Rob's VRS Special Edition - 300Bhp / 380FtLb

[Dark_Hero]

I'm going to be there, but just getting passenger rides this time

[RobLarby]

Having lots of issues with Darkside and my gearbox atm, they were ready to send it back and found that the casing was cracked.

They didn't note it when they took receipt of the box and blamed shipping. Came to an agreement that I would pay for a casing but not labour fitting it. I didn't fully agree with this outcome but I just wanted the box back to get the car done and running again.

 

Box came back Friday and I found a crack on the new casing they had fitted which was covered in some sort of sealant, so obviously didn't happen during shipping...

 

Really not happy about it, the whole reason I went with them was to be sure it was done properly by someone that I trusted. Will see what the outcome is soon :(

 

[Dark_Hero]

Sorry to hear that mate. Hope you get it sorted ok

[hutchysrs50]

Crap news, makes it worse since it’s from darkside. We all know they charge a fortune.... but we choose to pay it to get it done properly. :(

 

[RobLarby]

Forgot to mention that I sent the turbo off to Turbo Dynamics for flow testing and they've said it needs a rebuild. Luckily the wheels are fine it just needs oil seals etc. But I've decided to let them change it for a bigger wheel so it'll come back as a GTB2262VK. Little bit annoyed that it wasn't healthy as I trusted Jake, he said it was rebuilt by Owen Developments recently, however, there isn't much either of us could do so I'm not holding it against him. Rather know now instead of fitting it all and having it let go straight away.

 

"Yes we have flow tested it, I have attached a graph and also an image of how close this turbo is to failing. It’s got so much radial float the compressor wheel is rubbing on the housing profile."

 

Gearbox goes back to Darkside tomorrow, hopefully they can get it right this time round!

Just waiting for something else to go wrong now...

[stevobeavo]

Pretty crappy update, but like you said at least you know the turbo is good for quite awhile and won't let go and do further damage. 

 

Bit worrying about dark side? Is that a new new casing or is it a reconditioned one as it looks pretty dirty. 

[hutchysrs50]

I’d think they just get casings like that from SRS, they cost a small fortune new, second hand gearbox’s are all over the place for £50 each now so that’s more than likely what they use.

[RobLarby]

They broke a spare gearbox to use it on mine and said they’d keep the rest of it as spares, charged me £60 for the pleasure too, even though it left me without damage.

[RobLarby]

Turbo arrived today from Turbo Dynamics, love the colour of the wheel, shame it'll never be seen again :( 

 

Gearbox didn't leave on Tuesday for some reason, Darkside said it should leave today... Another annoying set back

[skodalad]

Looking good rob! First time i have been on the forum in ages, nice to see you making good progress

[RobLarby]

11 hours ago, skodalad said:

Looking good rob! First time i have been on the forum in ages, nice to see you making good progress

Briskoda doesn't enrage me like the Facebook pages full of numpties hahaha

[pip_vrs]

Numpties on FB? Not seen them 

[RobLarby]

There are a select few that have brains, all seem to be members on here which is odd 

[pip_vrs]

It is full of chavvy mongs though. Makes me laugh, love trolling with mine 

[Alexh4551]

I joined the vrs facebook page, I lasted about 5 hours then left. 

[pip_vrs]

10 hours ago, Alexh4551 said:

I joined the vrs facebook page, I lasted about 5 hours then left. 

 5 hours? 

 

To be fair i went back on it as it makes me laugh. 

[Alexh4551]

12 minutes ago, pip_vrs said:

 5 hours? 

 

To be fair i went back on it as it makes me laugh. 

Got me wanting to go back on now.

[RobLarby]

Well the gearbox is finally back in the correct condition this time. Just need to order some gaskets and then start putting it all onto the car

[RobLarby]

Well the car is almost back together now, need a new battery, negative terminal cable, ball joint bolt i rounded off and some powerflex bushes. Also going to fit braided lines all round as i can make them at work

Want to move the battery into the boot so i can run the aem dryflow jake gave me with his custom pipework but that will have to wait for now.

[RobLarby]

Vibratechnics mounts on gearbox and engine are on, drove the car round the block a few times as well and feels really good, second gear was quite fun spinning up with ease.

 

Got some bits to do before it's fully road worthy again:

- Downpipe seems too long as its pushed the rest of the exhaust out the bumper way too much so that's gonna be fixed once i've got it fully on the road.

- Passenger side headlight is dead, hoping its just a bulb or something as i've not messed with it at all.

- Need to properly mount the oil cooler somewhere as i just cable tied it on the crashbar and put one bolt into the smic mount for my test drive lol  

- Boost gauge isn't reading anything, car definitely makes boost though as it was rapid and could hear it.

- Front bumper needs a bit of trimming as i've switched to the darkside intercooler that's a little bit bigger.

- Clutch and brakes need bleeding properly as im useless at bleeding, also going to fit hel lines after i make them at work.

 

Edited 9 December, 2017 by RobLarby

[RobLarby]

Got the car drive-able today and done almost 80 miles so far, gave it some abuse every now and then and seems to be running fine. Had a mate run data logging, it requested 2.2bar and it gave it bang on 2.2 bar so all seems well. Did see up to 2.7 bar at one point but I think that was just a spike.

 

The one issue it seems to be having at the minute is it sometimes doesn't want to start, there is a fault code up for the fuel pump relay so hoping it's that. The car will start up fine, then after two seconds, it dies off. Throttle is completely unresponsive when it's like that but eventually it will start up and run fine. If anyone's had this issue i'd like to hear what it was  

 

Still need to fix boost gauge and get some proper brackets for the oil cooler but for now it's cable tied up and bumper is on. Will be driving it to work now and hopefully if all goes well I'll be getting it mapped in the new year

[JackTdi]

Been following the thread and the car looks mint!! Really clean, are you still running your stage 1 map or have you had a custom base tune at a low boost for now whilst your still finding issues?

[RobLarby]

Running the darkside map that the engine came with, its for a 2260 with everything the exact same so runs really well, was apparently 280bhp and 400lb ft

[RobLarby]

Nearing 500 miles now, fuel economy is awful, struggling to get over 38 on a motorway drive, average since the engine went in is 29 i think but I wouldn't say i've been driving it very economically 

The hot start issue hasn't happened since but I don't actually remember how many times i've tried a hot start as I only really drive to work and leave it till home time. Car seems to go into limp mode if i use cruise control, only when  i start to go back up a hill, even a small one. Assume this will be sorted when it's mapped...

Other than that the car drives fine, just need to sort out all the little bodges i made to get it running. Exhaust rattle is starting to hurt my brain if i'm honest.

 

Had a couple little races on private land and I'm 100% sure it's running far less than what it should be, a friends diesel astra van with hybrid running 235 BHP wasn't far off me even with 5 wheels and a bunch of tyres in the back of it. Really need to fix the boost gauge and see what the car is actually doing really. Came back home and noticed my exhaust tip had done a bit of a runner....

 

Spoke to Piper and they sent a replacement out on friday with saturday delivery so I have no complaints really, went for the 3" twin tip this time instead of the 2.5" twin.

[pip_vrs]

Lol at that exahust