Some "Thank You's" and Harrop preview

[S18 RSG 429]

Just wanted to put together a quick post to say a thank you to the guys at Abbey, specifically @Mark@Abbey M/S for their hospitality and work this weekend, made the 6+ hour round trip and 5am start worth it.

I went there for a stage 1 remap, arrived at 8:30am and after setting up shop, Mark got me straight on the dyno. We spent close to 3 hours on the dyno, fettling with the map until Mark was happy with everything. We started the day at 162whp, and 142lb/ft, and ended the day with nearly 180whp and 154lb/ft, which Mark rated at around 220hp at the flywheel, not bad considering my car only has a catback exhaust (with secondary decat) and a filter.

To drive, the car feels so much more complete. Driving on the motorway is much easier thanks to the increase in torque, and slightly narrower torque dip, and the extra bit of top end power just turns the dial up slightly when pressing on. For anyone who's considering a remap, but not convinced, don't go into it expecting the car to be transformed, like with a turbo'd car. Power-wise, the car isn't hugely different to stock. The car's power band is exactly the same, there's just a fraction more throughout the rev range. The biggest difference which you will absolutely notice, is how much more refined the car feels. Startup is a lot smoother, those little imperfections in the drivetrain under certain circumstances seem to be ironed out, and as mentioned above, that extra bit of torque is a welcome addition, as it makes the car much easier to drive from lower RPM. Despite the numbers not being hugely improved, the graph itself is more impressive. There is more power and more torque everywhere, not just at peak, and that's what matters more than anything. Another advantage is I saw around a 10% improvement in MPG on the drive home, and if anything, I drove a little faster and less efficiently on the way home, due to testing the map.

One interesting thing Mark mentioned, is how surprised he was at the difference the intake in my car made. I installed a silicon intake pipe in place of the stock pipe, and Mark said it made a noticable difference to the smoothness of some of the graphs (hopefully he can expand on this when he reads this thread). Might be worth noting for future reference.

So, TL;DR on the remap, it's worth it.

Aside from that, I also took the opportunity to head out in the Harrop supercharged car that Mark has. I am yet to experience any other forced induction options on the GT86, but I struggle to believe any of the other options transform the car as much as the Harrop kit. Fitted to an otherwise stock car, the kit makes more power and torque than a Sprintex kit with a manifold, full exhaust and intake (Mark showed me a few dyno graphs while we were tuning mine) so I imagine the car would be even better with all those extras. 

Mark demonstrated how crazy the kit is, not by driving everywhere at 100mph, but by driving through a town at 30mph in 4th/5th gear and putting his foot down. If any of you have the chance to head down to Abbey and get out in the car for 10 minutes, this is what will force your hand into buying this kit. No lag, no drama, just easy, smooth power from 1500rpm, building up to a rather scary crescendo at around 5000rpm where it really takes off (thanks to the stock car's power curve).

Likelihood is, I will end up going in for this kit in May/June providing all goes well.

Anyway, that's enough waffling. Again, big thanks to Mark, and was nice to meet the few guys that showed up throughout the day in their 86's. Only downside from the day was forgetting to ask for some Abbey stickers

 

[Bles 32]

Hi

have also been out in Marks Harrop charged 86 and agree with all your sentiments.

In fact I liked it so much have booked in to have one fitted in April. Now like a kid waiting to get into the chocolate factory.

[long-gone 152]

2 hours ago, S18 RSG said:

Fitted to an otherwise stock car, the kit makes more power and torque than a Sprintex kit with a manifold, full exhaust and intake (Mark showed me a few dyno graphs while we were tuning mine) so I imagine the car would be even better with all those extras.

That's interesting. Any photos of it fitted, does it look good and OE like Pitman's (the only other turbo I've seen in real life)?

[Kodename47 446]

1 minute ago, daidaiiro said:

That's interesting. Any photos of it fitted, does it look good and OE like Pitman's (the only other turbo I've seen in real life)?

Seeing as it's a supercharger, it's a little more obvious but I think the Harrop does look great and quite OEM.

Good to see some other TVS takers here in the UK. I'll be going for the other offering when I eventually swap but I have yet to go out in a TVS charged car. The boost from a PD charger is very addictive  Need to get myself back up to Abbey at some point....

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Glad you're happy with the remap. I've not had the experience with the 86 but had a Stage 1 map on a different car by one of the acknowledged marque experts and was exactly as you described - just 'better' everywhere.

Has it made a different story to the throttle? As stock it's a bit 'on/off' especially in traffic, and I'd heard some of the remappers improve that.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DanJ 374]

Hi

have also been out in Marks Harrop charged 86 and agree with all your sentiments.

In fact I liked it so much have booked in to have one fitted in April. Now like a kid waiting to get into the chocolate factory.

The car is a very good sales tool

I drove it on Thursday and loved it so much I placed an order the next day.

Playing a similar waiting game now, can't wait!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[rob275 1817]

I will admit that i'm impressed with it. Mark may have overlaid my Sprintex dyno run with it on the graph. They were borderline identical, only difference being that mine has the milltek cat-back and also running a 70mm pulley. Likelihood is I will be moving to the Harrop as it is seemingly better for long track stints.

[S18 RSG 429]

5 hours ago, Nicebiscuit said:

Glad you're happy with the remap. I've not had the experience with the 86 but had a Stage 1 map on a different car by one of the acknowledged marque experts and was exactly as you described - just 'better' everywhere.

Has it made a different story to the throttle? As stock it's a bit 'on/off' especially in traffic, and I'd heard some of the remappers improve that.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The normal, everyday map has the standard throttle map, so nothing changed in that aspect, but I know what you mean by a bit "on/off", and thanks to how much smoother the drive is now, it's certainly improved.

There is, however, a map available by switching through the cruse control stalk which has had the throttle map adjusted. It's very progressive, and would be great in the wet/snow, which is what it's designed for, but I used it on the motorway on the drive home, and it feels great on long journeys too.

[S18 RSG 429]

1 hour ago, rob275 said:

I will admit that i'm impressed with it. Mark may have overlaid my Sprintex dyno run with it on the graph. They were borderline identical, only difference being that mine has the milltek cat-back and also running a 70mm pulley. Likelihood is I will be moving to the Harrop as it is seemingly better for long track stints.

Mark actually overlaid Teg's Sprintex graph. His has similar mods to yours, except it has a decat manifold too. Graphs were very similar, but the Harrop was so much smoother. The Sprintex curve seemed to have very small dips in power and torque in similar places to the stock car, the Harrop car had literally zero dips at any RPM, mighty impressive.

The Abbey car is actually quite hilarious. It's really quiet thanks to the stock exhaust, and when Mark started it, it sounded no different to stock at all. No whine from the supercharger at all either, just a bucket load of power. Super sleeper.

[long-gone 152]

1 hour ago, S18 RSG said:

...

The Abbey car is actually quite hilarious. It's really quiet thanks to the stock exhaust, and when Mark started it, it sounded no different to stock at all. No whine from the supercharger at all either, just a bucket load of power. Super sleeper.

[long-gone 152]

On 29/02/2016 at 3:12 PM, knightryder said:

Good to see some other TVS takers here in the UK. I'll be going for the other offering when I eventually swap but I have yet to go out in a TVS charged car. The boost from a PD charger is very addictive  Need to get myself back up to Abbey at some point....

Google and duckduckgo have let me down... what's TVS & PD?

[rob275 1817]

8 minutes ago, daidaiiro said:

Google and duckduckgo have let me down... what's TVS & PD?

TVS = Twin Vortices Series and PD = Positive Displacement