MiniMike does a burnout in a Smart Fortwo

[Mike1]

Refining the Smart | General Maintenance | Throttle Body Mod

Since its rebuild the Smart has been running excellently, however being the only person who drove the car before it originally broke I knew the car wasnt 100% perfect.

Being a tad OCD this annoyed me so slowly I got to work making the car perfect.

First off, I removed the rear bumper (6 Torx Bolts) going from this:

To this:

Next up I removed the CAT sensors, with one positioned at the outlet pipe of the turbo and the other in the centre of the exhaust.

A quick 50/50 after some cleaning, they were filthy!

I then decided to de-lip the throttle body, a simple yet effective mod which improves airflow.

Not on the inside of the housing there is a small ridge?

Using a hobby knife (use only with adult supervision kids) I removed the ridge leaving a smooth housing behind before re-attaching the piping and fastening.

The difference cleaning the Cats and doing the delip has made is mammoth, the car idles smoothly and revs freely. Everything feels so much smoother and the boost isnt so harsh anymore.

Great mod, great cleanup and a happy Smarty to show for it. :thumbs:

Mike
​

 

[Psymon69]

I guess the cool thing with the small cars and tiny capacity is that you feel every single thing you do!

what other performance mods do you have in mind?

 

[moranor@axis]

:rollsmile:

 

[Mike1]

Other Mods... Hmmm :rollsmile:

Sine my company does offer Tuning and mapping the next mod will be remap on the little beasty.

I want to bring the boost in earlier as well as change how aggressive the boost is, at the moment its a bit like flipping a switch and then all hell breaks loose.

My concern has been making sure the car is running well.

Then I want to bring in a ITG Performance Filter for it, bigger throttle body as well as upgrade the two earths on the car as they are fooked. Furthermore I would like to get an exhaust fitted and upgrade the TIK pipes for bigger pipes as well as upgrade the intercooler piping.

So lots of fun when funds allow. :rollsmile:

 

[Mike1]

As promised, and much anticipated this morning Rolf @ Promotec mailed me my new Smart Fortwo ECU Map. :ty:

Loaded it this morning and the difference is night and day!

The torque in 5th & 6th gear at 60km/h is absolutely epic, and it revs so quickly. The motor feels smoother and cruising I am finding I have to watch the speed as it wants to run off with you. :joy:

Promotec / Definitive Tuning FTW! :thumbs:

For those who want to share the same joy, we are running our Easter Egg special for R2999 for a custom remap done at your convenience at your own home/work.

:thumbs:

 

[Mike1]

Alright so its been a few weeks since my last update so here we go. :joy:

I am one match away from burning the Ferret to the ground. :fencelook::rollsmile:

In the last three weeks it has conveniently doubled my to fix list:

- Misfire under boost, mostly as the boost comes in. Could be coil packs, could be leads. Also found out the wiring on the motor is incorrect which could also be causing it. Hopefully not damaging anything.:thumbdo:
- Light thud on the autobox, only does it in manual mode though when changing up gears.
- Snapped Ariel and lost the cover whilst driving.
- Gas struts that hold the glass bootlid open are now working in reverse, so it closes itself.
- Interior is driving me mad, time to find a set of leathers.
- Left indicator is not working, the plug has a short.
- The speedo lights stopped working.
- The right rear bulb, which is a single light just shines brighter when you brake has decided to only stay dim.

Its a bit of a joke really, but then in the last two years it has only had 15 000km put on it... Whilst in the last month I have covered over 2500km.

Maybe I am expecting too much from the poor thing? Loving my remap still though!

Mike

 

[Rolf]

Check ground for dim light at rear end
Did you get your engine ground cable sorted?

 

[Mike1]

All ground cables were checked, and replaced the engine strap which was the only one that was buggered or even worn.

All were tightened as well at the same time.

So cant be grounds, its just so bloody annoying especially considering that there are virtually no people who even know how these cars work. Not even the dealers which have proved to be useless.

Its not like a BMW where there are many many resources for faults and info.

Mike

 

[moranor@axis]

just take that crap out and put a hayabusa engine already :rollsmile:

 

[Mike1]

I wish man.

 

[moranor@axis]

I wish man.

one day :rollsmile:

 

[Mike1]

I cant be bothered with it Moranor, would rather dump a worked 335d motor into a 1 series and call it a day as I wipe the floor with 1M's. :fencelook:

 

[Mike1]

So its quick update time! :joy:

I have officially had the Smarty for almost 4 months now and I am proud to announce that it has been a fabulous 4 months with the car doing over 7500km since I got it. :joy:

I am simply blown away by this car.

The attention it gets, the way people randomly come over and start talking to you about it, even the local places know the car now. In the Smart community mine is talked about quite a bit as every Smart owner knows it as the "Fortwo with yellow fogs".

Furthermore, this car has transported more than just my detailing equipment with ease. Turbo kits, steering wheels and even 11 boxes from my recent move without missing a beat. Fish Tanks, 3 people, whole TV Stands, 8 Michelin Tyres and it pulls like a train, handles the weight and just keeps going!

Fuel economy has settled at 500km for R340.00 at the pumps and the car has been 100% reliable despite the massive amount of driving it does.

The remap is however off the car as the huge increase in torque was causing my clutch (original still on 105 000km) to start slipping as the boost comes in a bit like a misfire.

I have upgraded the sound further by adding a 12 inch sub (un-amped) to the boot to add some wholesome bass, the passenger door handle cable snapped but its an easy fix, the drivers door managed to deter thieves after they pried several screwdrivers into the door gap damaging the Tridion Frame and the plastic housing and bending the metal around the rubbers...

They did this twice by the way, the most recent one being in the last week - No idea what they after, the sub maybe?

It just amazes me how a car designed to do so little can do so much.

So to my dearest Smarty, well done! :thumbs:

Mike

 

[andrewbuch]

Mike, I am so glad its worked out for you. And glad its getting the tlc it deserves, the previous owner neglects her cars, her new one is worse than how the smart was

sent from a phone

 

[Rolf]

This is Mike's new Smart:

 

[Sabretooth tiger]

I like:thumbs:

 

[Mike1]

Here we go again...

Good Morning X

I trust you are well and having a great week.

I spoke to you briefly a few weeks ago with regards to my Smart Fortwo 600cc which your team did a R30 000 rebuild on (Black with green interior).

As mentioned on the phone there are a few issues with the car which I would like attended to as per the 100 000km guarantee we were given by X Company.

- The car has been serviced twice since the rebuild at 85 000km (Currently on 106 000km) using top of the range Fully Synthetic Oil as required for the car. I have noticed that in the last 7000km the car has used over 2 Litres of oil which I consider excessive. My thoughts on this have been confirmed by a local Smart Mechanic (Works exclusively on Smart Fortwo’s and also does engine rebuilds) who knows the car well and feels such high oil usage is not within the operating parameters of a healthy Smart Motor.
- On acceleration, especially at night a there is a noticeable black smoke from the exhaust under partial and full acceleration. In the last few weeks I have noticed black smoke on gear changes even in daytime under heavy acceleration.
- The car has a wiring issue, which can only be a result of the rebuild as it never did this before the rebuild and even with burnt valves it never behaved this way. This wiring issue has been confirmed by my mechanic as well as Mercedes Benz. The issue relates to the sparking order of the coil packs, they are currently mixed around to and I quote “make” the engine work. When fitted correctly in the right order the car does not run at all. Whether this is a botch job from the rebuild or not, I would like this looked at and fixed – Be it if you need to order a new wiring harness for the car and even coilpacks for the damage the wiring issue has caused. Both Mercedes Benz and my mechanic have also confirmed that the next issue is related to the wiring issue.
- The car no longer idles correctly, it wants to stall continuously and often has power dips which make the whole car shudder when coming to a standstill. All sensors on the car have been replaced, checked and no faults come up on diagnostic.
- Furthermore, since the rebuild we have had to replace a faulty cycle valve which was incorrectly fitted and broke as a result of this as well as correct the mistakes made when piping up the turbo from the rebuild.

Because of the amount spent on the rebuild and the issues above I am not happy to drive the car without a full inspection.

I would like you to remove the motor, remove the head as well as turbo (where there is oil seepage from a turbo that was brand new from the rebuild) for my inspection, if there is damage to the Smart’s Motor (which I now suspect there is) then we will need to discuss the way forward in terms of having the damage once again repaired, at yours or Ryans expense.

I too was mortified to hear that my Smart is the first Smart you have rebuilt, these are extremely finicky motors which are extremely sensitive to repair work, not even Mercedes Benz will undertake a rebuild on these motors. It amazes me that Ryan is so dishonest as to make claims about being a specialist Smart Car rebuilder, charge twice the price and then contract a company to rebuild an engine they have little or no experience with....

I will leave it at this, but you can see where this is going... Decided to get it all in writing and lets see what they say about the car.

Car is running like an absolute beast though, its like it knows I am sending it back there to be pulled apart again but I am concerned and have let these issues drag on far too long.

Joy!

Mike

 

[FerrariRSA]

Hi Mike

We also have a fortwo, we had two at one stage. The one broke down and then Mercedes asked us R30 000 to repair it,we didn't and we put Honda bike rings in and blah blah so then it was fine but if you drive the car hard it looses all of its power and then you have to reset it. Anyway the car is good and my father allowed me during the exams to drive it and now during normal school days I drive it every Friday

Regards

 

[Mike1]

Hey Man!

They are awesome cars, I have a love hate relationship with mine which has turned into a "I need more money to mod this thing" bug so I only hate it when I cant mod it. :rollsmile:

Tell me, did they touch the turbo when they changed the rings? What you are experiencing is the overboost limiter. There is a link that needs to be adjusted on the turbo boost actuator.

The max ECU limit (with OEM software) is 0.7 Bar, mine was boosting 0.9 after the rebuild (another cockup) so went into "Safe Mode" everytime I revved it hard.

I recommend you get that fixed asap, thats a serious issue on these cars - And software on these things (Our Promotec software of course) is hardcore, even the exhaust note changes! :rollsmile:

I still wanna get an exhaust developed for it locally (UK Prices average is R12 000 for a decent one ex UK) and once this is all resolved get the software back on and do a major service and brakes/discs.

Check this site out, the thing you can do to Smart Fortwo's! Evilution.co.uk

Get some pictures up! I wanna see it - Thats three Smart owners on a BMW forum. :rollsmile:

Mike

 

[Mike1]

Alright, just off the phone with the rebuilders.

Without even getting the head off, just from what I am describing they have confirmed the car has burnt valves and will need new pistons and valve clearances checked. :thumbdo:

20 000km after a rebuild and the car has has bitten the proverbial bullet. :flyfun:

Now waiting to find out when I can drop the car off for the head to be removed, I will be inspecting it myself and I am considering take the parts through to G&C or even Wessel to inspect and make recommendations.

Rather upset about it but its been behaving like this for a while so I knew it was inevitable.

Love this thing too much, I wish I knew why. :rollsmile:

Mike