Chasing a slightly lumpy idle...still

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

A real cat does what is necessary to help its human to get things right. If necessary it bites the hand that feeds it. But at the end it rests head against head and says farewell. Arabella Good Girl.

Your doug is a mere doug. Not a wolf any more, a pet.


Oops you might have a different opinion.


.

.

Cats don't have owners, they have slaves!

As for my dog being more than a pet, she most definitely is! Several times she has come to me for no apparent reason and pestered - turned out i was in need of my meds and she was the first to know.
Bears little resemblance to a wolf although my previous dog was a huskador that was remarkably like a fox..............

[GreenBrick]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I had one car that was manual with the original handbook and computer printed VIN label with description and it clearly said "5M" for manual on it but the log book said it was auto.

Had all kinds of trouble getting it insured as they wanted an engineers report to confirm the conversion was safe and i had to prove it had never been converted!

My manual Toyota Carina always came up as an auto on insurance quotes, but it was one of the last ones they built, and its not unusual for manufacturers to use up what they have left over and make model combinations that didn't fit the original spec.

It also had a full slide and tilt sunroof that was fitted at the dealer (was a good job, as it looked "factory" to me), but luckily I had documentation for that. Probably the most faff, out of all the cars I have had, to insure!

Ford made some quite interesting spec Escorts and Vans in the last few months of production, I believe.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by GreenBrick

Ford made some quite interesting spec Escorts and Vans in the last few months of production, I believe.

Ford were famous (infamous?) for run-out models having strange spec, some were officially a "Limited Edition" model, particularly in the 80s such as the Escort Hunstman and Countryman, Cortina Crusader and Carousel, the "S" pack available on the last of the Cortina "80" models (commonly known as Mk5 but Ford always insisted there was never a Mk5) which added Quartz Halogen Driving lights, gas-filled rear shock absorbers and i believe a rev counter as well to the standard "L" and "GL" trim cars, on the Ghia models (which already had a rev counter) something else was added but i can't remember what. I think headrest pads were added to the GL and maybe it was "proper" headrests on the Ghia, instead of just pads.

Those were the official run-out models, i know there were some "unofficial" run-out models too, like i had a late pre-facelift Mk2 Granada Ghia that should, by rights have had chrome trim round the doors and on the gutters. Mine had black trim.
This was later seen officially on the Granada 2.8iS that also gained black polyurethane rubber front and rear spoilers.

Peugeot did similar, things like the 306 "Roland Garros" with an added sunroof and pinstripe for example, Volvo also got in on the act with things like the Wentworth.

[AndyV7o]

Dunno if I mentioned it here or elsewhere, but I had a late citroen zx 1.9td 'elation' but didnt even tally with elation spec, it was a parts bin special. Had Volcane front & rear bumpers, volcane bolstered seats, base model non split rear bench, wind up windows, electric sunroof, steel wheels, bright metallic paint...

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Tomorrow is cat-gutting day, weather permitting...the new sealing ring is here, I have a large hammer and a stout crowbar, and am in the mood for some catgutting! Will report back...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by AllHailKingVolvo

Tomorrow is cat-gutting day, weather permitting...the new sealing ring is here, I have a large hammer and a stout crowbar, and am in the mood for some catgutting! Will report back...

As you go past someone after dealing with the cat, it'll make that noise the Formula 1 cars make Phil - "Meeeeeeeeeee-oooooooooooowwwwwwwww!".

I had a shock yesterday with mine, the thermostatic flap-valve was increasing the CO by at least 1% - well worth investigating!

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...254481&page=20

From post #197, most of the fun and games i had! Ignore the errr, "banter" going on after it!

[AllHailKingVolvo]

I read the post re your injector change and the subsequent CO tweaks required with great interest-glad you got it all dialled in! Very interesting that you have the CO mix screw on your MAF. I wish the LH2.4 had more adjustability like that!

The weather held off yesterday so Operation Catbash went ahead as planned! I gutted the rather sooty contents of said offending feline, the honeycomb disintegrated with a few choice wallops with hammer and an extension bar, but the wadding material took a good hour of scraping, prodding and bashing to totally clear out. I refitted the Lambda with extra copper grease, followed your advice on cleaning both sides of the cat/downpipe flange with a wire brush bit in my rechargeable drill, greasing the sealing ring and refitting, and the whole thing went back together and sealed like a dream. Nipped it up with the engine running and no leaks whatsoever!

The car does make a bit more noise without the catguts (a little tinny on the exhaust note as you said it would be!) but the engine seems a little smoother and perkier than previously, in line with the power increase that came with the leaking cat/downpipe flange previously. I’ll be interested to see how the MPG fares over the next few weeks!

I took it for my standard test run (one loop of Sherborne town, around 4 miles, then down the dual carriageway to Yeovil-another three miles-the back via the “hill of death” to gauge the top speed gains...in this case, I managed around 63mph up the HOD as opposed to the previous 60. Could have been a slightly more fortuitous timing on gearchanges of course, but it all bodes well!

I haven’t given it enough time to adjust the fuel trims etc so the jury is still out on whether it has further smoothed out the slight hesitation under power, but it seems a little better at this stage.

I also removed the intake manifold, cleaned everything thoroughly and refitted it, including a fresh cleaning of PCV, flame trap (the vacuum spigot was close to being totally clogged again) and throttle body, and refitted the manifold with a fresh gasket and a touch of threadlock on the bolts as they had worked a little loose since I last tightened them.

It’s also had around 3/4 of a litre of ATF in it for the last few days which is no doubt working its way around the internals...will be interesting to see how that helps matters too!

[Laird Scooby]

The LH2.4 has the Lambda sensor instead of the mixture screw, i don't know if it would be possible to retrofit a MAF with the screw but even if it was, it would defeat the object of the Lambda which in this case has saved you an hour or so of faffing about with a mixture screw and CO meter.

Glad the exhaust sealed as it should, it usually does using that method.

Sounds like you've got some good gains by gutting the cat - that's about a 5% increase in speed and a bit more on power as it was uphill, i can't remember the formula for working out how much power increase that represents but it's more than just the 5% you got on the speed.

If memory serves correctly the B200E is 121bhp and the B200F is 112bhp so about 9-10% increase without the cat but they are different injection systems. I know in the USA, they were reporting gains of 15% by decatting various cars and also on my Rover, the official figures for it with the cat are 169bhp and 193bhp without - yes, with the same management because they made a non-cat version after the 1992 "watershed".

Cleaning the PCV again has probably helped a bit too and the ATF will help keep it clean. I've found once it gets dirty it needs one really good clean then a periodic clean every couple of months after for a short period then once a year.

Looking forward to the update once it all settles in!

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Well so far the results are positive! Based on a 15 mile drive today there is more low end torque and the hesitation on hills and lower revs appears to be gone...I’ve got a 3hr round trip to tonight’s gig so that of course will reveal more, but it’s going rather nicely at the moment!

The tinny honk from the hollow cat box is a slight downside, but I can live with that in exchange for the performance increase and smoother driveability.

[mocambique-amazone]

Swap to a cat made of metal and there is zero difference in power between without and with cat.
Measured
B200E and B200F ate totally different in fuel supply.

And with cat you are friendly to the world, without cat you should be ashamed of yourself.
The catalyst they did use in the "great again " (dreamer) Staates are a pile of s h i t.
It is easy to gain power if the starting point is worse.
5.7l V8 with less than 100HP, yes they did this and not 100 years ago, only thirty.

A turbo engine is something different, and still you will find a cat with no restrictions to the power, meaw.

I use the same injectors on a B230F with great results ;-)
Regards, Kay