Diesel Particulate Filters

June 10th, 2010

Diesel particluate filters are the latest piece of nonesense fitted to modern diesel cars and vans to satisfy emissions legisalation. They work by catching soot particles which are caught in a fine mesh. They build up in the mesh until the vehicles computer senses the time has come to burn them out, at which point a bit of extra fuel is injected into the exhaust to burn the carbon out at very high temperatures.  The theory is fine but the reality is they block up, restrict your cars power and put the engine management light on. They also normally cost about a thousand pounds to replace. Gulp.

AA Silencers has teamed up with Mike at Rapid Remap www.rapidremap.co.uk to provide a better solution. We at AA Silencers can remove the paarticulate filter and disconnect or relocate any relevant sensors. The car will then go to Mike who remaps the car to remove the management warning light and at the same time if required give you more power and better fuel economy. All of this at a fraction of the cost of your replacement Particulate Filter.  Everyones a winner.

No project too strange

March 12th, 2010

This is one of those strange requests that instantly gets your attention. We received a contact from the website saying that a chap was fitting a Holbay engine into a commer van but needed an exhaust manifold making up. Sadly the engine arrived on a crate so we haven’t seen the finished project but from the description we’ve had it’ll be quite some creation. He wasn’t too concerned about tuned lengths, just getting everything fitted into the engine bay. It’s always hard without the car as we don’t really know how much space there is to play with but we marked everything out carfully and built it to a pattern so it should do the job nicely.

DSCF1627

Moggy 2000 update

March 12th, 2010

It might not look like much has happened on the moggy but there’s hours of work happened to get the zetec engine to fit. It’s now been mated to the type 9 gearbox and all of the associated clutch issues dealt with. Engine and gearbox mounts have been made and some more chassis work done to accomodate the final assembly. The radiator just fits into the front panel so now we have lots more fianl dressing of the engine bay and then the endless task of wiring and piping. Next on the build list is the prop and exhaust manifold!

DSCF1630

FTO Fast gear change

March 12th, 2010

This FTO came in to us for a gearbox swap. The customer had supplied the gearbox and even had the forethought to get the correct ECU to control it. It should have been a like for like swap but we’ve done lots of like for like swaps over the years and know how things like this turn out. Nothing had prepared us for this one though. The gearbox came straight out and the new one fitted straight in. Everything worked first time. I’ve never been a huge fan of FTO’s to be honest but suddenly I think they’re great little cars.

DSCF1628

MGZS T16

February 6th, 2010

We’ve worked closely with this customer for some time and his skills and ideas have become ever more adventurous. When faced with the usual K series headgasket failure he was easily talked into a T16 engine conversion. He has tackled a lot of the work himself including wiring and hydraulic installations  but the mechanical engineering side has been left to us. The process is fairly simple- line up the driveshafts, get the engine as low as possible and make some  mounts. Then all you have to worry about is  the fact that none of the driveshafts are the right length and nothing else on the car fit’s the engine. It’s during a project like this you realise how many things there are connected to an engine. We’re currently working on new front suspension location points to give better traction and make the most of the new engine position. Development of cars like this is never ending but the owners enthusiasm seems endless so we’ve plenty to work with. 

DSCF1611 The rear wing is nothing to do with us by the way!

DSCF1612DSCF1613

The way Jag should’ve made it

February 1st, 2010

This Jag XK was entrusted to us by it’s owner who was very concerned about getting the sound just right from the exhaust of his pride and joy.  Several options were explored but we developed a design that we expected to produce the right sounds and avoid the need for a special box to be made. The system featured a crossover which helps even out the exhaust tone by equalising the pressure in the 2 systems, helps reduce noise slightly and on certain occasions on some engines may give a slight power gain. The exhaust note was gorgeous when we fired the car up, a purposeful growl when the engine was revved settling to a gentle burble at idle yet going almost entirely silent at cruising speeds. It’s great to build a system for an engine that makes such a lovely noise to start with.

DSCF1595

DSCF1592

Moggy 2000

February 1st, 2010

If you have an old classic and love the character but get tired of the gasping little engine you have 2 options. Modify the engine which may cost a lot to return a little or modfiy the car the take a better engine. I favour plan B as did our customer when he brought in his Morris Minor. Various options were discussed but a Ford Zetec 2.0l from a Mondeo was the power plant of choice.  Rear wheel drive conversions with this engine are well documented and it’s a nice tractable and readily available engine so all we had to do was work out how to make it fit!

There were a few small problems such as the steering rack being in the way and the engine bay not being long enough but as each challenge develops so do the solutions. It’s lovely watching a project like this grow. There’s still a long way to go but here’s a few snaps of the story so far.

DSCF1573

DSCF1574

DSCF1568

Residential MK1 Escort

February 1st, 2010

Progress has been slow on our residential MK1 as we’ve been very busy of late. the snow in January stopped a few customers reaching us we had the time to get some done on it. We left it last time with very little floor and as welded began so more rust became apparent and more floor needed replacing. The metal that wasn’t rusty was like tissue paper so welding in structural modifications such as 4 link boxes or a roll cage without extra strength being added wouldn’t have been wise. After much welding, grinding, swearing and welding again the car finally has a large proportion of it’s major components and a floor pan strong enough to build in to. There’s a few finishing touches underneath then on to the roll cage.

 

DSCF1577

DSCF1579

A Mk1 that didn’t need welding!

February 1st, 2010

Another Mk1 Escort joined us recently and this one had already had all the welding done on it.  The shell certainly seemed solid and it was built to a simple, honest, budget DOES matter standard and I loved it. It’s so nice to see one that hasn’t just had thousands heaped on it and is too valuable to use. This car will see some road rallies and maybe some stage rallies in it’s future. The owner wasn’t happy with the seating position or the seats so we made some subframes to fit some mazda mx5 seats. It also needed an alternator to solve a charging problem and some brackets making up. Nice easy jobs and a great car.

 

DSCF1580DSCF1581

More MK 1 Mods

February 1st, 2010

Our old friend the solid Mk 1 escort came back for more work. The list was endless although jobs were small. We had to remake the exhaust, make some brackets for the navigators trip computer,  adjust the door hinges, fit a lower temperature thermostat, make pipes and t pieces for a capillary oil guage and lots more litle jobs on top.  Most of these I think the owner could have sorted himself but it’s far too cold for working on cars at the moment and we love working on these cars no matter what size the job. The car went away a little closer to reaching the rally stages.

DSCF1615