C16XE Exhaust Manifold

[burnard]

Hello,

I have been looking for a few weeks but I cant seem to find a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold for this engine, Just thought now might be the time to ask you guys before i go mad looking for one, or spend £££ having one made for me.

I am basically after the type which just has 2 pipes going under the sump which then join just before the tunnel.

Also, for this engine I will need a stand alone ECU, Could anyone recommend one suitable which also has a built loom available that doesn't cost more than my car was worth when i bought it? http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/lmao.gif
I am currently looking at DTA S40 or Omex 600.


Cheers,

Chris .

[dstevenson]

Hi,

I run the same basic engine type (1400XE). The proper SBD/BTB 4:2:1 manifold is verrrry expensive but great but of kit. Try Bill Falconer - he had some similar ones made (by Ashley I think) to the same basic dimensions that were more reasonably priced - that's what I am running and am very happy with it.

i am using a DTA S40 and am very pleased indeed, over 4 years now with no issues at all. I bought mine from Martin Fox (MEF Motorsport) and he can do spliced loom kits, connectors, sensors, bespoke looms, etc. Very helpful and well known in the DTA world. Just make sure the local rolling road/mapper you are planning to use is happy/familiar with DTA as you don't want to be having to go too far to get it set-up.

I have just brought the flat shift function into use and think its great - I have a self built pneumatic paddleshift system on the F15 Quaife SCCR gearbox (Yes, a H pattern paddleshift!) and just added the flat shift and the DTA was very easy to set-up. Next plan is to link into the CANBus output from the ECU to allow me to add more information to my own display - it's actually an attempt at my own homemade 'head up display', projecting onto the windscreen, but I'm only displaying gear at the moment. I'm out competing with the car tomorrow at a rally sprint so I probably should put a video up of the thing in action - I think the guys on here would be interested in my mad cap ideas, lol. Ive rebuilt the Nova I had into a Widetrack Corsa B shell so feel an imposter on this forum now, lol!!

David

[burnard]

I would be really intrigued to see how your paddle shift works that sounds very very interesting, especially since i manufacture gearboxes for a living, but these are full on gear change barrel sequential types.

As imposters go, I think I you covered.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t31.0-8/1669670_10153011680506953_5613546212712379863_o.jp g

[novarally]

Hi,

I run the same basic engine type (1400XE). The proper SBD/BTB 4:2:1 manifold is verrrry expensive but great but of kit. Try Bill Falconer - he had some similar ones made (by Ashley I think) to the same basic dimensions that were more reasonably priced - that's what I am running and am very happy with it.

i am using a DTA S40 and am very pleased indeed, over 4 years now with no issues at all. I bought mine from Martin Fox (MEF Motorsport) and he can do spliced loom kits, connectors, sensors, bespoke looms, etc. Very helpful and well known in the DTA world. Just make sure the local rolling road/mapper you are planning to use is happy/familiar with DTA as you don't want to be having to go too far to get it set-up.

I have just brought the flat shift function into use and think its great - I have a self built pneumatic paddleshift system on the F15 Quaife SCCR gearbox (Yes, a H pattern paddleshift!) and just added the flat shift and the DTA was very easy to set-up. Next plan is to link into the CANBus output from the ECU to allow me to add more information to my own display - it's actually an attempt at my own homemade 'head up display', projecting onto the windscreen, but I'm only displaying gear at the moment. I'm out competing with the car tomorrow at a rally sprint so I probably should put a video up of the thing in action - I think the guys on here would be interested in my mad cap ideas, lol. Ive rebuilt the Nova I had into a Widetrack Corsa B shell so feel an imposter on this forum now, lol!!

David

Hi David.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be fascinated to learn more about what you've done.

The pneumatic paddle shift in particular!

Hoping to hear more.....

Colin

[dstevenson]

Hi Colin,

Long time no hear, you won't remember but we met to exchange Nova bits at the Autosport show a few years ago which a friend then took home to N. Ireland for me in his van!

I have been working on the paddleshift system for a while, it seemed to me that it should be possible now with the availability of low cost 'open source' micro controllers so thus began a journey in trial and error engineering - I am a mechanical engineer but had absolutely no software/electronics experience. I figured it should be possible but the only proprietary paddleshift systems I could find (geartronics, flat shifter, shift tec, etc.) are all superbly engineered systems intended for use on sequential boxes with only one actuator required and obviously no logic required to work the H configuration - and cost small fortunes!!

I had already converted the Quaife F15 SCCR box to a F17 casing with a cable shift turret and hydraulic clutch and this was working really well. This turret means the shift is already converted into two linear directions (no rotation as the normal rod turret). This meant I could use two simple actuators for the back/forward and three smaller actuators to go 'across' the box for rev, first, third, fifth. These were actually bought off EBay for about £50 total. I have bodged a simple mounting arrangement to the standard cable shift cable bracket - we can actually change back to normal gear stick operation in 10min - not that I was doubting myself or anything!!

I made some simple paddles with microswitches and mounted these to the steering wheel, but for a rally car I think a single up/down combined paddle fixed to the column would probably be better due to the amount of steering us rally boys have to do compared to a circuit car!! The problem is that up shift paddle moves to the down shift position very quickly on full lock, and that becomes a tad problematic, lol

I also added a clutch actuator to the clutch cylinder on my floor mounted pedal box which was a larger actuator but I tried without auto clutch and it was just too difficult to coordinate the shifts. The clutch has really made the system much better/quicker to use. I then added a very small actuator linked to the throttle cable to allow blipping to ease gear selection on downshifts. The final piece was a flat shift output to the DTA S40 ECU I run to give full throttle flat shifting on the up shifts. A simple 7 segment display gives gear indication but have just experimented today with projecting this directly onto the windscreen for a head up display - very simple mock- up with a collimater lens to focus the display on infinity which means that you don't have to alter your focus - worked very well indeed and will now be developed further with plans for rev display, etc.

I fitted a small high quality compressor (viair) that would be normally used in air suspension as it's rated for continuous use - I found out pretty quickly that the little tyre inflator type are just not up to it - lesson learned. This was the most expensive single item in the entire system at £150. I used a used fire extinguisher bottle as an air receiver as they are rated to 20bar, was lined with plastic to prevent corosion, and lastly cost nothing as was lying in the garage!

The real work has been developing the software and getting the timing side of things working well - this all is working in sequence in milliseconds!! - this is now sorted and I would say the shift is as quick as your best manual shift every time and when coupled with the flat shifting is quicker - I plan to now start pushing the shifts quicker but I was always aware this is limited with the synchromesh gearbox due to how they work. So given the positive results, I have just bought a F20 Quaife dog box and plan to install this into a F18 (hydraulic clutch) casing and this will obviously allow much quicker shifts again - I believe this will be capable to be very close to full sequential.

The gearshift ran fault free today but we had an intermittent misfire that really stumped us until it finally quit altogether and was then traced to a bad connection in the coil wiring! Didn't get any useful videos as the the Gopro bracket was over tightened and broke!! Am happy to take a few pics of the bits in position but actuator solenoid and controller arrangement is mounted behind navigators footplate. I'll take a few pics when I next have it out of the car. I'm not on here much anymore - as I said I've rebuilt the nova into a corsa b shell, sacrilege!!

This is a totally homemade one off system and I did it for the challenge - that's as much part of it all for me, sad or what!!

Happy to give you the benefit of my experience but can confirm that this works and is absolutely worth it. It is also very cost effective, I reckon it has cost less than £400 total - a lot less than a Quaife gear selector arrangement, so pretty reasonable fun per buck return on this one for me.

David

[dstevenson]

General internal view view showing standard cable shift, etc.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/911/Pv0kb7.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/pbPv0kb7j)

Compressor, pressure sensor, filter/regulator in the boot. You will notice the red fire extinguisher bottle used as a receiver and a quick release coupling so as we can plug an air hose in to blow the tyres up - very handy!!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/901/dTh2va.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/p1dTh2vaj)

Can only see the front of the back/forward actuators, others hidden under oil re circulation tank. Rod ends are for the standard cable change, just in case!!

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/661/iW5D7Z.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/idiW5D7Zj)

Homemade shift paddles

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/540/G37mzn.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/f0G37mznj)

[dstevenson]

Head up display - camera does not do it justice - P is displayed because pressure is low

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/537/AoXBgS.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/exAoXBgSj)

Throttle blipper actuator

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/673/WHmUKV.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/ipWHmUKVj)


Solenoids and controller mounted behind footplate so can't see the details, will take more when it is out of the car sometime

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/673/tlk2NV.jpg (http://imageshack.com/f/iptlk2NVj)

[novarally]

Thanks David - I will study this with great interest when I finish work!

[novarally]

Hello,

I have been looking for a few weeks but I cant seem to find a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold for this engine, Just thought now might be the time to ask you guys before i go mad looking for one, or spend £££ having one made for me.

I am basically after the type which just has 2 pipes going under the sump which then join just before the tunnel.

Also, for this engine I will need a stand alone ECU, Could anyone recommend one suitable which also has a built loom available that doesn't cost more than my car was worth when i bought it? http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/lmao.gif
I am currently looking at DTA S40 or Omex 600.


Cheers,

Chris .

Chris,

I'm going to be listing my BTB 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust manifold for the smallblock XE on EBAY soon. Might be of interest to you.

Colin