I think I may well have found the best state of tune then Nigel. Nice result on the rollers today.

What are your mods Phil and how'd you get on with the Fleamap?

FMIC
K&N panel filter
Power flow cat back
Fuel pump wiring mod

Think that's it.

Very pleased with results after mapping. Think Flea said 278 is the highest he's seen on standard tb28 set up. Have a guess what mine made?

I'm certainly going to throw a spanner in the works here.

Big horse power does not equal better state of tune. Torque however is the one you want relevant to the car. I've seen/heard high horses in a car coughing & spluttering just not set up properly for a road going car. As said a standard car with a fresh suspension & good brakes will be a far better experience than something maxed to hell.

Gotta be 278 then! 😊

Bit more

Totally agree, torque is King

I'll go for 285, and that's basically the same spec as mine bar an Apexi cone.

& there we have it. Realistically any mechanic worth their job knows this along with any tuner. Before even I was aware of performance associated with vehicles.....

Bit more

No problem Give me a ring when you want to pop round: 07900 324331

BTW, I just today finished mapping mine for its new Cat cams, and now it's making even more touquey horsepowerey goodness!

Torque ALWAYS matters! Afterall, it's torque that moves your car, not horsepower. HP is an important measurement but at the end of the day it's still just a function of torque.

On a track with long straights, having a lot of hp over torque can be useful. But on the street you could very well find that your 20VT with 350 lbft & 400 bhp doesn't accelerate any quicker than another 20VT with 350 lbft and, say, 370 bhp. In fact you could even find that it gets beaten! It totally depends on where all that torque is made and how it's spread across the RPM range. As they say; it's all bout area under the curve!

Too much fixation on peak bhp figures on this forum!

This kinda goes back to what I mentioned previously: If practically all the cars on this forum have exactly the same mods from exactly the same manufactures, running maps from exactly the same place, how do you know that your Coupe's performance is the best that can be had from a Coupe? Personally when I see Coupes on here with all hp and low lb, I just see Coupes that haven't reached their full potential.

As Countrycruising and Jimboy said: "Torque is king!"

Of course torque matters, Kj16v tells it as it is. I totally agree with too much involvement with HP when torque was king far long ago even when I was around. After the second world war the Yanks were putting their knowledge into beefing up cars to race, go fast....hot rodding. This was the infancy of modding as we know it today. Nothing to do with my thoughts, facts.

I suspect that the majority of the cars on this forum are mapped with mechanical sympathy in mind. This was the recommended approach with my first coupe (320/ 320) as I didn't want to spend more money on supporting mods.

People have tongues in their heads, so if they want big torque they only need to ask. They will just need to stock pile gearboxes or go down the Quaife route then, although I doubt there are many people left on this forum looking to spend that sort of money on these old cars now.

Torque kills gearboxes and other components.....as I found out first hand, and so has the new owner of my coupe.

Having had one of most powerful coupes on here, as well as the one mentioned above, my advice would be to stick within the capabilities of the factory clutch, sort the brakes and suspension, and enjoy what is a fantastic car for the money.

Sorry Phil - More importantly, what were your results?

No apologies needed, its a good discussion.

It made 292bhp and 291ft/lbs iirc. Not bad for a tb28 on a warm Combe afternoon. Think I'll put the hybrid on ice for now.

Great results Phil

my spare knackered turbo turned into a hybrid for £650, large front mount intercooler kit off a coupe being broken £75 decat £35 scorpian cat back system ( on the car already) live map and rolling road £350ish porto coupe £300 off a forum member
result 297 bhp torque 297ish
so for just under 1500 i have a coupe that i have done 7 track days with and still not blown up! i would have to say 300bhp is the magic number and i can get all the power down in second gear upwards

[/quote] kj16v

Torque ALWAYS matters! Afterall, it's torque that moves your car, not horsepower. HP is an important measurement but at the end ofe day it's still just a function of torque.

On a track with long straights, having a lot of hp over torque can be useful. But on the street you could very well find that your 20VT with 350 lbft & 400 bhp doesn't accelerate any quicker than another 20VT with 350 lbft and, say, 370 bhp. In fact you could even find that it gets beaten! It totally depends on where all that torque is made and how it's spread across the RPM range. As they say; it's all bout area under the curve!

Too much fixation on peak bhp figures on this forum!

This kinda goes back to what I mentioned previously: If practically all the cars on this forum have exactly the same mods from exactly the same manufactures, running maps from exactly the same place, how do you know that your Coupe's performance is the best that can be had from a Coupe? Personally when I see Coupes on here with all hp and low lb, I just see Coupes that haven't reached their full potential.

As Countrycruising and Jimboy said: "Torque is king!" [/quote]

Kj if you know the 20v turbo then you know for a 5 pot it doesn't make massive torque gains even when you speak to the Brazilian and Portuguese lot who has been in 700 bhp for a long time now even when you do the 2.4 conversion still ain't massive torque but a lot better then the 2.0l if you look at say the ford st the Evo Vxr etc etc they get better torque gains friend of mine st 430 bhp with 505 Ibft much more then what I have and he can't keep with me from second gear .
But you are right torque gets you going and bhp keeps you going

Cheers. Been having "much fun" in it this morning.

glad you enjoing your car.... are you planning any further mods on it i wonder ?

Not just yet but I never say never.

And here is the dyno run.

If the engine gets forged, and torque and bhp is sought the proper way, at what point does the gearbox and viscodrive unit become the limiting factor?

When the driver throws caution to the wind

Looking good!

What boost setting did you settle for?

Glad its been worth while! its definitely a buzz when you get good results, like having a whole new toy all over again!

My biggest fear was to of spent time and money and get a disappointing result, thanks to Flea it wasnt!

Great stuff

Having read your other threads, were you running any thinners?

No thinners. Just 99 Ron Momentum.

Viscodrive struggles at much over 350bhp. The weakpoint in the gearbox is the diff, which can shatter the planet gears if it gets a substantial shock load. If you're gentle with launches, the standard box will happily cope with 500bhp+

I asked Phil the very same question Dave! An unusually receptive Coupe to tuning that allowed me to be really quite aggressive, especially in the mid-range. It's not often I see a well oiled standard engine, one that has loosened up well with regular exercise into the upper reaches. It is generally this type of driving nature coupled with good fuel and oil that frees the engine, with little carbon deposits. It certainly helps to have a bigger intercooler, pretty much the weakest component on the standard Coupe. Really pleased for Phil, an effortless result from his car