Freak Engines

MYT205

MYT205

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Fellow Frogger
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Last night macquered and I were out with some people going for a *cough* "cruise" *cough*. He has a 306 XT and I had the g/f's GTi6.

He was much faster through the twisties than myself, due to him being a better driver, and he knows the road a lot better than me.

But, In a straight line at one point he was catching me going down this big hill with 2 people in his car, and only myself in mine. WTF ???

You may remember him posting his Gtech times a while ago, and how they seemed a little "optimistic". Judging by last night, he had 150kw, not 100kw. I'll get you next time Brenno. :D

This to me all comes down to how the engine was run-in from new. Because it is the g/f's car it was babied most of its infant life. I have always found that this tends to leave an engine a little "lethargic" for the rest of its life, compared to one that has experienced spirited driving since new.

Anyone else experienced this "freak engine" phenomenon.

Comments ????

[ 08 March 2002: Message edited by: YEL020 ]

[ 08 March 2002: Message edited by: YEL020 ]</p>
 
YELO20 - he knows his car, he drives it everyday. He's an excellent driver. And... he had more momentum!

Was TTL in the car? :)

:D

I don't believe it's a freak engine.... the differences in acceleration to 100kph between our cars and macquered's is quite substantial - however as soon as you're at speed, the amount of torque you have comes into play. We have 196Nm at 5500rpm, and the 306 XT has something like 190Nm at 3800rpm. He might have been in a 'sweet spot' whilst you were still waiting to get into your power band - due to different gearing etc.

We should have a drag one day YELO20, mine has not been babied... ;)
 
BTW - the GTi6 certainly demands a 'driver' doesn't it?....

As soon as this laser operation on my eyes gets done, I'm going to the track. The 'ol vision is a bit too poor otherwise.
 
ntrx,

We were going pretty hard in 4th from what I can remember. Both had the same runup. Only thing was that he was behind me, so may have got a bit of a slip stream, although he was quite a few car lenghts back.

Will have to indeed.
 
You will have to join us next time. Brenno and I were discussing getting a few guys on here with 306's to come along as well.
 
I had a little fun last time on the Old Pac Hwy, but after my crash on that road in the Impreza, I'm pretty bloody tentative to go very hard.

I oversteered badly in the last car and got too close to killing myself, and despite the fact I'm getting quite used to the feel of the car (last time Brenno was in it properly I had the tail out a few times :) ), I get frightened easily.

So, I'm going to learn how to drive the bugger on the track.

Also, I don't think my fiance, let alone insurance companies, will want to know me if I do anything too stupid again! :)
 
I know what u mean about being worried. Cause its not my car and I don't drive it all the time, I am VERY tentaive.

Brenno slowed down to wait for me because he thought something had happened.

Not anywhere near as fast as the others. Armco's scare me too much.
 
ntrx,

If you do track days, cover up your plates. I've heard of insurance companies sending scouts along...although it sounds ridiculous. The WRX club here (my bro's a member) does it.

Stuey
 
Hello this is my first post.

Yelo20...you might want to try resetting the EMS supposedly if you pull the battery (only the positive terminal is needed) then keep it off for 15-20 minutes it'll reset the EMS by discharging all the capacitors. Then reconnect and take the car for a good thrashing...I mean driving in a sensible manner like all good pug drivers.
I don't know about the validity of this but it can't do any harm apart from resetting the stereo preset (and the computer code if it has one) and reseting the clock.
I'm told it works on a friends Subaru, could be worth a try...and it gives you a legit excuse to thrash...I mean drive sensibly the car :D
 
Just thought I'd have a go at resetting the ECU, and giving it a good lesson around the local twisties :D

I left the + terminal of the battery off for half an hour; the ECU definitely reset, because when driving straight after connecting everything back up again, there was a pretty big jolt when lifting completely off the throttle at any time, which didn't happen before. And it didn't happen after the "ECU school lesson" ;) was finished, either.

I never got that dodgy idle/hesitation thing I was talking about in an earlier thread (not even on "sensible duty" around the suburbs); maybe the ECU reset means it's now reading a sensor properly or something.

It might just be a placebo thing, but the car did feel perkier and generally 'happier'. Or maybe it was just the engine having a good day, along with the gearbox ... a cool Melbourne night, filled with Optimax, being given some stick over some winding roads; can you blame it? :p
 
I know for certain that my with my ax, if you disconnect the battery, it forgets most of its ECU settings. So the next time you drive it, you get a bit of hesitation when u put the foot down, but after about 20 mins its all gone.
 
Few things I might add to this post.

Although the two cars are substantially different in power, its not all THAT much when you start considering overtaking speeds when on the move. This leads me to my next point...
If the XT behind you started accelerating a little earlier, he will have a distinct advantage over you, even if he has less power.

I had a hard time catching an Excel (pfftt) after he took off turning right from a set of lights, I needed to get past him, but because he had started accelerating a lot earlier, it makes it difficult.
 
I agree with the "babying"bit, but on two fronts.

My Dad has always said - get a new car and drive it like you're going to drive it for the rest of it's life. ie - if you're going to drive it hardish, give it some from day one.

I (and my staff at work) have always followed this idea and our fleet cars are always sweet by the time we have to trade them. We drive some other "one driver" fleet cars from time to time and they are dogs! (well they are FalcoCommoShagnas)

The other thing I find is that with some cars these days, the ECU "learns" your driving style and adapts. So if you get in the car after someone with a little less Pb in their right foot has driven it, for up to 100km it can be a slug. If you give it some from the start of a journey it soon learns that there is someone else in control. This "could" be more the case with autos though.

So if said g/f has been babying the car, it may just be used to being driven around at 50km/h in 5th gear all day, and not driven well like it sounds like you were doing - Oh that and trying to keep up with an admitted better driver.

Rgds

:)
 
Hehe I missed this thread over the weekend - I was away for the whole time.

I was pretty surpised when YEL020 said he was giving his car full stick down the hill, because I thought his thing would race away. We will have to try it again one day to compare. One contributing factor could have been that I did have a bit of a head start. I knew the hill was there and I knew I could reach over 200 kmh going down the hill.

The car has always surprised me. I didnt know the engine was going to be as spritely as it is. I once got a 306 Rallye as a loan car while mine was being serviced and it didnt feel as powerful as my car even though it was the same engine. Go figure =)

As for running in......it was pretty much nonexistant. There is no run-in procedure in the manual......so I gave it heaps from the start. Some of you know what sort of driving I do =)

I never believed the Gtech times, even though I got around the same figures on a different Gtech, on an AC22, and different conditions, roads. Perhaps the soft rear suspension and subsequent squat amplifies the accelerative effect a bit, I dont know.

Just cos I think it is cool - here is a pic of my speedo inside my car at turn 1, Wakefield Park

wake.jpg


A stock 200sx would be doing around 160, 165 as well.

Stuey, My insurance company has no business knowing what I do with my car off the road. They dont need to know. Nonetheless, I take my plates off anyway - even though my car is a pretty distinctive colour.

Phasis - the difference between the engines is interesting. Having been in quite a few hard driven GTi6's now I must say that between idle and about 4500 rpms they feel pretty similar to the garden variety 2.0 engines (like mine) except they still have that horny induction noise =). After 4500 rpms the surge continues to the cutout, whereas in my car it feels that the ECU and cam profiles collectively just want to pack up and go home.

[ 10 March 2002: Message edited by: macquered ]</p>
 
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