i'm thinking of purchasing an aero as my 900 t16s is becoming to small for my needs. i've seen that some of the aero owners on this board are running upwards of 300bhp :D
. i would just like to ask what you did in order to gain this power increase and whose tuning parts you used (so i can frighten the s@*t out of my mates 300 bhp cossie :o ) thanks.

What I did was amazingly simple, if not terribly cheap (but not that expensive, in my opinion):

JT 3" exhaust system from the turbo back (less than £500, if I remember).

Maptun Aero Stage 2 ECU (£380).

Modified airbox with drop-in K&N filter (£50 for the filter and a couple of hours of my time).


I still don't know how accurate that 305 BHP at the flywheel is, but it certainly puts out 240 BHP at the wheels.

Alan B is hoping to receive the JT exhaust and Speedparts ECU for his Aero soon, and hopes to put it on the same rolling road, so it will be interesting to compare that with the Maptun solution.

Of all the 9000s, the Aero is an excellent choice for tuning, due to the big TD04 turbo that can support this sort of power.

Stew, Tuning is relatively cheap if you by Speedparts stuff through Elkparts - I have placed my order for the 283bhp, 300lb stage 3 kit for around £800. Add £500 for shocks, springs and one or two bushes and you have a real performance car.

Yup,

I've done exactly the same as Jeremy - the parts should be arriving soon - and I will be reporting the results of the upgrade with a rolling road session.

Alanb

Stew,

so i can frighten the s@*t out of my mates 300 bhp cossie

You'll be lucky to frighten him as he weighs around 200kg less than the Aero.

As Colin Chapman said 'For speed first add lightness' (Or something like that!)

I can vouch for that!! :lol:

Yes, but...

... can his mate's Cossie pull 310lbft all the way from 2500-5000RPM? And what's the power loss on that 4WD drivetrain? :roll:

Straight-line performance (traction permitting) depends on wheel-torque to weight ratio.

As cdcarlsson can confirm, we were wasting Ferraris and TVRs at Goodwood the other day. Didn't meet a Ferrari in the corners, I don't think, but with my suspension mods and Bridgestone S-03s on standard Aero wheels, the TVRs especially were really getting in our way on the bends. :cheesy:

Yes, but...

... can his mate's Cossie pull 310lbft all the way from 2500-5000RPM? And what's the power loss on that 4WD drivetrain? :roll:
:cheesy:

:nono; :nono;
Ah no, the question to ask is whether the Cossie can haul a 4-seater sofa whilst doing all of this.

That, I think, is the crucial difference.

looks like i won't have to worry about my friends cossie anymore as he's blown it up! still no aero to date, but my dad has just bought an absolute beauty. i'm currently trying to persuade him to have it modified, but he's only going as far as the suspension :-?

the question to ask is whether the Cossie can haul a 4-seater sofa whilst doing all of this.

Well, the other day, whilst Ferrari-spanking and TVR-munching, Nick and I were both cruising in comfort with the air con. switched on and quite a few Kg of extra baggage. We would have had the stereo going too, but we'd have had to turn it up really loud to hear it properly and I was very concerned about the extra drag the aerial would cause :lol:

:nono; :nono;
Ah no, the question to ask is whether the Cossie can haul a 4-seater sofa whilst doing all of this.

Or Tow a caravan? (Can I say that?) :wink:

Yes, but...

... can his mate's Cossie pull 310lbft all the way from 2500-5000RPM? And what's the power loss on that 4WD drivetrain? :roll:

Straight-line performance (traction permitting) depends on wheel-torque to weight ratio....


You should come to Tamworth and try to convince my p*** taking mates that a modded Saab can be quicker than a modded Cossie. They've all been programmed with the same old "Saab = motorway cruiser + nowt else", it gets me down. :( Typical comment from a less regular acquaintance is "you still got that crappy old Saab", bloody plebs the lot of em.

Tell them to get down to Goodwood and beat a 1:43 lap time.

just ask what number rebuild they are currently on. i usually find it shuts my cossie mates up for a while :cheesy:

Maptun Aero Stage 2 ECU (£380).

I still don't know how accurate that 305 BHP at the flywheel is, but it certainly puts out 240 BHP at the wheels.

Of all the 9000s, the Aero is an excellent choice for tuning, due to the big TD04 turbo that can support this sort of power.

Where did you get the figure 305 BHP from? Maptun's stage 2 for the aero is said to give 275 BHP on the crank. And with a little calculation on drivetrain-losses around 12% (the same figure Maptun uses to calculate their figures with) gives the 240 BHP you have dynoed.

If you are going to reach figures above 300+ BHP you really need a bigger IC, bigger injectors and a bigger turbo and of course the 3" exhaust. I know that SQR says that they can reach over 300 BHP with stock parts but when Speedparts sell the same program they use a 19T turbo and bigger injectors... probably because the stated hp's aren't there for longer periods.

My own plan for next year for my 9000 2,3T (200) is to reach 320 - 330 BHP with the mods above... and a little help from Maptun :D

As I said, I still don't know how accurate that was. However, 12% seems rather low for drivetrain loss (I would expect to see at least 15-16%) and the rolling road dyno I used does measure the drivetrain loss rather than just throw in a figure. My Maptun Aero Stage 2 is not quite the same as everyone else's either, as I did ask for a couple of customisations. I wouldn't expect the top-end power to be affected, though.

I also measured it on another dyno and reached 300hp (maximum the dyno could manage). I don't know what transmission loss was used in the calculation for that.

I do have the 3" exhaust. I fitted that long before I bought the ECU. The exhaust is an essential part of the Maptun Aero Stage 2 upgrade.

The intercooler and injectors are next, with suitable magic from Maptun, and I suppose a bigger turbo would have to come after that.
I'd like 300hp at the wheels. Then no-one could argue with that! :lol:

If I were you I would believe the figures from the dyno with the lowest figures because from what I have heard Maptun's figures are known to be reliable.

I've heard from a guy who works at Saab that 275 BHP is what you can get from the "red" -431 injectors that our Saab's have from the factory... at least if you want to have some fuel left to cool down the cylinders when knocking appears.

About dynoing... I've heard many storys about people running dynos without calculating the result depending on the outside temperature, air pressure and dew point etc. If you don't "standardize" the figures you will get more power from your car if you dyno is in the autumn than in the summer - without changing anything! Check out the link below...

http://wahiduddin.net/calc/cf.htm

By the way, do you know that Alpina's BHP figures are on the wheels and not on the crank. I think that that is pretty cool! You have just left a car that also have 240 BHP in your dust after a race and talk about it afterwards, you can say :- "Oh, I thought that we were talking about power on the wheels..." ;)