What sort of plastic you use for front curve upright of splitter might have something tuffer lying about Or would suggest using a slice of old bumper skin as pp is really tuff
I actually used some 4mm signwriters foam board Sirguydo, it's pretty flexy and easy to work with, but can be a bit brittle on impact. What sort of material would you suggest good Sir? I was fairly stuck on what to use, and this came up free so I gave it a shot, but always open to improvements! A rear bumper skin would actually be ideal, being about the right width and curvature. I think I binned one last year
Sign board is foamed PVC and very brittle you want to use polypropylene or polyethylene as both are a lot stronger than foam board . PP has a nicer surface finish but is slightly more brittle at low temperatures Obviously polycarbonate is the tuffest but I don't have any bit long enough kicking about at the moment
How much do you think the splitter helps sticking the front end? What sort of speed does it start to benefit holding etc ? Would you recommend fitting one to my motor as I have all the bits to build a nice one if it's worthit Ps you could have used some black gaffa tape
The splitter is genuinely one of the most worth while mods I've done to date. I've been following Nige for years, and always got annoyed at how his mk2 seemed to be more stable at speed than my modern A3. I added the splitter, and I simply could not believe how it transformed the car. not just in the corners, but in a straight line too. Perviously, the car used to feel very nervous above 100mph, to the point where I wasn't comfortable taking it much over 100 even on track, as I didn't feel it was totally safe coming off the power and onto the brakes at those speeds. Since adding the splitter, it will happily pull to the happy side of 140mph no trouble, and feel absolutely 100% solid and safe on the road. At Spa we were touching 135mph up the Kemel straight on torrential rain with wipers on full speed, and it really did feel totally safe and solid. In the corners, once you're above 60mph it's really noticable on turn in, and on the first few trackdays I found I was too late coming onto the power on corner exit, because of the additional grip and tighter lines I was able to take. I ended up learning how to drive it again, and I can be on the power so much sooner now, as well as turning in much sharper at higher speeds. The splitter is definitely having a big effect on the high speed handling, as I'm still finding the car washes out a little in the lower speed corners where the splitter is not active, so I'm going to look at changing ARB rates and damping to try and get it rotating a bit better at lower speed, hopefully without upsetting the fantastic high speed balance it has currently. This could require a larger rear wing to counter a softer front end, but we'll see! Black tape would have been good, but at the time I just wanted it held together for the drive home from Bedford! Cheers for the input on air dam materials. Does polypropylene flex much? the shape is only held with some small alloy tabs
Flexing depends on thickness . I suppose it's all a balancing game durability , weight, rigidity and cost if your buying stuff. I could use 4 mm polycarbonate as have it around pp hdpe are durable but may flex depending on thicknesses also they would be heavier than the same thickness of plywood . May ask my racer mate about it as he's had experience test air work on Ferrari road cars in Italy imagine that getting flown out there and paid to drive Ferraris fast I've mentioned it to him in the past but said not worth the trouble for lower speeds but if get car running well he might think its worth it
I absolutely would not be without the splitter now! On a high powered car, where you're reaching some high speeds, I think it's bordering on essential, yet even on a lower powered car, like Niges previous ABF setup, it really proves how the added aero stability can make something reasonably moddest (in a straight line) an absolute missile on track! Today I fitted an inline fuel pump, in the hope of sorting out my lean condition on full boost. Here's all the kit I got together to start the install: I backed the car up on the ramps to gain access to the fuel filter area, where I planned to install the pump: Started off with some simple wiring up a relay: In-line fuse holder added: Relay mounted to an existing hole, tucked away from the load area so it shouldn't get knocked at all: To trigger the relay, I spliced into the OE pump 12v feed: I used petroleum jelly on all the crimped joints, just to ensure a really good contact: I used one of the cage leg bolts as a good secure earthing point, scraped all the paint away, and coated it in petroleum jelly again to ensure a good contact: I then ran the wires down through 2 ideally placed gromits, to the underside of the car. That's the wiring inside finished: The 044 type pump has threaded ends like this: Thankfully, Bill makes some really handy fittings which replicate the end of the OEM fuel filter, so the pump can be installed using the stock fuel lines and clips: Fittings on: Lots of people find these pumps really noisey, and I wanted to avoid that, so I dug through my box of old silicon, and found a 63mm pipe was almost the ideal size to wrap around the pump. I cut a slot in it and took 5mm out of the gap so it'd close up tight: Then it was just a case of sliding the pump into place and connecting the terminals. The pump secures in the OE way using the OE fuel filter bracket: And finally, as the fuel filter has now gone from it's stock location, a new filter needs to be added. You can put the stock filter in the engine bay, but it's bloody huge, so I've used an Ibiza cupra filter on Bills recommendation, spliced into the feed line to the fuel rail: And job finished! Back on the ground, ignition on, nothing from the pump D'oh! Checked the relay was clicking, checked all the wiring, still nothing. Oh wait, I wonder if the inline fuse holder comes with a fuse already fitted? ohps! haha. fuse fitted, and it jumped into life It's audible, but nowhere near as loud as some I've heard, you can just about hear it on tickover, and once moving, you wouldn't hear it at all. AFR's are now rock solid, and if anything, slightly too rich! I think I'll have to get some boost dialled in at the top end to make use of all the fuel available
Been for a good drive today. AFR's are safe and solid top end now, and EGT's are also around 100 degrees lower, so that confirms it was well and truly into the danger zone before bedford! Happy that it's all fixed and running well now
AFR seems reasonably stable at around 11.2:1 at the very top end, EGT's reaching 810 degrees with the probe in the first 20mm of the downpipe, positioned directly in front of the the turbine wheel.. There's no denying that the turbo runs reasonably hot, but it's really fast enough in it's current form, which I'd estimate to be around 360bhp, and ultra safe in terms of fuelling and ignition, so I'm happy with where it's sitting at the mo. I just wish I'd have full power available to use at Bedford a few weeks ago! lol
Still trying to pretend this is a sensible car, so i took it to Sainsburys shopping last night lol Bit lively in the wet!
Bet you get some strange looks on the road lol Good job in sorting the fueling out, very important. Nice seeing you the other day Nick, thank you very much for the brake calipers etc. Gurds
Hi Nick, i wish i had less power at Bedford as it was really hard work trying to exit corners fast as the wheel spin was uncontrolable in 2nd and 3rd! Yea that does seem a bit hot, esp considering probe is on low pressure side of turbine so you can safely add another 100* or so on temps you are reading I have yet to get up to 880* within collector on full chat and my Afr-s are very simmilar at 10.9:1 richest reading Maybe worth investigating, ign timing, inlet temps and back pressure as all of them will all affect egt-s But then again saying all that i had experienced high egt-s at all times with my previous 2.0l stroker engine only difference to present 1.8l engine was use of hot schrick cams so maybe overlap comes into play? Bet you got some interesting looks at Sainsburys car park
It's a bit of a known feature of the turbo's really Sam, on the OEM TFSI cars they run at over 1000 degrees on tuned cars, it's just a small turbo really, and we're asking a lot from it. Upside is it'll produce 1.5+ bar from 3-7.6k RPM, and has absolutely NO lag at all, downside is they run hot and need monitoring. Ignition timing and inlet temps are closely watched, the car runs LOTS of timing, with 27 degrees of advance from around 5k rpm to the redline. Inlet temps with the WMI system running on track rarely ever go above ambient, so typically 20-30 degrees at the very most, and logging shows absolutely no timing pull at all through the range. it does have NA cams fitted, which have more overlap, so that could well be elevating EGT's slightly, good thinking! Although I'm not really sure there's anything I can do about it lol
As the car performs so well just keep doing what you doing at the moment, DRIVE it HARD! Seems to be well happy on track Ah i see NA cams in yours so could well be contributing factor towards higher Egt-s Saying that, even tho my stroker used to see high 9xx* all the time it never really caused any issues so i guess all is well with yours Cant wait to see it on track again
Thanks Sambo it's an odd one isn't it? i KNOW that the EGT's get reasonably high on track, probably nearing on 1000 degrees at the collector, but so far it's done 5 trackdays (around 900 very hard track miles) and about 5000 road miles and it's not caused any ill effects and still makes great power, so with it running so well I'm inclined to leave it like you say! As you well know from your monster, i certainly don't need any more power, the 380ish on full boost is a perfect balance with the slicks, i think any more would make it too much of a handful and not as smooth to drive. It was ultra smooth at Bedford on low, but I would have liked to try at least a few laps on full power, but didn't get the chance Will you be at the Curby Sprint in May? That's the next date I've got booked at the moment looking forward to it!
I shall be there regardless of what car i'l be in at the time as the A3 will be donating engine to Lupo and may well be sold by then Even if it means going round in my new cheap daily dirty smoker Mk4 Tdi But then again 4wd Lupo may be drivable by then whooop whooop!
I need to have a word with you and Gurds. Don`t go telling everyone how wonderful splitters are, or they`ll all fit them ! lol Nah seriously. I`ve been telling Gurds for some time now that he`d see the benefit, he couldn`t believe how much difference it actually made ! I know Prawn was the same, he did a nice install and sent me a message shortly after saying the difference in stability was unreal
I've been following your thread for years Nige, and to be honest, I never truly believed quite how MUCH difference it would make. Sure, it was going to be a bit better, but I didn't think it'd be anywhere near as noticable as it is. It's taken mine from being skittish and uncomfortable at speed, to something where the highest speeds I've managed to reach so far feel like absolutely nothing!
