488 replies to this topic

[mandarinvx]

Not much progress as I'm waiting on lots of parts at the mo

In preparation for the new rear grille arriving I removed the old one

Used a Dremel to rough cut the bulk of the mesh out-





Tried many ways to cut through the thick black gunk that was used to fix the grille in place - turned out the best way was to use a good quality stanley knife and keep chaging the blades, with a pair of pliers used to put some resistance on it; then made lots of small incisions-



And finally-



Not something I'd do again - a complete PITA, deffo wouldn't attempt it if the clam was still on the car!

[Fagan]

Just read from start to finish. Crackin project mate, crackin! How did you highlight the yellow AP Racing on your caliper? Just a brush or a sponge or something? The reason I ask is I painted my calipers yellow and tried to highlight the lettering black and it looks like a dogs dinner compared to yours. Definetely needs sanded back down and started again. Did you spray your calipers black or brush them? Cheers

[mandarinvx]

Cheers I brush painted the calipers with Halfords satin black high temp paint I used a 'generic yellow' touch up pen (again from Halfords) and used the brush with lots of patience I didn't think it would last not being high temp, but it was fine I've since sanded down the logo to bare metal and lacquered over them, so it's now silver

[mandarinvx]

Right then - The Rotrex plan

The Charger

A Rotrex 30 series either the 84 or 94 - not sure yet

The 84 has a range of 200-320bhp and the 94 from 250-400bhp; although I'm not sure how those figures are derived I'd have thought there a too many variables across engine types to give an actual power range
It will be mounted where the air con compressor would sit on a Veccy, just below the alternater

The Engine

Nice and simple:
change rods to Eagle H-beam
Fit two (or three) Saab head gaskets, with rivets drilled out; to drop compression a little - need to do a couple of calcs first I guess
I already have the ported head with double valve springs etc and GMP valves so that will be fitted - probably stick with OEM cams for the time being and fit Comp Blower of Saab turbo cams if needed

The Exhaust

I already have a full Piper 2.5" system with manifold; should be good enough for the 250-300bhp I'd like
May get a wideband gauge

ECU

Three options really:
Find someone that has truly 'cracked' the OEM ECU, nice and neat but not sure how realistic
Fit 'piggyback' fuel controller - I've found someone with good experience of the AEM version
Fit aftermarket solution - would rather avoid this route as it will mean aftermarket 'kit' type solution prices will start to soar

Cooling

The centifugal blower is far more efficient than the roots type, making cooling a bit of a black hole
I have a VXT intercooler to try, but will need to find some way of mounting it - if it works then I'll ask ProAlloy or similar to make up a neater/lighter/more efficient permanent solution. The tubby position is ideal as the piping would exit the charger into a 90 degree bend, then under the chassis beam and into the intercooler, then out the top of the intercooler and across into the TB
If I require more cooling then may have a play with a water injection kit
And if even more is required then a full-on chargecooler (but I don't anticipate it needing that much)
I'm going to fit the tubby side vents too
The layout of the engine bay suggests that latent heat gains wont be as great an issue as they are on a tubby

Air Intake
Ideally mounted directly into the charger, but there may not be space in which case I'll have to mount it in the more usual position, but ideally I'd like to keep all pipe runs as short as poss
I plan to use the OEM plastic 2.2 manifold for now - if that doesn't work I'll need to use the Saab cast manifold (already got one just in case )

Main thing I'm not sure on is injectors

Any suggestions welcome

[rcvaughan]

VXR injectors are maxing out at 310BHP with M62/harrop charger installs atm as far as I understand with CS current mapping abilities if I am not mistaken. They have gone higher but then they dont agree come MOT time If Joe's car is anything to go by the 2.5" piper ststem is maxing out at about 270 BHP at the top end

[techieboy]

Will watch with interest Mandarin. If you're really looking at the high 200's, then you might as well start with the Astra VXR injectors. The tubby injectors are apparently maxed out at 270bhp. You might even need to run a couple of extra injectors with the piggyback, which is what it looks like is going to be needed with the Harrop if Courtenay's decide to re-use the piggyback controller to manage high output conversions.

[The Batman]

Will watch with interest Mandarin.

indeed

[mandarinvx]

I'd be more than happy with 270bhp

Are these the right injectors - they seem quite cheap

May need to ask Piper to make me up a decat section just in case

Looks like there are two options for the Toyota Elise rearding the C30-84 / C30-94 issue:

Make - Type Standard HP Rotrex HP Charger
Lotus Elise/Exige 250S (Toyota 2ZZ) 190 260 C30-84
Lotus Elise/Exige R (Toyota 2ZZ) 190 295 C30-94

[rcvaughan]

Yeah they're the right injectors but cheaper from CS. You don't need the actual rail, just the injectors. £110 I think. Also, my exhaust cat section is a larini de-cat pipe 2.5" with a section cut out and an UBER high flowing magnaflow street racer 200 cell cat welded in. The result of that is my car running at 260 BHP with the standard cast manifold!

Edited by rcvaughan, 17 October 2009 - 01:50 PM.

[mandarinvx]

Would I not need the new pressure regulator tho, or do they all run at the same psi

[techieboy]

Would I not need the new pressure regulator tho, or do they all run at the same psi

Same fuel regulator as far as I know. There's more than enough pressure at the fuel rail.

You may run into fuel pump issues, so you might want to think about swirl pot and uprated external pump.

[mandarinvx]

Yea I can imagine possible problems with fuelling - I'll give it a go first and fit a swirl pot if all else fails

[NickB787]

Engine looks good but keep it under 300 if you keep the oem pistons, what about a 2tublar rather than piper system? Be careful about the fuel pressure as techieboy has said there are problems already out there.

[alanoo]

If you do rods, do the pistons too...

[mandarinvx]

Engine looks good but keep it under 300 if you keep the oem pistons, what about a 2tublar rather than piper system?

Be careful about the fuel pressure as techieboy has said there are problems already out there.

I already have the Piper system sat in the spare room () but it should be good enough for the sort of power I'm aiming for

If you do rods, do the pistons too...

As I understand it the block would need to be removed and rebored to fit new pistons (even if I only wanted OE size ones), and I'd rather avoid the hassle to be honest - the guy I've been speaking to has used multiple head gaskets on a frequent basis to lower compression (must admit I did whince at the idea when he first suggested it!)

It is something that's playing on my mind though... and I have a spare block sat around...

[mandarinvx]

Having the rear clam off for a while opened up the opportunity for a bit of heat-shielding My boot was getting very hot with the standard exhaust and with the Piper going on I thought I'd better do something about it

First off was to cover the rigid heatshield that sits under the boot floor with tape - I used 30 micron high temp adhesive aluminium





Then used some fibreglass matting with high temp adhesive and aluminiumised surface - this is supposedly good for up to 600 degrees radiant heat

[mandarinvx]

And then onto the boot floor



Again covered with the fibreglass material, then finished with aluminium tape to protect the edges



And all in place - the hard heat shield will be secured with M5 nuts and locking bolts with penny washers instead of the aluminium rivets (that had broke) that vaux used








Also replaced the crappy button headed bonnet stays with stainless hex bolts

[mandarinvx]

A few obligatory comparison pics of the standard exhaust and the Piper











The standard exhaust measures 1.9" at it's largest point (this drops to ~1.9" OD where there are any curves in the pipework). The Piper measures 2.375" ID throughout

So the csa of the standard is 1829mm2 and the csa of the Piper is 2858mm2

This means that the Piper has a 56% greater capacity to flow than the standard, and much moreso through the bends (and lets face it there aren't many straight sections in the standard system!)

[JG]

so the piper cat will replace as std one? and i can keep the vse

[haggi961]

nice job mate and hopfully stop them ice creams melting in the boot now lol , and the exhaust with the black tip will look class when its all sorted.