1.5 dci 65 to 125bhp per tonne, possible?

[Duffman502]

Evening all I'm new to the forum having acquired a free 1.5 dci clio with a whopping 65bhp in surprisingly good condition for the age.
As its cost me nothing and its not worth a great deal Ive decided to have some fun with it.

From what I can find out so far and please correct me here.
My clio is 65 bhp and weighs around 970kg 67bhp per tonne. No intercooler and delphi 8200049876 injectors
1.5 dci engines range from 65 bhp to 110?
Differences being injectors, turbo and intercooler?

Aim is to strip the car to 880 or as close as possible as possible, maybe less. (With all necessary safety equipment).
Increase power to 110 bhp or more (125bhp per tonne).
There are a few series where 125bhp per tonne is a class requirement or would be competitive with other entries hence the figure.

How
Im handy with a Tig welder and will replace the catalyst with a straight pipe. £Free
I have a really efficient & compact water charge air cooler and can rig up a cooling circuit easily which will keep intake temps down nicely and pipe runs to a minimum. £Free
Remap £500~
Suspension & bushes £1000
brakes £500
If it can be competitive and I want to race the car Preparing it to msa spec I could do for a little over £1000 with parts I have and mates who will sort me out.
If required
The delphi injectors have the same bodies as ones used in many engines from a micra up to 4.4 litre JCB engines so Im confident there could be some part sharing that increase the flow or at least push them to the highest end of the standard spec. Could be done cheaply enough at a local delphi service centre.
Turbo I believe I can swap that from the 80bhp dci engine which might give me a little more breath without going crazy with hardware changes. £300 ish.

Considering a half decent 172/182 will be at least £2000 and need to be prepped £1000 (then ballasted to compete in the class) Brakes and suspension £1500 I think I can do all of the above to my car for the same price likely less.
At least this way its something Ive built had a bit of fun with and I've not taken a 172/182 of the road to thrash and potentially destroy.

So am I talking out of my arse or does anyone think this is achievable and what would the roadblocks be?
Has anyone got experience of these & how far you can realistically push a 1.5 dci 65 engine before something stop you?

 

[Goodj]

What MSA series are you looking at?
If it's a race series, you'll need to triple your parts bill, for a signed-off roll cage, seat and harnesses.

 

[R3k1355]

You'll do well to keep the weight down at 880kg after you've put a roll cage and chargecooler system in.

As above what race series are you looking at??
The less expensive ones tend to keep things relatively stock to reduce overall costs for competitors, that would mean no engine tuning.

 

[Duffman502]

Hi all
Something like the track day trophy would be interesting
Seat and harnesses won’t be an issue as I have some in date stuff from a golf.
Again same with fire extinguisher.

Cage is the biggest worry as I can get one made up and signed off at a reasonable price but not sure how much weight it will add?

Charge cooler I’m not too worried about the weight as it’s not a big welded alloy one and I have a tank + electric pump to suit it. Not more than about 20-25 kilos for the lot.

And I did have a look at some that were a bit more restrictive on tuning such as a production rallycross but I’ve looked deeper and it seems to be aimed at Nat asp petrols not diesels, saying forced induction prohibited.
I’m not sure if there would be some kind of dispensation or equivalence I could get around here though?
If I want to spend big money there is the super modified upto 1600 class but that defeats the point really.

 

[Goodj]

You're certainly going to limit the number of classes you can enter if you go in with an up-boosted DCi. As for cage weight, budget around 50kg as a minimum.
There's a reason 172s are more common on track, straight out of the box they'll be point-to-point quicker.

As for the classes you're looking at, if you can throw some links in, we'll soon get to the bottom of your eligibility.

I get that you're trying to find a purpose for your free car but it's best possible use case would be to do your daily commute, given it's running costs are almost cheaper than walking at the moment. Anything beyond that is pissing money into the wind. It's your money though.

 

[R3k1355]

Charge cooler I’m not too worried about the weight as it’s not a big welded alloy one and I have a tank + electric pump to suit it. Not more than about 20-25 kilos for the lot.

and the big radiator it needs to dump all the heat from the system?
A normal air-air intercooler will be lighter surely?

Currently with cage and stuff you're pretty much right back at your 970kg, with your 110bhp engine you're right at 113bhp/tonne, not really class leading.
Unless there's some kind of endurance thing you can do, Diesel engine might do well there?

 

[Duffman502]

Cheers for the advice, I get your points.
Series wise
I have emailed the BTRDA to see if I could run in the production class upto 1600cc 8 valve class.
It says no forced induction which is the issue but if they allow it I think it could be competitive.
MSVR trackday trophy class D it looks as though I’ll need a wedge more power to get the bhp/ tonne I need. But I’ll look into the engine a bit more.

As it was free and will cost me not much more than my time I may just make it in to a track day car and see what it’s made of.

 

[JB21]

Forget the racing series and just use it as a track car as you say. Strip, remap, tyres and brakes and away you go. Loads of weird and wonderful cars out there these days, and if you can pedal you'll be nowhere near the slowest out on track, not that that'll matter as long as you're enjoying yourself.

 

[R3k1355]

I can't see the BTRDA saying yes to your request, it's not just them but every other single competitor will moan like f**k at each race.

 

[Goodj]

You wont get a series to change its regs just for you. Instead you'll be signposted to one you are eligible for.

I admire your thinking, hell, last time I was at a sprint day there was a Nissan Leaf setting times!

Are you somehow attached to the car, other than having your name on the documents? Reason I ask, using the sale of the DCi, the net costs may likely be similar to just getting a scabby 172/182. Not to bother with any engine work, just strip that out and upgrade discs and pads.

 

[Duffman502]

I was hoping they would do some kind of equivalency and allow it in as other series have in certain classes. But got a very pleasant no from them and pointing me to the super modified class instead.

So I’m just going do the stuff I can make in my garage for little or nothing + the basics for track and improve my driving.

And I thought about selling it but it’s only worth circa £200-£500 on a good day.
I know the history of it and it’s mechanically spot on so I avoided any costly servicing just to get it up to a useable state.
It’s more that I fancied something different and thought why not.
This way I can have a bit of fun building/fabricating something unusual and see how quick I can make it.

 

[Darren S]

Forget the racing series and just use it as a track car as you say. Strip, remap, tyres and brakes and away you go. Loads of weird and wonderful cars out there these days, and if you can pedal you'll be nowhere near the slowest out on track, not that that'll matter as long as you're enjoying yourself.

Definitely this. I wouldn't want to be chastised by a lengthy set of rules, if instead you could tinker away with your car and have fun on open track days.

 

[McGherkin]

Why not Autosolo it? You'd be able to do it without any modifications, power output matters very little and it's lots of fun for essentially very cheap motorsport.