Yeah. My car is fine with the standard one also, no extra, maybe throttle cable resistance not helping or something

I didn't get on with a foreign throttle cable, i use the original VW one.

I do have a tightened spring, it's the standard KeiHin one but i've pulled it round further.

Tardy idle seeking can be the set up, advanced ignition and/or enrichment, as well.

Funky interior

Any progress simon?

Nope. Spent yesterday bottling my home brew (a very important part of out science experiment ) and today it pissed it down. Also a bit of a hangover and the F1 to watch! But mostly the weather. I'm going to try balancing the carbs weds night all going well (busy week at work ahead). The ignition is quite advanced, so maybe I'll retard that a bit and see whether that helps the idling issue. Then MOT time. But bollocks, we've heard it all before haven't we

Regarding this throttle spring thats caused so much controversy, when I had one on before, it made no difference. But it did improve the throttle feel though, so I will likely add one to improve this.

Edited 23 September, 201213 yr by prankstar2003

The F1 was good watch, the throttle return spring didn't cause any beef, just think nick had had a bad day , he rang me up to see if i was ok and said sorry.

Are you sure the idle mixture is strong enough by the way? I've purposely got my jetta set-up lean to get some decent MPG out of the weber DCD

and it does struggle to idle untill its fully warmed up etc

Awww, bless him. He is a nice boy really.

It idles just fine when its going, its just as it comes from a bit of throttle. The mixture screws are out 1.5 or 2 turns IIRC.

F1 was good, shame about Lewis though, proper bad luck. That McLaren was bullet proof last year, but its more like a Lada these last few races

Hes a lovely lad

You need an AFR gauge! makes life so much easier!

Edited 23 September, 201213 yr by MaxGT

You pay for it then please :-)

The money you could have saved from it not guzzling petrol could have paid for it

They're £120!

£120 or replacement pistons...

Yes, do as nick says.

Replacement pistons are less that £120 though

Guzzling petrol? It'll do less than 3K a year so I'll take me forever to pay that back.And it's so rich, there's no fear it'll melt anything!

It's being considered, but I wouldn't know where to put it (not a fan of the look) and its just something else isn't it. Hmmmmph

So you've an engine on carbs mainly for performance but will be rich as fuck losing performance? Hehe

Fucking hell Nick. Yes, you're right, I'm an idiot.

I put bike carbs on as much for power as ease over the injection of the AEA (which i didn't have). And even with them rich they will perform better than the spi unit. So I'll have gained performance over the 1.1l that was originally in there. For me, the £120 isn't worth paying to get a few more ponies out of it. It will be powerful enough for me for now. Even though it's built and in and not even used yet, I'm planning on using a different engine maybe even as soon as this time next year (who knows) so I'm reluctant to spend large sums just now. Although an AFR may help in future, its not an outlay I'm prepared to make now.

Most people don't run an AFR regardless of their mods, so it's not like I'm the only one. And I can't remember mentioning anywhere that I'm after huge power or even great fuel economy.

All that being said, is there one anyone would recomend? And what is required, just the gauge and Lamda, or is there control unit too? Another problem I'll have is needing to weld a boss into the exhaust manifold

Don't think you realise how shit it will be if it's setup badly. You can't even get it to work now

Chill out simon, were only trying to help (it can be hard to tell that from nick sometimes, granted )

But as he says, it will be frustrating if it doesn't run well, and it would be a huge shame to have an engine that looks like yours, with great potential (once you've been in nicks, you'll understand) that doesn't perform properly.

Also, performance isn't the main issue IMO, if its running rich it will suffer from bore wash, oil dilution (from the liquid petrol) and this can kill engines, quickly!

For the small price, you could learn how to properly set them up, instead of paying double that for a RR to do an average job. Yes some people have got them running adequately without a AFR gauge, but said people have previous experience of setting up individual carburetors (it ain't easy!) and a lot of people that haven't mentioned anything regarding getting them set-up, may well have spent some time with someone who knows what they're doing, or someone with some proper equipment.

Its obviously your choice at the end of the day, but i'd certainly recommend it, you can't go wrong with one!

I'm all good.

I'm aware of the problems of rich running, and I'm thinking of downsizing jets anyway as it seems to be chucking out a lot of smoke and unburnt when on full throttle. And speaking of potential, on the short runs up the road, its got potential! It's something I'm going to consider, but atm, I just want it to run long enough to get it to the MOT station, and then back to mine. With the engine out, I can get a lamda welded in and think about AFRs etc. It's money I don't really have right now.

But to answer my original question, what's a good one to use? What's actually needed (just a lamda and gauge). If I'm going to get one, I'd like to be able to shop around, and maybe get a second hand one. I have a lamda that came from a turbo manifold I bought. Thats likely to be narrow band right?

Didn't mean to sound pissy, you'll soon realise when it's bedded in and the initial "wow an early polo with more power" excitement has worn off you will not resist refinement and tuning.

My 6n felt awesome when it first went in, even though it ran a bag of shit. I set it roughly right, took it to a RR and they fucked around for 2 days, and virtually gave it me back as I gave it them. Lots of tweaking later and it's worlds better than it was, but that was learning. Now iv learnt I find jetting can be done in hours, just a few blasts down the road. Did this with a friends car which he used daily for around 8k before the bottom end gave up.

Common on these engines, plus 8.5k rpm on standard conrod bolts took its tole!

I'm considering buying an AFR to drop into people's cars for them. Clamp sensor to tailpipe and such. Be nice to allow people to fully appreciate a half decent setup car

My innovate AFR gauge is the lambda probe up the exhaust jobby, i don't like them.

Simon, look on eBay, search "AEM Wideband" they have great reviews on the net, and can be had as cheap as £122 from the USA,

I've ordered the one from the UK for slightly more money, just for peace of mind and delivery times.

It is literally just a gauge, lambda probe and loom. The "control unit" is in the gauge itself.

I've found I can get a sensor for 50 and a gauge for roughly the same. But the sensor has 5 wires? WTF would they be fore. +live, earth and signal. LAst 2?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AEM-30-4100-DIGI...=item3f1a69db86

That's what you want dude.

Hmmm, really tempted now! But where to mount it?

Doesn't have to be on show, mines going in the lower centre cubby hole you get in a 2F

Could be mounted in the glove box if need be?

That might be a shout. May put it in the center console, below the stereo. Or behind the steering horn push (no horn there) for uber stealth!