Clio Turbo

[Ben H]

By next summer I should have saved enough for a turbo conversion on my 16v. Ive been through all the motions of considering alternative cars and so on, but it boils down to my desire for a unique(ish) car - wrapped, of course, in one of the finest-styled shells ever.

I was hoping that I could just scratch the surface to see what preparation Ill need in addition to the turbo kit. Just to make clear that I will be using the original block if possible - not a Cossie conversion or anything. A low-pressure set up for reliability is my priority, not headline power figures. I was also hoping that someone on here would be a 16v turbo conversion owner!!

There seem to be a few kits on the market at the moment: Prima, BB Tuning (almost) and K-TEC (again, almost) - any thoughts on the value, spec and quality of these?

Cheers

 

[BenR]

Spending all that money for a low pressure conversion on OE pistons, i would presume, is a waste. You might as well stum up teh relatively little amount for forged low comp items and get teh same reliability with more power.....

makeing a turbo, do it properly......or you could just tune it NA stylee with less money to get near same performance and a better sound.

 

[Rob_johnst69]

go bb. theres is the best i seen so far

 

[djmcfish]

BB are claiming there 16v turbo, which is 98% complete will hit over 300bhp!!

This is prob at 50 psi or something daft but they say kits will soon be avalible. check out the website

 

[Rob_johnst69]

Ps forgot to say. I know someone that had a converison done on his 16v and blow it up. Running a low boost it stilll when pop. (pistion) He is now rebuilding it to a 2.1. So in the long run save up and the internal done

 

[Ben H]

Sorry people, when I said using the original block, I meant the bottom end - I think that new pistons and various ancillary bits will have to be upgraded. I dont want to do some sort of economy job, but I do want to keep it fairly Renault!

 

[Ben H]

But, just to explore the NA route - how much do throttle bodies cost these days that are suitable for the 16v?

 

[Pysco]

You can get 45mm TBs from Jenvey for about 400 quid, then youd need a monifold, mappable ECU and setting up on rollers. Over a grand minimum Id say, if you wanna couple it with headwork and a 2.0l conversion then obviosly more. But I think NA is the way to go Should be starting on my project NA engine soon, and its gonne be something special!

 

[tony 16V]

does anyone know where you can buy forged pistons and a rough price?

 

[Matbrown]

Ben,

£2,400 for TBs fitted!



Mat.

 

[Rob_johnst69]

wow thats almost enough for a turbo conversion

 

[BenR]

Tbs are an involed job and setting up is starting fresh basically. But you can do it for less. Source it yourself and youll be lauging. parts excluding the management can cost below 1K if you go to the right places. 50 quid for teh actual TBs and tha leaves you 500 to sot out sensors, potentiometers etc, manifold and teh fuel system.

 

[Glennclio16v]

Ben if your gonna get a turbo conversion (as i will be eventually!) then get the BBPT one!! (as i will be eventually!)

The prima version is a dog and as Rob said earlier another Bens Prism conversion went pop!!

It just so happens i bumped into Andy from BBPT down the pub at my pool match on Monday night and he recognised me and came over to tell me about the latest developments and to offer me a test drive very soon!!

Top bloke, top company, top conversion!

As for reliability i asked him about that and he said that 220-250bhp can be achieved 100% reliably for everday use!! Nice!

 

[marcus cliogtt]

Any idea how much yet?

 

[Glennclio16v]

I have an idea!

 

[lofty]

hasnt ben already got a remapable ECU?

 

[Ben H]

Yes Lofty, its a re-mapable ECU and it has verniers for cam timing.

The problem Ive had so far is that nobody recognises the ECU unit (Ahmed Bayjoo ring any bells?) and the verniers need some serious work to adjust! That means that if I want to change the engines settings, I have to spend a lot of money to find out what the settings are at - and theres not much point in that if the settings are already optimal!!

The NA route (i.e. throttle bodies etc) seems a bit complicated - and I need a car that can do 1000 miles at a time - even though I dont use it for a week or two at a time (I use it for going home to Wales, visiting friends etc). So a reliable forced induction set-up seems better to me.

 

[Matbrown]

Ben,

Ahmed Bayjoo is a well known ford tuner!

Very good too.



Mat.

 

[Ben H]

...erm...I dont know whats going on then!

 

[Matbrown]

?

 

[Ben H]

Ive not had a look myself, but the guy who had the car mentioned that it had an Ahmed Bayjoo re-programmeable ECU when I was testing it.

 

[Ben H]

Sorry...the guy who had the car before me!