Being overly cocky is the undoing of many performance car drivers. That false sense of superiority means they're prone to relax just that little bit more than they should. And that can potentially spell embarrassment with a capital E. For example, the typical performance car driver will pull up next to a Hyundai Excel and - no matter how high its rear wing is - gloat in the knowledge that they can dust it at will. An authoritative prod of the loud pedal will usually prove that beyond a doubt. After all, a Hyundai is just a budget priced (budget riced?) run-about...
But things don't turn out that way when its Morgan Treacher's Hyundai placed in the next lane. Morgan's likely to leave the line at moderate pace and squeeze the throttle down 'til it touches the floor. And, in the second that the Hyundai thrusts in front, our performance driver will invariably bury the right foot - an easy blast-past being their expectation. But it's an attempt that's made in vane. It's too little, too late. Cos when this Excel beast is burning along in front of you under full power, there's a host of machines on the street that won't be able to reel it in. Flat-change and bounce of the rev-limiter if you will, you still won't catch Morgan - he'll be tens of metres in front of you with a broad smile plastered across his face.
Oh, the humiliation!
Of course, we're not talking about the sort of performance increase you'll bag with just filter and exhaust mods - we're talking a turbo! A ChipTorqueing turbo, that is. You see, Morgan works under the roof of ChipTorque on the Gold Coast - a company that is one of the distributors of the amazing turbo kit. It's such an awesome development, Morgan even went out and bought this '96 model Excel just to suit the kit. Usually, it's the other way around isn't it?
Having owned the stock car for just over six months, Morgan jumped into modifying it. First came the wheels - a tasty set of 16 x 7 inch Vipers wearing 195/45 Toyo rubber - and a sporty exhaust system. This uses 2½-inch mandrel bent pipe from the factory cat converter back, as well as a straight-through rear box. The factory ride height then took about an inch and a half dive thanks to lowered Pedders springs - and, we're told, a set of Konis is on the wish list for the future.
Then came the big attraction - the piece de resistance. ChipTorque tackled the single overhead cam 1.5-litre mill (all 65kW of it) with their Stage 2 turbo kit. A serious power boost was the expectation - and the result. To give you an idea of the under-bonnet works, the Stage 1 kit kicks off with a T2-sized water cooled roller bearing turbocharger, a custom tubular exhaust manifold, all oil and water feed lines (including the drain pipe back into the sump) and a stainless steel post-turbo dump pipe.
And you'll need another breath to mention the custom chip, large Air Tech front-mount air-to-air intercooler, K&N pod filter and Bosch blow-off valve. From this lot of gear, ChipTorque quotes 74-79kW at the wheels (depending on the exhaust). Stage 2 then involves changing from a mass airflow meter to a 2 Bar MAP sensor, fitting larger Bosch 706 injectors and, of course, further re-mapping.
The company's own promo brochure shows a stocky Excel capable of 46kW at the wheels, while Morgan's Stage 2 beast ups the tally to a massive 91kW - again, at the wheels. Peak power is attained at around 5400 rpm and torque holds strong until the factory 6400 limiter (ie it's very strong!). With virtually double the factory output, the car has run an official quarter mile time of 15.2 seconds at 102 mph. And - what's more - all of this happens on only 8 psi! Morgan's recently pumped the boost up to a fatter 12 psi and, while a power figure isn't yet available, a G-Tech timed 0-400m time of 14.62 is getting seriously quick for an Excel! And according to Morgan, it's a completely different car to drive. That's not surprising...
And the whole time, reliability has been fine.
Morgan says the entire installation procedure took only around eight hours, with no custom fabrication required. It really is a simple bolt-on kit - and, furthermore, it looks remarkably factory when you pop the hood. The black rubber induction pipes look like genuine Mr Hyundai items, and retaining the factory exhaust manifold heat shield is really trick too. Strangely enough, the factory direct fire ignition looks more aftermarket than anything else!
With the availability of a truly monstrous jump in torque (remember, the factory rev limit is still imposed), ChipTorque advises fitting the optional clutch and pressure plate upgrade to prevent slippage. With the exception of this, the rest of the drivetrain of Morgan's car remains standard.
And for such a dramatically faster car than stock, it's a very standard car all-round.
The only mods to the grey Hyundai interior are an aluminium gear knob, Alpine deck, boost gauge and a pair of ChipTorque shift lights. One illuminates at 5400 rpm, and the other at 6000 rpm - which is a big help since there's no factory tacho! From the outside, the windows are darkened, the bumpers are colour coded white, a chrome tip pokes from the rear and, of course, there's those big rims. You'd never pick it as a 14-15 second car! Although, the flaunted ChipTorque stickers tend to give it away a bit...
Note - ChipTorque also have a turbo kit to suit the twin cam version of the Excel. Now that should really shatter a few egos!
It's really not safe out there anymore...
Contact:
ChipTorque
+61 7 5596 4204
www.chiptorque.com.au
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