200 Cell sports cats
Discussion
I've just had my T2 fitted with 200 cell sports cats and a had a remap and rolling road session at TVR Power. These cats are available now at TVR power. As promised, here's my verdict:
The reason I went down this route is because I found the car too loud with full decats. Even if it was faster it was so deafening and qualitatively worse sounding (all blaring metallic rasps and rattles) I simply didn't enjoy the car as much. The problem I had is that the car with standard (400 cell) cats in and CCC end cans was absolutely spot on for me. The quality of the noise was particularly good and having now exhausted (no pun intended!) the combinations I have to conclude that it was still the best sounding of all with standard cats and CCCs, and by some way.
Alas I hoped sports cats would return the sound to nearer that but give nearer the power of decats. For some reason the sports cats are much nearer the volume of no cats, than standard cats. So the car is still too loud with the straight through CCCs. However, I took delivery of some new titanium blueflame pipes which are perforated and return the car to it's standard silencing. But it's still noticeably louder than standard and this is the configuration I'll have to settle for - mainly because Dom found good gains on the dyno.
My car posted 326bhp at the back wheels with decats and TVR power decat chip fitted (it was 308 before the chip). With the sports cats I only lost 1bhp to 325 but this could easily be accounted for by the higher ambient temp at the time of the run. Further good news is the 274 ft lbs of torque and a much fatter and flatter torque curve than it produced with decats (which peaked at 270). The gains were significant under 5000 revs and I've lost nothing on decats all the way to over 7000. On the road it does feel quicker than it used to and the car pulls relentlessly, getting faster and fiercer with every 1000 revs. There's absolutely no let up after 7k either. The few times I extended the car properly had my Dad reaching for something to hold on to for dear life, so I think it was all a bit too much for him! This car is flying machine and feels a good bit sharper than the Sagaris I had, but to be fair that had the very high final drive with the CR box which is known to blunt things somewhat.
Overall I feel I've now got a fully sorted Tuscan 2 S, even if it doesn't sound quite as good as it used to. It's taken some amount of time and a fair few quid but it feels a complete package now. The handling mods, handed down from the Sagaris development, on the later T2's are really impressive. The only thing I lose to a Sagaris set up is a bit more dive under hard braking but the gains in ride height and comfort are well worth it. Dom managed to get the steering wheel on dead straight, having it slightly off centre is something that always bugs me, so that's a big improvement for me. The car looks fantastic but it's even better to drive. It's such a great combination of engine, stiff, responsive chassis and light body with razor sharp reflexes yet its never nervous or twitchy. Best of all compared to the Sagaris is the removable hard top which can be stowed away without interfering with your luggage space. As mentioned before, with the roof on, the Sagaris experience shades it but roof off it's no contest - it's all the epic thrills of the Saggy with the sun in your face and the wind in your hair and panoramic views thrown in for good measure. It's been an absolute joy this weekend and a reminder of all that's great about TVR ownership. Roll on the summer!
The reason I went down this route is because I found the car too loud with full decats. Even if it was faster it was so deafening and qualitatively worse sounding (all blaring metallic rasps and rattles) I simply didn't enjoy the car as much. The problem I had is that the car with standard (400 cell) cats in and CCC end cans was absolutely spot on for me. The quality of the noise was particularly good and having now exhausted (no pun intended!) the combinations I have to conclude that it was still the best sounding of all with standard cats and CCCs, and by some way.
Alas I hoped sports cats would return the sound to nearer that but give nearer the power of decats. For some reason the sports cats are much nearer the volume of no cats, than standard cats. So the car is still too loud with the straight through CCCs. However, I took delivery of some new titanium blueflame pipes which are perforated and return the car to it's standard silencing. But it's still noticeably louder than standard and this is the configuration I'll have to settle for - mainly because Dom found good gains on the dyno.
My car posted 326bhp at the back wheels with decats and TVR power decat chip fitted (it was 308 before the chip). With the sports cats I only lost 1bhp to 325 but this could easily be accounted for by the higher ambient temp at the time of the run. Further good news is the 274 ft lbs of torque and a much fatter and flatter torque curve than it produced with decats (which peaked at 270). The gains were significant under 5000 revs and I've lost nothing on decats all the way to over 7000. On the road it does feel quicker than it used to and the car pulls relentlessly, getting faster and fiercer with every 1000 revs. There's absolutely no let up after 7k either. The few times I extended the car properly had my Dad reaching for something to hold on to for dear life, so I think it was all a bit too much for him! This car is flying machine and feels a good bit sharper than the Sagaris I had, but to be fair that had the very high final drive with the CR box which is known to blunt things somewhat.
Overall I feel I've now got a fully sorted Tuscan 2 S, even if it doesn't sound quite as good as it used to. It's taken some amount of time and a fair few quid but it feels a complete package now. The handling mods, handed down from the Sagaris development, on the later T2's are really impressive. The only thing I lose to a Sagaris set up is a bit more dive under hard braking but the gains in ride height and comfort are well worth it. Dom managed to get the steering wheel on dead straight, having it slightly off centre is something that always bugs me, so that's a big improvement for me. The car looks fantastic but it's even better to drive. It's such a great combination of engine, stiff, responsive chassis and light body with razor sharp reflexes yet its never nervous or twitchy. Best of all compared to the Sagaris is the removable hard top which can be stowed away without interfering with your luggage space. As mentioned before, with the roof on, the Sagaris experience shades it but roof off it's no contest - it's all the epic thrills of the Saggy with the sun in your face and the wind in your hair and panoramic views thrown in for good measure. It's been an absolute joy this weekend and a reminder of all that's great about TVR ownership. Roll on the summer!
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What is the claimed figures for Wheeled bhp? What does 320 ish wbhp roughly equate to?
Did you measure the volume? Would it pass track days?
I'm interested in a remap but unsure if I can take the volume of a de-cat with my CCC's.
What is the claimed figures for Wheeled bhp? What does 320 ish wbhp roughly equate to?
Did you measure the volume? Would it pass track days?
I'm interested in a remap but unsure if I can take the volume of a de-cat with my CCC's.
320ish equates to around a real 380 at the flywheel according to TVR Power, so it's absolutely as it should be for a Tuscan S, which is good to know. Either way it's more than fast enough for me and takes some nerve and plenty of room to extend all the way to 7k!
Sports cats and standard cans shouldn't be a problem for track day noise tests but with CCC's it would struggle at quite a few tracks I reckon. Still, it's a 5 minute job to swap the cans so it makes sense to have more than one set at home.
If you think your car is quick enough as it is, keep the cats and bolt on some CCC's, that combination sounds the best of all to me.
Sports cats and standard cans shouldn't be a problem for track day noise tests but with CCC's it would struggle at quite a few tracks I reckon. Still, it's a 5 minute job to swap the cans so it makes sense to have more than one set at home.
If you think your car is quick enough as it is, keep the cats and bolt on some CCC's, that combination sounds the best of all to me.
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