Forged Engine & Stage 4 AVO Turbo

[ChrisD]

Got the car back from Fensport today - now complete with AVO stage 3 turbo, 3 inch exhaust system, and helix cerametallic clutch

Driving it home was so much fun - the power starts kicking in around 3000 RPM and just keeps building. Love the sound of the turbo spooling and the dump valve too (yes I'm a child). Don't have any exact power figures but Adrian at Fensport said around 300 bhp and it just about kept up with my friend in a BMW M235i on the way home (which has 320 bhp, 330 ft/lbs, but is a bit heavier).

I also like that you can switch between different engine maps by using the cruise control stalk (cruise control still works too). With cruise control not enabled, pull it towards you for a couple of seconds and the rev counter drops to either 1K or 2K to indicate if you're on map 1 or map 2, then hit it up or down and it switches between them. Not sure if that's a common way of doing it but I thought it was quite clever using the rev counter to do this lol Adrian said that there wasn't a massive difference between the two maps on my car because I'm still on the stock fuel injectors so they couldn't push the boost up much higher for the second map as they hit the limits of the fuel system. Even so though, when driving home I switched it to the second map it did feel like the boost came in a bit quicker and generally just felt better. Perhaps just a placebo, but either way it felt great and sounded great

The clutch certainly took a bit of getting used to - it's quite hard to set off smoothly with no juddering, no matter how careful you are with the clutch pedal. Apparently this is completely normal for this kind of clutch, and it seems like just giving it a bit more gas seems to help.

The exhaust was a bit of a surprise, as I'd watched a few youtube videos of this AVO 3 inch exhaust and it barely sounded any different to stock, but in reality it is a lot louder and deeper than stock. Got a couple of pops and bangs when blipping the throttle on the way home too, which sounded great.







So yeah overall, really pleased with it and would certainly recommend this turbo (and Fensport) to anyone else considering it.

Oh and the Valenti lights arrived today too, so will be fitting them and the new wheels soon. Will post pics once done

[SkAsphalt]

Originally Posted by ChrisD

Got the car back from Fensport today - now complete with AVO stage 3 turbo, 3 inch exhaust system, and helix cerametallic clutch

The clutch certainly took a bit of getting used to - it's quite hard to set off smoothly with no juddering, no matter how careful you are with the clutch pedal. Apparently this is completely normal for this kind of clutch, and it seems like just giving it a bit more gas seems to help.
great.

I do not know the strength of the pressure plate on your upgraded clutch but I also found my upgraded clutch to be harder to drive than stock and removing the clutch pedal's helper spring made a big difference. I no longer have juddering take offs

Love your build, the wrap is great!

[Koa]

dude is going all in.. that's what's up!

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by SkAsphalt

I do not know the strength of the pressure plate on your upgraded clutch but I also found my upgraded clutch to be harder to drive than stock and removing the clutch pedal's helper spring made a big difference. I no longer have juddering take offs

Love your build, the wrap is great!

Thanks and thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at that. Is it literally just a spring on the pedal itself? Easy to remove?

[Koa]

Originally Posted by ChrisD

Thanks and thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at that. Is it literally just a spring on the pedal itself? Easy to remove?

Helper spring removal diy
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35621

While you're at it..

Easy & free clutch biting adjustment
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8040

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by Koa

Helper spring removal diy
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35621

While you're at it..

Easy & free clutch biting adjustment
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8040

Thanks, will have a go at this tomorrow

In the meantime, got the new rear lights installed just now:

[akahenry]

As I was scrolling through this journal, something struck me. I felt like I've seen this car online somewhere before and remembered that I saw this car on YouTube before! You're DedicationBlog! It's awesome that you're on the forums while posting on YouTube as well! Keep up the great work! Sick build thus far man!

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by akahenry

As I was scrolling through this journal, something struck me. I felt like I've seen this car online somewhere before and remembered that I saw this car on YouTube before! You're DedicationBlog! It's awesome that you're on the forums while posting on YouTube as well! Keep up the great work! Sick build thus far man!

haha yeah that's the youtube channel me and a friend run. Nice to know someone on here watches our videos I don't mention it on here as I don't want to be seen as promoting it or anything (some forums get a bit upset about posting your own youtube videos).

[ChrisD]

Got the new OZ Ultraleggera wheels fitted today, so here's a few snaps. Ride height will be coming back down a little - we only raised it to try sort out a problem yesterday.









Yes one of the rear wheels is missing a centre cap... one of the plastic clips on it was damaged when we took it out of the box so got a replacement on its way.

[ChrisD]

So this is what the car still looks like at the moment, but got new brake discs and pads for the rear to install some time this week. As well as some Whiteline bushes to go in the rear diff mount (to try get rid of that pesky axle tramp) and the Whiteline transmission bush or positive select kit or whatever they call it.

Oh and probably going to order the uprated fuel injectors and fuel pump soon so that we can run more boost

[Kerune]

Are you keeping it wrapped? Great set-up so far, how much was wrapping it if I may ask?

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by Kerune

Are you keeping it wrapped? Great set-up so far, how much was wrapping it if I may ask?

Yeah planning to keep it wrapped. It was about £1500 if I remember rightly

[ChrisD]

Quick update:

Got the car back from Fensport yesterday. Got them to install the new fuel pump and injectors, as well as a lightweight flywheel and some stiffer bushings for the rear trailing arms (to try to reduce wheel hop when the wheels are spinning up... helped slightly but not much). With the new fuel system they could now increase the boost, so we're now running 0.8 bar (about 11 psi) in the higher boost map. Previously it was running about 0.65 bar, and it definitely feels faster now but not an absolutely huge difference.

New drive shafts finally got sent out from The Driveshaft Shop the other day (about 4 weeks later than originally promised) so they should be here very soon. Saw a guide on here for how to fit them so hopefully can manage that myself, and install the diff mount bushing inserts I've been meaning to do for ages at the same time.

Once the stronger drive shafts are in I'm not sure if we should just up the boost more straight away or if I should get some lower compression forged pistons first...

[ChrisD]

So after a lot of messing about (and having to replace one of the oil seals on the diff), we managed to get the stronger drive shafts installed.

Also did an oil change and installed the Whiteline Positive Shift Kit bushing under the transmission and Whiteline differential mount bushings while we were there. The new bushings have definitely increased NVH a bit, with a few weird noises coming from the back end now... but apparently this is pretty normal and I'm getting used to it already.







So what now? Well now I'm considering forged con rods, lower compression ratio pistons, and stronger valve springs... then increase the boost. Currently running 0.8 bar of boost (about 12 psi) on the higher boost map. I think we could get away with increasing a bit now that the stronger drive shafts are in, but probably not much point getting it remapped again now and then again if I go forged internals soon. I'll update this thread once I've decided if I'm going to go down the forged internals route or not.
EDIT: Oh and also seriously considering the StopTech big brake kit, as I'm really not impressed with the DBA discs and hawk pads that I've got on it at the moment.