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Driven LAD Conversion





First thing to say is look at the pictures:

The car looked striking with the gold alloys, I had toyed with this idea but initially not thought much of it as it felt like I was jumping on the Impreza, Williams band wagon. The car was fitted with an open air pipercross filter, a devil backbox, and the full LAD head conversion. The car also ran on Eibach springs, which I was told lowered the car approximately 30mm. Looking at the pictures the lowering is not particuarly apparant. However parked next to my cup it looked squatter and wider. The springs are not Cup specific, and the ride height of my cup is more or less the same at the rear as the one on Eibachs, excpet the front in lower. The car also runs cross drilled front discs that LAD has machined, they are not replacement after market units.

The Drive: Initially I was driven by Ernie, up the bypass across a roundabout and up another bit of dual carriage way. First impressions were that I was in a fast car. The car felt much livelier than my car but at the time my car only had 1000 ish miles on the clock. The car seemed to punch up the gear box quickly and pulled from lower down in the rev range. It also seemed to punch into its limiter quite easily. Taking into consideration the car was running induction and an exhaust backbox, it was difficult to differenciate between the cars extra power and the extra noise, not horrible boy racer noise, but enough to make you feel that you were travelling faster than you were. I then jumper into the drivers seat and drove exactly the same journey in reverse. The car seemed keener to rev and much more go kart like in terms of steering response, it made the steering feel meatier, perhaps down to the extra weight over the front wheels. I booted the car through the gears and, yes, it did feel faster than my cup. To be honest, I was expecting more. Maybe this was down to me expecting a 200bhp Cup to feel different. There was no getting away from the fact that I was in a fast car. I went along with my dad who drove the car also and he said to me exactly what I was thinking. This was the first time I had driven a car with a modified head, and maybe I was expecting too much of a performance differemce. The car however ran very well and pulled hard from low rpm in say 4th gear. For outright pace it felt very similar to my old mk1 which ran 14.5s quarters and my dad made similar remarks. The suspension was quite impressive with good body control without ruining the compliance.

All in all I think the conversion made a benefit to the overall performance of the car but on that day and in my opinion it didnt feel 30bhp more than my Cup. This was spelled out by doing the same return journey that we did in the LAD in my Cup, only to realise that the cup is a rapid machine in standard trim. My Dad remarking that my car felt just as spritely. To be honest I dont want to immediately slate LAD like many members of this forum, however, I didnt feel like there was a 30bhp power increase over my car, yes there was difference subjectively but the amount I dont know. I am looking forward to reading the review of the car in the coming CCC, and would also like to see some figures for the car. The best thing any body can do is go and drive the car and maybe you might feel something different, because at the end of the day it can always be different for different people.

http://erc.qmuc.ac.uk/cliosport/file.php?image=cs_frontright.jpg

http://erc.qmuc.ac.uk/cliosport/file.php?image=cs_side.jpg
 


I still wonder why they call it a conversion, nothing has been converted, just some mild headwork.....

I say mild because you dont actually want to remove too much material, you jsut want ot inprove flow from working on critical areas.

I will jump out and say i dont feel this is a good demonstration of what headwork can really do. Firstly, the std head is fine and in the real work, good enough for about 220bhp running nothing too wild, but you will need throttle bodies. The std item is tiny and is the main restriction....you wont really be getting over 190bhp with it on....just too small.

All credit to them for goin out and doing it, but on the std TB....they could claim far more converting to quad throttle bodies for a grand or so more.......30bhp plus alone.....nope.
 


Ben R seen the Weber Alpha Gold Kit today for 172 in demon tweeks, on stantard car what output will that kit give. Cheers. Might be v interested.
 


Open air induction kits can work in the colder months, LAD have already noted that this is not a long term decision, they are wanting to develop something alomng the lines of the 106 gti peugoet sport items for the car. Saying that I have a Viper at home!!
 


LOL....rant put on hold...do it enough already!

The weber alpha kit.......just as good as anyother TB kit, they dont differ too much. But CAN they do the inlet manifiold...ask them that first!

On our 172 with TBs again, we got 215bhp.....which is why i say teh std head is fine, cause we prooved it. thats with std cams too.
 


Ben no disrespect but when you say our clio, who are you, a comapny, or do you mean our clio as in your car. I think the TB kit comes with everything it is in the Demon Tweeks catalogue manifold, ECU, bodies, and other bits.
 


best ask them firs though, its the stumbling block.

OUR refers to a racing team i was workin unofficially with and was offered a job as technical operations manager, but delined.
 


BenR have you got any dyno graphs or pictures of the throttle body kit you mentioned. Who supplied the inlet manifold you used? Which ECU did you use ect? How much was your total expenditure? Did your car have stock cat in place?

Sorry for all the questions

Charlie
 


LOL......no worries...

NO graphs and no pics....but it was in the newspaper...but i dont have hat either! lol....there goes my cred...

The kit came DIRECT from Renault sport as the motorsport company runs al teh Renault sport series from spiders to formula Renault.

Brand, i dont know....they just came to us. ECU magneti maralli and not very nice to work with. inlet manifold, again, it all came direct from Renault Sport and is not publicly available. but did make our lives very easy, but any TB kit will do teh same thing, not much in terms of getting varying gains from diff TB manufactures....

Total expenditure, no idea.......i wasnt involved with cost. it had the racing system from Orbisound on it.
 


The darker the wheels the smaller they look, and the tractor tyres dont help. With a bit of lowering you would think the wheels would look even bigger than the standards but theyre just not nice at all! Do not like that CLIO 200 graphic either! Though what should i expect from an outfit called LAD motorsport lol
 


Thanks BenR - for reply

- Each to their own in relation to the gold wheels.

As much as people will disagree, gains can be had on the original throttle body. Timo172 (on mk1 172)- had seen a sizeable reduction in his 1/4 mile time with modifactions such as a cold air induction kit, decat, chip and exhaust system. In my curcumstances, I may try the Rsport Eprom and remove the restictive cat and then see how things go. In reality a three year warrenty on an F4R engine is quite reasureing.
 
  EK9 + Mfactory gearing..


i rang demon tweeks about there tb conversion they told me they dont do it for the 172, even tho its in the catalogue, as they couldnt sort out the electronics they reckoned.
 
  EK9 + Mfactory gearing..


so how much is "lad" doin their headwork conversion for then or do i have to waste 10p? and do they really claim 30bhp?
 
  BMW 320d Sport


If there is a Weber Alpha GOLD kit then that is the full works - everything you need, including the manifold, pair of twin bodies, injectors, fuel rail, engine management, linkages, trumpets, filters, the lot. I dont know whether the inlet ports on the F4R look the same as on the F7R, but if they do then theyre using the same manifold, that they designed for the F7P/R engines.
 


Quote: Originally posted by Nick Read on 24 March 2003

If there is a Weber Alpha GOLD kit then that is the full works - everything you need, including the manifold, pair of twin bodies, injectors, fuel rail, engine management, linkages, trumpets, filters, the lot. I dont know whether the inlet ports on the F4R look the same as on the F7R, but if they do then theyre using the same manifold, that they designed for the F7P/R engines.
Thats teh problem nick, DO they actually have the inlet manifold? sorting the electric when you have new management is not hard, its teh same as any other engine, unless they are refering to the ECUs control of other functions.

Im not sure if the F4 and F7 use the same inlet manifiold face. the ports might be the same shape, but then so are the ones on YBs and XEs......

Dont know if they will line up, best check the gaskets for similarity.
 


Cheers guys, spoke to Weber yesterday, the kit is currently still under development and will be released shortly. 30bhp easy, and apprx 1500-1700 quid, + fitting. Or you do it it yourself, saving up.

Cup 200+bhp Silly!!
 


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