Driving 1.7 faster for the 1st time...WTF!

I just came back from a night drive, I was trying to high rev the engine a few times, to test the new cambelt. This was the 1st time, I was above 5k...and it scarred the sh@t out of me! My max rev, in 2nd was appr.6k, but not sure, because I was busy shitting myself! I knew, if you push it bit, she can jump, but hold the gas a little bit longer and the monster unleashes! The engine sound was just amazing in all gears and it was...I don't even know what to say. My eyes are still wide open! I felt like Neo in the Matrix, when he was flying among the buildings, to save Trinity! Driving experince for sure! Sorry guys, I just had to give this out of myself. By the way, the cambelt and the rest did their job well, but later a few more hig-rev tests might be necessary... She gets very thirsty, but boy, she gives more fun than some of my ex

Yes... they're good aren't they! The VCT kicks in around 4000 and continues up to about 5600: it feels like you've been rear-ended by an HGV and then the power comes in. :lol:

Greybeard said:

Yes... they're good aren't they! The VCT kicks in around 4000 and continues up to about 5600: it feels like you've been rear-ended by an HGV and then the power comes in. :lol:

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That's a good way to describe it!

love the above description, guess I must be missing out as yet to have the need to go over 3500 revs to enjoy my Puma, just love the low down grunt mine has (or had when she was on the road). Also if I am honest very rarely used anything below 4th gear in normal driving around here.

zinc2000 said:

love the above description, guess I must be missing out as yet to have the need to go over 3500 revs to enjoy my Puma, just love the low down grunt mine has (or had when she was on the road). Also if I am honest very rarely used anything below 4th gear in normal driving around here.

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The torque pulls like a train above 3.5- 4k rpm, and due it's small size, the feeling of the acceleration is better, than e.g. in a sedan. Above 4k, when you step on the gas, the engine noise beats any music system and sucks the air so crazy, it sound when the turbo is building up! Really crazy! It's like, Whoooooooooooooooss! And it's not the, "hit 5k rpm and holding the steering wheel with 1 hand", no no, you hold it so strong with your fingers around it, like it's glued to it!

But I like the normal speed as well, that I can shift gears at 2k and the mpg is quite good, compare to the engine size. With normal driving, the gas handling, doesn't feel much different than a 1.3 Colt. Actually, when the car almost stationary and I put it only into 2nd gear, I can pull away even easier.

Either my puma is seriously lacking something or my intimate experiences have set the bar waaay too high because i can't say the too even remotely compare in the same manner above.

And there isn't a turbo? :?

ArtfulHussy said:

Either my puma is seriously lacking something or my intimate experiences have set the bar waaay too high because i can't say the too even remotely compare in the same manner above.

And there isn't a turbo? :?

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There's no turbo in the normal 1.7 Puma, it's VCT, not sure about the FRP version tough. But probably not either.
I just feel, everytime I step on the gas hard in 2nd or 3rd gear -I mostly drive in cities, so no high rev in 4+ gears - for a few seconds and I can already hear the heart-pounding whoooooooooos from the engine! Even the air filter is normal, so not sure, why that sound, but I LOVE IT!
If you rev up the engine until 6k in 2nd and after quick shift, in 3rd rev it up until 6k - if you still don't feel the adrenalin rush, than probably you have driven too many fast cars.

You can't beat a good 'Italian tune up' ;-)

ArtfulHussy said:

Either my puma is seriously lacking something or my intimate experiences have set the bar waaay too high because i can't say the too even remotely compare in the same manner above.

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I was thinking that, but I have no idea what 'VCT' is, so I presumably I'm missing something?

Apologies for my ignorance, but can someone enlighten me as to what is meant by 'VCT'

Thanks.

JSP said:

ArtfulHussy said:

Either my puma is seriously lacking something or my intimate experiences have set the bar waaay too high because i can't say the too even remotely compare in the same manner above.

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I was thinking that, but I have no idea what 'VCT' is, so I presumably I'm missing something?

Apologies for my ignorance, but can someone enlighten me as to what is meant by 'VCT'

Thanks.

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Variable Cam Timing. I don't know the in's and out's of it but I believe essentially the ECU uses a couple of different pieces of information to calculate the load on the engine at any given moment and uses that calculated info to adjust the cam timing to ensure max torque output at any given moment.

It most noticeably "kicks in" around 4k rpm

Greybeard said:

Yes... they're good aren't they! The VCT kicks in around 4000 and continues up to about 5600: it feels like you've been rear-ended by an HGV and then the power comes in. :lol:

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So what do they red line at. I'm only on a 1.4 so interested in what a 1.7 is like. My old 106 gti (tinkered with I believe) had no vct but would redline just over 8k, with power kicking in around 4.5 till 8. That thing was fast but soooo twitchy.

Ok, but all the 1.7 ones have VCT, I was thinking it was some modification that Sylvester had done.

So I therefore still find myself echoing Artfulhussy's views.

JSP said:

Ok, but all the 1.7 ones have VCT, I was thinking it was some modification that Sylvester had done.

So I therefore still find myself echoing Artfulhussy's views.

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No mods at all. Nothing. Even the exhaust system is original. At least when I had checked other Puma's, they had the same. I just got back home from work and when I got almost home, I had stepped on the gas just for a very short time in 2nd grear and 4.5k rpm the beginning of the WHOOOOOOOOOOs was already there - along with my smiley Not sure, yours why doesn't do it. I don't listen to music at all. But even if you do, That air-sucking "music" is so loud, you would hear it , even with some music on.

must admit, i got my engine running in my fiesta yesterday and i took it up the road, only managed 20mph max, but it feels a Lot faster than the 1.6 did !

im happy with it cant wait to get it out on the road for the first time

The day that you ride a fast motorcycle you'll experience a stroke. The Puma is fun and have excellent cornering capabilities, but speaking just acceleration, a Yamaha YZF1000R costs less money and reaches 120mph in the same 9 seconds that the Puma needs to reach 60mph....

Your not winding on the throttle enough if it's taking you 9 seconds! :lol:

yippeekiay said:

Your not winding on the throttle enough if it's taking you 9 seconds! :lol:

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Rounded conversion from Km/h, so 8.6s?.

On the other hand...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZQwa0Bocfo[/youtube]

This is what always made me smile at the lights when I was riding.
You'd get nob heads in their tuned up this and that thinking they could beat you from a standing start.
Even a mid range sports bike will outsrtrip just about anything on a public road.
The thing is, if you've never been on a decent bike you will never know

Yeah, happens a lot. Didn't need a mid range bike in my day. When I had my 2-stroke RG125 no car ever beat me off the lights but that was before they started restricting the hell out of them (I removed the simple washer in my exhaust and added a powervalve blank). Any bike with more than 30 bhp will muller all but the super fast cars up to 60mph.

I'd still have that bike if it whadn't been nicked as I vowed I'd keep it forever as it was my first brand new bike :crazy:

I feel bad now. Sylvester is right in some ways: the engine sounds beautifully and I turn the music off when I rev it. Also it is deceptive and seems faster than it actually is. The mix of nice sound and excellent handling is addictive.

Some bad mantained or worn and slippery roads do not give enough confidence to enjoy the bike. Under those circumstances the Puma is funnier as it is even faster at some corners and feels safer.