Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

I fitted the side pod into my brother in laws S3. They are a perfect fit, and the gloss black perfectly matches the piano black trim...really can't go wrong for the money!
 
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:laugh:

The replacement Supertech parts I originally ordered from A.N.Other just turned up today

:laugh:

What a joke. makes Hermes look like a decent outfit by comparison :laugh:

Ah well, SO Glad I got bored of waiting.

Dyno Sunday.

I'm excited

:racer:
 
I decided last night after chatting to a few people that it's pointless wasting time and money on dynoing the car with an actuator I don't plan to keep.

Boost just seems inconsistent with such high duty cycles. One day it'll be 20-21psi, the next day it's 24, and it all varies with temperature etc because the part is on its limit.

So, running short of time, I arranged for Dan to leave an actuator outside for me (thanks mate!) and I've just completed a 100 mile round trip to collect it in the 5 series. It's times like this I love having a big comfy cruiser :)

Will get the actuator on, and readdress the boost profile before Sunday

:racer:
 
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saw this on Youtube... 9 mins in... :racer:
 
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Actuator changed.

:sign wow:

WHAT A BAST4RD JOB!!!!

At first i thought it wasn't going to be possibly, i couldn't see any of the bolts, and couldn't get a finger to any of them either.

After removing the charge pipe, I was able to get my left hand onto the bolts, and guide in a ratchet spanner from the other side.


With it all undone, it then seemed like it wouldn't come out of the hole! It slides in from the side with the engine out, but in situ, there is a chassis leg.

Frustration was setting in at this point. It felt like it wasn’t going to come out, and it had been SO fiddly, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get the bolts back in either!

After a considerable time more fiddling and swearing, I eventually managed to get it out!

When it came to refitting the new one, I decided to install it in parts to make life easier.

Without the actuator attached, access was better to bolt the bracket to the turbo cold side. I then slid the actuator in through the bracket, and up past the engine mount. This was made easier by the actuator having a very short rod with the extension removed. The short rod again helped access to bolt the actuator to the bracket, then finally I was able to slide the extension rod in through the wastegate arm, then screw it backwards onto the arm and lock it off.

From discussions with George, I knew that this would need very little preload, so I gave it just a single turn of preload, then reinstalled the charge pipe and fired it up to let it warm up.

Out with the laptop, and time to change the N75 duty to test the new actuator. I was pretty short on time, so I loaded map 1 with 0% duty, to find out what actuator pressure would be.

Knowing that my old boost profile gave a nice curve, I took a gamble and guess the figures for a map 2 test. I used the same profile we wrote on the dyno at Bills, and lowered the whole curve until it saw a peak of 70% duty at the top end, ramping up from 40. That way I knew I could start a test run, and keep an eye on boost, and back out if it went too high.

So, car warmed up, and out onto the road. It immediately felt better. More spritely low down, and boost seemed to build faster, even trundling around town to get to an open road.

Out to the open road, and a first pull on actuator pressure from 2000rpm.

Wheelspin :laugh: ****** cold damp roads!

Tried again, more successful:

Please excuse the awful pics, I’ve only quickly taken photos of the laptop screen. I’ll save them as jpegs and upload from the laptop this evening.




That’s more like it. A nice flat 1 bar (well, a shade over)

Time for one more pull before dinner, so I switched to map 2, which started at 40% duty and rose to 70% at the top end:

I tried to get a pull from low down, but it wasn’t happening. Too much power, and not enough grip!



I did get this pull though, from about 5k to redline, which is the main area I’m interested in.

Boost here starts at 1.45bar around 5k, then rises up, to a whopping 1.69 bar at 7100rpm!

You can tell this actuator is stronger than the old (1 bar) actuator from the old engine, as where my boost duty used to ramp up more at the top end to keep boost rising, the boost now ramps up steeply to match, at almost 1.7 bar (24.5psi) from just 70% duty.

Obviously this all needs refining, and taming down a little, but it’s proved a point certainly, that the new actuator was needed, and that I’ve now got full control of the boost across the range, rather than having 95% duty and hoping for the best!

Looking forward to Sunday now, although I still have NO idea what it’ll make. I’d like to think it’ll equal the old lump, but I’m well aware that after 8 months down time, it could easily be 20bhp down and still feel just as fast to me.

It definitely feels faster than it did in Nathans S3, which I believe made 325bhp, so we shall see!

:racer:
 
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It is isn't it?

Although I guess it's a sign that it's half decent. It's running at 14psi with almost no preload, and holding shut just fine against 24psi plus.

It's nice to know I have full control of it, so I've got the option to ask for more boost, even if I don't use it, but simply to prove that the turbo isn't flat out either.

I seem to recall from last year that upping the boost beyond 23psi didn't really add any power, so it'll be interesting to see what it does on Sunday.

It'll also be very interesting to see what torque the small port does, and overlay it with the old engine for a direct comparison of small vs large.

:racer:
 
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Prawn said:
It is isn't it?

Although I guess it's a sign that it's half decent. It's running at 14psi with almost no preload, and holding shut just fine against 24psi plus.

It's nice to know I have full control of it, so I've got the option to ask for more boost, even if I don't use it, but simply to prove that the turbo isn't flat out either.

I seem to recall from last year that upping the boost beyond 23psi didn't really add any power, so it'll be interesting to see what it does on Sunday.

It'll also be very interesting to see what torque the small port does, and overlay it with the old engine for a direct comparison of small vs large.

:racer:
Click to expand...
rememeber it will relax and the little preload you have added will result in loose penny.
seen it all too often on these actuators. Too stiff so minimal preload added to make it usable vs not enough preload to keep it tight after the inevitable relaxation they will suffer.
 
badger5 said:
rememeber it will relax and the little preload you have added will result in loose penny.
seen it all too often on these actuators. Too stiff so minimal preload added to make it usable vs not enough preload to keep it tight after the inevitable relaxation they will suffer.
Click to expand...
Interesting point which I hadn't thought of when I fitted the new actuator to my hybrid on my S3. What sort of time period would this relaxation occur over?
 
audi upgrades
george_seamons said:
Interesting point which I hadn't thought of when I fitted the new actuator to my hybrid on my S3. What sort of time period would this relaxation occur over?
Click to expand...
not long from what I've seen on the BBT items.. days/week or so only
couple of weeks I've seen the relaxation occur.

balancing act of stiff enough for purpose, and not too stiff so you can add some preload as it will inevitably relax over time.
 
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Cheers for the heads up there Bill. that makes a lot of sense actually, as the temporary actuator I used short term was also brand new, and felt a LOT slacker when removed compared to when it was installed!

I think I'll add a little more preload this evening and see what happens. Assuming it's going to relax shortly anyway.

Provided we can make the desired boost I can always add more preload / tweak it again to restore levels in a few weeks time.
 
Cleaned it today. Topped up fluids. Spare oil and meth in the boot. Laptop on charge.

All set!

I wonder what it'll make....

Any guesses?
 
A few less powers and a few more torques.
 
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<tuffty/>
 
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No. MORE
 
Last edited:
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:laugh:

Thanks BBD :laugh:

Long day! I'm home.

Lots of tea. Lots of catching up. Really good fun, as is always the case when I visit Badger 5 :)

After what seemed like a questionable set of initial results, things turned around after lunch, and the end result is something I'm very happy with.

Results from my mapping on the road were a fair bit lower than expected. I'd hit a wall where the weather didn't allow me to continue due to a lack of traction, and o think that showed.

What is also clear, is that my ultra progressive mapping approach is not so well suited to the small port engine as it was to the large port.

Thankfully, Bill worked his magic on it, and we ended the day with 350bhp and 302lbft. We have more of everything below 6500rpm, and a little less in the last 1000.

On them road, it feels pretty awesome!
Still a lovely smooth curve, but more midrange than before, playing to the small port advantages.

I'll post a proper write up tomorrow, but over all, for a used engine that was a definite unknown, I think I've come away with a good result. The car is back to health and running safely, power is within 5% of the old engine, and torque is more than 5% increased.

Most of all, I need to say a HUGE thank you to Bill and Tuffty for yet another day of great company and playing with cars. It was awesome :)
 
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Amazing, so pleased for you guys always an inspiration to read these posts. Now to have some fun :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Prawn said:
350bhp and 302lbft.

power is within 5% of the old engine, and torque is more than 5% increased.
Click to expand...

Rainbird said:
A few less powers and a few more torques.
Click to expand...

Bingo.

Peak figures aside, it sounds like after a bit of adjustment from Bill things are in a good place mate. Assuming you've got traction, the nice wide spread of increased torque can only be a good thing really. A smidge less right at the top end isn't the end of the world with the above in mind, and is a reasonable trade off for what you'll no doubt have plenty of fun with.

Hoping to be across to Hampshire in the next few weeks or so - will try and make time to swing by and persuade you to take me out for a ride :whistle2:
 
Happy days great result!

From the dispair of the old engine letting go, to sound results yesterday you must be feeling accomplished.

Whats the variables from the last engine then?
Small port head instead of largeport etc etc?

It sounds like the smallport has moved the curve "to the left a bit" giving you more mid range punch?
Perfech for chucking the A3 out of corners and powering on Nick ;)
 
Looks like a good result there Nick, got to be happy with that. Liking what the small port head has done to that torque curve :)
 
:sign ban::sign dontfeedmods:

Bosley, I'm not even going to credit that with a proper response. You tit.

I'll do a proper write up when time allows! Stupidly busy at work at the mo.

Just arrived on site in Stratford Upon Avon where @jojo goes for breakfast :laugh:
 
Prawn said:
:sign ban::sign dontfeedmods:

Bosley, I'm not even going to credit that with a proper response. You tit.

I'll do a proper write up when time allows! Stupidly busy at work at the mo.

Just arrived on site in Stratford Upon Avon where @jojo goes for breakfast :laugh:
Click to expand...

You just did.
Plus it wasnt very nice
 
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