LY200 - too loud or blow up again, taking bets!

[TB Rich]

Ah slowly I'm afraid mate! Just been very busy with work and life last couple of weeks so not had a lot of time to spend on the Clio. But I'm hoping the last bits will arrive asap so I can get an MOT appropriate exhaust on the car! A guy off the Facebook group came up trumps for me, was coming to the area so dropped me off an oem centre section - which fortunately had the centre silencer removed as otherwise as the R3 manifold is so much longer it would have not left enough room to get my sports cat in. So I've ordered a reducer sleeve for the sports cat -> oem centre. And then I've got my old oem back box still, and so just ordered a straight sleeve to get that fitted. Was hoping would have been here today to be honest, but once the sleeves are here I'll just put everything in the boot and pay the local MOT place to do a swap on and off - this hot weather meant when I jacked the car up with my trolley jack and it just sunk into the drive and I've royally gashed up the tarmac, ffs!

For more continued bad car luck though, my Mini!! I dropped it off 2 weeks ago to have the bumper fitted properly (3rd attempt!) as it's still not right after the engine swap. And in those 2 weeks all Mini/BMW have managed to do is dent my bonnet and they're currently waiting for a PDR guy. Utter piss take that place, can't wait to be shot of it now, wish I'd have gone the used RS3 option for a daily in hindsight, ah well!!

 

[lewishunter98]

That's fair enough. It happens! Good that you've got the exhaust sorted though!

That's a real shame about the Mini. Can see why you're frustrated with it



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[TB Rich]

Ended up having a new custom centre made using my current sports cat to pick up the manifold and then run on to connect to the Akra box box. That way I have a pair of very easily replaceable centre sections. 1) shortened Akra centre with silencer. 2) sports cat centre with no silencer.

However, despite that it still failed..
The sports cat did it's job in terms of co2, however the fueling/lambda, yeah it's quite rich lol!! Didn't realise that was checked tbh.

So IF the wiring guy had done his job properly and put the wideband in to the ECU as requested, when it was mapped it could have had closed loop idle mapped and it would have been fine.
- So I'm still into a logistical pain in the ass to sort this car before I can get an MOT.

Oh and the car was flat when I went to start it up this morning. I assume it was the glovebox light that did it because unless you give it a twat the corner sags and the light sometimes stays on. Literally fights me every step of the way this car! 5 mins before my MOT and the thing just dead....reaching for the matches again!!
Anyway I got some strong double sided velcro on that corner now, so it shuts much better.

But I have at least driven it about the last couple of days to and from exhaust shop for repair and MOT centre for testing, and it's, errr, very frigging aggressive! The idle is lumpy (I like) and so with the stiff engine mounts the whole thing just rocks, shakes and it seems like there is probably not a single panel in there that doesn't rattle in some way! Properly an event to be in and it feels so focussed and single minded in purpose......but yet it's got full interior etc!! Has a very odd personality to the car now if that makes sense, before it seemed to straddle that road/track balance well - now....it just seems so angry that I'm not sure it makes sense! More seat time needed of course, it's been over 2 years since I last used it, but I think it needs stripping and caging.

It's not as fast as the last engine either, certainly driving for on the road driving as you can def tell the midrange is not there by a long shot, however it still seams to have the pace up top. Clearly need more time to be in it and properly thrash it though.
But I'll be honest I'm certainly initially disappointed by the performance. - I guess if I took 100kg ish out it might be closer to what I expected/want, so again I think stripping it is in order and first thing will be seats (Tillett's no doubt) as that's the quickest win to get those heavy Recaro's out.

 

[Juk3sy]

So it's been a while, how are things moving along? I request updates, this roller coaster of emotion needs a happy ending!

 

[bedoef]

Rich, come back!

 

[TB Rich]

I am back on cars again - decided to take a break whilst I changed jobs and also spent some money on my other hobbies (Hifi!). Was nice to be 'off' so to speak...but alas it's time to sort the car again!
And so it's MOT'd, tax'd, proper exhaust that is was mapped on re-fitted - and first hard back road blast completed! Goes a lot better on the correct centre now, actually feels quick - the cat centre is strangling the car for sure, I think the bend on it isn't mandrel bent and you can see a reduction in bore size through the bend (pic below). I'll echo what I said before in that the midrange is not what the old engine was, however it loves to rev and really flipping piles on the speed quickly - and the gearing... I'd forgotten how bloody short it is!
I'm looking to take the car to Simpson to have the front joint (centre/manifold) sorted in a few weeks - I'm not happy with the spring joint fitting I have currently. It's fine until you start pushing and under chassis/suspension movement it blows. So going to put a flexi on each of the centres and then v-band that to the manifold, will be a better fitting and also easier to swap the centres over for that yearly appointment!

Then of course wiring still last bit, but spoken to the chap again and he's more than happy to take car back in and sort. Alternator charging wire, datalogger sensors, and wideband to move from datalogger to ECU is what's left there.

Overall things seem a lot more positive with the car again, light at the end of the tunnel I think and being able to drive it about rather than sodding trailer it is a huge bonus in my motivation to get the last bits done.

(The culprit on the left - now it's off the car quite disappointed with the quality given the cost, I wouldn't expect such an obvious bore reduction - but as it only needs to do 2 journeys a year not the end of the world!)

 

[lewishunter98]

Good to hear the cars back on the road mate.

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[bedoef]

Can't wait for the video of the car ripping on track days.

 

[TB Rich]

Can't wait for the video of the car ripping on track days.

Got a couple of vids, very shitty quality from a phone so not really doing any justice - I'll make sure I get some sort of external mic for a proper track vid, but for now this is all..

 

[Pedro ramalho]

Impressive work for a NA engine.
Congratulations

 

[TB Rich]

Impressive work for a NA engine.
Congratulations

Thanks, it would be interesting to go in a stock 200 again and see how one feels - but I have that feeling already with it that it was worth every penny and sticking with the vision!

Dropped it off to Regal for the flexi/v-band exhaust work this morning, pick it up probably end of the week and then to schedule a return for wiring to be finished and mark the completion of the 'rebuild phase' after May '17's track day fail! So only been 2 1/2 years
Might be able to sneak 1 track day in before the year is out if I can find a weekend date that suits as I'm out of leave this year.

 

[bedoef]

Sounds wonderful rich!!! I have learned nothing from this thread; someday I will do ITBs to mine as well.

 

[Yiannis197]

Damn that engine sound!

 

[TB Rich]

Damn that engine sound!

Then have a little bit more

Exhaust work completed and put it on the dyno there, 232bhp! With a wheels fig of 193 I think a touch high on the losses but it's a few more at the wheels than whilst it was mapped - so the colder air and no mapping heat soak def means more than it made on the day as expected. But alas, you gotta go with what the paper says right !!
Regardless of numbers as dynos are always going to split opinions I do need to up the limiter a bit, I think they set it lower once mapping was done but I think a few hundred rpm more again is needed as it really does hold the power up there.

 

[Beany]

What’s it like Noise wise Rich? A 230bhp screaming n/a is a wet dream but surely it’s got to be loud and how strict most circuits are will you be allowed on

 

[TB Rich]

What’s it like Noise wise Rich? A 230bhp screaming n/a is a wet dream but surely it’s got to be loud and how strict most circuits are will you be allowed on

yeah......hmmmm, to say I'm 'concerned' is a little bit of an understatement!! I've been booted off tracks before in this thing and well it's not got any quieter!!

Carbon airbox might be needed for track use to calm the induction, and exhaust should be ok at most circuits I think. It was fine at Combe last time out, but wasn't at Bedford, but that could have been induction as it was loud on that front before the bodies.

Will be an expensive suck it and see lesson I fear

 

[Beany]

yeah......hmmmm, to say I'm 'concerned' is a little bit of an understatement!! I've been booted off tracks before in this thing and well it's not got any quieter!!

Carbon airbox might be needed for track use to calm the induction, and exhaust should be ok at most circuits I think. It was fine at Combe last time out, but wasn't at Bedford, but that could have been induction as it was loud on that front before the bodies.

Will be an expensive suck it and see lesson I fear

Tbf you can sneeze at Bedford and be kicked off

Be lovely to see it on track giving it some beans so I hope it goes smoothly and not too expensive to sort.

 

[suj]

yeah......hmmmm, to say I'm 'concerned' is a little bit of an understatement!! I've been booted off tracks before in this thing and well it's not got any quieter!!

Carbon airbox might be needed for track use to calm the induction, and exhaust should be ok at most circuits I think. It was fine at Combe last time out, but wasn't at Bedford, but that could have been induction as it was loud on that front before the bodies.

Will be an expensive suck it and see lesson I fear

It's kind of good the engine is in the front, many of my Porsche 911 classic friends have had to limit their cars as when they do the exhaust noise it is coupled with the intake noise.
Might just need a bit of tickling on the exhaust to get it down / have one where you can add an extra silencer on if needed (on the stricter tracks).

Sounds amazing Rich, worth all the effort, cannot wait to see a vid of this on track!

 

[TB Rich]

It's kind of good the engine is in the front, many of my Porsche 911 classic friends have had to limit their cars as when they do the exhaust noise it is coupled with the intake noise.
Might just need a bit of tickling on the exhaust to get it down / have one where you can add an extra silencer on if needed (on the stricter tracks).

Sounds amazing Rich, worth all the effort, cannot wait to see a vid of this on track!

Actually that's a pretty decent idea, I've got an every day centre section, an 'MOT' centre , so another one with a really long silencer might be wise for track - shouldn't make any real difference on power and doesn't matter what power you have if you can't actually take it out! Dread to think how much I've spent on exhausts over the years though

 

[suj]

Actually that's a pretty decent idea, I've got an every day centre section, an 'MOT' centre , so another one with a really long silencer might be wise for track - shouldn't make any real difference on power and doesn't matter what power you have if you can't actually take it out! Dread to think how much I've spent on exhausts over the years though

Exactly! My 200sx had a 3inch all the way through, but with 2 big silencers, never had a problem with any tracks.
I've seen so many people come with noisy cars and complain they cannot get on track.

Haha you change exhausts like trackdayers change wheels