Mk1 Posi VTS

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

So I decided to stray away from boosting the 182, a lot of thought went into it and various comments/advice from other members, I looked at it from other points of view. My main thought was that it's my daily (other than a works van) so if it turned into a problem/money pit, I'm stuck. After thinking about it long and hard 😂 ... I decided I could have just as much fun with a track car, so I went out to look for one.

That's when I stumbled across this little gem.
1997 Mk1 VTS.
84k genuine miles
Very good condition for the age (bar the odd scratch, it's 18 years old!)
£1100 worth of receipts in the last few months for the following;
head gasket, bolts, cambelt, aux belt, waterpump, coolant pump, thermostat+housing and gasket, starter motor, coolant itself, brand new axle -40mm, new discs/pads all around, spark plugs, pollen filter, oil filter and oil, top mounts, Bilstein B8's, tie rods, 50mm springs (s**t, s**t springs), drop links etc etc.
Overall plans for this are fast road/track use. The standard exhaust is killing me, I'm 100% asbo and need noise, which is good because I've just bought a Saxsport 10 minutes ago so next week shall be some progress already!

Stay Puft · Oct 4, 2015

Love these, great s**t little cars (if that makes sense). I had a mk2 VTR and I oddly miss it.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Davyy said:
Love these, great s**t little cars (if that makes sense). I had a mk2 VTR and I oddly miss it.

I makes perfect sense. They're both great, and s**t cars!

dangerous dave · Oct 4, 2015

If an ax gti came up I'd be well interested for a burn up... It was my first car......

I crashed it

Jekyll · Oct 4, 2015

Keeping an eye on this. Love this type of projects on these little cars.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

dangerous dave said:
If an ax gti came up I'd be well interested for a burn up... It was my first car......

I crashed it

Well that was bloody stupid of you!

Dr Jekyll said:
Keeping an eye on this. Love this type of projects on these little cars.

Cheers mate. Hoping progress will be rather fast paced as I've got a spare wad from getting the price knocked down!

Mr Plums · Oct 4, 2015

Good choice not to turbo the 182 mate, how much can you pick these vts's up for?

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Few pics to keep the dust off my camera!

The interior is stupidly clean, I may even go as far as cleaner than the 182! My dad said it would be a crying shame to strip it back and gut it.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

MrTom said:
Good choice not to turbo the 182 mate, how much can you pick these vts's up for?

It changes often depending on the rust issue/general condition mate. I picked this up for £1100. I don't feel shy on stating that as it's got 84k genuine miles and has £1100 worth of receipts as I mentioned above. Mk2's, well put it this way, I've sold 3 for under £500 with full manifold+exhaust systems.

Mr Plums · Oct 4, 2015

What's the performance like compared to 1*2s?

Stay Puft · Oct 4, 2015

A vts will keep up with a 182 all day.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

MrTom said:
What's the performance like compared to 1*2s?

Well, ironically @josh11490 came up with me in his 182. Had a dabble on the way back and his just walked passed me. Bare in mind this VTS is completely stock, Josh's has air filter/full exhaust system, not much, but better over standard. My old VTS was stripped to the shell, and had a 4-2-1 and Supersprint decat back, that thing was pretty quick accelerating wise.

josh11490 · Oct 4, 2015

They aren't too far off pace wise, rolling start the Clio will win, off the line the VTS, after 80-100 the Clio.

My Cammed GTi, was chasing down 172/182s on track.

Very capable little cars, slight addiction to them lol

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

They're virtually the same cars, both need to be revving high to get all the oomph. Clio has more torque lower down so it'll always win.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

VTS has the weight advantage of 930kg kurb weight iirc though!

Mr Plums · Oct 4, 2015

Do they get any sort of kick like the 1*2s have at 5k?

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

MrTom said:
Do they get any sort of kick like the 1*2s have at 5k?

Sort of, the power seems to kick in (smoother than the 1*2's) around 4k imo.

Smiffyboy1990 · Oct 4, 2015

Seems like a decent example of car getting quite rare nowadays. I'd rather tidy it up and make it 'mint' rather than stripping it out for track. That's me though and it's not my car [emoji23]

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Smiffyboy1990 said:
Seems like a decent example of car getting quite rare nowadays. I'd rather tidy it up and make it 'mint' rather than stripping it out for track. That's me though and it's not my car [emoji23]

All it would need for that is the VT kit re fitted! The car is pretty mint as it is now, but I wanted that as it's a good base to start off with. It's never seen an exhaust, air filter, never been sat on it's arse with a knackered axle. It's also rust free, which is stupidly hard to come by on a Saxo!

Stefan. · Oct 4, 2015

Rare sight nowadays

Always wanted one when i passed my test at 18 lol

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

sj2112 said:
Rare sight nowadays

Always wanted one when i passed my test at 18 lol

Can't say I've seen another on the road myself. It's a good egg, plenty of potential and plenty of things to come it's way.

Jekyll · Oct 4, 2015

Don't fancy minting this and stripping the Clio instead?

Daz_RT_04 · Oct 4, 2015

Does the immobiliser pad still work?

Matthew · Oct 4, 2015

Worst standard brakes fitted to any car in history.

I nearly smashed mine into the back of the car infront driving it back from where I bought it.

Ace little things though.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Dr Jekyll said:
Don't fancy minting this and stripping the Clio instead?

The price difference puts me off, and the Clio is pretty mint itself bar the bumper.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Daz_RT_04 said:
Does the immobiliser pad still work?

It does indeed, I find it so cool!

Matthew said:
Worst standard brakes fitted to any car in history.

I nearly smashed mine into the back of the car infront driving it back from where I bought it.

Ace little things though.

They're being swapped for a 266mm setup. Thought about the GTi6 283mm setup, but they're overkill unless you're pushing high power, 266mm will do lovely.

Daz_RT_04 · Oct 4, 2015

I ran 266mm on mine and unlike the 283 setup, stayed with the original master cylinder. They worked a treat tbh.

All you need is a manifold, exhaust and a decent air filter setup and it will fly along nicely.

SimpleJoee · Oct 4, 2015

Daz_RT_04 said:
I ran 266mm on mine and unlike the 283 setup, stayed with the original master cylinder. They worked a treat tbh.

All you need is a manifold, exhaust and a decent air filter setup and it will fly along nicely.

Saxsport should be here sometime next week along with either a Piper 4-1 manifold, or Miltek 4-2-1 depending on price/who gets back to me sooner. I'll be looking for the Simota enclosed induction kit with green cotton filter as I ran that on my previous S, good setup.

As for the master cylinder I'll be sticking with the current one like yourself previously, shouldn't need to upgrade (hopefully).

AS_BO · Oct 4, 2015

Awesome wee car, and MK1's are getting so rare now - more so than the equivalent 106 GTI. Saxsport, mani and an enclosed filter really open them up too. Should see 140BHP and at 900KGS or so that's enough.

Daz_RT_04 · Oct 4, 2015

SimpleJoee said:
Saxsport should be here sometime next week along with either a Piper 4-1 manifold, or Miltek 4-2-1 depending on price/who gets back to me sooner. I'll be looking for the Simota enclosed induction kit with green cotton filter as I ran that on my previous S, good setup.

As for the master cylinder I'll be sticking with the current one like yourself previously, shouldn't need to upgrade (hopefully).

I wouldn't go enclosed. A friend of mine spent a fortune on his and found the enclosed setup was a restriction.

I'd go silicone hoses with the filter behind the headlamp route like people do on 1*2's or simply, a standard Airbox with updated panel filter (no induction noise mind)

Knuckles · Oct 4, 2015

Amazing. Good effort finding one!

I love vts'

ADS_V6 · Oct 4, 2015

Soft spot for the vts,cracking performance only letdown is the bloody brakes

josh11490 · Oct 4, 2015

Really can't wait to see how this comes along.

Crybert · Oct 4, 2015

Man that looks so good. Love me some rectangular headlights!

SimpleJoee · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks for the comments guys. @Daz_RT_04 I'll bare that one in mind bud, cheers.

New polybush exhaust mounts, exhaust gasket, and Chicken triple sandwich bought.

Cookson · Oct 5, 2015

Loved my Mk1 VTS. I bought it for the simple reason to piss off my ex (whilst I was with her) as she hated them. I quickly fell in love.

It was like putting on a very angry, but well fitted slipper.

Always wanted posi blue too

SimpleJoee · Oct 6, 2015

This is my 4th VTS and third posi, I'm a greedy git!

SimpleJoee · Oct 6, 2015

So a little update list to keep the thread up to date.

Saxsport exhaust Bought
Miltek 4-2-1 Manifold purchasing tonight hopefully!
Exhaust gasket + Manifold gasket bought
Polybushed exhaust mounts bought
Manifold studs and nuts bought

Hopefully all should be fitted this weekend presuming the weather is okay, but as I'm Welsh, we'll see... Also there's the common leak from the sunroof so that'll be looked into as well.

dangerous dave · Oct 6, 2015

That's what I had as a first car (that's not mine tho)... In 2000 as a first car I was a baller... Were the vtr's pretty much the same engine? It was the vts that really took a leap in power and performance. I'd love a blast in a vts, but that engine in this would be a keeper.

SimpleJoee · Oct 9, 2015

So, change of plans. The Saxsport I bought turned out to have a big crack in it, so I had a refund before it was posted (seller was breaking a friend of a friends car, and didn't know it was there). So I've now purchased a brand new decat-back non silenced centre section from KamRacing, SuperSprint, basically one of the top brands for the Saxo/106. I also purchased a green cotton filter to replace the filter in the standard airbox. Then someone popped up on Facebook that happened to be selling the original SuperSprint tailpipe in good condition, snapped it up straight away. Everything else has arrived, bar the polybush mounts, typical lol...

Quality of the pictures are crap as they're on my works phone, which is some rubbish Windows thing!