Quick insurance/age Q

Damm you AGW I have seen a nice rover 620 turbo for cheap and insurance in Jan is less than I am paying now, and leave me money to mod. :o

Will resist the temptation. :D
 
Berger said:
Cant say if he was really ragging right up to the redline almost or not, but certainly wasnt hanging around and i was behind him :) A turbo would also feel faster depending on how smooth the power comes in or not as the case may be :)

NASP's are boring me though. I want to feel a kick in the back when the power comes in... get a GBE set to 12psi on the turbo, and it'll come in pretty hard. That'll keep me smiling for months!

Even with 5 people in an 800 Vitesse @ 12psi, you could feel the turbo start boosting. That went very well for such a big car.

merlin said:
Drag racing is gay. :D

This is the UK - we have corners and road islands.

And the Petrol is quite pricey too.

It's not the straight line speed with the Civic's - it's the fact you dont have to slow down for the corners. Easily tuned up with vtec controller and decat and Bob's your uncle.

Are VTEC controllers readily available, or are they a custom built part? I'm guessing they allow you to lower the revs that VTEC kicks in? All sounds very interesting, and as I said, I do like the VTi's.

In the dry, the 220 can corner pretty damn well. Of course, it's nothing compared to other cars... but I've been very impressed with it. When I went out in thebrasso's VTi at the 2nd MM, I was impressed at the time, but with a decent set of tyres, it's nothing that mine couldn't do.
 
Be warned the 1.8VTi isnt all its cracked up to be :)
Lots of bodyroll etc, I wouldnt describe it as a go-kart out of the box!!

Your 220 is flatter round the corners and my 420Turbo handled better as standard at the expense of ride quality (which isnt that great on the 220/420)

Civic VTi - boring and feels slow (but isnt) but will always take the abuse and never let you down

Rover turbo - much more fun (in all situations) but will break regularly
 
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D4VE said:
Rover turbo - much more fun (in all situations) but will break regularly


Sums it up.

Slam it, Get a decent dump valve/de-cat/induction and get yourself a GBE set to 12 psi and you're really rolling! (They really do feel bloody quick).
 
What you slating the 600's for AGW ;) I know what car you're getting (I think) \o/ (that 220 gti turbo is poorly sick btw!)
 
Well, I went to view the car today, a 420 GSi Turbo :)

From the pictures the seller sent me, it looked absolutely mint. A very nice example. Got there and while it was very clean, there were patches of rust along the arches and both front wings were quite bad around the arch.

Started it up and checked under the bonnet. A huge smile filled my face as I saw the turbo and dump valve. Spent 20 minutes checking the car out, under the sills (where mine rusted), the rear ARB mounts, door sills... everything really.

Watched it get upto temperature while revving it every now and then to check for blue smoke. I was very impressed. 102,000 miles and not a whisper of blue smoke.

The guy (really nice chap, very helpful) had told me about the gearbox being noisy, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. It really sounded as though the bearings were on their last legs. The engine was running on its original headgasket, and being an earlier gasket, didn't have the reinforced oil way at the front of the block. Quite sad to see how bad the leak was actually :( After I took it for a spin and parked it back up, I left it idling for 5 minutes while I checked other things. There was quite a large collection of oil under the car :(

However, the performance was ******* stupid! Got in the car, pulled out of the housing area and booted it down a main road. At first it didn't feel that quick, but once it hit 3000rpm, oh my god... into 2nd and holy jesus, I was grinning like a school kid on Christmas day!

Onto another road and pulled out of a junction. Set off normally and once upto 2000rpm, put my foot down. It went like a rocket straight to redline in no time. As I got further down the road, I saw some people walking along the pavement, so had the perfect opportunity to change gear... pssssssssssscccchhhhhhh... the look on their face was awesome as this old grandaddy Rover went past.

So yeah, all in all a very quick, understated, fun to drive car... but this particular example is not for me. Instead, I'm going to get the 220 through its MOT and save up for a mint 420. This one I drove was so much fun, and it was running on the standard BMV so gradually increased the boost. I can imagine one boosting at 12psi all the way through the rev range to be silly quick.
 
Back to a few months ago:

Why not just get a decent 220 Turbo?

Ps. I'm glad you didn't go out in mine, would have had a wet passenger seat ;)

I've sold my turbo now :(
 
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Simon said:
Back to a few months ago:

Why not just get a decent 220 Turbo?

:confused: I've said I'm saving up for a minter.

Get the 220 through its MOT (CV boots need replacing, few bushes, £200 max) and drive that until I find one.

lol, I bet yours was silly fast. Shame I didn't get to go out in it though. Would have loved to see what a modded one could do.

And yeah, I saw Ryan's thread. Let's hope he can fix it up. Still got the S2k?
 
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Yeah :p

220/420... they're both Turbo's. (Plus, the 420 has the added grandad factor) :D And I'll be waiting for the right one. I don't mind spending another few hundred quid on the 220 to get it through the MOT. It's fun to drive and will do me until I find the right car. :)
 
agw_01 said:
Yeah :p

220/420... they're both Turbo's. (Plus, the 420 has the added grandad factor) :D And I'll be waiting for the right one. I don't mind spending another few hundred quid on the 220 to get it through the MOT. It's fun to drive and will do me until I find the right car. :)

Well done for leaving it Andy, good self control :)

Knowing me I would have bought it for another 'project' :/
 
Cheers. Was hard to say no, but I just had to think with my head and not my heart.

I'd get it, and then it'd spend weeks off the road while I fixed the headgasket and gearbox.

Not worth it, no matter how much I might want it.
 
agw_01 said:
They're supposed to have ~160bhp aren't they?

Certainly not going to be as quick as a turbo.

Ooops.

You didnt see the vids of my B16 Rover on track then?

Fast cars are about the package, not the peak figure coupled to a long gearbox.
 
True Jonny, but like I said... when I went out in a mates' VTi, I was impressed at the time. But it's nothing that my GSi couldn't do, especially with decent rubber.

Get a GSi Turbo, (lowered or not) and it'll whoop the VTi in every way.

And no I didn't see your track vids. Be good to see them though. I didn't get to see much of your old Coupe.

-Mike-, that was the plan all along mate, but I'd be able to buy a clean (not mint) turbo for less than it'd cost me to finish/transplant mine. When it comes to breaking mine, I'll be able to get back more or less everything I've spent on it from the mods. So it's all good.
 
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agw_01 said:
True Jonny, but like I said... when I went out in a mates' VTi, I was impressed at the time. But it's nothing that my GSi couldn't do, especially with decent rubber.

His 175hp 1.6 Vtec was as fast as a 220 turbo, handled better without the boat anchor engine.

Vtec engines do feel slower that turbos due to the power delivery.
 
What Vti was it :confused:

The 1.8 Vti Rover shape has an LSD for a start, and the Vti 1.6 is rapid in a light chassis. A 220Gi Turbo in stock form is a pretty dire attempt at a fast car. Inadequate brakes and sloppy bushes mean torque steer is your friend.

Certainly either Vti is more capable than a 220 NA. In most cases its not what the car can do anyway, more so the driver, and VTEC cars are where real driver are flattered and people not so eager with the loud pedal AND gearstick are caught off guard.

Pure conjecture here in terms of performance though if we're talking road driving.
 
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