Tuning Ford TDCi Engines

In news:SDBGc.454$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net, AstraVanMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Yeah, was a 91. Metallic black one. Auto, I put 30000 hard miles on it in a year and the only things to go wrong were the backbox gave in, brake pads (to be expected), and the top radiator hose packed in. Good strong quick car. Went *really* well with the 3.6 Lotus crank in...

Only problem with the Senator that I can think of is the bloody awful electronic suspension.

ROFLMAO!!!! This is Tim you're talking to, the man who got the economy of a Smart car down to 38mpg.

Peter

Fiesta LX Petrol (1.25 / 1.4 /1.6) 1105 kg

1.4 TDCI LX 1140 kg

so, an extra 35 kg.

And a 1.0 corsa to 31mpg...

Then why didn't you use it for that commute?

I sort of know where your coming from, but you ended up moving, so the total miles put on your car wouldn't have been all that much anyway.

I do get what you're saying though. My old Carlton had 190,000 miles on it when I sold it, and although it ran and drove absolutely fine, you could definitely tell the difference between that and a lower mileage (say around

70k) one. Something that's hard to put your finger on - but something in the way it drove. No obvious knocking sounds from the suspension bushes, just felt a bit dated. I suppose a lot of it was psychological, as I'd just upgraded from my old F reg Carlton to a K reg one, and even though they're mechanically identical, bar slightly different compression and a cat, something inside me expected the K reg one to be a fair bit better to drive because it was 5 years newer. Or something.

Oh, by the way, does anyone know if the F1 demonstration tonight in Regent Street is being televised at all? Probably just on the news - is there anything else going on? I quite fancied going up, and could have made it for 6pm, which is when it's kicking off properly, but I've got shitloads of stuff I need to do, plus I couldn't get anyone to come with me, and I didn't fancy going into London on my lonesome,only to get there and probably get a completely shit view due to the ;000s of people already there.....

Peter

Pete, was it a pre-91 facelift 24v Carlton? The arches on them were terrible looking - just a little bit of plastic stuck/screwed on that always fell off when the arch started to fall apart. The rear arches on post-facelift Carltons look ok IMHO (where the plastic continues around to the bumper) and don't suffer nearly as much when the arches start to fail. Mind you, the only two post-facelift Carltons I've had have both had fairly sound rear arches (honest!) so I wouldn't know.

The rear arches on Senators do look nice though, as long as they don't have the trademark rust bubbles. I'd quite like a 24v Senator. Probably moreso than a GSI, as the drive won't be dramatically different (ok, a bit more wallowy), and you get more toys. Plus, I'm guessing insurance won't be quite as expensive due to the lack of a GSI badge.

Peter

On the whole, I'm not keen on white cars, mainly because most really aren't in that great condition, but there's an E34 520 (G reg) near me that's absolutely immaculate, and does look really nice. Still, if I wanted one of them I'd go for a later one with the 24v engine, as apparently a G reg wouldn't have that.

Peter

Yep, couldn't remember the exact figure of the Corsa, 34 rung a bell, which isn't too bad considering a lot of it would be on the motorway doing near top speed, which is bound to be a bit not-all-that-economical, and I couldn't be bothered to google from it.

Peter

Two points, one, 35 kg on 1100 kg isn't all that much - 3%. It was more like 13% on the mark three.

Two, the 1.6 engine is heavier than the 1.4, is heavier than the 1.25; it's not a fair comparison. Just as the LuxuryKa is 30 kg heavier than the Ka Collection...

Doh! I means Xedos 6!

According to the weights on ford's uk webshite, the 1.6/1.4/1.25 are the same weight.

OK then. What ford turbo diesel, can pull away at idle rpm, and be instantly on spool (and therefore be producing maximum power) straight away.

I've seen the ford website detailing the torque of the mondeos' direct injection engine, more than 250 lb/ft i think at 1800rpm, but i bet the mondeo would have the usual flatspot at pullaway that i really hate. And whats to say 1st gear is so low, that the turbo doesn't wind up to its capacity until 2 or 3 seconds after the throttle is applied??

erm there are loads of engine which are much better than that.

are you talking performance here? cus thats not the only issue

are they bollocks.

one of maybe, but thats one hell of a long list of best fwd chassis ever....

and are far far far better than any alfa ever made if we go by what you think makes a great car (and mine)

Well I make that about 3%. Which ties in nicely with my original statement : "I suspect the weight difference between the 1.4 TDCi and it's equivalent petrol lump, is approximately bugger all" :)

To put it another way - 35Kg is only the weight of half a passenger :)

Clearly if you're pulling away, you rev the engine to the appropriate rpm figure !

The Diesel is only as quick as the petrol - and vice versa - when driven properly !

Then you're not revving it hard enough.

My 2.0 16v Turbo petrol car, takes a fraction of a second to come onto full boost (assuming you're above 2100rpm, obviously :) - there's no reason to think a modern Turbo Diesel will be any slower.

In news:pTIGc.798$ snipped-for-privacy@news-text.cableinet.net, Theo decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Nah, that's not strictly true now is it?

Mazda ain't got the heritage, or stuff like the 60's GTA, the earlier 8C Alfas, the F1 cars, or the 164 Q4 :-P

Besides, I'm half way through rebuilding a bloody MX5 engine, so Mazdas ain't in my good books right now..

iirc mazda made a load of much older cars which are now very rare and quirky, cant remember any tho, lol

What kind of person pulls away at idle, and expects to have a quick getaway?

It's all about how you drive it. Give it 1000rpm, and pull away for maximum economy - how many petrol cars will do a hill start at idle? Give it

2500rpm, and pull away quickly. Simple.

Well, if you've got the clutch all the way up in 2nd gear with the engine spinning at under 1000rpm, and boot it, you'll get lots of lag. How often is that an issue though? At those sort of speeds, you'd be dumping the clutch at 2500rpm in 1st for a quick getaway.

Cheers, Andy (just brought home a 1.8 Focus - what a bag of crap!)