This is my little project, i've had her for nigh-on 18 months now, so a bit late with this thread. Basic gist is as the title - i'm aiming to double stock figures for the car, not just in terms of power. I'm also looking to achieve similar results with items like mpg and cornering G, although these will be a bit more difficult than doubling power. Not least because no-one seems to have really gone for a measurable result on handling or shown the slightest interest in tuning for economy. This thread will be slow in the extreme as i'm doing it all on a shoe-string, but it will progress so bear with me if you're interested.
Thought for the month: What's for dinner?
Car details:
V-reg phase 3 silver HDi GLX 5-door hatchback. When i got it there were no modifications, FSH, had recently had the cambelt done and was also showing some rather persistent fuelling problems. (For those that don't know - i'm still fighting with said fuelling problems, car is about to be declared sorn so i can sort it in my own time.)
Haven't got any decent pictures for some reason so these will have to do until i get it back home:
![[Image: DSC00048.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/DSC00048.jpg)
^^^ The one on the far left.
How not to fix your car; a short history:
Bought the car on 89,000 miles for £850 with fuelling problems on the basis that it could be fixed and still cost less than a decent working one. Not only that, but i'd also have some fuel system components that were good for another 100k. Didn't quite go to plan... Will try to keep this brief, there's a lot to recount lol.
After extensive testing the injectors seemed to be the problem, leak-off rates were all over the place, as were IQ correction values. Replaced all 4 and noticed a marked improvement, however the problem kept up.
When testing everything before, i'd also noticed the fuel tank was mounted on the piss and the lift pump securing ring didn't seem to be sat properly, which could explain the smell of diesel when turning hard left and poor mpg. After spending a few hours trying different ways of getting the ring to sit straight and tighten properly, I gave up and bought a new one. And a seal just to be sure...
![[Image: DSC00207.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/DSC00207.jpg)
This didn't help, turned out it's the tank itself that was the problem, if you look at the above pic you can see the hole is slightly misshapen. I needed a whole new tank, luckily found a landrover dealer who "found one in the shed of a property he'd just picked up"(!), genuine, new fuel tank still in the packaging for £30 + postage, win! After solving that problem I vaguely hoped that the lift pump swinging loose had been causing the cutting out, realised this was nonsense almost immediately.
Remembered I had a couple of bits left off the last car and bought some other odd bits in the hope that it was being caused by a minor item that i'd somehow missed - injector pipes, fuel filter, fuel pressure sensor, fuel pressure regulator... None of these helped either, still the same cutting out under high loads and same codes coming up from the ECU.
Ran out of money for a bit and fixing the problem took a back seat until one day the car refused to start. That was enough incentive for me to renew my attack on the fuel system, after further testing I decided the next most likely culprit was the HP pump. Bought a second-hand pump and rebuilt it myself (badly) and fitted it up.
![[Image: DSC01009.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/HP%20Pump%20and%20other%20dismantled%20machinery/DSC01009.jpg)
![[Image: DSC01098.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/DSC01098.jpg)
Erm...
Amazingly enough this didn't work, so i took the sensible option and bought a properly refurbished pump. Gave in to temptation at this point after realising an r70 pump was only £35 more expensive than a standard replacement, so went for the upgrade.
Was pretty pissed off when i discovered this didn't work either.
Retested every item and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, so bought a code reader just to check the codes for the fourth time before spending anything else. Couldn't get this tool to connect properly no matter which program i tried it with, it would read some basic stats (ambient air temp, battery charge and something else), but that was all. Got a known-good code-reader attached and same thing happened, indicating a problem i hadn't even considered - the ECU was shagged.
That's where i'm at today, car is off the road and bloody useless to me, awaiting more cash to consume. Having worked it out the other night, i've only actually spent a total of about £750, so compared to a similar car bought that time last year (around £1800), i'm somehow still in the black! :blink: May have to adjust that calculation in a few years once the psycho-analyst bills start coming in...
The damage so far:
Aircon was getting on my nerves as it didn't work, and on inspection of the service history it seemed various garages had been trying unsuccessfully to fix it since 2001, a whole year after it left the forecourt!!
I considered that a pretty final judgement, so ripped it all out and sorted the aux belt to run without the compressor in place.
I wanted some winter wheels, so picked up some 15" steels and stuck winter tyres on them. When summer came back around i'd already scrapped the original harriers so picked up some foudres with half-decent tyres on. They rubbed without spacers, so 5mm front and 20mm rears sorted that:
![[Image: DSC01086.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/For%20sale/DSC01086.jpg)
When i went all eco-obsessed pro_steve took an interest (or was it pity..?.) and wrote a couple of eco-maps for me, personal best stands at ~71mpg combined. Hope to beat that in the new year once i get her back on the road.
Other than that i've done very little in the way of modifications, all I can think of is some powerflex poly-bushes for the wishbones and a further nod to weight saving with the removal of carpets and sound deadening in the rear.
Darling buds of May:
This is when the ticket on my temporary transport runs out, so this is the completion date for phase 2 - the "lack-lustre, first-time, home-brew, budget modder build". Just hope the "little darling" buds into a beautiful flower, rather than catching the frost and withering back into a fuel-related mire... Or something like that anyway. Most of the parts for this are already in the garage/conservatory/dining room table and waiting a few changes before fitting, details as follows:
Home-grown rear beam (what lesson, what's an HP pump got to do with this..?..) lowered 40mm with new mounts and bilstein b4's on the back, 40mm Spax lowering springs also with bilstein b4's on the front. Baker BM solid engine mounts because i'm tired of killing the bloody things. Got a splitter and spoiler, although the latter is mostly being used as a guide for something of my own design. EGR is deactivated, but i'll be hauling the whole thing out and welding up the ports. Got an experimental gt15 to fit:
![[Image: DSC00193.jpg]](http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/acpoodle/Turbo/DSC00193.jpg)
Hmmm...
Will port-match everything while i'm there and throw in a decat for good measure. Have a couple of maps from Steve still to check out, one of which being the all important "125/smokey" map. Want to continue stripping unnecessary weight out, including from the loom.
And finally some good, old, blue-sky thinking:
I have so many ideas and plans that writing them down here would be long-winded and pointless, not to mention foolish since most of them will probably never come to fruition. That said, here's some of the more likely plans:
(Disclaimer: Any and all items are subject to change, sacking-off or outright denial.)
Big thanks to everyone that's helped me so far. In no particular order, apologies if i've missed anyone:
Cully, pro_steve, tom1357, warlord0, mike_T, puglicker, Fozzy, mooey_65, fynnbar, Curt, jimmyadams, lolsteve
Last and most definitely not least; Dum-dum, cheers bud!
Looks like this as of September 2013:
[attachment=12293]
April 2014:
[attachment=18282]
August 2014:
[attachment=18281]
Thought for the month: What's for dinner?
Car details:
V-reg phase 3 silver HDi GLX 5-door hatchback. When i got it there were no modifications, FSH, had recently had the cambelt done and was also showing some rather persistent fuelling problems. (For those that don't know - i'm still fighting with said fuelling problems, car is about to be declared sorn so i can sort it in my own time.)
Haven't got any decent pictures for some reason so these will have to do until i get it back home:
^^^ The one on the far left.
How not to fix your car; a short history:
Bought the car on 89,000 miles for £850 with fuelling problems on the basis that it could be fixed and still cost less than a decent working one. Not only that, but i'd also have some fuel system components that were good for another 100k. Didn't quite go to plan... Will try to keep this brief, there's a lot to recount lol.
After extensive testing the injectors seemed to be the problem, leak-off rates were all over the place, as were IQ correction values. Replaced all 4 and noticed a marked improvement, however the problem kept up.
When testing everything before, i'd also noticed the fuel tank was mounted on the piss and the lift pump securing ring didn't seem to be sat properly, which could explain the smell of diesel when turning hard left and poor mpg. After spending a few hours trying different ways of getting the ring to sit straight and tighten properly, I gave up and bought a new one. And a seal just to be sure...
This didn't help, turned out it's the tank itself that was the problem, if you look at the above pic you can see the hole is slightly misshapen. I needed a whole new tank, luckily found a landrover dealer who "found one in the shed of a property he'd just picked up"(!), genuine, new fuel tank still in the packaging for £30 + postage, win! After solving that problem I vaguely hoped that the lift pump swinging loose had been causing the cutting out, realised this was nonsense almost immediately.
Remembered I had a couple of bits left off the last car and bought some other odd bits in the hope that it was being caused by a minor item that i'd somehow missed - injector pipes, fuel filter, fuel pressure sensor, fuel pressure regulator... None of these helped either, still the same cutting out under high loads and same codes coming up from the ECU.
Ran out of money for a bit and fixing the problem took a back seat until one day the car refused to start. That was enough incentive for me to renew my attack on the fuel system, after further testing I decided the next most likely culprit was the HP pump. Bought a second-hand pump and rebuilt it myself (badly) and fitted it up.
Erm...
Amazingly enough this didn't work, so i took the sensible option and bought a properly refurbished pump. Gave in to temptation at this point after realising an r70 pump was only £35 more expensive than a standard replacement, so went for the upgrade.
Was pretty pissed off when i discovered this didn't work either.
Retested every item and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, so bought a code reader just to check the codes for the fourth time before spending anything else. Couldn't get this tool to connect properly no matter which program i tried it with, it would read some basic stats (ambient air temp, battery charge and something else), but that was all. Got a known-good code-reader attached and same thing happened, indicating a problem i hadn't even considered - the ECU was shagged.
That's where i'm at today, car is off the road and bloody useless to me, awaiting more cash to consume. Having worked it out the other night, i've only actually spent a total of about £750, so compared to a similar car bought that time last year (around £1800), i'm somehow still in the black! :blink: May have to adjust that calculation in a few years once the psycho-analyst bills start coming in...
The damage so far:
Aircon was getting on my nerves as it didn't work, and on inspection of the service history it seemed various garages had been trying unsuccessfully to fix it since 2001, a whole year after it left the forecourt!!
I considered that a pretty final judgement, so ripped it all out and sorted the aux belt to run without the compressor in place. I wanted some winter wheels, so picked up some 15" steels and stuck winter tyres on them. When summer came back around i'd already scrapped the original harriers so picked up some foudres with half-decent tyres on. They rubbed without spacers, so 5mm front and 20mm rears sorted that:
When i went all eco-obsessed pro_steve took an interest (or was it pity..?.) and wrote a couple of eco-maps for me, personal best stands at ~71mpg combined. Hope to beat that in the new year once i get her back on the road.
Other than that i've done very little in the way of modifications, all I can think of is some powerflex poly-bushes for the wishbones and a further nod to weight saving with the removal of carpets and sound deadening in the rear.
Darling buds of May:
This is when the ticket on my temporary transport runs out, so this is the completion date for phase 2 - the "lack-lustre, first-time, home-brew, budget modder build". Just hope the "little darling" buds into a beautiful flower, rather than catching the frost and withering back into a fuel-related mire... Or something like that anyway. Most of the parts for this are already in the garage/conservatory/dining room table and waiting a few changes before fitting, details as follows:
Home-grown rear beam (what lesson, what's an HP pump got to do with this..?..) lowered 40mm with new mounts and bilstein b4's on the back, 40mm Spax lowering springs also with bilstein b4's on the front. Baker BM solid engine mounts because i'm tired of killing the bloody things. Got a splitter and spoiler, although the latter is mostly being used as a guide for something of my own design. EGR is deactivated, but i'll be hauling the whole thing out and welding up the ports. Got an experimental gt15 to fit:
Hmmm...
Will port-match everything while i'm there and throw in a decat for good measure. Have a couple of maps from Steve still to check out, one of which being the all important "125/smokey" map. Want to continue stripping unnecessary weight out, including from the loom.
And finally some good, old, blue-sky thinking:
I have so many ideas and plans that writing them down here would be long-winded and pointless, not to mention foolish since most of them will probably never come to fruition. That said, here's some of the more likely plans:
- Full undertray and aero-tuning. Undecided on materials for the undertray and need to test my ideas for aero-tuning to make sure they'd actually be beneficial.
- 6-speed gearbox and dt paddle clutch conversion, needs no introduction.
- Breathing overhaul. Fmic install; completely new intake system; 2.5" exhaust with straight through design box; TD04 or possibly a twin-scroll unit if i can find one suitable for less than what i paid for the car.
- Chassis overhaul. Hybrid ARBs; top and bottom strut braces; adjustable top-mounts; decent coilovers, probably gaz; rear shell brace; modified rear beam; 283mm discs, calipers and pads undecided as yet, will have cold air ducting.
- Fuelling overhaul. Some sort of home-brew, uber HP pump; uprated lift pump (know i'll get flamed for that, but :p); 1800 bar fps.
- All manner of extra gauges, cos i'm a nosey bugger: oil temp, oil pressure, boost, emp, intake temp (pre and post cooler), egt (pre-turbine), gearbox oil temp, 'bay temp, etc. Most will probably be read by something like a scangauge for convenience and to keep cost down.
- Depending on what i find out from the above, possibly oil cooler and gearbox fluid cooler, and almost certainly a whole bunch of ducting for various items.
- Guess i should mention the exterior, will probably ignore it or possibly commission an artist friend of mine to graffiti/spray a piece on it.
(Disclaimer: Any and all items are subject to change, sacking-off or outright denial.)
Big thanks to everyone that's helped me so far. In no particular order, apologies if i've missed anyone:
Cully, pro_steve, tom1357, warlord0, mike_T, puglicker, Fozzy, mooey_65, fynnbar, Curt, jimmyadams, lolsteve
Last and most definitely not least; Dum-dum, cheers bud!
Looks like this as of September 2013:
[attachment=12293]
April 2014:
[attachment=18282]
August 2014:
[attachment=18281]