Steve's Aurion ZR6

[Steven]

Option 1 garage.

Colored sidewalls eh? Hmmm :-)

[Guest]

wheels look sweet, get your low on now :P

[Steven]

wheels look sweet, get your low on now :P

Would need to flare the guards to go any lower

[Steven]

Finally caved and go her lowered today with the help of DJKOR (cheers mate!)

Good and bad though. Massive drop, before and after shows the front dropped by about 35mm, but the back has dropped a massive 45mm! Combined with my 245 wide tyres I am getting some massive scrubbing going on so it's off to the tyre shop later this week to get that rectified (hopefully).

Pictures below, sorry for the dodgy camera pics but should be enough to get an idea until better photos can be taken.

[Andrew357]

Looking good man. Really good

[DJKOR]

Photos just don't do it justice. It looks so damn good in person. Rolling on the road looks even better.

[Pah]

Looks good mate really suits the car

[Steven]

I flared the front guards this afternoon which seems to have eliminated the scrubbing at the front. Backs are due to have the lips rolled sometime this week. Whilst test driving I noticed a very obvious knock and squeak from the front drivers wheel, found the nuts for both front wheels were loose however the squeak sounded like the tyre was rubbing against something. Have since removed it and bashed the hell out of the spring lower plate assembly to give it some more clearance but I don't believe that's where the problem lay.

Here's hoping whatever I did had some effect, as even with the rear scrubbing the car feels SOOO much nicer to drive - just takes the corners in its stride sooo easily.

[SecaBoy]

well done mate... looks fantastic!

dunno why the aurions always drop more in the rear than the front... its frustrating... :(

[haydos_sx6]

Nice

[Steven]

Whelp, I took her for a long semi-relaxing drive up Nebo this evening to get a feel of how she drives now. It was more about driving smoothly, so that meant preemptive gear changes, good lines through corners and minimal use of heavy braking.

When around town the lowered springs can cause a semi-rough ride, around the mountain road it felt perfectly at home. With the wide tyres it just flows through the corners now and many times I couldn't believe how quick she was.

The downside is that I've found it still has some scrubbing from the rear guards, which was partially the reason for the drive in the first place. On closer inspection back home it appears a bit more rolling and a teeny bit more of a flare is needed.

[diamond white]

looks 100% on previous matey...well done and luv dat colour B)

cheers cam

[trentmeyer23]

It definitely looks much tougher now. B)

[GDUBB]

Smooth lookin Aurion... Not over done, just right. U need some proper photos but

[Steven]

Driving up a small hill today and suddenly the car felt like someone dropped a caravan onto the non-existent tow bar. Most of the power seemed to completely disappear and she didn't want to rev anymore. No error lights or horrible noises, short of a slightly rougher idle (very slight).

With the help of DJKOR we determined she was running 40% under load when in park (you want around 20%). Me thinking it was something to do with a blocked exhaust, I've dropped the exhaust after the cats. Found the varex muffler which I had long found to not make much difference whether open or closed, was actually jammed shut. The motor turned but the butterfly does not. Interesting to note with the exhaust dropped, engine load is actually 48% - go figure?

So I know the varex was blocked but SHOULD still have flowed somewhat event with the butterfly shut due to how they're designed. I need to take her for a drive in the morning with the exhaust dropped ( ) to see if the lack of power still persists.

[DJKOR]

Mmmmm. That does sound quite nice with no exhaust. Make sure to give it a good run to let the neighbours know you're around

I wonder what is going on eh.

As for the Varex, I have always been a bit "hmmmm" about the idea of running it in the closed position for your situation. When closed, I think it ends up being more restrictive than the stock resonator. Either way though, if that was always closed and it only got to a bad state then, I would be saying the problem isn't entirely with the Varex... though that could certainly be a contributor to your bad fuel economy. That said, it the bypass chamber has managed to get blocked somehow, then that may be the cause for the latest issue. Still, me thinks there is some more troubleshooting to be done.

[Steven]

Mmmmm. That does sound quite nice with no exhaust. Make sure to give it a good run to let the neighbours know you're around

I wonder what is going on eh.

As for the Varex, I have always been a bit "hmmmm" about the idea of running it in the closed position for your situation. When closed, I think it ends up being more restrictive than the stock resonator. Either way though, if that was always closed and it only got to a bad state then, I would be saying the problem isn't entirely with the Varex... though that could certainly be a contributor to your bad fuel economy. That said, it the bypass chamber has managed to get blocked somehow, then that may be the cause for the latest issue. Still, me thinks there is some more troubleshooting to be done.

I think we misread the readings yesterday. Where the calc load value is over 40%, there is another value called "absolute load value" much further down which actually reads around 20% (this was with the exhaust dropped though). I wish I had noticed it with the exhaust attached but that can't be helped. Here's hoping the car actually drives properly now.

EDIT

YES she feels considerably better when taking her for a spin. Sounds like a huge vacuum, but the power feels like it's mostly back. Now I just need to find a shop to do the final adjustments this morning.

[Steven]

Car's back from the exhaust fitter and working great. I also have a decent exhaust now (although it does have some drone at highway speeds)

Turns out the worst had happened and the varex internal "flange" had fully snapped off and been forced to the rear of the muffler, effectively blocking it completely regardless of how the motor sat. I suspect it's been snapped off for a very long time now due to no difference when using the remote, but it probably still let the exhaust flow through in the "closed" position. This explains my ****ty 1/4 mile times and my unusually bad fuel economy.

Below diagram gives a basic idea of the problem.

I replaced it with a straight through pipe as I can always easily throw in another muffler down the track if I choose.

Big cheers to DJKOR though as without his help I wouldn't have been able to diagnose it so quickly

[DJKOR]

Sheeeeett. I predict that the 1 inch bypass hole was not large enough to support what the engine needed which probably led to the valve giving way.

[Steven]

Next project, the beginning of taking things to the next level - see if you can pick it from the photoshop below.

[arc]

Blacked out headlights?

[Steven]

nope, but as a hint... it's subtle, and no one else has done it before (at least to my knowledge)

[DJKOR]

You are so trolling. There is nothing done to that photo

That said, my mind it telling me that I can see something different.....

[Buff Hamster]

It must be something interior. The exterior looks the same or i'm blind.

[Steven]

It's definitely exterior.

Loving the reactions, as it's intended to be one of those very subtle mods that you can't quite pick unless told.

More hint - it would actually involve a bit of work, but wouldn't cost that much really considering I can do the work myself (except the painting, BIG hint there)