supercharged atom

supercharged atom

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Discussion

partyboy

Original Poster:

18 posts

240 months

Monday 27th December 2004
quotequote all
How reliable will the supercharged honda vtec enging in the atom be? The car will be used for 6-8 track days a year and weekend use weather permiting, thus perhaps 8000 miles a year.

I am still advertising my car for sale and not in a position to buy an atom yet. However deciding on spec well before purchase would be favourable to me.

monza

205 posts

248 months

Monday 27th December 2004
quotequote all
I think that you had a look to "old" topics about it.
We are all waiting for Meyrick experience in the next weeks with its upgrade to Atom 300.

atom290

1,015 posts

264 months

Monday 27th December 2004
quotequote all
Its ashame no one has really asked me?

Ive had that sort of horse power for months now!

Bruce Fielding

2,244 posts

289 months

Tuesday 28th December 2004
quotequote all
True, Jon, but not in a Honda and certainly not in an engine that hasn't been seriously altered from its original setup to well beyond its capabilities.

In terms of reliability, the fact is that the supercharged Honda engine hasn't been fitted to enough Atoms for long enough to answer the question with any assurance. However, looking at other Honda forums that have people with experience of 'blown' R type engines, there doesn't seem to be a reliability problem.

Also, in general, the Ariel factory have a good record of sorting things out if they're inherently wrong with their own design or engineering. So you should have some comeback if it all goes tit-shaped.

badge70

93 posts

249 months

Wednesday 29th December 2004
quotequote all
Hi all,

Just out of interest, in the States the Jackson Performance Supercharger kit for the CTR and Accord Coupe has won several awards as a very sorted conversion.

The only points that seamed to be an issue is the tensioning system for the belts that Ariel didn't think where robust enough for a serious track day car. This has been replaced.

Also considering that this conversion is being offered with over 340 bhp from some tuners to pull around cars weighing 1,350 kg, I think with proper servicing it should be a 100,000 mile engine.

The biggest issue on servicing will be tyres!

Julian

monza

205 posts

248 months

Wednesday 29th December 2004
quotequote all
For road use, no problem.
For Track days, an Ariel is not a CTR. On a CTR, the front wheels are spinning a lot with supercharged engine, so the "stress" is not on the engine or gearbox, but on the tyres. It's a bit different with the Ariel, the effort will be much higher on engine and gearbox, so i don't think it is actualy possible to know if the liability will be good or not on track days. Doing track days is not only coming during 2 hours on a cold track and saying Ok, good no problem today !
I hope Ariel had made some intensive tests during minimum of 3 full days on track with a good driver who will use the car to 100%. If not Meyrick will do that for us !

dentz

18 posts

254 months

Wednesday 29th December 2004
quotequote all
hi guys been away for a while on buisness but back now seems to be alot more activity on the forham at the mo mostly thanks to top gear i expect.
any how my cars going great no major probs ive done two track days in mine only minor faults found
1: leacked fuel under heavy cornering but fixed thanks to higher breather pipe
2: fuel injector got blocked but fixed thanks to inline fuel filter
3: indicator housing came lose fixed thanks to bruce and his magic bag of bits.
apart from that have had no problems. mine is only 275 supercharged version. have had a chat to tom and its going to cost £3000 to upgrade to 300 BHP version trying to diside if its worthwhile. very intrested to here your thoughts espesaly JP as he recomends the honda ECU over the one i have at the moment,but will it improve £3000 worth.
cheers guys nice to be back going to work through my 389 e mails now.

monza

205 posts

248 months

Wednesday 29th December 2004
quotequote all
Nice to hear you again Mr Dentz !

dentz

18 posts

254 months

Wednesday 29th December 2004
quotequote all
thanks jp hows the wheels

coxm

174 posts

242 months

Friday 7th January 2005
quotequote all
Oh, I think the wheels will be spinning quite a lot with the 300 bhp charger: it slides enough with the 220 bhp, so can't believe it will be less with the extra 80 bhp.

Glad to hear Mr Dentz has had no probs so far.

MC

monza

205 posts

248 months

Friday 7th January 2005
quotequote all
Hi Meyrick,
Is your Atom upgrade made now ?

coxm

174 posts

242 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
Booked for first week in Feb, but Tom made th highly seditious comment that we could have a new one for virtually the same as selling our one and the price we are paying for the upgrade, so we are having a quick think about whether we want to sell our one and buy an off the shelf supercharged one. Pluses and minuses both ways: new ones have fresh tyres of course . . .

Bruce Fielding

2,244 posts

289 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
He's always doing that - he's a little tinker, isn't he? Makes sense though...

monza

205 posts

248 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
The interest for a new one (if just a little bit higher price) is that you'll have a car with all the small improvements made everywhere on the car ...
So, to my opinion if price difference is less than, lets say, £3000, the choice is easy.
But Yes, i'm not paying it !

coxm

174 posts

242 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
I think we are going to do it, which means we will have to think about selling our one, ideally without missing too many early season track days :-(

Need to have another conversation with Tom.

MC

Bruce Fielding

2,244 posts

289 months

Monday 10th January 2005
quotequote all
Surely, you don't have to miss any - just wait until the factory is ready to deliver and then complete the sale!