Starting Quest for Power

[JamesG]

i'm a bit confused about the whole MOT and cat regulations..

i have a 94 L reg car with no cat and it' passes its MOT with flying colours every year...

[Stuart]

I have same set up (but no flat spot).  As Pete says, may not be the most powerful but is is very reliable and very smoooooth.  I am starting to get itchy about more power though, and have spoken to Westfield.  Mark Walker tells me

1)  Superchips are a waste of time

2)  That if I ditch the standard airbox, Ford airfilter and inlet pipe snaking to the front of the car and get someone to make me a bespoke foam filter to stick straight in the end of the airflow meter housing this will give about 8bhp.

3)  Thereafter the only thing to do is ditch the Ford exhaust manifold and replace it with a four pipe, which might give another 20bhp.  The injected car, however, even with a side mounted exhaust, still needs to use the Ford manifold because of where the cat sits (without going into too much detail this also means that you can't switch to a baffled sump).  In my case, this means that I would need a side exhaust with an integral cat.  Anyone know if such a thing exists?

Pete - was that you at Kemble last Friday?  If it was then I followed you out through Circencester and you're the man with satnav.  What system is it because it looked neat?

[neo]

Stuart i think your going to be out of luck as far as a side exit exhaust goes with a cat,due to the temparature the cats run at it would be quite dangerous,you could always have both systems and swop between them for the sake of a mot once a year,or if you no a nice Mot tester he may forget to rest the cat for a favour,cough cough  

[zvezdochka]

The  kits currently offered by Westfield on the web site are Zetec with standard Ford injection.  They are quoting 120bhp (up from 115) by fitting K&N type filter to increase air flow plus side exhaust with built in Cat like the 1800Sport.  So you can convert but I guess the exhaust will be £400 -£600 at least because of the Cat and heat shield etc.

I saw an early Zetec (K reg)with underslung exhaust converted to side pipe but retaining original manifold and cat and with K&N filter.  Owner reckoned about 140 bhp, ie 10 bhp up on original 130 for that model. The piping under the sump was awesomely complex and prone to cracking welds.

[Stuart]

Zvezdocha - how new is this info?  Last time I was up in sunny Kingswinford (end June), they told me that they had stopped making the fuel injected car because they are struggling to get new Zetecs (Ford now having moved on to the Duratec - at least for some models).

Neo - after posting earlier I noticed a comment on here about a Seight that seemed to suggest that the ones with side exit exhausts now have the cats in the box - so you may be wrong??  In any case, how does the cat run hotter than the exhaust - does it cause an exothermic reaction (b******* me, I don't know where that came from).

[zvezdochka]

Westfield announced in August that they had 25 special offer zetec kits to sell ata reduced price. I guess they are shifting these remaining units ahead of duratec installations.

[Pete Collins]

Pete - was that you at Kemble last Friday?  If it was then I followed you out through Circencester and you're the man with satnav.  What system is it because it looked neat?

Stuart,

Yes - it was me you saw at Kemble.

The SatNav works well. It is a Palm Vx with a Navman GPS 350. It cost me £160 for the Navman complete with maps from www.gpsw.co.uk. It would be nice to have colour but that would mean upgrading the Palm to a M515. B&W is OK though. The mapping software comes in two parts: "Trip" and "City". The Trip is the whole of the UK - just major roads and the City is VERY detailed maps of local areas. Obviosuly, because of memory restictions n the Palm I can only load limited City maps, although I have 7 City maps laoded, all of the UK and my varuiious other applications in just 8 meg of memory - and still have about 700k left. I just used the Trip map to get me to Kemble. Almost forgot. The Navman comes with the screen mount kit as well. I can recommend it.

[JonnyBoy]

dont the speedsports have a 4-1 manifold and sidepipe with an integral cat?

i see some SS side exits with what i assume to be the lamder sensor inserted just before the silencer. (do cats and lamda sensors go hand in hand?)

As these are on new plates they must have a cat

I'd be real p****d if i had paid for a speedsport and gotten a cast manifold

Dunno where the cat lives though.

[Steve]

Got a similar Zetec in mine: threw away the under slung exhaust as soon as I found it came of a Volvo 340! Side pipes let the gas out quicker, and sound so much better. The Cat has been shelved until the next MOT: having two exhaust systems is a pain, but yes it does make a difference. The sensor is preCat, so it doesn't muck up the lambda readings. I put £200 worth of Superchip in last month and immediately noticed an improvemnt in everyday driveability: more torque, no rev limiter, more fun. Only downside: if the Superchip gets a little loose, and it will, the engine stops. Suddenly and completley, which can be embarrassing.

[Ian Podmore]

Been there, done that!

I have got a 1800 130, with standard injection etc. and used to have an underslung exhaust.

So far I have:

Ditched the airbox and fitted a cone filter

K&N RU2710 that fits DIRECTLY onto the MAF unit.

Got filter from Demon Theives.

Replaced manifold and exhaust.  It is the manifold and CAT that are the restrictions, so this is a must when upgrading.  If you change these then any future upgrades to carbs or throttle bodies will still be valid.

If your V5 log book states that the car is built from a kit, you do not need a cat for the MOT.

Most interestingly (to me anyway) was that the coolest underbonnet temperatures were at the back of the engine where my cone filter now is (bonnet has the offset 'bulge' in it).

I didn't bother with a Superchip, as they do not set it for your actual car, all they appear to do is try some different maps by driving it on the road.... Not very good in my opinion.  You could have a UniChip fitted (a much better option IMO) but you would be throwing money away if you upgraded to TB's in the future.

There are some fixes that can be made to the standard ECU foew pennies......  

Also, a blocked CAT would cause greater EGR, which would result in a weak mixture which would result in pops and bangs etc.  I have a redundant CAT in my garage....... and also a section of pipe to replace the rear silencer that is in front of the spare wheel - lovely noise.  Cost me about £40 from Custom Chrome, I have a drawing if anyone wants a copy.

Also, get the 130 cams (I belive they are the same as 2 litre cams) and the ECU from a 130 car.

I reckon (and this is not based on a rolling road visit) that I will have gained 10 bhp as a result of this.  There is NO WAY you could gain 20bhp with just these changes, the induction system is too restrictive (next project...)

Get the noisy exhaust, it makes the car twice as fast

[Steve]

The Superchip is tailored to your existing EMU: you give them a code from your EMU, they give you the correct chip.

What manifold did you fit? Cost?

[Ian Podmore]

Superchips may well get a code from your ECU, but how do they know how much more air your are getting in as a result of new filter etc?  Burtons reckon a replacement fuel pressure regulator is a big help, I haven't bothered with one yet,  but may do.

The manifold was from Westfield.  Has a right game fitting it, but Westfield did the final 'fit' for me (FOC - usual excellent service) as the angle of the pipes was not quite right.  

Once you've got one, you'll keep modifiying it

Enjoy

[neo]

stuart, the catalist process generates heat in itself along with exhaust gas temps all in metal case just gets hotter and hotter,it requires heat ot work hence the cat is useless for the first 10 miles or so of a cold start,ie not generated the heat to start the catalist conversion process, i did'nt say you could'nt get a side exit cat system but i would be supprised if they did one that's all.

johnny boy  greg has a speed sport and no cat but with lamda,they do go hand in hand for emmissions reasons but they are also fitted for engine management reasons,setting up the management on the laptop and stuff like that,me and greg were on about his test the other day, as i was a MOT tester a few years back his is a T  reg with no cat could be a problem ? might not   if he knows a nice man

[Steve]

I put my catalyst back on for the MOT: outside on the side, in front of the silencer. The remarks from the tester were to the effect that it looks crap, and there is no way it would pass SVA with all those leading edges and heat, but it did its job, the car passed emmissions, and I took it off again for another twelve months!

No, it's not legal. But there again, neither is the speed we all drive at whenever visibility allows!

[gregh]

I asked paul at play skool re MOT on my motor, he said kit cars don't have to pass emissions test, just visibile smoke test. Also he said the lamdba wasn't connected

You need an emissions test for SVA though.

Greg