Stage 1 (Nov '11 - Apr '12)
(a) - Move Puma to brother's house and declare off-road instead of renewing insurance (done)
OK. So, as seems to be the norm for me - I am updating this thread late at night when I should be asleep. I already knew when I bought the Puma that my insurance would be high (Liverpool is not the best of areas to live for this - even the nicer areas!). I didn't however think that I would want to modify it to the extent that I do. Due to lack of funds and wanting to compete in it next year I made the decision to take it off the road for the winter. After all - who wants to be paying for insurance when you never know how long the jobs you have planned will stop you from using the car for? Getting the renewal letter from my insurers was the final straw...
That fateful letter that I was disappointed with. Yes - that is £1513.42 and not even fully comp - with 3 years NCB:
My friend manages a bike shop and gave me a 'cellar special' - needs some lights but good for 65.5mpg on tap water:
Gathered the necessary forms from the local Post Office. Now where's that tax disc...
...Looks like I'll only be getting one month refunded. Still about £18 and no more VW logo for me:
Thankfully the Puma will only be 0.7 miles away at my brother's house. Easy to go and work on it:
Before I moved it I thought I'd test out one little thing - hence the messy work environment:
So what was it I was trying out?
(e) - Improve power of the standard engine through ITBs, aftermarket ECU and exhaust (started)
With time running out before my insurance was due to run out, and after reading Gary and Phil's project here http://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=9460;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I was itching to fit some individual throttle bodies. They sounded so good and a few of us were wondering what difference they made to the performance of an otherwise standard Puma.
I received some speedy responses and managed to get everything I needed together pretty sharpish. I had a big deadline in uni Last Friday, a day out (final drive :-( ) in the Puma all of Saturday and a day-long Snowboard lesson booked with friends in Manchester Sunday. This left me just Sunday night and Monday morning to get it swapped and tested. In order for fuel level and weather condition to least-effect the comparison I took the Puma for one last 'standard' test drive. On a private test track I timed a quarter mile run using my laptop and camera stuck to the steering wheel. I carried on past an indicated 100mph just out of curiosity. The video is sideways as that's the only way I got the camera to fit with the time I had so sorry:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150914762815181
I'm not sure why the speedo jumped so much a couple of times as the ground was dry. The ProScan software told me I ran a 16.111s @ 84.224mph (my best yet) whilst times I calculated using the speedo and video frame count were:
0-10mph: 0.3s
0-20mph: 2.1s
0-30mph: 3.6s
0-40mph: 4.2s
0-50mph: 5.5s
0-60mph: 7.3s
0-70mph: 9.7s
0-80mph: 12.3s
0-90mph: 16.2s
0-100mph: 21.0s
I know these are inaccurate due to the speedo jumping, possibly being incorrectly calibrated and it being based on my interpretation of when the needle reaches points in a dark video. I just thought you might be interested anyway.
Step 1. Butcher a Puma inlet manifold (preferably not with just a 6" hack saw :| ) so it's short:
Step 2. Separate GSXR1000 K1/2 throttle bodies, remove the secondary valves and fill holes:
Step 3. Space the throttle bodies and fit to the short inlet manifold along with all other parts:
Step 4. Remove the standard intake system (alternator has to move to swap manifolds):
Step 5. Fit what you assembled in Step 3. and realise it's nearly 3am so leave it for the night!
:
Step 6. Wire in TPS and bodge the throttle cable. Also remove filters as bonnet won't shut
They were the steps I took whilst severely sleep-deprived. That's probably why it seemed to take forever - making adjustment after adjustment (due to the tight clearances and clumsily large hose clips for example) whilst trying not to disturb the neighbours. Later on I weighed what I had taken out of the car - 10.6kg (this includes the bonnet lining as I was that desperate for space). I had weighed the ITB set-up and it totalled 3.1kg so a healthy saving of 7.5kg just from the intake system!
On my first start up I killed the ignition as it revved up to over 4k rpm. After adjusting the idle screw on the throttle cable linkage I started it again in a hope to warm up the engine before revving it or driving anywhere. I was warned it would run lumpy but for the first few minutes it was especially bad. I couldn't get it to idle steadily and there were occasional back-fires into the throttle bodies!
After a while of letting it idle and warm up, whilst wondering if I'll ever be able to get it running smooth on MegaSquirt; I called my little brother outside to see what I'd done and grabbed my camera.
Here is what I showed him when he came outside:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150914787220181
The best bit is at about 2 minutes in - I only rev it properly once though because I'm a considerate neighbour :lol:
I then foolishly left him with the only memory card and that camera just to film me simply trying to drive down the road normally for the first time:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150914826230181
As you can hear it was not easy to drive and I stalled it once out of site then again at the end of the video braking for the junction - I think the brake servo vacuum set-up needs revising as well as new engine management. I say it was foolish to leave him with my camera because I was on my way to that same private test track.
My God it sounded good when you opened it up!!! :grin: It was spine-tinglingly good and that was with a full interior and the windows up! I wish I had it on camera to share with you all but I was out of time and I had to head back to put the Puma off the road for the winter. I did however have my laptop hooked up again. Not very relevant as it was now warmer than the night before and I got a bad start (seemed to wheel-spin a lot more so gave false times) but it ran a 16.270s @ 83.090mph. To me it definitely felt to be pulling better once I had got past the wheelspin but that could have just been the psychological effects of hearing my new favourite 'music'.
I can't wait until it is fully mapped to make proper use of these and a straight through exhaust - keeping it MOT worthy may take some juggling around with dates of these modifications. I'll keep you all posted whatever happens...