Updates
25-08-02
One thing I didnt think I would be saying for a while - The car has been sold
I got a bit bored of the car and decided that it was time for a change and so, on the 4th of August, the car was sold
The buyer decided not to have the Unichip or Water Injection but kept the intercooler and hybrid turbo on the car and so these units were stripped out and have since been sold on to a couple of other C20LET'ers for their own modification.
Whats next on the cards you ask ??
I have been looking at a couple of cars and, for now, have decided to start looking at the rock solid BMW 540i. Its a nice mix of power (290BHP, 325lb/ft) with utter comfort (crusie control, climate control, elec everything, SatNav and Teletext TV)
What can I say, I likes me comforts now.....
I'll stick some pics on here whenever I get around to buying one. At the moment I am driving around in a nice old BMW 320.
The site ??
The site will remain live as a source of info on the more popular subjects of the C20LET e.g. 4WD system etc but also keep an eye on www.c20let.co.uk where the info from here will also be available to help make that site THEE UK source for C20LET info brought to you by ppl that know it thru personal experience who have nothing to gain or to sell.
24-03-02
Well the Unichip is finally in...... kinda.
The car went upto Storm Engineering (who are the UK distributors for the Unichip) to get re-wired in with the Boost Control Module and Water Injection Control Module and all mapped to the car.
Couple of things meant it couldn't be mapped BUT the install is complete and ready to be plugged into the computer/rolling road and get mapped.
The Aquamist 2C Water Injection system is fully installed and wired to the Unichip as is the boost module.
All that is required now is for an uprated turbo (end April/May) to be fitted to allow higher boost levels to be attained more efficiently and then the car is going back to Storm Engineering to be mapped finally !!!
The install is of top quality so 2 thumbs up to Gerry and Martin at Storm for the professional look and quality of the work. Well chuffed.
25-12-01
Been a while since this bit has been updated and a couple of things have happened in the meantime. As mentioned in the last update (just below this one) a few "add-ons" were planned -
The first is the addition of an front mounted intercooler which, after many weeks of designing, modifying, mounting and general faffing about, is finally on and working very well. More details can be found here as it contains quite a few pics - Intercooler Info
The car was taken to Star Performance yet again on one of its "open" rolling road days to see what difference the intercooler made to the car. A lot of discussion and speculation had been made on a couple of the boards (primarily CavWeb) concerning whether a chargecooler or intercooler is the best way forward for turbo tuning.
Well as of 25-11-01, the results/differences between all 3 choices were in and these can be found here - Comparison Page
The 2nd modification planned was the fitting of a UniChip complete with additional Boost Control Module. A couple of er.... hiccups have postponed this so another update will follow as soon as possible.
19-10-01
Took the car on the rolling road at Star Performance again a few weeks back (26-09-01) to find out if the chargecooler has made any improvement.
Pleasingly enough, it has. The update rolling road chart can be found on the Current Spec and Pics of my Car pages but I have put them here side by side with the original rolling road report showing the car as standard before any modifications -
Car at 204BHP and 218lb/ft Car at 220BHP and 235lb/ftAs you can see, the car has gained 16BHP and 17lb/ft of torque with just the intercooler in place so a worthwhile investment for anyone considering it
More updates to follow as, over the next few weeks, a couple of other modifications are ready to go.
17-06-01
The date should probably in fact be 17th AND 18th of June as we (myself and Russ) managed to finally get the chargecooler kit fitted at 01:00 AM on the Monday morning.... shame I had to get up at 5am for work the same day though huh ?? =)
I got the kit from Gavin at Wallace Performance at a very reasonable price i.e. cheaper than Courtneay and Regal who are the only other suppliers
For those people not familiar with chargecooling, the kit basically takes the charge of air from the turbo and channels it through a metal container (heat exchanger). This metal container has a radiator element in the centre where cold water is being pumped through and is, in turn, fed from a small pre-rad sitting behind the front grill. This heat exchanger cools the charge of air as it passes through it, making it more dense meaning that more air can be squeezed into the chamber at a given time.
In simple terms, the ECU picks up on this and injects more fuel which in turn gives more power. The most important part though is that the Motronic ECU in the C20LET also measures the charge temperature going into the engine so that it can decide how much boost to safely allow. A cooler charge allows the ECU and engine to run more boost safely without detonation, and so gives more power.
The chargecooler fits neatly into the engine bay -
Heat Exchanger Header TankThe result ?? The car does pick up a lot better after it has been sitting in hot weather and there is no power fade after it has been driven hard which you normally get as the manifold and turbo heat up to extremely high temperatures which increases charge temperature
The most important advantage it has given though, is that the engine is now fully prepared for future modifications as it is now running a lot cooler.
There are a "few" small modifications to go so watch this space......
08-03-01
First modification to the car - The Boost Gauge
Managed to get it all fitted in around 2-3 hours. Its also wired up to the radio lights so that the boost gauge is lit when you turn the sidelights on. Looks very neat.
Gauge sits in corner of dash very nicelyFor anyone wishing to fit their own boost gauge to their own Cavalier or Calibra Turbo then follow this link - How 2 fit a boost gauge to a Cavalier/Calibra Turbo
Of course, what would any modification be without the obligatory test run.... it has to be done... its one of them unwritten rules ;)
Took the car to my own "private test track" to check the boost levels and acceleration. The car over-boosts to around 0.8 bar (11.7psi) before settling back to 0.6 bar (8.9psi) for normal boost.
I have managed to get it to reach 1 bar (14.73psi) on over-boost and settling to 0.75bar on standard but, for fear of under fuelling etc, I have turned the actuator down to achieve standard levels. Still, not bad for a standard car as this is the boost levels that SuperChip owners are aiming for.... I just saved myself £200 and the car flew and picked up quickly even when cruising at high speed and then pressing the accelerator =)
Has made me think about what I now want to do with the car. Must get the fuelling and air sorted then we can go ahead and turn it up as the C20LET can handle upto 16psi of boost with no problems.
*** Pictures of the install will follow when I have taken delivery of a new digital camera***
26-01-01
Picked up the car from Mike Kane today and nearly had my first challenge after only 30 minutes !! -
Was driving back from Inverness after dropping Mike off to pick up a hire car. Around half way between Elgin and Inverness, 2 cars (Rover 220GTi and a Golf) were cutting in and out of the queue behind us both.
They then overtook myself. It was a shame I had only driven the car for about 30 minutes and that the previous owner (Mike) was in front or I would have taken off after them.
Don't get me wrong, the car is so easy to drive that it would have handled me no problem...... Would have been a little too cheeky to roar past the seller at crazy speeds on a single carriageway tho =)
He did mention afterwards that I should have went for it....
