Project "The Black Beast"

[petet16]

The lower brace uses the same bolts that the lower arms pivot on.

[petet16]

This is a picture of a coupe, but the zs rear suspension is the same, the lower brace goes between the 2 bolts you can see in the pic.

[Chaz]

Originally Posted by petet16

The lower brace uses the same bolts that the lower arms pivot on.

Originally Posted by petet16

This is a picture of a coupe, but the zs rear suspension is the same, the lower brace goes between the 2 bolts you can see in the pic.

Do you think its worth doing?

Im guessing it will fit my MK2 then as all the difference between MK1 and 2 is body panels aint it..

[petet16]

It will fit your mk2 fine, as to if it's worth doing, I'm not convinced, if you look at the coupe pic there's a brace welded between the lower arm mountings, this method will be way more effective than a brace between the bolts.

It would be worth checking the price for Honda braces because MB use Honda parts and add themselves some extra £££ on top.

[ZS Phil]

The turbo youve been offered by Countrydude, do you know if its the same as the one Dark Ice have been using?

They have just updated their thread on .org and pulled 182bhp and 250ftlbs. Might be a worthwhile investment if so

You any closer to deciding on a suspension set up?

[Chaz]

Originally Posted by petet16

It will fit your mk2 fine, as to if it's worth doing, I'm not convinced, if you look at the coupe pic there's a brace welded between the lower arm mountings, this method will be way more effective than a brace between the bolts.

It would be worth checking the price for Honda braces because MB use Honda parts and add themselves some extra £££ on top.

Cheers for the tip, will check out the honda stuff first, thought motobuild would charge a bit over the top, as long as it fits though I dont mind.

Originally Posted by ZS Phil

The turbo youve been offered by Countrydude, do you know if its the same as the one Dark Ice have been using?

They have just updated their thread on .org and pulled 182bhp and 250ftlbs. Might be a worthwhile investment if so

You any closer to deciding on a suspension set up?

I think it could be same spec mate, pretty sure its the same type turbo that Dastardly Dan got built and fitted to Ojenkins car which also made 181 bhp supposedly.. Dyno printout was a bit iffy..

Yeah I saw the results on dark ice's facebook, 250 lb ft is a bit low tbh.. Sounds like it needs more fuelling..

My first ZR made 155 bhp/262 lb ft and my most recent ZR was 274 lb ft both on standard turbo, but that was very very smokey and was slipping a brand spanking genuine rover clutch lol..

This turbo iv been offered apparently can be sent away to wilky and be made into a hybrid GT2025, but I cant see how it can still use a standard SDi downpipe, surely the housings will have to be changed?

Might be worth a punt though, will see if he has it still after christmas!


Suspension wise, im not sure what to do, been trying to find lowering springs but can only find cheapo "Lo" springs on ebay, bet they are good , Would love to find a set of xpowers but seem impossible to find, would even settle for a set of motobuild springs I reckon but they dont seem to sell them anymore..

I did find these civic coilovers, looked similar to your old ones....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PROSPORT-C...item5af7f6bc87

What you reckon? Could I get them to fit?

[petet16]

Xpower springs for the 180 and diesel do pop up occasionally on ebay, but much patience is needed.

[ZS Phil]

Yeh, those ones in the link look pretty much the same and should fit, you just need to use a slightly narrower bolt through the fork in the rears, the fors is also wider than the MG forks but my ones came with spacers (a couple of thick washers) which worked a treat.

The only real hassle with fitting them is that you have to wind the collars up against the springs quite tight so sometimes the spring backs off the turn you have just put on with the C spanner. There isnt enough room to get spring compressors on at the same time to eliminate the problem. You can get around it but it requires a bit of patience and they will fit.

Id either wait for some second hand GAZ or AVO coilovers specifically weighted to the 180 or diesel or get some motobuild springs.
I sold mine to talkingcars so might be worth seeing if he wants to sell if motobuild arent doing them anymore.

Going back to the turbo, are you sure 2025 has been quoted, the first number relates to the exhaust housing so obvioulsy 20 is bigger than 17 but the second number relates to the size of the compressor wheel so it may have been 2052 or 2056, obviously 2056 would be bigger on both sides than the 1752 or whatever the one thats been offered to you is.

As far as I know the ones Dan did were a bit different in that they used a "top secret" exhaust housing with the rest of it coming from a petrol saab turbo.

Yeh, 250ft/lbs is a bit low really, mine is currently at 166 and 300, the CG stage 3 clutch copes fine but im sure the standard one wouldnt like it very much!

[p_b82]

To be honest they probably limited that torque spike by choice...

so it being 250 is not really anything to be 'worried' about - that in theory would be a safe limit for an OE car for some-one that does not want to change the clutch or run a smoke screen out back.

we all know just how peaky that value is on our cars normally so the spike is onyl over a few hundred RPM anyways certainly no more than 1000... but a nice healthy 180 diesel.