Silly cars

What do you want it for? Road car, rally, drag, hillclimb, etc?

How about an old BMW? Just got the E21 back from having some paint done, front engined rear wheel drive big engine bay for a nice V8 transplant. (No I'm not trying to sell it)

In article , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk spouted forth into uk.rec.cars.modifications...

Hmm, the R5GTT might be fairly easy of you can get round the swap from FWD to RWD when you transplant into the ovloV, because ovloV did use renault engines in a lot of their 1.4 and 1.7 engined cars.

But, how about shoving a rover V8 into that engine bay. It will be crap round corners (isn't it already). But should huff big time in a straight line. Always supercharge it later if you find extra money.

I reckon the best bet would be to shove one of the 2.3 Turbo's in one from of the big old RWD volly tanks, like the 740 or whatever. The outputs not that impressive for a 2.3T (160-170bhp?) but they're pretty tunable, and do you actually want anymore than that in 340?

Actually this is pretty easy- if you had started off with a 360(!) Bell housings are different between the Renault and Volvo engines (340 / 360)

The only slight problem is routing the turbo exhaust / manifold around the steering rack / column shaft- but the rest is easy- hell there are even pre-punched holes in the radiator panel for the intercooler hoses!

A B230ET (2.3 turbo) in standard form is good for 182bhp, imagine the tailslides with that heheheh

Tim..

Great plan, but pick a decent car - not some chatty old-fashioned thing !

How about a 205 MI16 ? Or even a 309 MI16 ?

So there's a very easy 200bhp to be had - and probably more.

That's sounding like an excellent plan to me - you can pick up a 360 for peanuts. As Tim says, the only real cost will be to have someone make you up a manifold - but if you all contribute, then it shouldn't be much to bear.

Thinking more about weight/balance of the car. Rover V8, nice and light and tunable later, and torquey now.

Might even weigh less than a 2.3 Volvo T

Maybe does, but i should imagine the difference will be minimal, and the volvo lump will be easier to source and far easier to fit i should imagine, also, its cheaper to tune, just whap the boost up ;)

And actually, lets be honest, the handling isn't exactly going to get any worse is it :) Chop a few coils out of the standard springs, Burgerman Sierra style, maybe add some slightly wider rear tyres than the standard volly ones tho.....

The handling has surprised me. In the wet its just metnal and all over the place and the slightest little hint of power. In the dry it grips pretty well - i'm taking roundabouts at the same speed i used to in the 205 - not quite as stable, but it'll go round with a bit of persuasion! Although the more powerful versions probably get a bit more interesting(!) I agree that the 155 tyres may need to be uprated :)

I shouldnt think it would be easier to fit, since its a renault engine at the mo so everything is probably different. And theres no way a 2.3 Volvo lump is gonna be easier to find that a Rover V8! Think of the number of cars the V8 (in its various forms) as been put into!

Just a road car that we can all have a laugh in. Maybe the odd road rally (but thats not important)

The Rover V8 was suggested in my car, so that was already on the list :) I have the 1.4 Renault engine in there now, so thats why i was thinking of the GTT lump.

We'll look for a solid car and go from there. Theres nothing wrong with old-fashioned things. remember we're going for something thats grin inducing, not super-duper quick!

Boring! How many times has that been done! I was actually thinking of a

2.1TD in a 309, but i think that may be too boring. Mybe a RWD 405 Mi16 if we could get hold of a 4x4 shell

Dan405 made the world a better place for us by saying..

Hmm, but that's a mere piddling single Turbo...

Whereas, sitting in my garage, doing f*ck all apart from waiting to be bought, is a Twin Turbo conversion for a carb rover V8...

Carl Gibbs raved thus:

:: I shouldnt think it would be easier to fit, since its a renault :: engine at the mo so everything is probably different. And theres no :: way a 2.3 Volvo lump is gonna be easier to find that a Rover V8! :: Think of the number of cars the V8 (in its various forms) as been :: put into!

Yeah, but everyone wants them for their Cobra kit cars, so they'll probably be fewer around and more expensive than the Volvo 2.3T.

Abo

There is everything wrong with them :)

But it's plenty easy. You'll struggle to do anything more "indepth" without proper equipment. Unless it's a straight swap (like the above) you're gonna have to get all sorts of parts fabbed and stuff.

The GTT lump is a heap of crap though. It's only got something like 120bhp as standard, and it's got some insanely stupid carb setup (yes, on a Turbo !) and it eats head gaskets and it overheats. It'll piss you off plenty :)