Litchfield 700++ Stage 6 conversion

[chrisneeves]

Another 700++ hp GTR roles off the Iain Litchfield production line

18months ago I started the slippery slope of y pipe and remap, quickly followed by full cat back exhaust and drop in panel filters. A couple of months back I dropped the motor off for its 24month service, and disappeared overseas for a business trip. I think the accountants suspicions were aroused at this point, cos, normally a trip to Litchfield imports does not involve a train journey and taxi back home 2 weeks later I returned and was then proud owner of a Litchfield tuned stage 6 GTR.. The accountants suspicions were confirmed on the first family outing, when all hell was unleashed on an unsuspecting family outingI. l will never forget the shrieks of pleasure from my 3 year old the first time away from a set of traffic lights (0-40) masked by shrieks of terror & angst from the accountant.

The mapping and driveability is flawless at full throttle, part throttle, in fact any kinda throttle position you like. There is no discernable lag, and the car drives like stock, but with more all the way to the redline. The VF34 based turbos work perfectly at these levels of power. The Ecutek Racerom switchable mapping from the cruise control is superb with road and race mapping, and adjustable boost control from 0.6 to 1.5 bar. The custom mapping is all about drivability and longevity. Torque is kept below 600, and the delivery is smooth and progressive. Whilst a little more was possible, the final maps, power and torque levels are considered the maximum for an engine running stock internals. This car is an everyday driver, so drivability was a key consideration with this conversion.

As has been written many times before with these big power conversions, getting the power down becomes a real issue on anything other than smooth flat road surfaces when the full force is unleashed. Breaking traction in 3rd and 4th gear can be a sobering experience especially on the tight and twisty B roads of the Suffolk countryside. The uprated turbos reach peak efficiency in the late 3000 and something rpms and the change in exhaust note with added induction roar as they really start to spool still puts a shiver down my spine each time you put the foot down. The catless downplpes + full Milltek s/s exhaust combination gives a purposeful burble around town, but with an almost European exotica sound at full chat. loud but not offensive loud. Probably to loud for trackdays, but I reckon not far off. Time will tell, although I suspect the std y pipe will need refitting if I ever want to get around a track again.
The service and professionalism of Iain and his team was first class as ever. If you are bored of you stg 1,2,3 upgrading to stg 6 is a significant step forward and for me turns a great car into a keeper. If it is not already put a 700+hp conversion on that list of things to do before you die, or the world runs out of petrol..

Below is the full spec, and few pictures of the build. I also had before and after dyno runs, which show a healthy 135hp increase over my baseline figures. This was on AJEC Racing dyno Dynamics Dynamometer and is based upon their default 18% transmission loss factor, so these numbers are conservative. The really interesting number is the +135hp increase, same car, same dyno, same fuel, very similar atmospheric conditions.. The baseline run of 574.9 was milltek y pipe, cat back, drop in panel filters and remap, peak boost at 1.2bar..

Litchfield VF34 Turbo conversion, ball bearing core, Litchfield forged larger compressor wheel. Retains stock water and oil lines.
Forge front mounted intercooler with hard piping kit
Litchfield Larger Turbo intake pipes, like the 2011 GTR.
Litchfield 1000cc Bosch Injectors
Uprated twin fuel pumps
Litchfield intake kit with larger MAF housing
Milltek Y-Pipe non resonated
Milltek rear exhaust system
GTC Downpipes Ex Jurgen, thanks m8, good luck getting your motor fixed.
Gearbox upgrades, circlips, mech gear lock etc.
Improved boost control with custom Ecutek code
Revised ignition control, Variable Valve timing and Fuel maps
Litchfield RACEROM Switchable maps for enhanced Economy mode and full Race mode

On ramp ready to go..

final mapping

baseline run, y pipe, catback, drop in filters, 1.2 off the shelf ecutek map.

in the dyno



clean, simple and stealthy

billet compressor wheel

turbo assembly

old circlip vs dodson

circlips installed

dodson gear lock

gearbox and subframe

intercooler

[w8pmc]

Very nice, looks like a top job & awesome results

[robsm]

Nice job Chris/Ian,

Time for another Norfolk/Suffolk meet I think.

[Paul_G]

Wow, to say those new Dodson clips are a bit beefier than stock would be a bit of an understatement!
Nice work

[Adamantium]

I had no idea the dodson clips were anything like as substantial either.

Don't think there's any chance of those breaking anytime soon.

I want to fit them just to remove a known weak point but Iain tells me I'd be wasting money without the power output to justify it.

[*MrB*]

Great write up!!

[chrisneeves]

Originally Posted by Adamantium

I had no idea the dodson clips were anything like as substantial either.

Don't think there's any chance of those breaking anytime soon.

I want to fit them just to remove a known weak point but Iain tells me I'd be wasting money without the power output to justify it.

yes quite substantial. There's a lot of hype and crap about exploding gearbox's when in fact only a handful have had problems. The GTR is actually a very reliable well built package. Unless you are going for big power the upgrade is not necessary.

[chrisneeves]

Originally Posted by robsm

Nice job Chris/Ian,

Time for another Norfolk/Suffolk meet I think.

Sounds like a plan.. I'll be a Helmingham classic and sports car show on Sunday if you are around... probably parked up in the middle of the classic section as last year... can still hear the tut tuts now....

[robsm]

Link? google comes up with nothing

[chrisneeves]

Originally Posted by robsm

Link? google comes up with nothing

Would help if i got the village name right...

Helmingham Hall Gardens

[ChuckUK]

Engine bay could look a little sexier, how much ?

[sumo69]

Are you going to track the car?

Just did a day with Iain's stage 2 and I can't comprehend needing another 100+bhp - it was quicker than anything by a country mile with 585ish!

D

[LEO-RS]

I bet this absolutely fly's, nice torque curves and good numbers.

However, I thought you said it drove like stock with no noticeable lag? Your dyno plots tell a different story.

Your 575 run, you are fully boosted and spooled at around 3300rpm and producing around 550lbft torque at this point. On your 708 plot at the same rpm you are only producing around 420lbft so you've lost the quick spool and a great whack of torque low down. Youre not fully spooled until just after 4000rpm where it produces around 580lbft. That's at least 700rpm more lag? Even if you take the same 550lbft figure at approx 3800rpm you've still sacrificed 500rpm upwards to get the same figures. (3300 on lower =550lbft, 3800 on higher = 550lbft and still not fully boosted)

Not a criticism, its always going to happen when you fit upgraded blowers with larger wheels, you lose spool and increase the lag and from reading your initial review your bum dyno didn't appear to notice this? From there on in though, certainly a very good improvement on the previous figures.

Enjoy fella, looks to be an animal

[Litchfield]

Great write up Chris, really pleased you are enjoying it We have been doing a lot of mapping work on our development car which is currently the same spec and we have made quite a few nice little tweaks that can be applied to yours

Leo, I would not read too much into dyno figures as we took an identical specification car to another Dyno Dynamics dyno and it produced 720bhp The initial torque curve very much depends on how the dyno operator holds the car on the throttle before releasing it so the late spool appears worse than it actually is. This car was run prior to us completing the mapping on the road so I’m sure it will be produce slight different figures anyway.

The other things to remember is that the drivers “bum dyno” will also be feeling the quicker transient throttle responses that a Billet compressor wheel should give It is difficult to measure the type of response, it’s the rate of change when you ask for 1bar from 0.1 or positive pressure from vacuum. This is the benefit of the reduced mass from the Billet compressor wheel. We are about to start testing a new design which will move things on again

Regards

Iain

[GTaaaaaarrrrrr!]

Very nice work So is this level of power/torque the maximum you feel comfortable with on standard internals?