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Ted's track day EP3

Don't get me wrong I still really enjoyed Croft, I think ultimately what warranted my feelings towards it was my disappointing understeer issue, I just felt so slow in some of the corners especially when lard ass BMW E36's were taking me on the inside.

Luckily the issue seems to be gone or at least drastically reduced now. Looking forward to going there next season already (although the 6 hour drive there not so much!)
 
Ha, he's a good friend of mine. He had previous Snetterton experience and was exploiting the fact I didn't know where the grip was on the fast corners. The straights were my payback:D
 
You're shuffling your hands a lot, keep the thumbs lightly in/around the recesses at 9 and 3 and you shouldn't ever have to move your hands expect perhaps on tight hairpins.
 
Yeah a friend of mine mentioned that after Snetterton. As a result I made a conscious effort at Thruxton to remedy it. Steering felt better and is one of the reasons I'm think I'm now understeering less as I'm not putting too much input in to the wheel now.:smt023
 
Ted said:
Yeah a friend of mine mentioned that after Snetterton. As a result I made a conscious effort at Thruxton to remedy it. Steering felt better and is one of the reasons I'm think I'm now understeering less as I'm not putting too much input in to the wheel now.:smt023
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Exactly that. I was picked up on it at Croft, I was essentially over driving the car. Feels much better and smoother keeping my hands still.
 
It's quite crazy how such a simple thing can completely change the way the vehicle performs.

That's why I enjoy criticism as much as praise. You only get better by allowing other people to critique and develop you.
 
Just seeing if I can get anybody else's thoughts on my power figure. Now don't get me wrong I am far from a numbers chaser, I never built this car with the idea of making it a high figured pub chat hero. However I was a little disappointed with its peak figure and when comparing it to other peoples specs did hope for more if I am honest.

Just to recap my power mods are:

Hondata K100
Teg M intake
M2 Intake Manifold
Tegiwa exhaust manifold
Toda centre pipe and back box (dolphin tip)
Also 5.86 FD.

Mapped by Romain at Eurospec - 217BHP



The driveability of the car is brilliant and that's not what I am questioning. However I was hoping for at least 230ish-bhp really maybe even a little bit more. Was I naive to think that? I spoke to Romain afterwards and he hasn't been all to convinced by the M2 intake manifolds but think my issue is more to do with my Toda exhaust being too restrictive. I had always been of the impression that Todas made good power? Although in the back of my head it is a quiet exhaust and measures in at 88db when tested on track side.

I have enquired with Alan at Solid Fabrications about getting one of his lovely 3" systems made up which I will do some time next year.

Like I say not the end of the world and next year I plan on building a K24 on throttle bodies which should be fun. But I just wanted a bit more from this set up is that reasonable?
 
Romain's roller's always read low. Haven't heard of Toda being restrictive though. What about running a Spoon B pipe and OEM back box?
 
The Toda system does have a pretty large rear box and there's a centre silencer also. Have been laughed at for the quietness of the system on the sound test. But then I can't rev past 4K static for the sound tests so never mind :)

He was quite adamant that a 3" system would unleash the extra power that's being sapped up somewhere. So wouldn't change things for another 2.5" system really. It just kind of frustrates me I see other peoples specs and they hit anywhere between 230-250 with similar mods and I didn't break 220. I didn't actually know their dyno reads low either.

Like I say there's obvious power increase in the mid range and is brilliant to drive compared to before. I'm probably just being a whinger.
 
Well some lads in the MLR sprint series are chasing 10th's of a second run 2.75" exhausts over 3" due to noise issues and don't seem bothered. There's a lot more to exhaust design than inner diameter.
 
That looks about right to me, as per Chris, Romain's rollers are a bit tight. If you put that on TDi's you would get about 230-235 which would be more what you had in your head I bet.

If you want any more, you are looking at cams really, then raising the compression (thinner head gasket or pistons if you have deep pockets) and porting the inlet and outlet side of the head.
 
Also, spending money to get, what, 10 peak bhp, seems a bit of a waste of cash? Losing 10kg for example would probably cost less and be more worthwhile.

Not saying you're a fatty or need to lose weight but we all get caught up in chasing numbers when quite often there are other areas we can work on which improve matters more.

New exhaust is going to be north of £500 delivered, plus fitting, then mapping again. Okay there's cheaper about but minimum of £3-400 to gain a few peak bhp. That's a set of tyres, new pads all round, final drive, chassis bracing, preventative maintenance etc.

The key to fast EP3's on track is not power, it is weight and corner speed. My mate Kev has pretty much standard power DC5 and I'd wager he'd run rings round most people on track. Heck, I have trouble in a nigh on 400 bhp Evo! Round Croft he is 2-3 seconds off my pace.
 
Ultimately I already knew what you both are saying. I just needed a more experienced second set of eyes than my own to make me see sense. So thank you both :D.

I was relatively happy with my weight at Snetterton. But there's always room for improvement, particularly in my own driver ability, cornering speed is certainly something I need to work on as is my braking, I brake far too early and ride the brakes too much instead of scrubbing the speed off quickly. This is where I notice people gain/overtake me. Plenty to still learn and that's why it's fun.

Cheers both:smt023:smt023
 
I haven't seen many convincing gains from using the M2 inlet. Seems to be on par with the RBC but gives you more issues with water leaks.
Skunk2 inlet seems to give good gains when paired with some stage 2/3 cams with a 9k rev limit.
Eurospec's dyno does seem to read low. They dyno'd a standard FK2 at 280bhp. TDI North done the same and it was around 300bhp, basically spot on with the book. Take that into account, I'd estimate Eurospec dyno readings are 8-10% lower than what TDI North figures. As Loxy said that works out to around 235bhp on TDI rollers.
3 inch exhaust may get you another 5-10bhp at peak. You may also get some extra ponies by going with a Injen intake or a custom 3 inch inlet with a velocity stack (Injen already has this). I struggled on a track day with noise from solid fabs 3 inch system. 96bd static at 6k revs (press brake pedal when revving static to rev past the launch limit) and hit 95db on drive by. Ended up needing to use a baffle which kind of defeats the object of running a 3inch system.
 
Admittedly the M2 intake was a knee jerk reaction as I had a few quid lying around the week before I went for mapping and thought It would be worth it, but I agree the water leaks are hugely annoying, should of just gone with the RBC/RRC in the first place! It's gotten to the stage where I am going to pull the rear water port off and tap a bolt into it to seal it for good. Its only blanked off anyway but it is the cause of the leaks.

Frustrating that its common knowledge that the dyno runs conservative, if anything I would of always thought dyno places would run heavy on figures to keep more customers happy. Anyway i'm content with figures now :)

Ah cool, I didn't know that about the brake pedal technique! I'll have to remember next time. Yeah I know he does a track friendly 3" system also, think I'll just stick with my Toda for now. It's nice and quiet for the track and is still my favourite looking exhaust, I was only looking to really part ways with it because of the advice I received after mapping.

I'm not really wanting to spend any more on power mods for the car as I have bigger plans for next years newly built block, but never say never :lol:

Tomorrows jobs (hopefully weather dependant) is to strip down my front coilovers and give them a good greasing. Mainly the thrust bearing and top hats of the coils. I have been getting a lot of 'spring slap' and hopefully lubing it all up will cure that.
 
I've got an m2 inlet on the way, I couldn't find any bad reviews about it at all! Is it just a case of sealing the blanked coolant ways better? Or is there anything I can do to make it better before fitting? I'm hoping for a similar power curve, but with using a dc5 manifold and cat and an unsilenced b pipe into standard back box to keep the noise down.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
 
I also didn't find any bad reviews, it's not a bad piece of kit really just as it is a copy of the skunk2 it's never going to have the same quality of it, especially at half the price.

My piece of advice before fitting is this; on the right hand side of the manifold where there is the two lower brass water ports. The one that fits nearer the engine is blanked off with a rubber nipple. I intend on pulling this brass union out and tapping the hole to loctite a bolt in there. That's been the cause of my water leaks. Just make sure everything else that needs screwing into the manifold make sure it's uber tight and PTFE taped.
 
Ah okay, I may do the same then. Is it the rubber bung that leaks or where the union is pressed into the manifold, I could always braze the opening of the union up if it's leak tight in the manifold. Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping it will make reasonable power, works our cheaper than the rbc which was my main reason for choosing it!

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