Improving Acceleration

The 8v, 1.4 engine coupled with the AL4 gearbox on the 206 makes it grossly underpowered. Nipping in and out of city traffic is almost impossible in this car. This car's pick up from standstill feels like forcing an Elephant to do a 100M sprint.

There are the commong things you can do to improve acceleration slightly, like changing the air filter, exhaust system, etc. But all this costs money. Today I'll share with you something simple to improve the car's acceleration. Best of all its free. The idea is to get the throttle body butterfly valve opened as much as possible when the accelerator is floored.

First step is to minimise any slack @ throttle cable. This is done by pulling out the retaining clip, then pulling the cable to the left as much as possible, then place the retaining clip back.

If you look at how the throttle body(TB) operates, you can see it how it stops when the accelerator pedal is floored. So the next step is to file down the stopper on the TB.

It would be good if you have an OBD2 reader attaced to the car. This is so that you can monitor the increase in the throttle position as you work on the car. Take your time and file it.

 

My initial Absolute Throttle Position was only 70.2%. Now it has increased to 78%. If you're wondering, I'm using this ELM327 device to connect to the car. You can buy it over the internet for less than RM100.

Now the car accelerates much better(of course with the accelerator floored) and improved top speed to, and most definately increased fuel consumption.

Leaking Heater Matrix (Specifically for Right Hand Drive Model)

Front left floor mat was drenched with coolant. A sure sign that the heater matrix is leaking.

Since I was a bit short on time to go get it fixed, I decided to do a temporary fix by bypassing the heater matrix. I had some extra pvc pipes and decide to use them. Made a U-Shaped bypass for the heater matrix.

The problem with this's car airconditioning system is that it uses the heater matrix to regulate cabin temperature. It does not have a thermostat. So, for the next few weeks untill I had time to repair the heater matrix, I was experiencing Eskimo World every time I drove. Had to manually on and off the air-cond.

I went to a couple of workshops and they told me that the dashboard needs to be removed in order to repair the heater matrix. Luckily for my good friend Michelin V-k Badman's quick guide, I was able to repair the heater matrix without having to remove the dashboard.

Start by removing the glovebox and loosening up the center console.

Once the glove compartment is removed, you'll have full access to the heater matrix.










Next, is to loosen up the heater matrix. There are 2 screws and 1 nut which needs to be undone

Once this is done, then gentle remove the long part of the heater matrix. Once this is taken out then gently pull out the heater matrix from the blower. The heater matrix is held in place by 2 clips. Undo these clips and pull it out slowly.

You might have to pull a  bit on that part of the dashboard for the heater matrix to slide out. Once it out, I tested for leaks by using high preassure water.

The leak was caused by these 2 o-rings. I was a bit lazy to go out and get original replacement o-rings. Dug my tool box for it and managed to get similar sized o rings. These are common o - rings which can be bought anywhere. They are slightly different than the original ones but can be used.

Once the o-rings were replaced, checked for leaks, and then proceeded to fix back everyhing. Quite an easy DIY. Took less than 2 hours to complete this job.