Easiest Car/Engine to Tune for small £££
Discussion
Thinking of getting a boring runabout car, then turning it into a bit of a 'Q' car. So question is:
What's the best car/engine that's easy to get big power gains for relatively small money? Let's say around £2.5k for the initial car, plus another £1.5k for modifications.
Rule 1: Nothing too Max Power
Rule 2: Keeping it reliable
What's the best car/engine that's easy to get big power gains for relatively small money? Let's say around £2.5k for the initial car, plus another £1.5k for modifications.
Rule 1: Nothing too Max Power
Rule 2: Keeping it reliable
Are you worried about age?
A few candidates would have to be:
Mini
Mk1 or 2 Escort (tuned crossflow, or transplant a Pinto or Zetec engine)
Triumph GT6 or Vitesse (2L 6 cylinder, easily upgradeable to 2.5L and lots of tuning potential)
Mk1 Golf GTI
Pug 205GTI (drop in a 16V engine?)
edited for spelin
>> Edited by chris_n on Friday 8th August 17:46
A few candidates would have to be:
Mini
Mk1 or 2 Escort (tuned crossflow, or transplant a Pinto or Zetec engine)
Triumph GT6 or Vitesse (2L 6 cylinder, easily upgradeable to 2.5L and lots of tuning potential)
Mk1 Golf GTI
Pug 205GTI (drop in a 16V engine?)
edited for spelin
>> Edited by chris_n on Friday 8th August 17:46
goodlife said:
Age is only a worry if rule 2 gets broken. Would these break Rule 2?
Obviously if you tune anything to an outrageous degree reliability is going to suffer, but I'd reckon most of my suggestions can be tuned to a reasonable degree and still stay dead reliable, maybe with the exception of the Pug, which can be a bit fragile (no offence Peugeot owners and please disagree if your experience is otherwise!)
And while I'm thinking about it, how about:
SD1 Rover?(V8 not straight six engine of course).
Capri 2.8 injection?
Chris
Probably OK if you are simply transplanting with a standard-ish engine. I've got a Pug 205 with a tuned Mi16 engine - it's completely standard from the outside (i.e. like a normal 1.9 GTi) but engine / brakes / suspension have all been replaced.
I'm thinking of selling it but no idea how to price it - virtually everything mechanical has been changed!!!
I'm thinking of selling it but no idea how to price it - virtually everything mechanical has been changed!!!
There's a 205 1.9 GTi with Mi16 engine going for £1500 in PH Classifieds. What do you do about insuring non-standard cars? I guess Tesco won't touch them.
I had thought about one of these, but am now swaying towards VW in favour of reliability. How easy would a newish 1.8T engine slip into an old Golf?
I had thought about one of these, but am now swaying towards VW in favour of reliability. How easy would a newish 1.8T engine slip into an old Golf?
I used Adrian Flux - turns out that all those mods qualified the car as a 'cherished car' and insurance wasn't anywhere near as crazy as I was expecting (640 quid)
Golf would be cool with twin VR6 turbo engines
Doing the job properly on a Golf wouldn't be cheap though. People like Dubsport do decent conversions but I think it's 5k plus when everything is done. I spent 8k on my 205
Golf would be cool with twin VR6 turbo engines
Doing the job properly on a Golf wouldn't be cheap though. People like Dubsport do decent conversions but I think it's 5k plus when everything is done. I spent 8k on my 205
docevi1 said:
why is age an issue if rule 2 is broken?
Mini's are nifty but a bit small.
Stefan
And of course there is the legendary Integra type R engine..... into a Mini...
Then again, it's not cheap (around 8k from the two main places that do it - Watsons Rally and P&L Minis). I think that 'plotloss' is currently doing this conversion - check the Mini forum... Should be massively entertaining!!!
He overtakes BMW's, Merc's... cos his car isn't limited Why not buy a fastest car you can get for £4k? Tuning is fun, but gains can be disappointing for the money spent. It's nearly always cheaper to buy a faster car in the first place.
Having said that, Minis are easy to tune and the gains can be significant (mainly because the standard engine is so inefficient!)
Having said that, Minis are easy to tune and the gains can be significant (mainly because the standard engine is so inefficient!)
Agree that the £4k car is a very valid option, but what 'Q' cars are there for £4k?
What about a 'boring' 5 year-old 2.0 Zetec Mondeo for £1500, then I've got some cash to tune the engine + make the suspension/brakes work properly. Those 2.0 zetecs can be tuned to huge bhp I hear. Anyone give details of the best bang for buck with these engines?
Now it's possibly a 'Q' car
What about a 'boring' 5 year-old 2.0 Zetec Mondeo for £1500, then I've got some cash to tune the engine + make the suspension/brakes work properly. Those 2.0 zetecs can be tuned to huge bhp I hear. Anyone give details of the best bang for buck with these engines?
Now it's possibly a 'Q' car
IMHO you would be best off implanting a powerful engine into a smaller (uprated) car,,, ie Mi16 205.
It's childsplay to do, you'll have 6 second 0-60's, and using a 1.9 gearbox theoretically a 140plus top speed!
Best thing to do is buy a 205gti with blown head gasket/buggered engine (shouldn't be hard to find), then nip to your local scrappy, find a Citroen BX 16 Valve or Pug 405 Mi16 an nick the engine and loom!
Alternatively, send me an email on i_d_cookiemonster@yahoo.co.uk and I'll give you the number for someone who'll do it for next to nowt - (compared to pug-performance!).
Once you've done that, stick on a couple of "205 Junior" badges and you're laughing
It's childsplay to do, you'll have 6 second 0-60's, and using a 1.9 gearbox theoretically a 140plus top speed!
Best thing to do is buy a 205gti with blown head gasket/buggered engine (shouldn't be hard to find), then nip to your local scrappy, find a Citroen BX 16 Valve or Pug 405 Mi16 an nick the engine and loom!
Alternatively, send me an email on i_d_cookiemonster@yahoo.co.uk and I'll give you the number for someone who'll do it for next to nowt - (compared to pug-performance!).
Once you've done that, stick on a couple of "205 Junior" badges and you're laughing
james said:
That would seem to be the sensible option. For 4k you could get something quick, and you wouldn't have to worry about the reduction in reliability of a tuned engine.
I honestly don't believe the difference between £2.5K and £4K on the second hand market brings you in an entirely different performance category - at least not without compromising reliability/servicing costs...
If it needs to be FAST at that kind of money, I would recommend something turbocharged with good aftermarket support. 2.3 Litre Saab 9000 Turbo's routinely get near 300 hp with about a grand's worth of upgrades, which would leave some cash for basic suspension/brake mods. The engine is grossly over-engineered on these cars - only thing I'd worry about is the gearbox...
The better known tuning houses for Japanese cars seem to charge a bit more for their mods, but a 200SX or something would assumedly be a good starting point, too.
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