ok, so i've been browsing ebay for most of the day looking for parts for my mates astra turbo, he wants things like stainless intake plenums and
a stainless turbo intake and big air filter cone etc and an aftermarket dump valve etc, but then i got thinking, will all this actually make his car
any faster or will it give his car any performance increase?
i know that a free flowing intake system is better for the engine but what is the advantage of using stainless pipes instead of plastic ones ? or is
it just that all these boy racers like the bling factor of stainless!
I think its just the bling
Bling!!! Must be about 10 years ago, a friend of mine got loads of parts in his supra engine bay chromed and won some prizes at shows, now its so common he's getting rid of it......
cos its shiny!!!
why do chavs cover their 1.2 corsa's with spoilers and splitters and whale tales? because they have an inferiority complex about the size of
thier man-hoods really.
personally if i was fiddling with a "normal" car, i would make it the unltimate street sleeper, looks like shit, but goes like shit.
kinda had the same situation with my mitsubishi legnum VR4. to the uneducated it was a dark green estate that usually needed a wash, but underneath
was a 2.5 V6 twin turbo with 280bhp and the 4wd system from the early evo's.
but thats just me.
Martin
quote:
Originally posted by b16mts
personally if i was fiddling with a "normal" car, i would make it the unltimate street sleeper, looks like shit, but goes like shit.
kinda had the same situation with my mitsubishi legnum VR4. to the uneducated it was a dark green estate that usually needed a wash, but underneath was a 2.5 V6 twin turbo with 280bhp and the 4wd system from the early evo's.
well, i don't know... cone air filter, i'm not so sure about. bigger surface area means less air has to pass through any given space. so
less restrictions etc. not sure how the 'cone' makes any difference.
i've always wondered about the preference to stainless steel exhausts, over a mild steel exhaust, but given the choice, i'd have a stailess
exhaust. they sound better apparently. maybe they're smoother inside being part chrome (? i'm sure thats not right, but...)) less likely to
get any kind of rust/corrosion, so perhaps the same applies to intakes?
there are companies who specialise in turbo parts, HKS for one, i'm sure if they weren't better than standard ones, there'd be no
market for it at all. 1000bhp toyota supras didn't get 1000bhp by staying standard
stainless is shiney and lasts longer, so most decent aftrmarket ones are made from it.
Ashley is just as good as magnex, but they are half the price and dont last.
I heard that stainless doesn't conduct heat so well and thats an advantage in exhausts(and flow). Could be wrong?
You have forgotten one thing that causes all of this (apart from lack of a good condom ) and that is insurance for young drivers.
In my day (cough) we could swap engines without a big hike, but today with some 17 year olds paying £1400 for third party on a 998cc corsa, big
engines are out, so instead they go for looks (not my taste).
Remember that some of these newbie drivers will be on here building, once they cut there teeth, so be careful what you say about them!
like what martin says, and as i've always said, they may not approve of the looks of the cars people on here build, just remeber to respect
everyone elses taste 
It all started with a guy named McLaren, came to America saw all the war surplus aircraft hoses, pipes, fittings, and put them in his race cars. I scrutineered F1 cars that came to Mosport for the Canadian GP in the late 60's, early 70's when those cars had rubber hoses for the water pipes and normal automotive brake lines, then Bruce showed them how it was done.
quote:
Originally posted by b16mts
cos its shiny!!!
why do chavs cover their 1.2 corsa's with spoilers and splitters and whale tales? because they have an inferiority complex about the size of thier man-hoods really.
personally if i was fiddling with a "normal" car, i would make it the unltimate street sleeper, looks like shit, but goes like shit.
quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
quote:
Originally posted by b16mts
cos its shiny!!!
why do chavs cover their 1.2 corsa's with spoilers and splitters and whale tales? because they have an inferiority complex about the size of thier man-hoods really.
personally if i was fiddling with a "normal" car, i would make it the unltimate street sleeper, looks like shit, but goes like shit.
spot on
its funny when its been done really badly
one that sticks in my mind was a corsa (I guess it was a 1.0) it had a body kit and spoiler, horible but at least it had been fitted right
anyway he's going quite slowly (45-50ish) up hill on the dual carageway so I start to overtake
but I'm in my old 954cc 106 (now mcsppedy's car) basic granny shopper spec: 4 speed, rusty steel wheels and a carb
as pass (only at 60ish, it didn't ahve any more power) I see him shaking the steering wheel and shouting at the car, then he went for a gear change and I heard one of these: linky - I nearly wet myself laughing
I'm working early tomorrow
...or today now
but I'm off friday
your nuts! your on the early and your still browsing the forum at 1 am! 
and I'm back again (now at work)
quote:
Originally posted by nitram38
Remember that some of these newbie drivers will be on here building, once they cut there teeth, so be careful what you say about them!
quote:
Originally posted by alistairolsen
stainless is shiney and lasts longer, so most decent aftrmarket ones are made from it.
Ashley is just as good as magnex, but they are half the price and dont last.
quote:
Originally posted by iank
p.s. demon tweeks just went down in my estimation 100% just for stocking the electronic whoosh box. I just thought they were overpriced before.
quote:
Originally posted by iank
The air filter a cone can provide better performance as you can put it somewhere that gets a nice supply of cold air, but I suspect the majority of chav brands I've seen on ebay flow worse than the original paper panel filter.
has anyone still got a link to that 106 where the guy added a cone filter, but left in the original one and the restrictor....
[Edited on 26/3/09 by mcerd1]
Not sure how wise it is to fit a dump valve that's an unknown quantity. By reputation, cheap e-bay BOVs are very unreliable - they may not dump
at all! That's not a good thing, but we could assume he knows what he's doing.
However, even if it worked, it's a complete waste of time. Adding a few HP won't do anything to the power-to-weight ratio of your average
road car.
If he wants more shunt, he can do better for zero £ by stripping it out. Plus, weight saving is a "virtuous circle" - weight saved not only
increases PtW ratio, it makes life easier for the suspension, brakes and chassis.
quote:
Originally posted by omega0684
ok, so i've been browsing ebay for most of the day looking for parts for my mates astra turbo, he wants things like stainless intake plenums and a stainless turbo intake and big air filter cone etc and an aftermarket dump valve etc, but then i got thinking, will all this actually make his car any faster or will it give his car any performance increase?
i know that a free flowing intake system is better for the engine but what is the advantage of using stainless pipes instead of plastic ones ? or is it just that all these boy racers like the bling factor of stainless!