Porky Viper?
Re
Visceral Viper
- you say that the Viper has a "mammoth kerb weight" of 1488kg. This would be
the same as, say, an Alfa Romeo Spider or a VW Golf R32. Neither car is famous
for being overweight. Or is it just that the Viper LOOKS big?
Patrick McAuliffe
Australia
Good point. In the context of a sparsely equipped two seater with
minimal cargo space it’s hard to imagine why it weighs so much. On the other
hand, yes – it’s not particularly heavy in comparison with some of today’s
mainstream cars.
Fusion Go Ahead?
I was just reading with interest your article The Fusion Intercooler
and was wondering whether you actually went ahead and made one. The reason I am
asking is I have a turbo diesel four-cylinder and a Toyota water-to-air
intercooler (without its pump or radiator) sitting here and was thinking it
would be worth a try. I'll let you know how I go.
Rick Bull
Australia
No, we haven’t played with a fusion intercooler on a car. Let us know how it
goes if you go ahead!
Another Interceptor
In reference to your upcoming series on interceptors. I would like to suggest
another interceptor for future articles - it is called the MAFTPro and is
produced by Full Throttle Speed. This unit uses TunerproRT Software for
adjustment and tuning.
Eric Hamacher
USA
Take Aim, Shoot!
Re Shooting the Overboost...
How did you make the measurements to graph the boost spike? I cannot drive and
watch the gauge that closely, and I would like to find out if I am getting a
spike.
D.Calabrese
USA
Yes, things can happen pretty quickly at full throttle! Our measurements were
made by temporarily locating the boost gauge alongside the tacho. An assistant
was then seated behind the driver with a digital movie camera zoomed in on both
gauges. Once a couple of full-throttle runs are recorded simply download it to
computer and watch it. It works great so long as the camera is held steady!
There Is a UZ Manual!
You article on UZ engines (The Toyota UZ-series Engine Guide)
states there has never been a manual behind a Toyota V8.
Except the LandCruiser 100... A manual UZ is available in the current
LandCruiser - ask a Toyota Dealer.
Another not well known fact on these engines is that there is now a thriving
aftermarket supply of conrods, pistons, fasteners, valves, cams, etc to get the
most out of the engine. You can even buy off-the-shelf supercharger systems and
a heap of adaptors to put almost any transmission behind them.
Rod Garnett
Australia
Bit Overrated
In
regards to Scribe’s XR6T (Scribe's XR6T)...
In my studies of these great bang-for-buck cars, this example is a bit
overrated - power wise, anyway. Many XR6 turbos today are making a lot more
power and are running a lot quicker times. Take mine, for example - I have the
same mods but with stock wastegate and a full stock exhaust. I am making 305RWKW
with spot-on AFRs. Although I have not run mine down the quarter, most XR6
turbos with my power (or Scribe’s power) are easily into the 12 second bracket
with an auto. Evidently, this difference in power comes down to the tuner of the
car. Having work done to my car by MRT was good, but having my car re-tuned by
Nizpro has turned it into an unbelievable supercar. Both Nizpro and HPF are in
Melbourne and are, I think, the best tuners for these cult cars in Australia
(even though I'm from Sydney). I am not trying to sell any thing here, but I’m
just giving credit to where it's deserved.
IK
Australia
Another Multi-Purpose Performer
Re Multi-Purpose Performers...
With similar criteria, I ended up buying a 1994 Honda Legend for well within the
sub AUD$10,000 budget. The Legend outscored anything comparable in the price
range. Its sophistication is incredible, the luxury approaches being decadent
and it handles beautifully. According to accident statistics, it remains one of
the safest cars on the road. There is also a passionate US following (where it
lives under the Acura badge) and apparently there is a "300,000 mile club". Yes,
it is 12 years old and has 190,000km on the clock, however this was the
AUD$90,000 Honda flagship and has a lot of service life left in it. Anyway, who
could go past the electric reclining rear seats?!
Mike
Australia
A good choice – have fun VIP style!
IEBC Consistency
Re the Independent Electronic Boost Control (IEBC)... I was wondering if it
gets affected by ambient temperature or load (what gear you're in). I'm assuming
that it doesn't, as it reads of the injector duty cycle to determine how much to
pulse the boost solenoid.
John Ha
New Zealand
Any boost controller that doesn’t receive manifold pressure feedback is
susceptible to some degree of boost variation. However, by taking an input from
injector duty cycle there is a degree of feedback because, if the turbo is
over-boosting at a given load/rpm site, the injector duty cycle will increase
and the IEBC will therefore read from a higher load site.
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