S2 Exhaust advice ....... again!

[dapinky]

I'm pretty sure mine would be weldable cos its a fracture rather than a rust issue and the tube walls still look thick and shiney on the bit I could see. Strange really cos the actual back box to centre pipe join a few inches further back looks completely rusted solid. We dont use the car much, but I was thinking of bodging it with a gungum tube repair kit just until I get the new stuff delivered. The next MOT isn't 'til early 2010. I need to pop over to WsM sometime soon to pick up the lip kit from Paul so may see you then. I'll see how I do on the upgrades....but I may need to bribe you into a hoon out to sunny Cricket St Thomas if I get stuck!

If you come over in the elan, feel free to drop by and I'll happily have a go at running the MIG welder over the pipe

If gungum tape will do for now, then fine - Piper are usually quick to deliver. The system can be fitted in about an hour or two, working with a good trolley jack and axle stands - the supplied instructions are dead easy to follow - it sounds like your system is rusted solid where mine was - hence i had to cut it with an airsaw to get the old one off (cut about 6" forward of the rusted joint).

Last time I went to C-St-T was for a hill climb event - good day out

[MPx]

If you come over in the elan, feel free to drop by and I'll happily have a go at running the MIG welder over the pipe

I may take you up on that if the gungum wont stay in place for a few miles cos I want to do a couple of Elanscan runs while its still standard spec. If I can get some reasonable base "before" data, the "afters" should show a noticeable step change (I hope!)

Have ordered the Piper 2 1/4 system with sports cat and PCE. Should be delivered in 5 days they say. I'm busy this week anyway...so the fun should start next week.

Thanks again for your help deciding.

[max and andy]

[rip]

As stated previously, 200 bhp is as much as i would want to see from an otherwise unmodified car (except brakes) before things start to fall apart, or it becomes unusable for a daily driver.

As for why Lotus didn't do it originally, well, who knows????

Just a few guesses:

Reliability - the harder you push any component to its limit, the more quickly it will fail. The Chapman principle in reverse ("if it don't break at the end of the race, it's too substantial")
Driveability - One of the design briefs of the Elan was to produce a FWD with minimal torque steer & this starts to kick in above 165bhp?
& the wastegate would have been designed to be optimum for an unmodified Elan....as far as control goes, the smaller the better, but it has to be big enough to cope with maximum exhaust flow. All of us who have fitted a bigger exhaust have screwed this up.

[MPx]

Just a few guesses:

1 Reliability - the harder you push any component to its limit, the more quickly it will fail. The Chapman principle in reverse ("if it don't break at the end of the race, it's too substantial")
2 Driveability - One of the design briefs of the Elan was to produce a FWD with minimal torque steer & this starts to kick in above 165bhp?
3 & the wastegate would have been designed to be optimum for an unmodified Elan....as far as control goes, the smaller the better, but it has to be big enough to cope with maximum exhaust flow. All of us who have fitted a bigger exhaust have screwed this up.

Could well be. But, more to convince myself...
1 I had one of the first RSTurbo Escorts in '85. It came with 133BHP but once it had got to 36000miles I had it chipped (Detection Techniques) to near 180 (they claimed) but whatever it was certainly a LOT faster than std. From reading the ESM site this would not have been a subtle chip design and yet I sold the car a few years later with over 80,000 miles and no trouble except the clutch had started to slip under full load. Hopefully the Elan will appreciate the extra safety built into the mountain chips and stay reliable....
2 As an S2 driver I dream of 165bhp....or more
3 Well yes....but we have a coping strategy...so thats OK


Any more??

[Gazza]

I have a 2.5" no cat only pre-cat, never had boost creep or a problem with the MOT, car is reg 10/95

Gazza

[Blue_Bullet]

I just had a Peco fitted and now need the Wastgate ported!

Anybody any good at doing this who will help?

[Specky]

IIRC Max & Andy had this done a lakeside.

TTFN

[Blue_Bullet]

Okay then, it's all my fault - I'm sorry -

Ekkers - you're right, I'm a muppet who knows nothing because you own an S2 and I don't.

hahahhahaa S2's rule it think not!!!

[j700tus]

After everyones help with my troubled holiday where my main cat gave up the ghost, I am now considering buying a complete new system for my S2(first reg. 12.10.1995)rather than just the cat from SJ, as looking underneath the system has been bodged together before and even sealed with some form of silicone! I would like a little more noise as it does sound particularly feeble at the moment but not really bothered about perfomance as long as it doesn't decrease!

I think i would like a piper system with sportscat 2.25 inch but am increasingly worried about boost creep as i wouldn't feel confident porting the wastgate, after reading literally hundreds of posts. I don't really drive the car full throttle that often as motoway limits are approx 70mph but obviously it may creep over that by accident..... Am i right in thinking that boost creep will only occur in 5th gear at full throttle and as long as i don't drive with my foot on the floor i will be ok?

If not what other systems should I look at?

Look forward to all your wisdom but please don't be too technical I am only a primary school teacher........

Paul

[j700tus]

» Tue 07.06.2011, 21:39

I have the 2.25" with silencer, which is probably less restrictive than a sports cat. It is not a problem for me at all... now I have sorted out the ignition timing.

Think of why boost creep occurs: the exhaust flow gets too high for the wastegate to cope with. So it will only happen at high revs & full throttle. If you have the stock chip, you will have about .3 bar of creep before you hit overboost (fuel cut blah blah...) You will know that your boost is creeping well before it becomes a problem.

Really doesn't sound like you will have a problem.