All Things V6...

[DHallworth]

Well... after yet another interesting journey home from Welwyn Garden City I am home.

Dad left home at 3am this morning in his Range Rover, the newer one that's only done 8000 miles. He arrived there just before 10. I went to meet him in the Activa and we had a coffee. He then followed me to BL Auto's where he had a closer look at the Activa and was very kindly shown around the collection of SM's and DS's by Barry.

We then hitched up and loaded the Activa onto the trailer and at 13:00 we headed for home. We decided that for a change we'd come up the A1(M) and avoid the M6 as we'd be hitting somewhere around Birmingham at rush hour.

We were just south of Doncaster in the Range Rover and all of a sudden this almighty noise started. Luckily we were in a slow moving part of the road where it's just dual carriageway doing about 30-40 mph. We dived immediately onto the hard shoulder and came to a stop.

Whilst getting out of the car I noticed that the rear near side tyre on the Range Rover had completely blown out.

This tyre still had 7mm of tread on it and had only covered around 8000 miles since the car left the factory.

Whilst trying to change the wheel, the wheel on the car was to hot to touch so we had to let it cool down a little before taking it off.

When spinning the wheel there appears to be a screw in the tread which is annoying but I'm not sure it explains the total failure of the sidewall.

As far as I know, a screw in a tyre would cause a gradual loss of pressure. This in turn would cause the tyre to run soft and could cause it to blow out I guess. However, should the tyre pressure monitoring on the car not have detected this and flagged an alarm?

Luckily, as I said, we were only doing 30-40 mph when it failed so there was no damage done to the car and we were able to stop immediately upon hearing the noise. We can't of travelled more then 50 - 60 feet after the noise occurred yet the way the sidewall on the tyre has failed though is pretty spectacular. The entire outside wall is destroyed. There's nothing left of it.

I reckon a phone call to the local LR dealer tomorrow might be on the cards.

Simon,

The ECU that is in the Activa is the brand new one that came from Bosch using the link that you provided.

The car starts and runs perfectly on it but it won't pair the keys or initialise the ECU to the car.

David.

[Mandrake]

Geeze David, it's almost as if the Range Rovers are jealous of all the pampering the Activa has been getting lately and are throwing their toys out of the pram in protest!

Maybe the screw was there for a while and it was only when the extra load of the trailer and car were applied that it caused trouble, or maybe you only just picked up the screw - who knows.

Strange about the key programming. With my unlocked ECU it did not hinder the key programming process in any way - I wasn't even aware it was unlocked until I started swapping ECU's around.

If you have never done a key programming session on the Activa before the engine swap and therefore can't be 100% sure that it was working before with the original code I think the most likely explanation is that your CPH is not the factory original one and so has a different code.

If you had the correct code for the CPH but the engine ECU is unlocked I don't believe that would hinder key programming, although I could be wrong. During key programming both the CPH and ECU learn the transponder codes, but with an unlocked engine ECU there is nothing for it to learn because the immobiliser function is disabled anyway.

All that teaching the CPH the key transponder codes seems to do is allow the CPH to detect the presence of the key for the key left in ignition alert (the immobilising is done by the engine ECU) - eg the chime that plays when you open the door with the key in the off position still in the ignition. If the transponder in the key is not coded to the CPH this chime doesn't play because it doesn't recognise the presence of the key.

[DHallworth]

This Activa just keeps getting better

I fitted a new set of shoes to it this morning as the old tyres were hard and perished. When accelerating at wide open throttle in Welwyn Garden City the car was pulling a little. It felt like it was torque steering across the lane. I'm pleased to report that 4 new tyres has cured it 100%.

I was making a cup of tea at 00:45 tonight and realised that there was no milk left in the fridge. Normally this would be a leave it till morning job but I just find myself looking for excuses to drive the Activa at the moment, so I had a back road blast to the local shell station where the car was given a load of V-Power and I picked up some milk.

I cannot get over how different this car is. It has totally transformed it and all for the better. There's certainly no looking back now. I was a little bit nervous at the end of last week in case after having spent all this money having the work done I didn't like it but I am 110% sure now that having this done was the right move. Anybody who has an Activa, some spare cash, and a V6 that they would sacrifice for the cause should definitely give BL Auto's a call as this is one conversion that every Activa should be entitled to!

The only problem I've found so far is there appears to be a slight leak of gearbox oil from the nearside driveshaft oil seal. This is quite annoying as the guy who reconditioned my gearbox told me that they were find and didn't need replacing. I'm a little annoyed at myself for not changing them anyway but it's not a bad job to do so I'll get them ordered tomorrow and that'll be it done. The left seal is about £11 and the right seal is about £15 so it's not an expensive job.

I also think the 407 Coupe is going to be coming up for sale. Now the Activa is a V6 manual I really cannot justify having them both on the drive. The 407 is a luxury that has only done 3000 miles since September. Over 1000 of which were done in the week we picked it up going from Belfast to Dublin, into Wales and visiting family all over Wales before travelling home to Glasgow in it.

I also need to look at replacing the Range Rover as I do a fair bit of towing. I have decided that I'm going to go for a newer Range Rover then my old one. I'm hoping for something around 2007 with the 4.2 Supercharged engine in it so that's another reason that the 407 needs to find a new loving home. I'm waiting for it to be detailed at the local guy before advertising it though.

David.

[Mandrake]

So what do you say to those who say that chipping the boost on the TCT engine to 190hp is just as good as the V6 ?

Was your TCT chipped or have you driven one ? I've always been doubtful that increasing the boost to get 190hp would have the same effect as the V6 - sure you might have the same peak horsepower near maximum rpm, but you won't get the instant throttle response of the NA engine, nor will you have the wide extremely flat torque band of the V6 that makes it so drivable...it literally pulls all the way from below 1500 to over 6000.

I know how you feel finding excuses to go for a drive - during the good spells where I'd done something to mine that seemed to fix it (for a while) I'd be looking for excuses to drive it...

Do you think the extra 200Kg on the front wheels has made any difference to the handling, and does your Activa have the bigger V6 front struts fitted ?

How does the performance compare to the 407 coupe ? Less horsepower but I'm assuming quite a lot less weight too, so pretty comparable ?

Glad you have no regrets David, I didn't think you would.

[Northern_Mike]

According to Carfolio, there's only 58kgs difference between the 2.0 TCT Activa and the V6 Activa, so the extra horses will be well used.

Usually I'd prefer a turbo-4 as I really like them, but the TCT, tweaked or not isn't a great example of one. It's heavy, inherently thirsty and not that powerful in my opinion.

I bet David's Activa is amazing.

[KP]

The thing is the tct uses a cast iron block doesn't it? This means it can take serious upgrades and the space in the engine bay would alloy for compound charging so big power and little lag.

The biggest downfall is the massive amount of routing the air flow has to go thru.

This causes the spoolup lag and so much wasted energy. If it were mounted like the 1.6hdi turbo the lag would be greatly reduced

[DHallworth]

The TCT in the Activa with the boost controller on it was good if you kept it in the sweet spot but it ran out of puff quite quickly. In 4th at 70 if you planted it, the thing took off but this is totally different. This thing feels really quick!

Against the 407... They're very different cars. The 407 makes a lovely motorway cruiser that has a decent turn of speed when you want it. When on private runways it will cruise at any speed you ask it too without batting an eye lid. It's much quieter then the Xantia inside it and the later VVT engine is also quieter too, it has more of a purr to it then a growl. However, The Range Rover had done 2000 miles since it's MOT in November and the 407 has done 3000 miles since it's MOT in September so I really can't justify having all these cars.

David.

[Mandrake]

And not even a mouse was stirring in the Hallworth household...

Or perhaps David can't find the exit to get off the roundabout he's been circling for the last 5 days...

[CitroJim]

No, he's just too busy enjoying the massive grin the car is giving him Simon...

[DHallworth]

Well all is good

The Activa is still driving like a dream. I'm trying my hardest to resist using it as I've not had time to fit the new drive shaft oil seals yet. There's only a little weep from it but I don't want to run the gearbox dry so it's being rested until I get a chance to change them.

Saturday saw Dad and I taking a trip to Newcastle to go and look at a replacement for the Range Rover that caught fire. We had a trip there and back in the 407 Coupé which I'm pleased to report performed absolutely flawlessly and had plenty of power about it when I needed to overtake on the A69. Average economy for the trip was a smidge below 30mpg which isn't bad considering the speed I was cruising at and the fact the air con was on most of the way. I think the air con needs gassed though as it's not particularly cold.

I'm pleased to announce that a replacement Range Rover has now been bought... I just need to let the chap take his number plate off it before I collect it.

I'm not really looking forward to the economy on this one though... It's a 4.2 Supercharged V8 with 400bhp but no LPG this time.









I was on cloud nine about the Range Rover all day on Saturday and Sunday but got a phone call on Sunday to say my mum had been rushed to hospital by ambulance so that sort of put a downer on things hence the radio silence over the last couple of days. However, mum's home, the cars are all good, and I can't wait till next week to collect the Range Rover

David.

[CitroJim]

Pleased to hear your mum is on the mend David and that's quite a monster you've got hold of there.

Are you planning to LPG it?

[DHallworth]

Jim,

No plans to LPG it. Apparently the valve seats on these engines are a bit soft so you need to install a flash lube system, then the extra injector etc. You're looking at around £2.5k for LPG on it.

As I only do 4k miles a year which I'll probably split with the Activa and XM over the summer now it probably doesn't get enough use to justify the cost of conversion. However, I might quickly change my mind on that once I see just how bad it is!

David.

[KP]

18mpg if your lucky...

[DHallworth]

It's my on call week this week and with being out till 4am this morning (Saturday) it saw me with an unexpected day off today so whilst the sun was shining I decided to give the XM and the Activa a wash. The XM went straight back onto the ramp in the shed so I didn't get any pictures of that one. I did however get a few snaps of the Activa...







When you park it in that particular spot on the drive with the steering on a slight lock it seems to drop the front right and raise the rear left of the car yet as soon as you move it onto the level the car sits perfectly level... I'm sure it's posing for pictures!

The driveshaft oil seals are in the dealer now so they are to be collected and fitted on Monday/Tuesday as well as the nylon Activa rod bushes that are on the front subframe as Robert noticed they were worn when he was doing the engine swap. After washing the car I couldn't resist the urge to take it for a run. As I was going out of the drive my brother ran across the drive and climbed in so we went down the A8 to Port Glasgow where there's a few roundabouts and on the way back ended up showing an Audi A4 Estate that he wasn't as good on the corners as he thought he was.

The first thing I did with the car when I got it home from BL Auto's was fit 4 new Michelin Energy tyres to it as the old ones had gone hard and started to crack. When flooring it with the V6 in it before I changed them it was sliding on the road as it was trying to put the power down. I'm pleased to report that 4 new tyres has sorted this issue completely and she's running beautifully with loads of grip again now

Hopefully the Range Rover will be collected on Monday morning too

David.

[CitroJim]

When you park it in that particular spot on the drive with the steering on a slight lock it seems to drop the front right and raise the rear left of the car yet as soon as you move it onto the level the car sits perfectly level... I'm sure it's posing for pictures!

They do all do that little trick David and it's quite endearing!

Pleased you find the Michelin Energys good on the Activa. I do too! They seem to be lasting well too...