Thread: 2.6 Engine Improvements

I took cookey's SIII FFR for a drive today. it has recently been fitted with his new extractors and a 2 1/4" exhaust system (and the MkII front disk brake system) the only other mods he has done is fitting new inlet valves, new modified valve stem seals and a tune up. It hasn't yet been onto the dyno.

The drive was very comfortable. The engine would pull from less than 1000RPM and it was still pulling at 4000RPM in 3rd gear. You could leave it in 4th around round-abouts, was maintaining revs or even accelerating up hills and would easily keep up with other traffic.

It felt like it would easily cope with an overdrive where usually OD on standard engines are only good on the flat or down hill. It seems like a different vehicle to drive.

The brakes would pull you up easily in short order.

All in all the vehicle felt like a vehicle should, In fact it was a more pleasant drive than my Holden 202 SIII, in places where my Holden would usually stall Gary's just kept going.

Sounds good. . How far off is Cookey having the Mark II brake conversion ready for sale? I'll be first in line, I'm pretty much ready for a set as soon as he has them ready.

Oh, and a set of extractors too.

He has about 3 sets of extractors that could go out this week. He also has the disk brake mounting brackets for 8 axles, but he wants to fit the rear callipers to his SIII, check the balance and have them engineered before he sells any.

ATM he is also having some difficulty getting brake pipe fittings that he is happy with, as he is not satisfied with the reliability of the fittings from the calliper manufacturer in the LR application.

It would also make things a little quicker if you have the earlier SIII wheel hubs that use the small and large bearings instead of the very late hubs with the parallel bearings as he is finding it difficult to get hubs to machine. He has plenty of the early hubs. Once he can get ahead of production these issues won't be a problem as the hubs will be on an exchange basis.

I am keen on a set of disk brakes for my Series 3 so am watching this with great interest. I have not touched the brake system on my car hoping that you get this all sorted and into kit form before I make it to the RWC stage with my build.
cheers

I'm sure Gary is as keen as many of us so he can start to recoup some of the outlays.

I want a pair (maybe a pair or pairs) for both my SIIB FC and my SIII FFR, but I'll have to take one at a time because life is soo expensive!

From a personal perspective the MkII version is a better option as it will fit my SIIB negative offset rims where the Mk1 version the callipers fouled on the inside of the rim, my problem is getting a dual circut master cylinder and booster inside the space at the front of the firewall

Series 3 2.6 dyno tests

Before fitting the new extractors and exhaust system I took the FFR over to Graeme Cooper Automotive to run it on the dyno in order to obtain torque and bhp readings. At that time the 2.6 performed as good as could be expected for a tired original engine, although it did have a very small amount of exhaust port work done 4 years and 20,000 km ago. Other than that it was in standard tune. Remember, this is a rolling road dyno and the readings are expected to be approximately 40% down on engine only figures.

Torque. The maximum torque obtained at the rear wheels was 48 lb/ft @ 2075 rpm.

BHP. The maximum bhp obtained at the rear wheels was 42 bhp @ 3500 rpm.

Remember, these figures have to be multiplied by 1.67 to obtain advertised engine only figures.

At the same time the extractors were fitted, I removed the cylinder head to fit a set of modified inlet valve guides and also to recondition the water pump, which had been slightly leaking for some time. When inspecting the inlet valves it was noticed that the seating areas were showing signs of wear so I fitted a new original set of valves and re-cut the valve seats. At the same time I cleaned up the inlet ports slightly, spending about 20 minutes doing this. Prior to fitting the extractors, I re-set the exhaust valve clearances to .012"
After re-assembly, I drove to my friendly local exhaust shop where I selected a straight through resonator and silencer and a new 2.25" mandrel bend system was bent up and fitted to the original hangers.
Today, the FFR was taken back to the dyno for it's second comparitive run.

Torque. The maximum torque obtained at the rear wheels was 55 ft/lb @ 1750 rpm.

BHP. The maximum bhp obtained at the rear wheels was 56.2 bhp @ 4380 rpm.



The above graph shows the first test as the lower 2 (blue) lines. Torque starts at 48 ft/lbs and drops away. Bhp starts at 34, rises to 42 then drops away.

Second test with modified exhaust is represented by upper 2 lines. Torque 20% higher starting at lower rpm. Bhp starts as lowest figure and climbs to highest peaking at 56.2 bhp.

This shows almost 20% gain in torque and a massive 35% gain in bhp.

The FFR is now completely different to drive and would benefit greatly from the overdrive to be fitted very shortly.
The tests were all done in 3rd gear and the road speeds reflect this.

Gav, you need to come up for a weekend and test drive for yourself.

Cookey

Hi Cookey,

I think that I can safely say - that just about anybody driving a standard 6cyl 2.6 is dying to get a hold of your extractors and your disc-brake conversion kit!

Yes, that would be me!

Cookey - great work. I'll be up as soon is as humanly possible, and I'll take you up on that offer. . I'd love to do the return trip with a boot load of parts for mine.