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Blowing my own trumpet....

D

Dico

New member
Apologies in advance for my enthusiasm, but I've just purchased a specimen of a 944 [:D]
I picked it up earlier today and drove it the 50 miles or so home with a missfire [:eek:]
There are also a couple of other faults which need sorting. I'll bore you with these later.
However things got better the more I looked. The paintwork has to be seen to be believed. Not a spec of rust. Usualy the more you look at a vehicle the more blemishes you find, but I'm really struggling with this one. The front end was given a respray a few years back for cosmetic reasons, and 3M film applied. There ar 1 or 2 minor chips here and there but nothing to worry about.
I'm starting to go on a bit so here is a quick pic for now. poor quality as its getting dark and the sd cards full! More tomorrow if thats ok?


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/samdico/TangmereElan012Small.jpg

edit- I'm obviously not so good at posting pictures!
 
Thanks. Its an 86 turbo model, with 113,000 on the clock, though you wouldn't think so. The last owner had it for 14 years.
The missfire was down to it overboosting I think? Nearly 2 bar!!! There was a loose pipe which the previous owner told me about when I phoned him about the problem. I'm stlii getting a high reading on the gauge. There is a bleed valve (manual boost controller) fitted wihch I assume needs turning down (by a fair ammount!).
The heater, which I've mentioned previously is intermitantly working. Ropey fuse it seems, I hope.
Drivers window motor inop. Same as a 924? Ebay job, unless anyone has a spare for sale?
I also need a thatcham 1 alarm/imobolizer for the insurance so I need to confirm this is whats fitted. Would seem a shame to rip out a perfectly good alarm.
I also need to check underneath as I've only been able to view it with all four wheels on the ground so far.
The interior is in amazingly good condition too. No rear seatbelts though for my lad. I'll have to convince the mrs that she has to sit in the back [:D].

Don't think I'm going to sleep tonight. I was up at 5 this morning!!!
 
2 bar ???? Blinking eck ! Mine with its mods only runs at 1.1 from memory and standard is something like 0.82 . Should certainly turn the wick down before something explodes ! Welcome to the early turbo club - the original and purest form (until you start modding) [;)]
 
well done m8 looks a cracker soon have all running fine im sure looks like theres a few new owners this weekend ,
you see what you lot have done to us [:D] HOOk LINE AND SINKER

Paul
 
Well done Dico, more pics please [:D] Love the colour

Just a quick point on the boost. If you are using the in dash gauge it also includes atmospheric pressure, so if the needle moves to the 2 bar mark it is only actually boosting to 1 bar as it already includes the 1 bar of atmospheric.

The graduations on the dash gauge are so close together at the RH end that it is tricky to judge the exact boost and very difficult to accurately adjust down to 0.8bar (12 psi) . Show us a picture of the boost valve and we may be able advise how much to turn it down, most of them seem to be one complete turn equals 1 psi of pressure. If you do hit overboost it will cut fuel and timing and make you think you've driven into a brick wall [:eek:] a quick coast down for a few minutes will reset it, or even quicker just stop and turn the ignition off and on.

You may find you hit overboost more easily on a cold winters day than in the heat of summer because the air is denser and gives us more lovely POWER [8D]
 
ORIGINAL: Diver944



Just a quick point on the boost. If you are using the in dash gauge it also includes atmospheric pressure, so if the needle moves to the 2 bar mark it is only actually boosting to 1 bar as it already includes the 1 bar of atmospheric.

If you do hit overboost it will cut fuel and timing
Click to expand...

Phew! Yes, I was just going off the dash gauge. Fingers crossed then that I am only getting 1 bar or less.

I have found a receipt from BBR (Broadie Britain Racing?). If its the same company that fitted the kit to my Elan then the kit could possibly have included a fuel cut defender (fcd). If so, its not the best upgrade in the world as you probably know already, the car could well be running lean if the manual boost control has been wizzed up too much. Melted pistons anyone?
Though the mbc has possibly been fitted at a later date to the bbr kit and not by bbr themselves. Bbr usualy have a 'basic' restrictor in their kit to prevent overboost. A previous owner on my Elan had removed this and I was getting 1.4 bar!!!
Could it also possibly be a sticking wastegate? Is this a known fault on the 944?
I may sound (or may not) like I know what I am going on about, but I only know a limited ammount about turbo equipped vehicles. Just bits and pieces that I have picked up on, on the Lotus forums.
Anyhow I am waffling again. I'll try and get some more pics later, but it just hasn't stopped raining here in Manchester for ages!


 

ORIGINAL: Diver944

If you do hit overboost it will cut fuel and timing and make you think you've driven into a brick wall [:eek:] a quick coast down for a few minutes will reset it, or even quicker just stop and turn the ignition off and on.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what happened to me when driving my Turbo home (from Hull to Glasgow) when I first bought it. It absolutely terrified me at 60-odd on an A-road. Afterwards the car drove as though it were a standard Lux, with not turbo whatsoever. I pulled over and parked up, went for a coffee, and when I started the car up again it had reset itself, everything back to normal. It's never happened again, thankfully.
 
 
Nice colour - "interesting" interior [:D]

At least you know your wastegate's holding boost [;)] Looks like it's worth getting to grips with the boost control & finding out how it's set up - and whose chips it's running.
 
ORIGINAL: edh

Nice colour - "interesting" interior [:D]
Click to expand...

He he. Must admit, I would have prefered black. Its kind of growing on me though I'm not sure that steering wheel EVER will! Its pretty much immaculate bar for a tiny ammount of wear on the piping you can just see.
Mrs Dico has ordered a 3 piece suite from M+S in the same colour! [8|]
I didn't post the rear seat pic as it looks completely fow. But here goes if you want a laugh- (its really a lot darker than what it looks in the pic)
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/samdico/TangmereElan014Small.jpg

So what we are saying is that it is normal for the stock gauge to go right round to almost 2 bar???


 
ORIGINAL: Dico

So what we are saying is that it is normal for the stock gauge to go right round to almost 2 bar???
Click to expand...

Yep, if it were 100% accurate it should hover around the last mark before the end. It may be worth your while fitting an extra boost gauge for under £50 and using that to accurately turn down your boost, or visit a local Rolling Road that can plot boost and AFR just to check everything out. You really don't want your overboost cutting in just as you are half way past overtaking a Juggernaut with another one coming towards you on the opposite carriageway [:eek:]

The fact that the overboost is still working leads me to think your chipset is standard. If it is BBR then it's probably pretty old and will not be as good as the current offerings on the market
 
ORIGINAL: Diver944

ORIGINAL: Dico

So what we are saying is that it is normal for the stock gauge to go right round to almost 2 bar???
Click to expand...

Yep, if it were 100% accurate it should hover around the last mark before the end. It may be worth your while fitting an extra boost gauge for under £50 and using that to accurately turn down your boost, or visit a local Rolling Road that can plot boost and AFR just to check everything out. You really don't want your overboost cutting in just as you are half way past overtaking a Juggernaut with another one coming towards you on the opposite carriageway [:eek:]

The fact that the overboost is still working leads me to think your chipset is standard. If it is BBR then it's probably pretty old and will not be as good as the current offerings on the market
Click to expand...

Paul, I'm a chipset numpty currently. Do you have any links to retailers or other sites with just chipset info on. I think its my step... As I have the boost enhancer now and did experience overboost (at least thats what I think it was) twice before Xmas on a cold morning, cruising at 60 then flooring the throttle in 5th without changing gear. Assuming I'm on a standard chipset.
 
Looks like a beaut and with cup 1 alloys which the more I see them on 944's the more I think they are the ultimate wheel. +1 about obverboost. Until you get it sorted i'd resist the urge to use the boost and minimise it's use. If you are getting overboost it is probably the case you've still got standard chips and someone not wise in the ways of 944 tubo's has simply fitted a boost controler to increase boost. The KLR monitors boost - not just max value's but also the rate at which the boost rises. Before I installed aftermarket chips I installed a dual port wastegate and set the boost to below stock max boost and on cold crisp mornings I could get the overboost to kick in as the boost built up kwiker than the KLR was expecting to it cut things back. Not a pleasant feeling. Not something you want to repeat regularly.
 
Looks very nice, good buy :)

How do you find it compares to the lotus? I remember when I first got mine (an '86 Turbo, that is) and took it up to Dartmoor, just as I was coming up to the fun bits this white lotus like yours appeared in my mirror. He was really provoking me so when we got to a straight I just opened her up and watched the little white spec disappear :D However, I had only had the car a few days and was not very confident in the corners, so that white spec got much bigger each time I got to one, and then would rapidly vanish again coming out the other side.

Oh the memories [:(]
 
Hi Scott
I have found a receipt for the mbc. It has a members name on the receipt [:D]
Heres a pic -
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/samdico/TangmereElan022Small.jpg

Maybe I am not getting overboost afterall. I just assumed I was because the engine had a missfire and the gauge was reading 2 bar (or so I thought).
I phoned the previous owner when I returned home and he mentioned he also had had a missfire sometime earlier. Aparently the pipe I am pointing at in the pic had blown off. When I inspected it it was still attatched, I managed to push the small pipes further into the rubber T piece and this seemed to solve it, though I'm sure there is still a slight missfire. Paranoid now that I still have overboost even though I probably haven't. I don't even know what this particular bit is.
The info that came with the 'kit' states that the mbc has been preset and can't be adjusted (apart from turned down) and is safe to use [8|]. Maybe I should remove it altogether and see how it performs. Maybe a rolling road run as has been mentioned.
The wheels are the popular replicas, Mille Milga or something? But still look good in my opinion.

The Elan and the 944 are different cars entirely. Fwd v rwd for starters.
My Elan has many upgrades and puts out about 210 bhp with a similar weight to the 44, suprisingly seeing as its fibreglass.
It is very difficult to get traction being fwd, even with and aftermarket lsd (Quaife) fitted. 0-60 should be less than 6 seconds, quicker still if I could get traction!
I've obviously not had chance to put the 44 to its limits, having only owned it for around 30 hours. I bought it as a daily driver, wanting to keep the Lotus for best. However its so bloomin good, if I had a double garage I would put them both away and keep the Discovery. Not sure the wife would appreceiate that!

 
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