=jon=
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Posts posted by =jon=
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A Plan Thatcham branch have a specialist 4x4 department that can cover pretty much anything
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6 hours ago, marktdi said:
Thanks my concerns are the quality for the money and also the hefty 50% deposit and I've never heard of the company before
There's been some discussion about their chassis on here, seemed reasonably positive from a quick skim..
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There's a thread on defender2 about them at the moment - I think someone has ordered one and is going to report...
http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic62499.html?highlight=shielder
There were a few comments about the windscreen holes being possibly wrong and double skin bits not being double skinned..
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Adaptronic will also do similar - it will do the equivalent of VEAL tuning in hardware and update the fuel map as you drive around - but you will still need to supply it with a base map to start with - very similar to MS + Tunerstudio but without the laptop.
If you ever look at the workings of a factory ECU, they are probably 100x more complex than a setup such as MS3 - I had the interface software for my old Subaru, which was a 10 year old model so hardly the latest tech. IIRC that had something like 250 tables in it, many of which are 3 axis not 2 axis, and the whole setup is different - it's not just RPM vs MAP to give VE, there's plenty of nested lookups with boost, VE, throttle positions, VVT settings etc etc... Whole different world!
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33 minutes ago, garrycol said:
No - many "modern" aftermarket fuel injection systems have a self tuning ECU as part of the system - yes you can change things if you want but the ECU has as part of its program to constantly tune. Some of the Holly products do this.
Most of the megasquirt range have closed loop fuelling as part of the system - the ECU reads the input from the O2 sensor and adjusts the mixture to suit. Likewise Idle speed. MS3 supports long term fuel trims - so it will adjust the map (to a certain extent) over time.
Some of the other systems (eg. Adaptronic) will permanently adjust spark tables as well (advanding the cells in the map to the point of knock), based on feedback from the knock sensor - however this is highly experimental as if you have a bad knock sensor it's easy to blow your engine up.
The main thing with every engine management system is that you are going to have to do a certain amount of reading and pre-configuration to get it to work in the first place. You can buy a plug and play system, but then you are just paying someone else to do this in a workshop/lab for you before you get it...
MS3 really isn't that much more complex to set up compared to MS2 (I have an MS3 on another vehicle) - you have more options, but the basics are pretty much the same - stuff you aren't using can just be disabled / ignored. If you were to post an MSQ map up with some details on what's not working I'm sure you could get help...
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As said, I'd rescale the AFR target table to match your ignition / VE tables, so you have some cells down below where your desired idle speed is, if you pick an idle speed (eg. 850) have a column specifically for that, as then you have a VE/AFR/Ignition figure just for that speed, and the MS isn't trying to interpolate between two columns for the idle values, and when you want to make minor changes you can adjust one cell value not a cluster of cells.
I'm not sure if the option is there on MS1, but in later versions there's a settings in General Settings in Tunerstudio called 'incorporate AFR Target' - if you enable this at the start then decide you want to change the AFR target table, it will automatically adjust the VE table without having to do a full retune.
The hesitation on pulling away is probably your acceleration enrichment needing tuning - if the AFR guage spikes lean when you pull away it's probably this. I think the recommendation is that you get the VE table reasonably close before you start playing though. Tuning this is a bit trial and error, there's a guide on the msextra site somewhere...
The popping on overrun is because it's going lean in very low load/overrun areas - because you don't have fuel cut on overrun set yet. TS apparently likes to mess up the map on overrun/idle so make sure you have a minimum MAP setting of somewhere round your idle and a min RPM threshold of 1500RPM or so as well to stop this. You can enable EGO / fuel cut / AE etc in tunerstudio when letting it VEAL tune as it takes this into account anyway.
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1 hour ago, Chicken Drumstick said:
Would be better off with a Chevy LS V8. Lighter, more compact. More power, more tunable, lower centre of gravity, cheaper to maintain and already established as a potential swap engine with adapters to mate to Rover gear or transfer boxes.
V6 on the right:
Have you seen the price of LSx engines in the UK though
Budget version is a Toyota 1UZFE (??) v8 from an old Lexus - you can buy an LS400 for not much money and probably recoup most of the purchase cost selling bits off the donor car...
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13 hours ago, lo-fi said:
Timing/fueling: Tricky setting up a carb to run ~9.5:1 under boost, then dial back to 14:1 cruising so you're not dumping fuel in for no reason, but not impossible.
11.5:1 or similar, surely? 9.5:1 is VERY rich...
BTW - Mini Supercharger may be too small for a 2.5 - I think it will run out of puff and not be able to shift enough air to be useful...
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You can retain the original external thermostat / mixer thing, but it requires lots of butchery of the bottom hose to make it all fit.
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On 5/22/2018 at 12:59 PM, FridgeFreezer said:
If it's a petrol engine you just need to mount an injector or 4 somewhere and you can run megasquirt for fuel + ignition, nice switchable tables for proper running on LPG...
Dragging this back up from the beginning of the thread - recent versions of the MS3 firmware support secondary injector switching via relay, switchable AFR tables, switchable Stoich, switchable deadtimes for the secondary injectors as well, so you can run full closed loop with all the proper settings... If I'd have realised this earlier I'd have probably bought an MS3 daughterboard for my MS2 rather than the LPG controller..
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https://jalopnik.com/tesla-car-battery-reignited-days-after-fatal-model-x-cr-1825929302
There was a report in some US motoring mag a few years back that worked out the 'green-ness' of cars over their lifetime - the worst was a Prius (this was pre-Tesla) due to the nastiness of the Li-Ion packs, the amount of plastics, non recyclable stuff and that it wouldn't last very long. The best was an old Jeep Wrangler - it was simple, lasts a long time, very few plastics and mainly metal construction so easy to recycle.
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19 minutes ago, Snagger said:
Certainly, infrastructure is doable, especially if the comments above are accurate. The 70A figure for a fast charge may be for the US 110V figure, in which case most other nations would only use half that current. 70A , even at every house in a town, is not enormous, given the appliances running int hat house already like TVs, fridges, washing machines and so on, but an ADDITIONAL 70A is huge, probably double or more the load. Few people need to charge their car in 15 minutes, though, so there is no need for those superchargers except at service stations. A sow charge probably runs at less than 15A. So, maybe the bulk of the infrastructure is ready?
(lifted from the the UK tesla owners club - https://teslaownersgroup.co.uk/kb/charging-at-home-guide).
Charging a P85D on a 13A socket will take between 24-30h, a 32A socket would be 10-12h so a more realistic option for most people.
As you say, that's additional load on the network - so you get home, plug your EV in and it's happily sucking 32A down, you go in, turn the oven on, have a shower when it's warming up and you trip your main fuse out, everyone on your street does the same and it trips out the regional breaker..
I'm not being negative about electric cars - until a competing technology comes along they are definitely going to be a big part of our future - but as a country stuff needs to improve to be able to support it - more power stations, better distribution, power storage etc...
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Just now, Bowie69 said:
Tesla fast chargers like that are not really for home use, but service stations. Where they are installed, and there are a few in this county now, they use a massive battery pack as storage, charge on night rate and top up during the day = cheap electricity.
You have to plug your car in when you get home - either with a 32A caravan type socket, or a dedicated (ie. faster) charger.
With the caravan plug it'll sit drawing 32A continuously for 12-18 hours from flat dependant on the battery size of the Tesla, or more with a faster charger.
I'm not sure what A / KW/h a small substation is rated at, but you can start to foresee problems with the infrastructure if everyone gets back from work at 6PM and plugs their cars in...
I know Tesla are trying to get round the problem with their solar roof tiles / powerwall storage systems etc, but they are pretty big money for the average home user...
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4 hours ago, Bowie69 said:
Actually, the power generation infrastructure is more than adequate for electric cars, overnight it is barely trickling along, which is when you would charge your vehicles anyways.....
I read somewhere that the distribution infrastruture would collapse if rapid charging was widely adopted in a small area - it looks like the Tesla chargers pull 40A or 70A at full whack on single phase - if you have a cluster of people who fitted the fast chargers eg. on a housing estate fed from a single substation, then it would cause the substation to trip as it wouldn't be able to handle the load.
Not sure how accurate it was, but I can see someone having to pour money into the infrastructure to cope with the extra load, which will probably end up coming from our pockets in one way or another
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2 hours ago, Snagger said:
I'm surprised to read that BP have removed many of the points, as one of them on a map I looked at yesterday was the bog BP station on the A6/A421 junction on the south edge of Bedford that i went past every day. That may be saved by the fact that it's a more expensive station, being essentially like a motorway services type.
I think BP removed their LPG outlets in their BP owned garages, but franchises can still carry LPG if they want to - the BP station in Newbury removed it's gas pump a while back, but the Newbury Services (which is BP) still has one.
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For LPG, it used to just be a case of notifying the DVLA and possibly sending the installation certificate and they'd update the paperwork and give you a whopping £10 off your road tax...
edit - that's assuming the conversion of a petrol to LPG. If you are converting a diesel engined vehicle to petrol+LPG that's going to be more complex...
I don't think LPG vehicles are LEZ exempt any more either, you still have to pay
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I've been running LPG on my (previously HoSS's) v8 110 for the last few years. Other than a few little niggles, it's no different to running petrol really. Occasionally it'll backfire through the gas carb and pop a hose off when starting/cold, but it's a very simple kit and probably shouldn't be started on gas all the time, rather started on petrol and allowed to warm up before switching over. I've got a multi-point kit waiting to go on when the 4.6 goes in it though which should sort all of that out
In terms of sourcing gas - on my 50 each way mile commute there's 3 places I could get gas (2 of which are expensive as they are mway services) on the route, and a fair few off route. You can get phone apps that will take you to the nearest place if you are unfamiiar with the area and do price comparisons etc. It's not quite as convenient as petrol, but with a bit of planning it's not too much of a hardship, and I can always switch back to petrol if I run out (which isn't that often).
Unfortunately the number of LPG stations seems to be on the decrease - BP dropped it from their forecourts last year, and Countrywide stores who had a lot of LPG stations in the SW have recently gone bust - they've sold the LPG side of the business off, but as a high proportion of their stations were at their store locations who knows what their future is...
When I took the 110 down through France there's a LOT more stations there, I really don't understand why it's not caught on here - I guess we were all victims of the diesel hard sell and ignored it
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I had a springalex boss on my series and my 90, they were cheap but a bit nastily made...
On the 110 I've got an RDX slimline boss which is thinner and better made, but a bit more expensive. The main benefit of the thinner boss is that the indicator / wiper stalks are within easy reach - with a thicker boss they can be a struggle to reach when grabbing the wheel.
IIRC there's 2 main bolt patterns for the wheels themselves - most aftermarket wheels are one type, apart from a couple of brands - see http://www.gtsparkplugs.com/steering-wheel-bolt-patterns.html
I've got a Momo Monte Carlo (I think 370mm) mounted on the 110 - with PAS it's fine and doesn't feel small to me. If you want a handy tip to get a cheap wheel - most mk1 MX5s have a Momo Monte Carlo as standard, with a centre cover that says mazda on them. You can pull this off to reveal a nice looking 3 spoke metal wheel complete with horn push!
As there's lots of old MX5s about they go pretty cheaply - I paid a tenner for a perfect condition one. The going rate from a breaker is £30-50 which is still cheap though!
http://www.autolinkmx5.com/steering-wheel-mx-5-momo-370mm-used-35-7610-p.asp
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if they are talking about it in the corporate literature, and now a big announcement on the anniversary of the launch of the Series 1, maybe there is some truth in the rumours!
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I don't think it's been mentioned on here before, but there's another by product of the MOT changes:
QuoteIf there's a 'Dangerous' fault, your car will automatically fail its MoT and can't be driven until a repair is made. A 'Major' defect also constitutes an MoT failure, but the car can be driven on the road to a place of repair, before a retest when the work is complete. A 'Minor' defect is comparable to today's Advisory notices and can be issued alongside an overall MoT pass.
http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/162254/new-mot-failure-categories-tougher-emissions-tests
So if you put your car in for MOT a month early, and it fails, you cannot drive it other than to home/a workshop until it's fixed - the old test cert is invalidated.
Previously you could still (probably unwisely!) drive it until the old cert expired... Think it will catch a lot of people out...
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Yeah - considering it's the best part of 2.7 tonnes of metal, they go pretty well and corner pretty well too! On the motorway it's fairly easy to cruise along at well over the limit if you are careful, so you need to watch out a bit...
Mine's got all of the adaptive stuff which is supposed to make them a bit less wallowy, but it's definitely not a sports car!
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I've got a 322 as well, not as high mileage as Ed's, but at just over 110K it's high-ish...
Had it a year, other that some reasonably routine things it's been very good - other than standard servicing it's needed a couple of rear brake calipers (they are known for seizing), and one of the rear height sensors is playing up at the moment (although it seems to have cleared itself the day the replacement arrived, typically!).
It's averaging about 26mpg according to the computer, but a lot of that it sat on the mway commuting.
If I had to replace it, I really don't know what I'd get instead, it really is a fabulous car - it's quiet on the mway, incredibly comfortable, 'fast enough', the stereo is incredible. I'd probably have to get another one...
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Whereabouts are you? If there's someone local with a LR fault code reader / IIDTool then they should be able to plug it in and see if there's any errors reported. If may be that it thinks there's a fault and has disabled itself...
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I'd say that's expensive for what it is, and with anything modified you don't know what other horrors are lurking... Coil spring conversions don't seem to that common either, who knows what the ride is like afterwards?? What state is the paint under that vinyl?
I umm'ed and ahh'd about a 322 about 18 months ago, and actually bought one just under a year ago (2010MY 3.6 TDV8 - the last of the 3.6s with the LCD dash). It really is a fantastic car!
Insurance on engine modification
in Defender Forum (1983 - 2016)
Posted
I've always dealt with them over the phone, never had to go down there (although I go past the branch reasonably often..)