small car to blow up

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Old jags are nightmares. It took me 2 days to change a starter motor on my XJ12. Never again.

Fraser

Or bolt in a 2.3 Turbo lump...

Whoa whoa whoa!!

We're not going to do any engine swaps or anything we just want to have some fun with a light car and big nitrous. Looking for the best compromise. The engine will be kept pretty damn standard apart from a wodge of Nitrous and it doesn't have to be reliable, perhaps last three

1/4 mile blasts (the first two practice runs to get the launch right and the third with full on Nitrous and to hell with the engine) and that's it.

We'll obviously strip out the interior and make the vehicle as light as possible.

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That's an extreme instance, don't you need to crack the engine in half to get at the starter motor?

The point we are trying to make is, a small car like that won't take big nitrous standard... maybe 50 bhp shot? Even that will start to damage the engine slowly.

Untrue.

Nitrous does not damage engines. I t often breaks transmissions and diffs. Weak mixtures, over advanced timing, dirty oil, overheating and starting all do though.

IF you know what you are doing an extra couple of hundred hp is easy to get. But... THE CLUTCH and FWD will still screw it up!

I added 140bhp to a stock 1100 bike engine and it was drag raced competitively (ran 9.01 at 157mph) for two years. I have added TWO 140bhp systems to a fiat twin cam standard car engine in a drag car chassis, and it too was fine after two years of very angry racing!

The secret is RICH and RETARDED! it keeps peak cylinder pressure down, while giving much higher average cylinder pressures, as well as stopping detonation, and makes sure the crank is at an advantagous position so the pressure makes power!

Well I wouldn't want to get into a car like that with 140 bhp running though it... however I would get into a 5.3 jag with 250 bhp shot of the comical stuff.

You would once you had been fired down the strip once! You become addicted.

And you should feel feel how hard it hits on an already v fast bike! It makes you scream and laugh! You get the same sub 3 second to 60 from 60 to 120... And then it stops wheelspinning hooks up properly and really goes as the front starts to come up over the finish line at about 150! Then you hit the second stage if you want!

I would rather do it on a bike, when you get to that certain speed where your short range vision starts to become blurred and you can only focus on the distance which for me begins at about 110+ mph it starts to feel like you are a low flying jet fighter or something! Quite a surreal experiance for those who havn't experianced it.

You weren't testing in London today were you?

Yeah those darn London buses run on LPG and I fed in far too much Nitrous and up she went.

I've met loads of people like that.

Paging Hugo TJ ;)

I'd go down the Volvo 360 or 240 route. Already RWD, easy clutch change on the 340 but you will need to be absolutely brutal on the gearbox as the propshaft spins at engine speed and the clutch is at the engine rather than gearbox end (gearbox is under the boot). 240 has gearbox in the right place. Either way, you should end up with a 2 litre engine, and Volvo engines are strongy mcstrong.

Go for the 360 if you want that shape, as it comes with a stronger drivetrain over the 340s. If you want a 240 get the 2.3 engine. Dont bother with the V6 (if you can find one) as its not very reliable, the 2.3 will take the power better. And as Doki says the B200/B230 engines are nice and strong.

I think that's a pretty good idea myself. You can easily pick one up for less than £200, so if (when) you break it it wont have broken the bank too!!

Watch out for prop shaft faliure!

Hence why I would advise against a 340. 360s are a 'little' better. Gotta watch out for twisting the rear axle too!

Yep. Really you'd want to do something about the rear axle moving about. Mine was bit squirmy with the 60 horses or so...

ISTR reading in the performance car mags about Volvo 240 series rear axles being used in V8 drag cars because of their strength.

Which leads me nicely onto the completely different subject of what cars are being made today will be the 'tough old boots' in 20 years' time? It used to be that Mercedes and Volvos were built to last, maybe VW Beetles because of their simplicity. I don't mean the cars that will be around because they were cherished, the 'modern classics', but those that in spite of a few indifferent owners will refuse to die.