Thursday 14 April 2011

Maintainence

While the car has never given a single moments bother I have done a lot of preventative maintainence to keep it that way.

Just prior to my purchase May 2010- Header tank and engine mount replaced

June 2010- New post cat Lambda sensor
                  New bottom wishbone ball joint and Track rod end
                  Headlights aligned for MOT, needed nothing else

July 2010- Anti rattle pins installed in doors

August 2010- Oil changed- Millers Fully synthetic 10w40
                      Oil filter replaced- Genuine GM filter
                      Air filter replaced

September 2010- Soft top cables replaced and seals serviced

October 2010 Hub carrier bolts replaced to 10.9 Carbon steel as the standard ones are prone to failure

November - December 2010 Supercharger conversion

January 2011- Oil changed to Millers Fully synthetic 10w40, filter as above
                       Spark plugs replaced- Bosch

February 2011 All four tyres replaced- Kumho KU 31s

April 2011 Pagid RS 14 Racing brake pads installed with Drilled and Grooved discs, brake fluid replaced

All in the space of 5000 miles very little left to do even if you wanted to!

All little knocks and rattles have been eliminated which is very rare for a VX220 or Elise, it makes it feel much more refined and pleasant to drive!

                  

Wednesday 13 April 2011

VX220 Supercharged

This blog is about my now supercharged VX220 and all the work I have carried out on it.
After about 6months after looking for a clean low miles Vx220 that hadn't been previously damaged for ages. eventually Found a very clean Calypso red 2001 with 32k miles on it and full service history. 
It came with a cold air intake and a vauxhall sports exhuast and put out 156bhp at AI autosport on a charity rolling road day which was a reasonable figure given they are 145 standard, a good healthy base car. Had the interior wrapped in carbon vinyl as well which looks great!



Then I decided it needed a bit more grunt!!!
During a visit to the states I picked up a genuine 10k mile eaton M62 from a well known breaker in New England along with all the other parts required for the conversion

The inlet manifold was modified by an alloy specialist to alloy a dual pass configuration to the charge cooler, increasing cooling efficiency dramatically.

A Miltek exhaust system with 200 cell sport cat was installed as well as VX220 Turbo injectors and a 100A alternator.

The kit was professionally installed between December and January and then was mapped by Courtney Motor Sport in Norfolk.

The result


255bhp in a ruler straight line, 210lbft torque nearly all available between 3500-6000 RPM. Limiter set at 7000RPM. Almost exactly a 100bhp increase on the same rolling road as previously.

After the power was sorted it was time to move on to the handling and stopping. Drilled and grooved discs combined with Pagid RS14 pads and racing fluid were next. Followed by Team Dynamics 1.2 Pro Race wheels, 17 inch rear 16 inch front, wrapped in Toyo R888 GG compound tyres.



I was delighted with the result and so arranged for a local photographer to take a few snaps



















Any more questions about specification or anything are very welcome.