Well I think I’m pretty much resigned to the fact now that I’ll just have to bite the bullet and replace the clutch. Therefore I’m thinking about removing the Squadra chip, reinstalling the original chip and possibly even selling the Squadra 😦 Selling it would raise a bit of cash towards all the things that need sorting on the coupé which would then give me the opportunity to make sure everything is all OK before looking at mods (which is probably what I should have done to start with).
Confused
March 7, 2005 — osbluesI’m now extremely confused about what to do… The clutch is still slipping at higher revs which could mean –
- The clutch is on it’s way out. bye bye 500 quid
- The new squadra chip is overboosting and no clutch could withstand it
As I don’t have a boost gauge I don’t know how much boost I am getting and thus whether this is dangerous overboost or whether this is ‘normal’ and my clutch is indeed too worn to handle the extra power.
So, what do I do? I have the car booked it for an MOT in a few weeks which unless anything changes between now and then I will get Iceberg to hook up a temporary boost gauge and see what’s going in with the boost levels. Iceberg is happy to do this and fit a boost controller (PRV) if it’s overboost causing the slippage.
I have contacted Stephan at Squadra Tuning and he says the clutch is at obviously too worn and needs replacing. He also strongly advises against fitting a boost controller as this would make the chip 70% useless 😦
I am keen to keep this clutch if it’s good for a bit longer but at ‘slightly’ reduced performance, but not keen to reduce the boost heavily and basically have the performance I had before!
Apparently you can fit a PRV as an overboost protector only, fitting in parallel with the EBV and this might prove the best way, then when I can afford to replace the clutch I could set this to a less reserved setting.
Still really confused by all this..
Clutch slipping?
March 1, 2005 — osbluesJust my luck, it looks like fitting the Squadra has highlighted how close to end of life my clutch is! I can’t be 100% certain but it feels like my clutch is now slipping when I accelerate hard 😦 This is not great news as a new clutch is going to be biggest part of £500. I still don’t know if my manifold needs replacing too as that is blowing slightly.. hopefully that is just the gasket.
I serviced the car last week, taxed it yesterday, need an MOT and insurance within a month and now probably a new clutch..
Goodbye spare money for a few months!
Update
February 27, 2005 — osbluesWell, the last couple of days have been pretty hectic getting the kitchen sorted and taking the car in for a service. The kitchen is now complete, obviously we still need to decorate but we now have a working kitchen again 😀
On Friday we went across to Birmingham to have the car serviced at Motor Mech which went pretty well. It was the first time I’d taken it there but Paul was very friendly and told me lots of little things that need doing. I wanted Paul to fit the Squadra chip at the same time but unfortunately my wife got a bit bored walking around Birmingham and wanted to get back and see her new kitchen. I asked Paul to skip fitting the chip and just do the service which he was more than happy to do. So, today I fitted the chip myself (with a little help from my friends) which was reasonably easy although getting the ECU open is really quite difficult. I still haven’t had a chance to fully test it so although I have given it a little run and there is definitely more power there!
Back to work tomorrow, it feels like I’ve been off for ages. We have a new employee starting tomorrow too.
Squadra arrival
February 24, 2005 — osbluesMy squadra chip arrived today so I can’t thank Stephan at Squadra Tuning enough (and the postman)! Hopefully I’ll have it fitted tomorrow and will have an update on the performance improvements 😀
OSBlues 