Re: [DML] Re: Turbo PRV

[Martin Gutkowski - DMC Ltd <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Teitelbaum wrote:

> You can probably go to over 300
>horsepower if you can control yourself and not abuse the transmission.
>Unfortunatley once you get that power you want to use it. Things may
>not break the first time you dump the clutch but the damage is
>cumulative. The 5-speed may be more robust than the automatic but
>everything has it's limits and we can argue over exactly where they
>are. 
>
I have no desire to argue, but I have pointed out that the UN1 was used 
in production super cars the GTA V6 Turbo and the A610, not to mention 
the Esprit (although with a lower final drive). Compared to the 
DeLorean, the A610 is heavier, faster, considerably more powerful 
(approaching 300hp at a bar of boost) and has exactly the same 
transmission. This is the car that represented the ultimate evolution of 
the Alpine range - whose A310 gave a lot  to the design of the 
DeLorean's engine and drivetrain (read almost everything bar the carbs! 
We've had one in our carpark for the past week).

There's a GTA V6 turbo (200hp and 210ft-lbs) that lives very close to me 
with 230,000 miles on the clock and no transmission issues. I've been 
active on the Alpine forum for a while now and apart from an A610 owner 
asking about a leaky driveshaft seal (you have to laugh), I've not read 
one single post about broken transmissions.

People go on about horsepower all the time, and figures are thrown 
around which are frankly meaningless. I've been in stock GTA Turbos, 
driven a modified GTA Atmo (dyno'd at 140hp at the wheels), and 
installed and configured the custom ECU in what is probably the world's 
fastest GTA turbo (300hp at the wheels). I'm sorry to say that all the 
above cars, even the Atmo, would leave the DeLorean for dust. They all 
have the same transmission, give or take some fractionally different ratios.

Recently someone was tuning up a stock GTA Turbo (2.5 engine) at a bar 
of boost, and by some very clever mapping, managed a peak of 310hp at 
the flywheel and 368ft-lbs. We were all frankly stunned that he didn't 
start slipping his clutch! (I can post the dyno plot for this). He 
killed the engine a week later.

I'll categorically state here that from my knowledge of the Alpine range 
and the tuning those guys are doing, that the likelihood of breaking a 
stock DeLoreans transmission by hooking up ANY PRV is highly unlikely.

As a side note, I've just acquired my new toy - a 91 Citroen XM V6 24v - 
a superb example of a well-kept 24v 3-litre PRV in a thumping great 
barge of a car that weighs over 2 tons, yet hauls it's arse to 60 in 7.5 
seconds and tops out at 147mph. This is a transverse 5-speed, but the 
engine "only" pushes out 200hp at 6000rpm and 192ft-lb at 3600rpm. I 
mention it because I'm still grinning from the drive home :-)

Martin
#1458
#4426






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