicates quite a poorly Cerb (320-350 is a normal starting range before modification). So 380 might actually be a very good number considering the start point. I get the impression TCS have mapped what they were given, was anything else done?
Steve.
Until it went to TCS I had no idea how much it was underperforming. It's going back to Richard T for him to check the internals of the engine...hopefully I should know more next week. Steve.
This is sypmtomatic of me trying to short cut a tune...lesson learnt!
Richard
gattor said:
"Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this" - Jules
Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
Hi Richard,Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
It was the exhaust on your car. I had a look while I was at TCS. I didn't realise it was an ACT exhaust as I only briefly looked at the manifolds and their fitment and then the de-cat section.
Jules.
TooTall Paul said:
Gattor
I also heard your car at TCS, That must be the loudest cerb ever, does it make your ears bleed !!
I also heard your car at TCS, That must be the loudest cerb ever, does it make your ears bleed !!
Cyclone1 said:
gattor said:
"Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this" - Jules
Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
Hi Richard,Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
It was the exhaust on your car. I had a look while I was at TCS. I didn't realise it was an ACT exhaust as I only briefly looked at the manifolds and their fitment and then the de-cat section.
Jules.
You both have me at a disadvantage as I haven't seen the car or heard it since Jan! Loud you say Hooray something went to plan then!
I know that Joolz mentioned my exhaust was blowing, but apparently this is not unheard of after fitting a new exhaust and its been run for the first time. Everything needs tightening up afterwards...
The crudeness of the welds and fitting does concern me though, certainly wasn't a cheap option. Something else for my snagging list I think...
Lets see what the cyclinder balance test and compression tests give away...fingers crossed
Rich
gattor said:
TooTall Paul said:
Gattor
I also heard your car at TCS, That must be the loudest cerb ever, does it make your ears bleed !!
I also heard your car at TCS, That must be the loudest cerb ever, does it make your ears bleed !!
Cyclone1 said:
gattor said:
"Must admit that I thought that the exhaust system looked a bit crude, it wasn't welded where it should have been (just sleeved) and was uneven in length from side to side. The manifolds also looked ill fitted but I think Joolz / RT sorted this" - Jules
Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
Hi Richard,Where you talking about my exhaust or just the ACT product in general?
It was the exhaust on your car. I had a look while I was at TCS. I didn't realise it was an ACT exhaust as I only briefly looked at the manifolds and their fitment and then the de-cat section.
Jules.
You both have me at a disadvantage as I haven't seen the car or heard it since Jan! Loud you say Hooray something went to plan then!
I know that Joolz mentioned my exhaust was blowing, but apparently this is not unheard of after fitting a new exhaust and its been run for the first time. Everything needs tightening up afterwards...
The crudeness of the welds and fitting does concern me though, certainly wasn't a cheap option. Something else for my snagging list I think...
Lets see what the cyclinder balance test and compression tests give away...fingers crossed
Rich
Hopefully I haven't alarmed you about the exhaust. The quality of the system looks good and the welds are spot on, it just looks as though it "has been made to fit your car", hence my comments about the joints being uneven on either side. I am sure that it is more than capable of flowing your exhaust gases though so don't worry about it. The leak / compression test should give you more to worry about, but at least this will give you a steer as to where the missing ponies are.
Good Luck,
Jules.
Well the verdict is in after a cylinder balance check and compression test, I'm losing about 15% compression. No singns of cam wear and timings and tappets are in order.
Unfortunately after the recent spell of open wallet surgery I'm going to wait for a rebuild until after what remains of the summer.
Bert as he's affectionately known returns to the fold on saturday...excitment!
Has been 5months 4 days and 15hrs since we where parted, feels like I'm going to see an old friend!
Hooray!
Unfortunately after the recent spell of open wallet surgery I'm going to wait for a rebuild until after what remains of the summer.
Bert as he's affectionately known returns to the fold on saturday...excitment!
Has been 5months 4 days and 15hrs since we where parted, feels like I'm going to see an old friend!
Hooray!
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