Almost 32 Years Old

[davo172]

Indeed, there was a popular 195 chip back in the day which in reality was 170ish. I mapped quite a few fiesta's on megasquirt and with VXR injectors, a stage 2 T3 and a cam they would do 220bhp ish but not a lot more without a fair bit of work. Mine before rebuild on MFI was 190bhp on a standard cam and maxed out stage 1 T3, setup by TOTD. At 200bhp the RST is about as quick in a straight line as a 2WD cossy with 350bhp because the gearing is short and they weigh so little.

My personal best was 270 with ported head, cam, EFI, 630cc injectors, stage 3 T3, NMS machined pistons, Farndon rods and a very carefully built engine. With wilder cam and bigger turbo I'm sure it would have been closer to 300bhp but frankly at 270 it was already undrivable. I had far more fun at under 250.

The zetec on the other hand made power so easily, I setup a friends car which had boost creep (Ie, I couldn't properly control the boost!) and we ended the session with something daft like 440bhp, why people wasted their lives with ZVH's for years and years I will never know.

I said this recently, they are cool but omg they are hard work to drive and live with compared to anything even remotely modern. A saph felt like a rolls compared to the RST.

Who did you used to work for then Rob?

 

[Darren S]

Epic looking RS Turbo there. Thankfully I'm old enough to remember when they were held in such regard. A family member had an XR3 from new back in the day - the first car I was ever in that passed an indicated 100mph. 🙂

I remember at the security office at Plymouth uni back in the mid 90s - there was a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo outside and it had a sticker on the back saying '220bhp' - as that clearly was the 'thing' to do back then. Even then, I doubted that it could get anywhere near that - but some of the responses in here seem to make it sound plausible?

Wasn't that about 100 more than stock power?

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Epic looking RS Turbo there. Thankfully I'm old enough to remember when they were held in such regard. A family member had an XR3 from new back in the day - the first car I was ever in that passed an indicated 100mph. 🙂

I remember at the security office at Plymouth uni back in the mid 90s - there was a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo outside and it had a sticker on the back saying '220bhp' - as that clearly was the 'thing' to do back then. Even then, I doubted that it could get anywhere near that - but some of the responses in here seem to make it sound plausible?

Wasn't that about 100 more than stock power?

I think people eventually got the 1.6 CVH to well north of 300bhp. I seem to remember some claiming 350-odd, but they were serious, serious builds. Top speed record for a 1.6 RS Turbo got to just over 170mph I believe too.

As someone said above, the problem with the Escort was always the mechanical injection, while I think the Fiesta management was difficult to map iirc. There was a fashion for fitting Cosworth engine management at one time, but then aftermarket stuff took over.

 

[davo172]

Epic looking RS Turbo there. Thankfully I'm old enough to remember when they were held in such regard. A family member had an XR3 from new back in the day - the first car I was ever in that passed an indicated 100mph. 🙂

I remember at the security office at Plymouth uni back in the mid 90s - there was a Series 1 Escort RS Turbo outside and it had a sticker on the back saying '220bhp' - as that clearly was the 'thing' to do back then. Even then, I doubted that it could get anywhere near that - but some of the responses in here seem to make it sound plausible?

Wasn't that about 100 more than stock power?

133 std they were I think

 

[Silent_Scone]

Beatiful

 

[Robbie Corbett]

Who did you used to work for then Rob?

I didn't, I had a small company with a friend and we just did efi conversions on old fords - kept it going for a few years and met some brilliant people but ultimately we both had kids, other jobs, houses to renovate etc so had to drop something.

I think I probably mapped something like 80 fiesta/rs turbos, a few skylines and cossys etc. So was brilliant fun but hard work!

 

[Hixle]

Superb.

I always remember going to pick up my mates one with him. The sunroof shattered on the way home at 100mph+ 🤣

The same mate also went on to buy a S1, in the dark. Bad mistake, you could see the road through the passenger footwell.

 

[Cookson]

Superb.

I always remember going to pick up my mates one with him. The sunroof shattered on the way home at 100mph+ 🤣

The same mate also went on to buy a S1, in the dark. Bad mistake, you could see the road through the passenger footwell.

I too bought an absolute peach, in the dark. Made is Dagenham, bodged in Blackpool

I spent about £1500 trying to put that thing back to some kind of normal standard, and once it was running right, I fucked it right off.

 

[MarcB]

So today was the day.
Car was fully washed and dried and then put away after a wee 10min spin.

Will more than likely be another million years before it’s out again.