4722 replies to this topic

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

The evenings are really drawing in now and I can't get out after work in daylight any more. So I tried to go for a run today at mid-day before the rain comes - complete waste of time with the congestion
 
This has me wondering what to do with myself this winter; the choices so far:
 
1) Build up a new bottom end to mate with my existing head for the eventuality of the current bottom end wearing out.
2) Buy a Jack Russell puppy and train him up fully (added benefit of fitting him in a special seat in the VX with goggles on and ears flapping in the wind)!
3) Be nicer to my girlfriend and bonk her more!
4) Get back to serious fitness (climbing, weights, some running and move up a couple of karate grade), get my resting heart beat back down to 40, feel/sleep better etc etc.
 
Any suggestions ?!

Bonking doesn't take that long no matter who you are, do more of this is good,

Don't get fitter waste of time

That leaves your bottom end so there is your answer

Edited by CHILL Gone DUTCH, 07 September 2013 - 12:25 PM.

[Nev]

I forgot to mention option 5 (Siztenboots reminded me!):

 

5: Walk out of my crappy unrewarding relentless thankless unacheiving job and go skiing in America for the whole winter season. Then come back in spring fit as a butchers dog and relive my youth by cranking on the beautiful cliffs of the UK again. Then think about getting a job again next autumn.

Edited by Nev, 07 September 2013 - 12:37 PM.

[Zoobeef]

Definitely midlife crisis talk. You should buy a convertible sports car and tune it up, oh wait........

[Nev]

Definitely midlife crisis talk.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head !

[VXT Tim]

Plan a full suspension overhaul. New wishbones and uprights.

Edited by VXT Tim, 07 September 2013 - 04:46 PM.

[Nev]

Plan a full suspension overhaul. New wishbones and uprights.

 

Thankfully my bushes and joints are all fine, so that's one thing I don't need to do. My Nitrons have only done about 10k miles too.

 

I could buy a full AC TIG welding setup and make a few things, but it would cost £1,000 just to buy semi decent kit for that.

[Ormes]

Learn how to map a standard Let ECU and then teach me

[steveboyslim]

Take up knitting and knit me a jumper the same as you were wearing at Circuit Motors when you had the car on the rollers. Steve

[KurtVerbose]

Why not have a go at reconciling quantum mechanics and relativity?

 

Otherwise there's that whole perpetual motion thing?

[steveboyslim]

3) Be nicer to my girlfriend and bonk her more! If option 3) will there be any videos or pictures on your blog ? Steve

[KurtVerbose]

If option 3) will there be any videos or pictures on your blog ? Steve

Think you have a fan Nev.

 

[completechip]

You can come to romania, Nev, take nipper with you for a long journey,and here we can discover the infinite universe of remapping. I don't want to be the only one swearing while trying to achieve better and better performance,would feel a lot better knowing i am not alone in this never ending "fight", and probably would be very amusing to see someone struggling for the same purpose. it' s like i could see myself through other person's eyes... I think the dog and the girlfriend are best options...with vx220 you will never have easy days...

[Nev]

Sheesh, just tried fitting some slightly different spacers and wheel bolts on my car only to find that the eBay knobbers managed to send me 4 wheel bolts per wheel instead of 5 (the item was clearly listed as 5 bolt hubs on the advert BTW).

 

Grrr, the whole process of owning a car is so frustrating, you can't seem to trust the people who work on them or the people who supply the parts.

[Nev]

I have a pair of brand new air filters that will probably fit a Z22SE (NA/SC VX220).

 

I bought them for my car about 8 months ago, but the eBay arses sent the wrong version as they differ in size to the Z20LET one. Free to the first persons who comes and picks them up, though I can't guarantee that they will deffo fit the NA.

[ChrisS1]

For standard air box?

[Nev]

I presume so, they are about 1.5 inches narrower than the VXT air filters.

 

I can only assume they sent the wrong ones (ie for the NA rather than the VXT). If you measured yours and let me know I could compare them if you like.

[Nev]

In anticipation of the car going off for it's new ECU in 2 weekends time, I though It better get it prepped up fully as I am busy next weekend. So over the last week I:

 

1. Fitted a pair of new air filters in the "bird box" air-box as the old ones were very grubby.

2. Changed the oil from 10w50 to 10w40. This however was giving off puffs of smoke, so I decided to do Pt 3 below.

3. Reconfigure the cam cover breather from venting to atmosphere and instead make it vent into the inlet track (which has a mild vacuum).

 

Anyway I went out for an eventful drive in the lovely sunshine, just 41 miles and I came back pretty tired. The best bit was meeting a Ford Focus RS in front of me, he did his best and even overtook 3 cars in a stretch of single carriageway, but from behind it looked like he was moving in slow motion, I barely had to get Nipper up to 15 PSI at 5000 RPM to keep up. I also had the excitement of a conker fall out of a tree onto the passenger seat and some deluded chav in a Volvo try it on.

 

All in all the car is ready for new ECU and I am getting excited to get it back and finally have full control of every aspect of the car at last.

 

Steve Milton is recommending that I ask Chris to map it to the max, but I feel the precaution of limiting it to 2.0 Bar of boost or 550 BHP (whichever comes first) would be wise. In reality I will most probably program the boost settings considerably lower than this for most driving conditions, as I find the car is too mental (on a-roads) above circa 1.4 Bar of boost. However having full bore power available for my future plans will be of benefit

 

 

Edited by Nev, 29 September 2013 - 05:05 PM.

[The Batman]

Which ecu you going for? Double filter?

[Nev]

Adaptronic 440 (the more expensive one), with traction control, in gear boost control, in car laptop, hot map swap, dash switch to run a min boost, easily reprogrammable by myself/local dyno etc etc

 

2 air filters help the engine get enough air, that in conjunction with my upgrade to 4" pipework gave me approximately a 50 BHP increase. Worth doing if go above the 350 BHP mark I reckon.

[The Batman]

Got some photos? Will have a noisy at the ecu