The 150BHP Rover 416 Explained... Mod Reccomendations needed! :)

[realscot]

I'd personally just do the wheels and subtle spoiler and stop there myself. You could easily pick up the half leathers that came in the earlier 200 series as i'm sure there's plenty of them in scrapyards across the country.
Other than that, save your cash for your next car. Oh and i've done more mods that you to a B18C4 Vtec, and barely got 30bhp more.

 

[paradigm]

1) This was worked out from gains from mods carried out to similar cars, either with my mates or on the net. Not an overestimated figure like most, my best guess.

Get it on a rolling road, or as most will agree, 150BHP comes across as a tad optimistic.

2) I've been told my a few it does have a smart appearance, mates agree it doesn't have a softy-softy look.

Its a bubble shaped rover, it has exactly the "softy-softy" look.

3) Unless all the boy racers have Golf GTIs or something quicker, it's faster than most. Round here the car of choice is the 1.6/1.8 Astra, the Punto, 1.4 Corsa... you get the pic. Fair few chavs have the 1.6l 206s aswell... toast I might add

They don't all drive round in early 90's tin cans. Pretty sure a Saxo VTR, VTS, 106GTi etc etc would "toast" a lardy 1.6 Rover with a few mods kicking out a "pub-talk", "butt-dyno" 150BHP.

 

[mattyprice4004]

Lol round here they seem to be well in to shoving a big exhaust on the 1.2 Corsas and the like, you hardly any see any nice Saxos or 106GTIs and stuff

You need to bring a group of boy racers from near you up here to show the ones here that bombing it down a 30 road at 60 in a car that sounds stupidly loud but doesn't go anywhere isn't cool!

I accept criticism, afterall it helps me improve on things. Dyno run soon I think, I just want uncoloured views, not the 'all Rovers are crap, lardy and slow' view everyone seems to have.

 

[paradigm]

I accept criticism, afterall it helps me improve on things. Dyno run soon I think, I just want uncoloured views, not the 'all Rovers are crap, lardy and slow' view everyone seems to have.

Oh, don't get me wrong! As I said before, its a great first or second car, I just don't see the point in throwing money at it modifying it when it looks decent enough as it is. It will never be a performance car, or an agressive looker, so just use it as it was intended, and save for something properly fiesty

Could be worse, you could have payed multiple thousand pounds more for one tarted up with a tacky bodykit and an MG badge

 

[Fr0dders]

The cams made the most difference. And besides, most have a 1.3l fiesta or 1.2 corsa

Trouble is, chavs dont just drive 1.2 corsa's

Observe this monstrosity for example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ONT_4volA&feature=related

but unfortunately for you, being an RS Turbo it would quite comfortably leave you for dead.

 

[realscot]

I'm not a rover hater, I had a 214SEi at one point, it was pretty quick for a 1.4 really. Same engine that MG used in the ZR 105. It of course fried itself and after a new headgasket and skimmed head it was no better, so i flogged it... heard it needed a whole new engine in the end.
So yeah they would have been good cars had they not had headgaskets made from old cornflakes packets.
I remember having a spirited play with an 8v Cav SRi and the little rover fairly managed to keep up! yeah fun little car but just no good unless you pre empt the head probs.
I remember when I worked at the local garage when I was at college, this poor old dear had a K reg rover 214 and every week she came in for petrol she had me check her oil and water etc. I saw the gunk under the filler cap and even on the dipstick, and so I asked her if she had any heat from the heaters... Told her that her headgasket was gone and it'd need attention before the whole thing overheated and seized... but she just shrugged and said "it'll run away fine, and do me for my trip to the shops twice a week"
And it did, for the 2 years I was at that garage! never had an oil change or anything! Cant have been a happy engine though, and I think it'd be a block of molten metal had she tried to take it out the road.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Told her that her headgasket was gone and it'd need attention before the whole thing overheated and seized...

That was nice of you, given that the fact she only ever drove it 2 miles from cold meant it was almost certainly condensation not a failed HG, borne out by the fact it lasted 2 years...

 

[SpeedFreak]

Head gasket failure is pretty hard to mistake. One of the last stages is the mixing of coolant and oil.

 

[[TW]Fox]

But you can get a build up of condensation in the engine if you only use the car for very short trips in less than warm climates - the engine doesn't get to a sufficient temperature to evaporate it all away.

It seems the entire internet is obsessed with HGF - every year on the BMW forums eleventybillion 330i/530i owners think they've got HGF becuase they drive 3 miles a day in December and wonder why the filler cap gunges up with mayo...

 

[mattyprice4004]

Oh, don't get me wrong! As I said before, its a great first or second car, I just don't see the point in throwing money at it modifying it when it looks decent enough as it is. It will never be a performance car, or an agressive looker, so just use it as it was intended, and save for something properly fiesty

Could be worse, you could have payed multiple thousand pounds more for one tarted up with a tacky bodykit and an MG badge

Exactly, my mate has just this week bought an MG ZS 120, basically the same car as mine with sideskirts and a few extra badges (and a 1.8l engine more prone to head probs than mine!)

Mine was £600, including a recent head job, thermostat, 6 month warranty on the head etc, and 6 months MOT.

His? £2,000.... and it's got no service history or anything. Epic.

My next target is a Civic Type R... or a TDCI Focus. A couple of the lads from work have a Focus... peter212693 and Street from these forums

...and they're very smart cars for sensible money.

The Rover will get me to work for while longer yet... while I build a new gaming rig!

 

[mattyprice4004]

On the K-series the usual way the gaskets go is mixing the oil and coolant.

But they are also known to be prone to giving false symptoms - as in mayo in the oil when it's just condensation (as with most engines, but some are worse than others for it.)

Ultimate terminal signs are when severe water loss occurs, the oil actually emulsifies into choccy milkshake coloured goo, and the coolant looks like something you'd pull out of a McDonald's fryer, that is if you have any coolant left.

It is unusual for it to only occur one way - as in to get oily mayo but none in the coolant or vice versa. With the constantly changing pressures the exchange of fluids both ways is very common.

I wonder who remembers when engines were air cooled, and none of this was an issue

 

[Cupra]

Not really any need for that, it's my car and I don't come an p*** all over your stuff and what you like. This is a thread for people that want to help and look at what I've done, not troll.

If you don't have anything productive to say, please go elsewhere.

not much need to lie about the cas bhp either

130 tops tbh

 

[cheets64]

To me your main goal is to go around cursing at night and beat chavs from the traffic lights, you are as bad as them if you do.

 

[oap]

But you can get a build up of condensation in the engine if you only use the car for very short trips in less than warm climates - the engine doesn't get to a sufficient temperature to evaporate it all away.

It seems the entire internet is obsessed with HGF - every year on the BMW forums eleventybillion 330i/530i owners think they've got HGF becuase they drive 3 miles a day in December and wonder why the filler cap gunges up with mayo...

So true!

 

[realscot]

but as I said with regards to the HG, their was mayo style gunk even on the dipstick! and I some how doubt that it would build up there if it was just condensation.. But then, it was fox, and he likes to have a go at anything I say.
Anyway I know i'm not a mechanic but the engine specialist at the garage i worked looked at the car and agreed with me on the HG. And since I had a rover with a failed HG i'd had at least some experience of it.

 

[Dolph]

I've stripped down a K series before, so if I blow it up I can fix it again so anything is good! I know some people have turbo'd them, don't think that'll happen though

I'm not bothered about how much I spend - I love the car to bits and it never fails to amaze people with the ride quality and speed! So anything really.

Ok, while I'm not going to get involved too much in some of the sniping, it would be remiss of me not to point out a few modded car facts.

1) A modified slow car is almost never comparable to a standard fast car. It can come close, but there will always be something unless you get really daft with the mods, whether it's a lack of structural rigidity, a lack of low down usability or even just that certain spark. If you have the choice, the standard fast car is nearly always a better way to spend your money and go fast.

2) You haven't mentioned whether your car has been remapped to take the engine mods into account, if it hasn't, especially as you've changed the cams, I'd be very surprised if it's producing the 150bhp you're claiming. 140-150bhp is possible from a K series, but they are fairly highly strung to start with. Going back about 7 or 8 years, I had a modified 214 (the older shape), that was running different cams, ITB's, exhaust, and had been fully remapped, and that only just broke the 140bhp at the fly estimate, and it wasn't as reliable as it could have been, it would have benefited from a full rebuild and lining to get that.

Now, with those out of the way, on to ways to move forward.

Firstly, don't touch the engine (possibly barring a proper remap) any more until you've made sure the rest of the car is up to it. Most people don't mod engines for more power if they don't plan on using it, so look at brake and suspension upgrades. This is especially relevant if your concern is how it performs against other, faster as stock, cars.

Apart from ITB's, other options you could consider are a turbo kit, or an engine swap for a turbo. If you decide to stay with the NA route, ITB's, a rebuilt, balanced and lightened engine, getting the head at least ported and polished (you can swap it for the head etc from a VVC engine if you want) and so on.

You could also play with *** if you aren't too worried about the risks of killing it and the short term only power availability.

Lots and lots of options, just not that many truely sensible ones when it comes to modifying cars.

 

[BigglesPiP]

150bhp my hairy northern hind.

Even if it's anywhere near that, all of your work (bar the K&N, which is comparable to just fitting a clean OEM filter) shifts the power to the top end of the scale, have you done any work raise the revs into this power band?

It must be even more numb at the bottom.

 

[Dogbreath]

- Piper fast-road cams (Picked up from the bay for a ridiculously irresistible price by a friend... only to find they didn't fit his Rover 200. So he put them on mine! Hell of a job...)

And a fairly pointless one unless you have ditched the MEMS ECU for something that can be mapped to suit the new fueling requirements. The Emerald system is very popular for the K Series. Also get a set of adjustable cam pulleys if you don't already have them. Then get it set up on a rolling road.

If you are still running the MEMS and without optimised cam timing then I'd suggest 150bhp is very optimistic.

Throttle body from a 1.8l Rover 400, slightly bigger than mine, mainly got to sort out mine sticking, but seems to have improved top-end a little xD

There are exactly two sizes of throttle body for the K series, the 48mm which comes in plastic and alloy, and the 52mm which was fitted to the 160bhp VVC engine. The standard 1.8 throttle body is exactly the same as the standard 1.6 and (unrestricted) 1.4.

 

[Berger]

Probably got all of 110bhp.

Nothing will add BHP bar the cams, which wont do sod all without pulleys and an aftermarket ECU as said. Even if you got to the piper site, their "fast road" cams give 10 or 16bhp with the pulleys on the 1.6 or 1.8 engine!

As for living in Tarleton and theres no fast cars around there, everyone is fairly "local" so to speak so im not suprised. Theres plenty of quickish barry cars in Preston that would hand your ass to you.

 

[DreXeL]

Nice looking example, and I applaud the engine tweaks

I really don't think it's 150bhp though, probably 120ish...

And please, don't do this:

Mesh upper and lower grille, and spray chrome grille surround red to match the car.

It will look utterly ****.