Which brings me to another question, as the car will be chipped from the start: how gently should I break it in?

This aside was understandably and justifiably snowed under when Ian came up with his impressive acceleration figures, but I'd still like to know.

My idea would be very gently... which, apart from the current cruelty of waiting, is a tormenting thought!

Then again, my idea when breaking in a recently chipped car that has already done mileage is that you need to give it time to get used to the better performance, so that in effect I would do that all at once now. So just one instead of two bitter pills to swallow...

If it was me, I'd follow the usual running in instructions. I'm sure they are contained in the handbook, but I never read the instructions. I just don't labour the engine, don't rev above 4k for the first 800km, 5k for the next 800km. Yes I do give it full throttle, but only up to those limits. Mines now done 117,600km and it ain't gone bang yet (other than a certain appetite for coil packs :roll: ).

If it was me, I'd follow the usual running in instructions.

Seems like a sensible suggestion to me. After all, the engine will never know it was meant to be a 150 as it will start its life as a 210. It's been proved that it can cope with that, so yes, the usual run-in with a 4k rev limit would seem more than enough. So you did give it full throttle? I think I'll keep it on the safe side

Talking of running-in periods, a friend has recently bought an Elise and the anguish of keeping it under control for the first 5000km was then toppled by more torment after it received new piping, a supercharger and a new engine blueprint - as this will require another 3500km of taking-it-nice-and-easy...

And then to imagine that the sequential gearbox and a free-flow exhaust system are still to follow! Yes, he's lucky enough to have all the money the world can buy. 8)

Yes I did give it full throttle, but only up to my self imposed 4k or 5k limit. I think it helps to loosen it up and prepare it for what is to come :mrgreen:. I think the thing that should be avoided is to let the engine labour ie put it in 5th at about 50kph then give it full throttle. I made sure I had at least 2k on the rev counter before doing it, doesn't seem to have done it any harm. I also let it warm up thoroughly and let it have a cool down period after a run.

To continue this thread where it left off - i.e. the matter of running-in a new car - I got three tips from a friend today who has seen enough engine insides to be a qualified judge of what is wise practice, especially with a chipped engine, apart from the usual proper heating up and cooling down of the turbo.

He put them in order that people generally know about them:

1. Low revs, i.e. not more than 2/3 of the maximum.

2. Varying revs, i.e. give the engine something to deal with.

3. Shortshifting all through the gears with quite a bit of throttle. Not full throttle, but still give it quite some stick.

According to him, this last one is virtually unknown but gives the best results, as it causes the pistons and the cylinders to attain a perfect fit, thus keeping up compression. Engines that have been run in following rules 1 and 2, showed brownish pistons at 20,000kms due to gas leakage, while they also lacked compression and were burning more oil...

So Jon's approach seems to be quite spot-on - and a lot more fun too

Your thoughts?

3. Shortshifting all through the gears with quite a bit of throttle. Not full throttle, but still give it quite some stick.

Definitely sounds the most fun and, as it is a company car, what have you got to lose? Go for it, Mattijs!!!

Oh, definitely rules 1, 2 and 3 for me - but not because it's a company car.

My employer is not a huge, anonymous organization but instead they are two guys at the head of a company of eight people, with me being the "no.3" of the group. So any attempt of mine at being deliberately wasteful with company property will boomerang back at me - I'd literally see the effect on the company's profit and loss...

Apart from that, I'm all for pistons and cylinders fitting tightly, aren't you?

Guys, VVT engines are more upgradeable because they start out with a bigger turbo. The VVT engines are the newer ones with drive by wire and oter electronic goodies. The older ones, like AGU don't have VVT and don't have the k03 sport or hybrid ko3/k04. I have an AGU 150hp engine, and the problem I had was that at 2800m of altitude, the chipped car barely did 160hp since the turbo could not compensate for the altitude. It was running at 1.2bar with just an upsolute chip. So I changed the turbo to a T3 Super 60 and now I'm close to 300hp.

VVT is only part of the anti-pollution system, and only adjusts during idle when the car is cold. It has no other purpose. Newer cars with VVT also have EV12 injectors and 2 O2 sensors for a more complete pullution control system. In US terms, my AGU is non-vvt and is LEV (low emmissions vehicle), while the newer ones are ULEV (ultra low emissions vehicle).

Speedy G