I want a RWD Turbo car. Options?

Best way, another mate bought one that had been modded, few days later head gasket went ( so he thought ) it's curently at Harvey Gibbs having a full rebuild to 400 bhp

 

Right Im back, had sooo much poo to do, moving a mate into my house (some may remember my post about kicking my flatmate out, well its sorted now).

All the cars mentioned are the ones I had flying round my head anyway. There really isnt much to choose from. Apart from the MG, but I hear parts could be hard to get a hold of in a few years

I was after a 2Turbo a while back, mum has a Mk2 2.0 GT and its pretty quick, been out in my mates modified MR2 and it did fly!!! Only thing is imo I think they are starting to look their age recently, plus Im informed they do ovals not dohnuts (prob just the std diff) and you have to look for a decent Jap import to find a diff in one. Some owners even think they do when they dont!

Someone confirmed what I thought about RX7's - they are lovely to look at but I couldnt live with the build quality of em, plus you'd be thinking this is going to pop every time you plant your foot. Added to that the labopur cocts for getting done on the w***el would be astronomical here in Belfast as not many garages will work on them and those that do charge a small fortune.

Cossies are like rocking horse pooe here in NI, I would like one but wouldnt fancy looking at a blue oval infront of me everytime I got in the car. They go like stink, but sadly are showing their age now aswell.

Now the good old AE86 mmmmmmm tempting... joining the twin cam club. You would need to get it turbo'd though as they are just so short of enough power, plus the price is way too much for what is a 20yr old car and many of them about are soft as pooe. "engine, diff and box 100%" say most of the ads. When have you ever seen a 20yr old car that has prop went sideways for 60% of its life in 100% condition? They are cult cars (especially over here) and I do like them, but I just couldnt own one for the reasons stated.

Which leaves me with my original idea... A 200SX. TBH i really dont mind if its a S13, S14 or 14a. A s15 would be the pick of the bunch though. Either that or a R33 GTS-T and try to train my right foot to behave .

As for budget, im thinking circa 5-7k, it wont be til after Santa has been and gone which gives me time to look around. Also I just realized, it will be for pure pleasure, not commuting etc as I have the company Vectra sitting there.

Let me know if anyone thinks of any other suggestions.


cheers folks

Phil.

 

it dosnt like the word w a n k e l

 

Do you spend a huge amount of time doing donuts in McDonalds car park?

 

she drives a mr2 g-ltd herself and is on the mr2 forums.

i don't think mine would even do an oval...we'll see if we ever get any snow down here!

prob is with n/a's is they generally don't have LSD's, and simply have more grip than power.

however....almost all turbo's have LSD's, and have plenty of power for that kind of play.

 

I think you've only got 2 choices really.

mr2 turbo or 200sx

both powerful and made with reliability in mind aswell as oerformance.

I'd prob. say 200sx as it has a little space in the back just if ever you did need to give your mates a lift.

I drove a 200sx turbo and it was an automatic, it was quick but it wasn't throw you back in your seat quick.

i'm sure with a few mods tehy'd be rapid machines!! anyone know what they're like on petrol though????

 

Prolly too old for you...and not easy to find a nice one but these are a bit nifty imo..





Edited by: road rally

 

if you wanna find out more about the mr2 a good site is mr2 owners club, also try intl mr2 owners club uk region

 

Cheaper than most (excluding stuff like Ladas) and near indestructable!

Click!

 

Well it was going in a turbocharged golf that made me sell my 2042cc 16v and buy my 200SX! I knew i wanted another 100bhp, but that to get it in the golf would cost a fortune. So i sold the golf and bought an S14 for the money.


With the sort of budget we are looking at an S14 or S14a would be ideal - the S14 is easier to tune (different ECU) but the 14a has the nicer looks.

Mine had done 130+k miles, was immaculate and std when i got it - i soon did a few mods for about 260ish bhp and then took it to a track day at donny the day before i sold it

It was totally reliable and really nice to drive - absolutely terrifying in the wet if i was rough on the throttle but you could easily cruise along in it in great comfort.

your budget would buy an immaculate low mileage 14 or a, and leave you enough money to spend on getting 280bhp.


Having said that - many years ago a friend took me out in his MR2 turbo - was mildly modded and rolling roaded at a shade over 300bhp. I was in awe at the way it went, i think we gave a biker the fright of his life on the M54* when he wound open the throttle and went backwards....




*M54 = Section of german autobahn, not the motorway near telford. Honest.

 

thats probably why it takes so long to get to wales if you have to go to germany first

 

whats the diff. between the s14 s14a etc. etc.

are they any good on petrol?? i want something fast! preferably turbo!

 

Dex, I think your right mate, Im already starting to look at 14a's already. The reason the dont seem amazingly fast as std is the ECU as you say. It limits the boost in !st to 7psi, 9psi in 2nd and full 10 from 3rd on iirc. My friends s14 threw a leg and its getting a new engine next week hopefully, although he needs to change over a few bits from the engine to keep it at full stage 1.

Gareth the difference between them is the s13 is a 1.8 turbo circa 180bhp made to `93 i think. CA18DET engine

S14 was from `94 to 97`

S14a is the facelift model with more aggressive lights, like baby skylines. 14 and 14a both had circa 200bhp as std. Both use SR20DET engines although there are different engine variants with the later black tops having variable exhaust valve timing iirc.

My friends sx when healthy was putting out around 280bhp at 15psi according to Horsham Dev.

 

what sort of performance are you looking at then from a standard one and a modified one??

 

200sx's are one of the greatest.


Lovetaking my mates 200 out for a spin.

 

Dex used to spin his, too

 

Looks like you've decided on what you want then!

I think it comes down to what you want from a car. If you want to do the rwd/boost thing then go for the 200sx. Easy to tune but they aren't that easy to get making BIG power (is any car?). I certainly wouldn't mind a 944T but those have the potential to cost you lots more. Mmmm check the site below for a good example of a 944 tuning programme:

Promax

SXOC is also good for 200sx stuff - imagine you have already seen it.

Factory power on a 200sx s14/a is around 200bhp but the standard T28/injectors/compression are good for just under the 300 mark with intercooler/induction/exhaust/map. Any more and things start getting expensive; new tubby, headgasket at a minimum to drop the CR, injectors and some time spent mapping all add up. The factory gearbox isn't really good for ragging at 400bhp so in effect you are limited unless you go completely nuts, even with built internals.

Friend of mine has an s14A proven at ~320bhp (calculated flywheel) that should now be good for closer to 350bhp now. That is running a GTRS/550s dects etc.

Certainly feels fast but can't say that I ever really enjoy driving it. I don't get the impression that they were ever really regarded as drivers cars by the press (my current steed can't really claim to be the best drivers car on the planet either...) In fact I might cause some controversy by saying that my last warmed over* mk2 16v was a far better drive.

Would definitely take a 200sx over an mr2 turbo though - freaking death traps!!

*All the standard CGTI modifications - 280s/eibach/stealth/head/exhaust as inlet cam etc...
Edited by: breeze

 

Phil - as far as i know all SR20DETs had variable exhaust valve timing - basically it reduces overlap at high revs to avoid getting choking from the restrictive std exhaust.

The S14 ECU is more easily programmed than the S14a Jez (Horsham developments) has got S14 ECU tuning down to a very fine art - i know he was working on 14a but not sure if he's cracked it yet.

The boost limit in 1st and 2nd is controlled by a small solenoid valve on the NS wing that bleeds 3psi from the boost sensed by the actuator (set at 7psi) when not in 1st/2nd.

If you remove the restrictor on the outlet of this actuator you get 7psi in 1st and 2nd, then 15ish (best set with a bren device in the actuator line) in the rest of the gears. Or you can substitute the feed to the boost solenoid with a feed from a switch on the dash and you will get selectable 7psi/15psi boost (what's known as the "winter" switch, or the "wife" switch!)

Mine was running 14 psi with stainless four branch, larger turbo dump pipe, larger downpipe and 3" cat replacement - Both Bren (apex) and Dan (Danotech) offer decent prices on manifold, downpipes etc.

The std suspension has too little roll control at the front - leading to understeer on entry and oversteer on exit of corners. Simply uprating the front arb to a Whiteline adjustable will massively improve the feel and handling balance - obviously the sky is the limit with poly bushes, coilovers etc but the arbs are about 100 each end new.

Mine was still going strong with lots of miles, and made a seriously comfortable motorway cruiser when i wasn't thrashing it.

I have to admit down a twisty bumpy country road it was certainly no quicker than my 2042cc golf (which was a very well setup package) But on more open roads the 200sx would head off into the distance. One of the aircrew on camp has (well had - he totalled it tuesday) a Boxster S, and he was a little shocked when i left him on a slip road....


Back to the VVT - i believe that Jez can alter the switching point so that if you have a better manifold/exhaust it can keep the extra overlap for longer to increase top end power.

A lot of people spend big money on high lift and longer duration cams, but i would suggest getting a set from an SR20DE (Primera SRi) and fitting them - they are higher lift and about 7 or 8 degrees longer duration, enough to make a noticeable difference without killing the off boost performance.

Another popular mod is to replace the std recirculating BOV with an atmospheric (Bailey piston) BOV - although i always prefer a recirc in principle, the std one has seriously small tubing for the recirc pipework, so you will still get turbine stall at higher boost levels, it also bleeds boost through it's design. I understand that this was a measure to mean that the car was *less abrupt* when it comes on boost as it delays the build up - however i find that a little common sense with the throttle has the same effect but prevents it bleeding boost at WOT.


(Obviously the actuator will compensate for the BOV bleeding boost and you'll still get the required boost - but as you are bleeding boost the turbo is having to work harder, spool up slower, and heats the charge more.)


The standard WMIC (wing mount IC) is useable on std car when it's in good condition, but the fins get clogged with road muck and it loses efficiency. Most people replace them with an FMIC - a cossie one fits nicely into the *mouth* in the front bumper, gets plenty of airflow without shrouding the rad, but needs bespoke piping to fit. Bren also sells a seriously good quality and very effective FMIC conversion kit for the 14/14a. Some people (who don't drift) like to remove the std VC rad fan as it saps power, most find that the electric fan operated by the aircon does the job perfetly well in the UK without the car overheating. The std fan or electric replacement is needed for drifting as there's less airflow from the front due to *angle of attack* of the front end combined with low speed/high engine load/high revs required for drifting.

*and breath*

 

Dex do you use the huge runway at Brize for some high speed testing???

 

lotus carlton, 2 turbos