MENUBristol Tuning Tips and Modifications
Maximise your Bristols driving pleasure
Thank you so much for visiting TorqueCars, we love Bristol’s and see quite a few interesting projects.
If you are looking to build the ultimate Bristol then you’ve found the right place.
Our tuning tips and articles for the Bristol cover all the best mods and latest tuning methods to help you build a great modified Bristol.
With the help of our forum members, industry professionals and seasoned car modders we present a best practice guide to modding your Bristol.
Please join us in our forums, we love to hear what members are up to and it helps us spot trends so that we can ensure the site is always covering the latest and greatest tuning topics.
Feel free to drop a tip or suggestion on the comments box at the bottom of each and every article, this feedback is greatly valued and helps us refine our articles.
Blow off valves and dump valves.
When the throttle is closed (when you lift off the accelerator) in a turbo driven engine there is a build up of pressure as forced air is still coming from the turbo. Lifting off the throttle is a lot like putting a plug in the sink – the flow through is stopped and water would just build up and overflow the sink.
Lets look at the job of the coil in the spark system and see what it does.
Just as a power transformer converts mains 240 volts into a usable 9 volts for your charger or appliance a coil will increase the voltage.
A car battery/alternator will produce a paltry 12volts, certainly not enough to jump an air gap and create a spark.
An ignition coil raises the voltage in some installations between 20 and up to 40,000 volts and this allows the creation of a spark which can jump the air gap between the plugs.
Turbos Explained
Let’s look at some questions that we’ve had about turbos “what is a turbo” “why were turbos invented” and “how do they work “, “what are blow-off valves”, “what’s a wastegate actuator do” and “what are twin scroll turbos & what’s the difference between them and standard turbos”?
Principles of porting an engine and big valve conversions
The inlet and outlet ports on the engine block are usually larger than those of the manifolds that connect to them.
This allows for scope in the manufacturing process to allow for mismatched alignment.
Generally the engine ports are larger in the upstream flow direction avoiding turbulance but power gains can be made by matching these up.
