Aaargh Samba's - part 2

Assuming it does...... then surely an Mi-16 would be the way forward. On carbs.

It would be the biggest laugh you've ever had, too.

I suspect the chassis would need quite a bit of strengthening work TBH for anything more than the 1.6...

Probably, being a convertible. It already wobbles. But then it'd be fun.

David

That's the trouble with kids today. No sense of adventure ;-)

True. I'm waiting until it's looked at on Thursday to make the decision.

The brakes are proving cheaper to do than I thought (about £150 for the whole lot of calipers, discs, pads, hoses and shoes) plus I've picked up some front shock absorbers for £20 rather than the £300 I was quoted. So it's looking better.

Any ideas on the cost of an Mi-16 engine? (I was thinking of this)

David

Fuck-all - if you find a written off, or MOT fail 405 Mi-16, it'll be worth under £100. Buy the car, rip out engine and box, then weigh it in.

A written off / MOT fail 405 Mi-16 isn't an easy thing to buy for under a ton. The engine alone is very sought after.

Maybe.

Last bare engine sold for £250 on ebay.

Engines still in cars tend to fetch less.

You may well be right, but I'm sure something could be found for not a lot of cash.

thing about the 405 is if you buy the complete car you get the brain, the gearbox and lots of other goodies that weren't exactly thick on the ground. You've also got the Mi-16 owners who tend to buy them for things like the rear suspension spheres / pump etc so they fetch good money.

Quite a few have nice interiors as well, most have decent alloys.

Heh, good luck! The 205 boys love to get their hands on a complete car! The main reason BX 16v prices have been pushed up so much - a Pugger will pay £300 for a shagged car as long as the engine works!

Besides it's the wrong family of engine for the Samba

It would probably fit, but it wouldn't mate up to anything in there at the moment. Mi16 and the 205/309 GTi engines are from the XU family.

Ideal engine tranplant would be a 106GTi engine (or Saxo VTS) - 120bhp of

16v reviness. Or if you could find one the 1.3 Rallye engine - 100bhp and even more reviness.

What engine is in it at the mo then? A 60bhp 1.4 TU at a guess? If so then a slightly more common and cheaper upgrade might be a 106 1.4 MPi engine (100bhp) or if you can't be arsed with wiring in EFI then a 85bhp 205 XS engine. Plenty of options out there!

Currently a 72bhp 1360cc TU (single carb), although I've looked at how easy it is to fit the twin-carb setup giving 80bhp

A bit less power than I would probably be hoping for.

The issue may be with the fact that the gearbox is in the sump in a TU engine, which made me wonder if a complete transplant was possible.

David

The 106 GTi engine would be huge amounts of fun. More power than that and you'd need to consider lots of strengthening I'd imagine. But.....

That's not a TU engine then. That's the old XY (?) engine as fitted to the early 205s. In that case I'm not sure a TU engine would fit straight in as I assume all the mounts would be different, an as you say the gearbox is in the sump. The 80bhp 205 XS engine/carbs is probably the best bolt in replacement AFAIK.

You don't need the brain etc.; run it on '45's or '48's and use an aftermarket ignition...

*surely* there must be plenty of crashed VTSs out there? :)

True, but there are still people who prefer to use the brain, or can't afford the Webers.

I dunno, all the chavs round here have the VTRs! Couldn't afford the VTSs I'd assume