Car has gone, but I will still hang around!

[chrismyatt82]

Originally Posted by caled

Id deffo get hold of an RS2k rather than trying to engine swap - the GTI to RS2k conversion is supposed to be a bit of a pig and not worth the effort given the price difference of the two cars.
There are a couple of popular conversions, though. The most common by far is dropping the 2l silvertop zetec from an early, pre-PATS modeo in, gives ~130bhp and a good deal more torque and makes it a much better drive.
Another conversion is an RS turbo lump, although theyre becoming a bit thin on the ground.
Yet another I've seen done is using the 2.3 out of a scorpio, although again a bit thin on the ground and Im not sure whether this would be any easier than a RS2k.
A third option would the budget turbo option on the 1.8, or a 2.0 if it takes your fancy. A guy called Stu on escortevo knows his stuff about this, and highly recommends it - its my long term plan to get it done to mine. He used to have a website running, but thats gone down now.

Cheers for the advice there... I was looking up last night about Supercharging rather than Turbocharging as you get less of a lag(?)

I may look at badging mine up like an RS2000 in the meantime, it is de-badged at the rear and only the GTi badges on the side

I think the car change may be the best option too for the future as my insurance wasnt interested in an engine swap!

[caled]

Originally Posted by chrismyatt82

Cheers for the advice there... I was looking up last night about Supercharging rather than Turbocharging as you get less of a lag(?)

I may look at badging mine up like an RS2000 in the meantime, it is de-badged at the rear and only the GTi badges on the side

I think the car change may be the best option too for the future as my insurance wasnt interested in an engine swap!

Hehe, I bet they werent! You would definitely need to go specialist insurance quote to make it even remotely possible to insure the thing - thinking Adrian Flux, Chris Knott, Sky Insurance possibly. The zetec to RS2k i4 conversion is not an easy one, and requires swapping over the front suspension and gearbox to suit AFAIK. And you'll need to upgrade the brakes. All the bits you'll need to buy are probably quite a bit more than the difference in price between the RS2k to GTI, hence why most people dont bother. Just been reading that the RS2k I4 and the Galazy 2.3l I4 are the same dimensions though, which is interesting.

My personal preference is against labelling it up as an RS - then you'd be acutely aware that its all show no go/mutton dressed as lamb/insert generic metaphor. Another thing to delete all the badges, but then it looks like its not a GTI, either (although in fairness, the only thing the GTI had over anything else were the seats and the skirts).

Supercharging by definition will give you less lag as you dont need to wait for sufficient exhaust gas to spin up the whatever-size turbo you have, but I cant say Ive heard of anyone going for that option - the budget turbo Ive been trying to dig out the guide for was estimated at ?3-4k. A supercharger will beef up the lower end, but a turbo will increase the top (and dependent on how big it is, the middle). There are a few bits that need replacing enginewise, but I cant remember what they were of the top of my head, Im assuming headbolts and decomp plates, I think you could get away with standard pistons and rods rather than forged, dependent on power but would need to check that. You'd also need to get the rocker and sump reworked to provide a source and return for the oil for the turbo.

Half the reason these are such great cars is the wide range of ways of personalising them, and that they cost pittance. That and I actually really like the look of a nice gti kitted escort.