My new 20v Coupe

[Paulgo]

I had a cat replacement pipe made for my cq20v by a local specialist – I think he kept the old cat as a template in case anyone else wanted one. Was about £80 I think. It was definitely a little louder but not too much, and together with the tubular manifold it helped to give a little lower end grunt I think and a broader response across the rev range. Still miss that throaty snarl of the 7a!!

Paul

[Error404]

i may see if i can get one made up - my mate is a top notch welder, i'd just need to find some suitably bent pipe to play with

[mcandmar]

Yeah it aint pretty but has'nt given me any issues. Cant remember what i paid for it, long long time ago.

As for performance i only noticed a difference at the top end. The early 5-1 manifold however gave me loads more bottom end power, i was expecting the complete opposite.

[Error404]

its that the tubular manifold in your avatar mate?

[mcandmar]

Yes that was taken during the install, i still have the pics here http://www.cr-x.org/cq20v/manifold/manifold.htm

Mark.

[Error404]

very nice - just checked mine - definately got the tubular manifold

surely this is worth a good 7-8bhp over the cast one?

[mcandmar]

Dont think so, unless you remap it isnt going to effect much. Like i said it was a lot better low down and ran smoother throughout the rev range. For that alone it was worth the effort.

I've read two figures from various sources 172hp, and the other 164hp. Not sure what the difference is, could possibly be early vs later cars. Having said that mine is a late model car and with the stock chip mine made 172hp on the dyno. Maybe it made a difference, maybe not

Even at that is wasnt running right, too lean top end and lazy low down. I'm fairly sure its those hitachi injectors packing up. This is what i got with the 5-1 manifold, and cat bypass. Torque was a little disappointing but havent had a chance to try 98 fuel, or the with the chip i'm running with now.

[Error404]

what chips are available? Or is it best to remap the stock unit? what sort of cost to update the management?
Is the ECU self learning - if i fill up with optimax and reset it, will it take the higher RON into account?

[mcandmar]

Last i heard MRC can remap them now. I bought a dodgy one off ebay.de and it seemed to go much better. Thought it was my imagination so i ran with the stock ecu for a while and changed back, now i'm convinced it goes better

Not sure about the adaptive learning, but i can tell the difference between different brands of fuel. It hates Texaco fuel, rough low down and dosent want to rev. On Shell or Top (yeah i know a cheap *** petrol) it goes a lot better. AFAIK it constantly tries to advance the ignition timing to its optimum range unless the knock sensors tell it otherwise.

Plenty of folk on here much better qualified to answer that q