Piwoslaw's Peugeot 307sw modding thread

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Does it turn over slowly, or just takes some time to catch after turning at normal speed ? If the latter I wonder if no fuel is being injected for a short time.

It turns slowly. I never the off engine until its temperature has been above 70°C for a few minutes. When I kill it at an intersection, all sorts of electronics and other loads are still sucking juice from the battery. I'm sure that my solar trickle charger has prolonged the batt's life by a short amount, and I'm actually surprised that it survived the last winter.

I'm surprised that Helga's battery is that old - my Grandma had two Škodas, first a Favorit then a Felicja, and both had a dead battery within 2 years.

As for my injectors, or the ECU that controls them, I've noticed that I can't bump start the car smoothly enough for the passengers to not notice (even if they didn't notice the beeping when I killed the engine at speed). Once the engine starts turning it takes the ECU half a second to decide to start injecting, so during that half-second there is noticeable engine braking.

[jtbo]

I have Varta battery, bought it 2001-2003, can't remember precisely, still goes strong, but at -30C I did notice bit of performance decrease.

[euromodder]

For anyone in the market for new batteries, you can now get batteries that are better suited to the start/stop feature more frequently found on new engines.

[RRC]

Very nice thread - it inspired me to do few things with my car
I would like to ask what exactly DRL's (brand/model) have you installed in your bumper and where can I buy one?

Thanks

[Piwoslaw]

Hello RRC, and thank you
Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact brand since I bought them over two years ago. They cost about ~200 PLN (50 EUR/70 USD) then. I looked for something similar on an internet auction site, but there are so many new models now that it should be easy to find the size, shape and price that you need. Just make sure that they are certified (they should have 'RL' and 'E' with a number), that way you shouldn't have problems with police in Europe.

Have you done any mods to your Felicia? That's one of the cars I'd like to see with a kammback It's also the first car I learned to drive. Please start a thread to share any details.

[Piwoslaw]

I got a chance to take a picture of Svietlana from far away (20-40 meters), to try to get a better estimate of her frontal area. I also got a picture of the raised trunk hatch with the kammy - you can see how its sides slope inwards. Notice how that angle is an extension of the small lip above the rear window - Peugeot got it right, but waaay too short!

[Piwoslaw]

Here is a summary of last week's trip to Slovenia:

• On the way there I had my average FE: 1200-1300km before filling up.
• When we came back I had 1500km and the onboard computer said I have another 150km. I won't beat my record of 1666km, but 1500+ is still good if you take into account that I was with the Wife, two bikes, and a whole bunch of shtuff in the trunk, and doing 95-105 km/h, instead of slowly PNGing alone in an empty car. As we crossed the border back into Poland the computer claimed I could easily do 1800-1900km on that tank, but it seems to have forgotten how bad driving in Poland is. Not only are the roads awful compared to most of Europe, but other drivers are just plain crazy: In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Slovenia most cars would be going 90-110 km/h on the highways where the speed limit is 110-130, but Polish drivers floor it as if their lives depended on it as soon as they see half of a two lane road
• The A/C didn't work during the heatwave, so that helped lower fuel consumption (yea), but the Wife said that I have to get it repaired before next month's trip (nay).
• I'll also have to fix the rear window, which hasn't been opened for a year now. That should help keep A/C usage down.
• The engine's foil-on-cardboard insulation moved back to the roof window to reduce thermal gain.
• When filling up in Slovenia the pump registered more fuel than usual: The last few tanks have been 1200-1300km and would take 57-59 liters when topped off. This time I poured 61 liters and still didn't see any foam. I thought that is weird but the car was not on level ground. After paying I noticed a puddle growing under the car - I checked that it is diesel. Damn! I lost at least 4 liters of fuel There must be a leak somewhere at the top of the tank, which I'll have to fix before I can top the tank off again. Before our trip I topped the tank and didn't notice any puddles, but the station where I usually fill up is flat. If I've been losing fuel each time I filled up then it's no wonder that I haven't been able to get more than 1300km out of the last few tanks
• The radiator side of my active grille block broke its connection to the actuator motor, so I had to keep it open to keep the temperature under control while climbing the Alps during a heatwave.
• The rear brakes were quiet - like new - after cleaning all that grime and rust off of them, but the front brakes were wailing (literally) to get the same treatment.

But other than that Slovenia is a beautiful country and we had fun To keep car uasage down we would park at the campground for 2-3 nights and bike around to do local sightseeing.

[Arragonis]

Sounds like a great trip A frustrating thing about the UK is that we can't just travel to all those nice places in Europe without an expensive ferry trip or a flight.

Leaks can be nasty, we filled up the boot (trunk) of a particularly rusty car once - wondered why it was taking so much...

[RRC]

Hi,
thanks for the info about DRL's I will look closer into it.

Have you done any mods to your Felicia? That's one of the cars I'd like to see with a kammback It's also the first car I learned to drive. Please start a thread to share any details

Not yet, to tell the truth I'm pretty new in the subject of modding my car to get better FE.
Yes kammback would be nice idea but firstly I have to do some research about angles and all this aero things
As you can see it's too fast for starting new separate thread for my car so far.
Also as you can remember? Felicia has old ODB output so I had to installed vacuum gauge which works like a charm.

Not only are the roads awful compared to most of Europe, but other drivers are just plain crazy: In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Slovenia most cars would be going 90-110 km/h on the highways where the speed limit is 110-130, but Polish drivers floor it as if their lives depended on it as soon as they see half of a two lane road

I know what you are talking about and understand your complaints.
I think roads are still getting better and better (slowly) but... The worst thing are driving habits of most Polish drivers - speeding I think it is only one thing for which they live. No matter about FE, about road safety, forget about cooperation on the road - they think they are kings of the roads, they know everything about laws of physics, maths, ecology, impact of speed on noise level, etc, etc.
Every minute on the road for them is like be or not to be, they feel humilated if they have to drive behind you in city area (30mph/50kph speed limit) - sooner or later this guy overtake you in next intersection or on pedestrian crossing.
I think the road law in Poland is to... humm... mild for roadhogs, comparing to eg. Switzerland when you are going to jail and your driving license is taken for few months if you go +30kph in city area.

Anyway... back to topic, I hope that your trip - not counting - few issues, was a great experience.
I have never been in Slovenia but I have there a couple of friends, it's not a bad idea to invite them sooner or later

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by RRC

Also as you can remember? Felicia has old ODB output so I had to installed vacuum gauge which works like a charm.

I have no idea if the Fela I drove had an OBD port, I never looked for it

Sounds like you've had your share of driving in Poland...

Originally Posted by RRC

The worst thing are driving habits of most Polish drivers [...] they are kings of the roads, they know everything about laws of physics, maths, ecology, impact of speed on noise level, etc, etc.

Reminds me of a certain Polish politician who claimed that the faster a car drives, the less time it has to use fuel, so its FE improves

Originally Posted by RRC

I think the road law in Poland is to... humm... mild for roadhogs, comparing to eg. Switzerland when you are going to jail and your driving license is taken for few months if you go +30kph in city area.

Polish politicians are busy changing their laws to make it easier to break them, but meanwhile in France:

Originally Posted by groar

Law will change very soon in France. @50km/h (31mph) over PSL you get

• a 3750€ (5250$) ticket, instead of 300€
• and 3 month prison

This is added to the the car confiscation, the 6 lost points on the driving license (out of 12) and its temporary cancellation of 6 months.

The same with others problems such as phoning while driving which goes from 2 points & 35€ to 3 points & 135€.

By now a stranger will have only the ticket, but France is working with all European countries to be able to apply prison and points/license cancellation too.