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Author Topic: BAGHEERA and "other" engine - testing  (Read 53128 times)
bert1
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« Reply #45 on: August 01, 2012, 04:42:59 pm »

Lanng - I think you may be right. Although tempting I don't believe that the Bagheera chassis was ever capable of handling radical power upgrades - certainly not now that most have been compromised with rust and RHD conversions. I've been accused of being a "purist" before today - but I think classic cars deserve to have their maker's engines. The power upgrades on my car have been designed to be worthwhile - without splitting the car in 1/2 or leaving the gearbox on the road.

Don't forget that when you do any modification to cars you will move towards the next weakest link in the chain. Clutches are only rated to work with certain engine power, gearboxes are only rated to handle the torque that a particular clutch can transmit, driveshafts and CV joints are designed to deliver only as much torque to the wheels as a gearbox can handle etc etc etc. Upgrade one part and you push the reliability problem down the chain a bit further!

Of course we all know this  - yet we insist on pushing the envelope. Aint it fun!  Grin

For my money I want a bagheera to be a bagheera. So I go with Anders' advice of doing "normal" upgrades. This is much more likely to be a successful route. I disagree though with him on EFI. I am a MASSIVE fan of EFI (my Bagheera is getting a Haltech system as we speak). While sometimes the top end numbers do not look significantly better on an EFI system over a well set-up, maintained and tuned carby system the difference in the off-idle and midrange is spectacular. Given that 99% of road driving is done in the midrange its a VERY worthwhile improvement (and actually not bad value when comparing to other performance tuning). EFI is also more efficient which means it uses less fuel AND the tailpipe emissions are MUCH cleaner. This will impress your annual roadworthy inspector. The cold starting improvement is also welcome on those miserable mornings! Its not going to be a particularly fast build - but if people are interested in "how to EFI a Bagheera" I'll start a thread.
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Anders Dinsen
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« Reply #46 on: August 02, 2012, 08:04:47 pm »

Regarding power and carburettors, I think - it's a few years ago - I was writing about max power: You can generally tune a well set up carburetted engine to deliver roughly the same output as the same engine with fuel injetion. You're probably very right, though, about mid power and economy - but let's be frank: Does fuel consumption matter much in a car which you'll be using mostly (only?) for fun? It does not to me - and I love the sound, smell and looks of my twin DCOE's on my Murena, and I love the way my high overlap, fast road cam delivers the power: Difficult and reluctant to do anything below 3000 rpm - but over 4000, it's just screaming Cheesy

But by the end of the day: What matters is what you like - not what we prefer Smiley

I know of a very successful Peugeot 2 litre 16v engine conversion in a Bagheera. That would make a very quick car!

/Anders
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1982 Talbot Matra Murena 2.2 prep 142
2017 BMW i3 "Charged Professional" 94Ah

Used to own:
2001 Renault Matra Grand Espace "The Race" V6 24v
1997 Renault Matra Espace 2.0 8V
1987 Renault Matra Espace J11 2.2
andyowl
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New exhaust "straight through" - good sound!


« Reply #47 on: August 02, 2012, 08:16:42 pm »

[quote author=bert1 ...."if people are interested in "how to EFI a Bagheera" I'll start a thread."

Yes please!

Andy Owler
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Back in business for fun!
bert1
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« Reply #48 on: August 03, 2012, 11:14:02 am »

Sure will Andy - at the moment I am just accumulating bits - but it will start coming together soon and I will document.

I hear what Anders says - but the lure of injection is just too great for me.  I've driven plenty that are "difficult and reluctant" below a certain number of revs and i can't say I've enjoyed the experience! A racecar is a different beast to a roadcar of course - but here is a piece from a video in my racecar that illustrates where carbs can't hold a light to injection. You will notice a perfectly linear power delivery from 2500 to 9000 without a miss, cough, fluff or hesitation. To me that HAS to be a more enjoyable driving experience! You will also hear plenty of "ork ork" induction noise - disproving that EFI does not sound as good as carburettors - and that's on camshafts that are too big to run on carby's (my engine builder is secretive about cam specs but these are BIG)

I'm not sure if you can embed in this forum - but here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtlGhqYidoI&feature=g-upl

Andy - next to my battery switch you can see my wideband mixture display. My unit (tech-edge) is a logging unit but I opted for the optional display as well which has been very handy. Sorry the go-pro image is too wobbly to read it - but you get the idea.


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