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Aldoo
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Now armed with more information ..and it hasn't helped at all!!

Been speaking to (deep breath!) my friends,girlfriends,dad. Who has been a ford master mechanic for nearly 20 years.

He's been saying the 1.8 tdcis are bullet proof engines as they are. But they have old style big heavy pistons and inners which apparently don't like extra power.

As far as he cares decatting and the air filter will make next to no difference but just help blow it up.

He does say that the 2.0 models have a massive amount of potential though!

..hate having so much to think about!! ..i don't know whether to go for it and just have a laugh till it blows or be safe :/

Well, you girlfrends dad might be right but, a master mechanic is more involved in repairing stock engines and cars - power tuning is a specialized subject,

A 2.0L is probably a better starting point, but as you already have a 1.8, and if you can get the welding done for £35 and you might even make a profit on your old cat its not going to cost the earth

Also, as you go through the process of researching, discussing, working on your modifications/ getting work done, you are learning more about cars/ engines/ tuning all the time, there are significant engineering challenges, a good mechanic is not nessisarily a good tuner (some are) - it involves thinking "out of the box"

The cat is "passive" (it has no lambda sensors on it like a modern petrol engine) - it can be removed and will not make the engine run lean, the loss of back-pressure will not loose power just make the turbine spin up quicker

If you make a bad job of the decat you might have lumps of weld sticking into and restricring the gas- flow, or it leaks or it does not fit or it snaps in half - none of those things could "kill" an engine

Likewise modifications to the inlet, (pre compressor, retaining some sort of effective filter), you cannot melt plugs etc or run lean like a petrol car

Probably the worst thing that could happen with the decat / inlet mods is there was no improvement in power - the chances of it damaging the engine is slim - if you were revving it very high in the lower gears you could drop a valve or throw a rod, - but you would need to rev it way past the redline to do that

I hear "i will never work" all the time when i fitted my (replacement for DMF) solid flywheel carbon fiber/ kevlar flywheel I was told it would shake my teeth out, bend the crank and "last 5 minites" 2 years later its still perfect (i doubt a DMF would have survived me/ my car)

I bought a DTUK tuning box (rrp £399) (bought secondhand /never paid that for it! ) if you read many posts on forums these are just £1 resistors in fancy boxes, and all they do is fool the ECU into making the injectors squirt more fuel in and those injectors won't last long Well. i had the tuning box for years, it had a programmable digital microprossesor in it, i modified it so it had a remote dial to turn it up/ down, i then adjusted it for maximum power by doing timed runs - so the car had optimal acceleration regardless of the amount of smoke/ stress on the injectors pump etc - its lasted years , still original injectors (switched to bluefin now though)

There was someone drag racing a Mk1 Mondeo with the old 1.8L 8v TD lump in - it was very quick (14 sec standing quarter , quicker than an st220, as far as i remember)

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FOCA, you're a very reassuring man/im very easy to persuade!! haha

I think ill be having a new timing belt fitted by a mechanic whilst this weather is bad, then ill look to do the work once the snow realises its nearly april!!

I mentioned the green cotton air filter and also said that the intakes and filters on them are about as good as they can be. claimed theres next to no difference even without a filter.

...im thinking after reading about that the mods will all make tiny differences, but i guess itll add up. plus its just something to keep me occupied isnt it! haha

He will be right that it will likely shorten engine life, even if its just due to me wanting to push it further. but i guess thats something ill address if it actually happens.

one last thing. would you just go for same width as current pipe or have a diff size for the decat section? ..the most common iv read is that 2.5 inch is best.

Thanks a lot for sharing the knowledge!! :)

Tom

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No worries :)

I use a 2.5" decat, but there is a step in the pipe down to 2-1/4" and the exhaust/ cat is a different design from yours

for you, you would be better with the same size pipe as either side of the cat - so it stays the same diameter with no step up or step down, if you are going for a bigger diameter, it needs to be the whole length - from manifold to tailpipe, otherwise its a waste of time

2.5" is not best if it is smaller either side - its got to be a smooth flow with no "steps" - so if its 57mm on either side of the cat, a 57mm decat would be best

Some people say if you have more power you don't have to "thrash" your engine so hard - so a tuned motor is put under LESS stress - i suppose it depends how you drive it :)

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right then, so ill just continue the same diameter as it is going in and coming out of the cat :) ..next time i have the car up ill have a look if the pipe is the same diameter the entire length

and yeh, they say the engine wont be laboring as much so its better on fuel, but thats assuming you still drive at the same speed

as you said though, this is a learning experience, im only 19!

after a few years more N/C and me getting bored of the 1.8tdci ill probs have a 2.0. and i should know exactly what i want to do with it! :)

Cheers

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