Ekona

Excellent stuff Phil, be good to put a face to the name. Right, I'm just leaving now, let's bring the noise

Right, I'm leaving tomorrow as part of a two-week trip to France taking in the LeMans 24 Hour race next weekend, so it was only fair and just to plaster the car in not-so-subtle vinyl Having just finished washing the car (barring some tyre shine which I didn't have on yet for these pics), I think she's just about ready... Yes, they're horribly over the top but that's kinda the point. I did want to get some specially designed vinyl for the car, but I soon discovered I'd left it a bit late and it was going to cost me about £200, which I wasn't prepared to spend on something that will only last the week, so I got the sunstrip from eBay for a tenner, and the main stripes and manufacturer logos from Viper Grafix for about £50. In the flesh they actually make the car look a lot smaller, which I really like. I've still got the big LeMans stickers themselves to go on the doors and the bonnet, but that doesn't happen until tomorrow so sadly I've got no photos of them. I'm almost fully packed, got everything I wanted to get, car is filled up and washed, so bring it on! Also big thanks to Phil for the obligatory ESR logos, they were exactly what I was after, cheers matey!

The Zed is known as Slagathor which is blatantly pinched from Srcubs, yet it seems to suit the car so very well. My VXR220 was affectionally known as The Canoe, given that it's slab-sided and made of plastic

Very nice And thanks for the info too, that's my curiosity satisfied now

S Club 7 *runs*

It's certainly *ahem* different...!

They're awesome at smaller shows and festivals, but their stadium gigs are shockingly bad: Just ask the crowd at Hyde Park a few years ago, they got booed off stage and I've never seen that in the 14 times I've seen them live. They were also a bit poor at Earl's Court as well, which was really disappointing for me. That said, if you're a fan and have never seen them before you'll love it, promise.

Like I said, it's all down to the style. A supercar has to look good both inside and out, and that's why it remains: They've also got more than enough power to make any slight delay in shift time redundant. Bear in mind that the link you found is for the older, more clunky 348 rather than a more modern Ferrari, so it could well have made for a more positive shift action as older supercar gearboxes are akin to stirring a bucket full of bricks when trying to change gear

Mass Air Flow meter, the sensor that sits just after the airbox on a stock car. It's show in batch 2 under pic title 'tight fit', and seeing as you say the BOV is near the headlights then I'm guessing it must be what I'm looking at, as that's right behind it! BOV shouldn't whistle really though, rather you should be hearing a gush of air every time you lift off after you hit boost. Still, I've known BOVs that more or less bark upon release (the VW/Porsche one to be precise), so a whistle isn't impossible, especially if it's one with variable inserts. Anyone know what the BOV in the APS kit is?

On the pipe from the I/C to the throttle body, there's a take off just before the MAF: What is it? I was expecting a BOV, but it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before...

Still doesn't stop me wanting one

Zed specialists, sadly not. That said, Engine Advantages in Witham have worked on cars of mine previously (including an MR2 Roadster I turbocharged) and I was very happy with the work they did. Their speciality is Fords really (they've taken a Focus RS past 400bhp reliably in the past), but I'd trust them to work on anything after seeing the work they did for me. If you're looking for someone to fit it, I'd be going in their direction personally. Moving on to the topic of gear surrounds, I've used them in the past and found that, while they do look very nice, they slow up your shift horribly. Keep for looks if you like, but you can expect to be changing gear far slower.

Neither is 'better' as such, it depends on how you drive the car more than anything. If you really like the feel of the thump as the torque really kicks in and don't mind sacrificing the smoothness of the engine then a turbo is going to suit you more, whereas if you prefer an engine that is smooth all the way through the revs then an S/C is the way to go. Having come from two turbocharged cars before, I made the deliberate decision to go for an N/A engine this time as I was a bit tired of having to balance so very carefully on the corners as the turbo would sometimes kick in and throw the balance of the car out, yet I miss the thump so very much. That said, provided I keep the car long enough to make it worthwhile I'll personally be going down the S/C route myself to keep the characteristics of the car as close to stock as possible.

Eeek, pass. PM Pure if you want to know, he's the guy I sold it to. @Trevor: Definitely not. Sorry.

I bought one of these and they DO NOT work with UK-spec Bose. They do, however, work with the J-spec one as I sold mine to a chap on here and it worked fine for him. If you do a search for PA11-NIS then you'll find the thread I started about it.

Very stealthy, I like it. Needs a set of 048s on there for track though What's the interior like?

Anyone else find the bungs for this exhaust really tight? I tried fitting mine the other weekend, but I got it to within about 5mm of the bolt holes and just gave up as to get it that last little bit would've meant hammering the bung in. It was a nightmare trying to get it out again as well: It took two sets of grips on either side of the inner tube and me pulling like there was no tomorrow to get it out. It's not too much of an issue as I don't actually intend on ever using them, but I will be getting some a bit more substantial custom made for track so do they need to be super tight like that? Or would something a bit looser work just as well?

Vary, vary rarely nowadays. I got done almost three years ago for doing 104mph in a 70 (dual carriageway) and managed to get away with 3pts and £60 fine, which considering I should've been looking at an automatic ban was VERY lucky. The cops that stopped me were decent guys thankfully, and since then I've made sure that I save my speed for track work. That's not to say I never speed: I'll do 80 leptons on a motorway briefly to overtake quickly past a car doing 68 leptons and then pull in and drop back to 70 leptons, and the one thing I always do without fail is accelerate to the speed limit as fast and as hard as I can. No laws against that that, at least.

Either typo or scam.

*googles for a new set*

Looks good How much was it if you don't mind me asking?

Legally you'll need headlight deflectors, warning triangle, first aid kit, spare bulbs and a high-vis jacket with you at all times, but whether you put the beam deflectors on or not is up to you. In the past I've found it such a ball-ache getting them lined up that I just carry the deflectors with me in case Plod gets a bit shirty. Oh, and don't drink heavy and drive the next day. Their laws are soooo much stricter than ours, and it's not worth the risk. Petrol should be fine as premium stuff was more freely available in the continent before it was over here, but it'd be worth your while sticking a couple of bottles of octane booster in your boot just in case (the STP stuff is £5.99 in Halfrauds, and it's as good as anything else you'll buy). Most importantly, loads of pics!

Only if accompanied by a wikkid yo J-turn at the end.

There's no legal noise level for a car as such, but you could get an ASBO if you drove around a housing estate for hours in 1st gear like a tit. So don't do that.

Little follow up... The system is nicely bedded in now (400 miles-ish) so I thought it might be interesting to do a noise test on it. Hired a meter from BaT (so it's the same as what they use trackside) and had a friend hold it 0.5m from exhaust at 45degrees and held the revs at 4500rpm. Now considering this exhaust IS REALLY QUITE LOUD, what reading do you think we got, bearing in mind each additional 3dB is a doubling of volume? Remember, this is with no bungs in. 100dB? 103dB? 106dB maybe? Nope. 95dB And even that was absolute peak, the meter tended to sit around the 93.5dB mark. Even when we bounced it off the limiter we only got 98dB, so static it's pretty much fine for just about all UK tracks (Goodwood the main exception). Thing is, the exhaust is much louder under load (especially so considering I've got a Popcharger on there as well), so it'll possibly fail on the drive-by. It's more the tone of it that comes across as particularly brash and loud, and not the actual volume of it. I'll get out tomorrow and do a test with the bungs in, hopefully I'll be able to borrow my brother and his MY07 which is bone stock and do a comparison.