Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Hawt

http://pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26548

bargain?
little beastie

JK bought my 2002 turbo....it was a dog even he said that

just how many cars have you owned?

Lots. But define owned? But........alot. They were all bought to make money on. Usually only worth it as I can weld and wield a spanner. Even an attack with sandpaper and filler.

Looking back I think it gave me great pleasure to get the car back on the road and sold. It was like a game, the haggling when buying and even the bartering when selling.

My dad used to do the same, so there were a few dealers that would offer us px of the wierd and wonderful, example is a y10 turbo with bent rear suspension, going to salvage auctions and even auctions. Even people 'give' me cars that have been in garages for a time example is a Lotus Eclat that had overheating issues that was a friend of a friends that I installed new wiring and ran radiator pipes round.

Suppose working with car people there are notice boards where I offer people silly money for cars and they accept the offer...Renault 14.

The lure of renault

Could you get any more masculine than that?

The new model Dodge Challenger. I always preferred the Challenger over the Charger back in the day and would bore my mates to death as they all thought the Charger was the danglys.

I was back home this weekend and had the chance to drive this...

Ginetta G40. It was fairly wet/slippy due to a covering of snow the night before but first impressions are very good. Car has around 200bhp but has still only done around 260 miles so had to be a bit gentle. It's on throttle bodies so induction noise was superb. Inside the cabin it's pretty noisy but this is essentially a race car that is road registered. Looking forward to spring when it'll be fully run in and ready for trackdays. It's going to be very, very capable!

Love the rear lights.

Reading about turbo'd carb setups.

Willfully anachronistic, which is part of the charm.

I was back home this weekend and had the chance to drive this...

Ginetta G40. It was fairly wet/slippy due to a covering of snow the night before but first impressions are very good. Car has around 200bhp but has still only done around 260 miles so had to be a bit gentle. It's on throttle bodies so induction noise was superb. Inside the cabin it's pretty noisy but this is essentially a race car that is road registered. Looking forward to spring when it'll be fully run in and ready for trackdays. It's going to be very, very capable!

Looks fun!

Is the door open?

is there much room in it?

Best way to bump my MK3 Golf GTI out to 200BHP? It runs at 150 as standard but are there any fairly simple ways I could squeeze another 50 out without screwing up reliability or engine life (considering they run forever).

Any ideas or experience? Cheers.

Nothing easy, sadly.

Nothing easy, sadly.

I thought that might be the answer to be honest. But, chip / remap could bring 10, stainless exhaust could bring 10, that's 30 more to squeeze out - surely it can't be that difficult?

We're not talking about nitros or turbo here. Just 200 BHP out of a 150BHP as standard solid old skool hot hatch...

You'd have to spend more money that it was worth. For 50bhp you're probably talking about bigger valves, gasflowing, polished ports and heads, etc for better breathing, then a stronger bottom end for an increased rev limit.
And it would still be the wrong Golf with the wrong engine.

Does you opinion come from experience with this model, or is it just what you think might be the case?

You'd have to spend more money that it was worth. For 50bhp you're probably talking about bigger valves, gasflowing, polished ports and heads, etc for better breathing, then a stronger bottom end for an increased rev limit.
And it would still be the wrong Golf with the wrong engine.

Bop a low boost supercharger on it.

It would be cheaper and more time efficient to sell it and buy either a VR6 model or a 1.8T, both of which could hit your target with a bit of fettling.

Getting your 2 litre unit to produce 100 horses per litre without forced induction would require "proper" money being spent, and would likely result in the power you want at stratospheric revs- and no torque.

A low boost supercharger might be one answer with the existing engine - I don't know how close to the limit you would be in terms of detonation though with your desired power level.

Close, would be my concern. You could try it, and run it on E85.

i would like as a winter project:

YEAH!

For a moped?

i would like as a winter project:

YEAH!

Find out if its an aussie v8, they were the lowest compression. The rear crank oil seals will be shot from sitting, unless the block has been machined for a modern oil seal. The standard one is rope.

Are the heads unleaded? Early ones weren't.

Is it still running the standard low compression cam?

Best way to bump my MK3 Golf GTI out to 200BHP? It runs at 150 as standard but are there any fairly simple ways I could squeeze another 50 out without screwing up reliability or engine life (considering they run forever).

Any ideas or experience? Cheers.

Depends on what you want, big end figures or mid range.

First thing is to get it to the 150, so valve clearances to the max, clean/replace injectors, port match the inlet and exhaust. What are the exhaust manifolds like? Replace with a tubular system.

Actually thats the engine out to make it easier minimum is the head off.

i would like as a winter project:

YEAH!

I volunteer to go get that with you in the Volvo.

Hmmm, in that case think I'll make the most of what I've got - chip it and add a full stainless system once the exhaust starts to go.

Wouldn't want to part with it as it's been good as gold, no rust, in a metallic grey you see on many of 'today's' cars and only has 67k on the clock, they run forever.