TVR Power sports cats and remap
Discussion
I've just had my T2 fitted with 200 cell sports cats and a had a remap and rolling road session at TVR Power. These cats are available now at TVR power. Here's my verdict:
The reason I went down this route is because I found the car too loud with full decats. Even if it was faster it was so deafening and qualitatively worse sounding (all blaring metallic rasps and rattles) I simply didn't enjoy the car as much. The problem I had is that the car with standard (400 cell) cats in and CCC end cans was absolutely spot on for me. The quality of the noise was particularly good and having now exhausted (no pun intended!) the combinations I have to conclude that it was still the best sounding of all with standard cats and CCCs, and by some way.
Alas I hoped sports cats would return the sound to nearer that but give nearer the power of decats. For some reason the sports cats are much nearer the volume of no cats, than standard cats. So the car is still too loud with the straight through CCCs. However, I took delivery of some new titanium blueflame pipes which are perforated and return the car to it's standard silencing. But it's still noticeably louder than standard and this is the configuration I'll have to settle for - mainly because Dom found good gains on the dyno.
My car posted 326bhp at the back wheels with decats and TVR power decat chip fitted (it was 308 before the chip). With the sports cats I only lost 1bhp to 325 but this could easily be accounted for by the higher ambient temp at the time of the run. Further good news is the 274 ft lbs of torque and a much fatter and flatter torque curve than it produced with decats (which peaked at 270). The gains were significant under 5000 revs and I've lost nothing on decats all the way to over 7000. On the road it does feel quicker than it used to and the car pulls relentlessly, getting faster and fiercer with every 1000 revs. There's absolutely no let up after 7k either. The few times I extended the car properly had my Dad reaching for something to hold on to for dear life, so I think it was all a bit too much for him! This car is flying machine and feels a good bit sharper than the Sagaris I had, but to be fair that had the very high final drive with the CR box which is known to blunt things somewhat.
Roof on, the Sagaris experience shades it but roof off it's no contest - it's all the epic thrills of the Saggy with the sun in your face and the wind in your hair and panoramic views thrown in for good measure. It's been an absolute joy this weekend and a reminder of all that's great about TVR ownership. Roll on the summer!
The reason I went down this route is because I found the car too loud with full decats. Even if it was faster it was so deafening and qualitatively worse sounding (all blaring metallic rasps and rattles) I simply didn't enjoy the car as much. The problem I had is that the car with standard (400 cell) cats in and CCC end cans was absolutely spot on for me. The quality of the noise was particularly good and having now exhausted (no pun intended!) the combinations I have to conclude that it was still the best sounding of all with standard cats and CCCs, and by some way.
Alas I hoped sports cats would return the sound to nearer that but give nearer the power of decats. For some reason the sports cats are much nearer the volume of no cats, than standard cats. So the car is still too loud with the straight through CCCs. However, I took delivery of some new titanium blueflame pipes which are perforated and return the car to it's standard silencing. But it's still noticeably louder than standard and this is the configuration I'll have to settle for - mainly because Dom found good gains on the dyno.
My car posted 326bhp at the back wheels with decats and TVR power decat chip fitted (it was 308 before the chip). With the sports cats I only lost 1bhp to 325 but this could easily be accounted for by the higher ambient temp at the time of the run. Further good news is the 274 ft lbs of torque and a much fatter and flatter torque curve than it produced with decats (which peaked at 270). The gains were significant under 5000 revs and I've lost nothing on decats all the way to over 7000. On the road it does feel quicker than it used to and the car pulls relentlessly, getting faster and fiercer with every 1000 revs. There's absolutely no let up after 7k either. The few times I extended the car properly had my Dad reaching for something to hold on to for dear life, so I think it was all a bit too much for him! This car is flying machine and feels a good bit sharper than the Sagaris I had, but to be fair that had the very high final drive with the CR box which is known to blunt things somewhat.
Roof on, the Sagaris experience shades it but roof off it's no contest - it's all the epic thrills of the Saggy with the sun in your face and the wind in your hair and panoramic views thrown in for good measure. It's been an absolute joy this weekend and a reminder of all that's great about TVR ownership. Roll on the summer!
The Pits said:
My car posted 326bhp at the back wheels with decats and TVR power decat chip fitted (it was 308 before the chip). With the sports cats I only lost 1bhp to 325 but this could easily be accounted for by the higher ambient temp at the time of the run. Further good news is the 274 ft lbs of torque and a much fatter and flatter torque curve than it produced with decats (which peaked at 270). The gains were significant under 5000 revs and I've lost nothing on decats all the way to over 7000. On the road it does feel quicker than it used to and the car pulls relentlessly, getting faster and fiercer with every 1000 revs.
What are the standard (TVR quoted) figures?I'm suprised that sports cats were so loud (did you measure the volume?)
Would you say that de-cats plus the blueflame is a workable combination?
Considering a TVR remap myself but not sure weather to loose the CATS or not....
those standard figures are power at the flywheel. A rolling road measures power at the rear wheels so that's what you've got left after all the losses through the drivetrain. Dom reckoned my car's figures would equate to a genuine 375 to 380 at the flywheel, which is as it should be for a 4.0 S engine. That's a lot of power for a car weighing 1100kg, which is why all tuscans are flying machines, regardless of which type of speed six they have under the bonnet!
I didn't have the noise measured but it's definitely louder than standard cats. It was a surprise to me too!
I didn't have the noise measured but it's definitely louder than standard cats. It was a surprise to me too!
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