power upgrades?

[Finny]

Right...i have been planning for a while to take the ph1 off the road and start tweaking etc for track/sunday road use! (of course il be doing a project thread)

Now i have the chance to do this and store the car in the right place im now in the posistion to start thinking about what to do?

I have looked at all options and know roughly all the areas (boddies,cams,charger and turbo etc) but not this crazy idea of going down the megane 225 engine route...how much roughly is this to do obviously labour and parts etc as i know from looking already how much roughly the lump is to buy? basically th price of having one day my car sitting with the f4r motor in to the next having a fully working 225 engine?

Also i would love to know from personal experience which out of the lot will be best suited for myself for what i want? as lately ive been thinking to A. keep costs down and B. reliability, just go for a set of cams, match the inlets, decat and few other little tweaks as ive already got the likes of filter, stealth, decent disks n pads, coilovers and started to strip it ready for cage and two buckets!

Cheers, Dan

 

[JackD]

Bodies - £2500ish, £3000ish with cams. 210-20bhp
Charger - £5000ish. 250-80bhp
Turbo - Atleast £4000. 250-80bhp I believe.

Although the jc5 gearbox will probably throw a fit if tracked with boost, so ideally you'd also need a vag gearbox conversion.

i had my cup on bodies and loved how it drove, needed cams though IMO wasn't quite as quick as I'd hoped although the difference over standard was amazing still.

 

[Finny]

i love the thought of bodies i think they are great and keeping it n/a would be brilliant! what are the honest ups and downs of them though?

 

[Martin.]

I once asked K-tec about installing a 225 engine and components into mine. They said it was a very difficult job to do due to the size difference. Didn't even suggest a price. So I left it there.

 

[JackD]

Awesome sound, very useable/track friendly power, doesn't strain gearbox.

However,

Expensive for comparatively little gains, requires aftermarket ECU which pushes the cost up.

 

[Finny]

I once asked K-tec about installing a 225 engine and components into mine. They said it was a very difficult job to do due to the size difference. Didn't even suggest a price. So I left it there.

yeah thats the thing mate ive seen few people doing it lately and wondered how big of a job it would be as the power gains are ridiculous out of those motors

 

[Finny]

if i was to go for boddies what is the best kit and from who?

 

[Dan@SJM]

Fit a VAG 225 lump

 

[cliokid182]

http://www.k-tecracing.com/power_upgrades_packages.asp

 

[cliokid182]

http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=2822 im going for the cam package on the 13th next on the list i think is a lsd and bodies

 

[Finny]

dan how much is involved?

 

[Cupman29]

£ for £ you will get more power for forced induction but depends on what you want out of it. I went the megane 225 route as a self build and it takes time and money to complete. Did my first track day with the new lump last weekend on the JC5 box with no issues other than the alternator giving up later in the day, nothing to do with the conversion.

Parts you would need:
F4r block, sump, alternator setup (cup), crank.
JC5 box
Megane 225 rods, pistons, head, inlet and exhaust manifolds, turbo, modified downpipe, link pipe and injectors.
machining work.
Intercooler with custom pipe work
FPR and uprated pump.
After market engine managament such as EC1, Gen90, Adaptronics, Omex with mapping.
Uprated engine mounts.
Heat management for engine bay.
Paddle clutch.
Battery relocation.
Oil cooler - If going on track


All in, if you do the work yourself and don't go daft tarting it all up this could be done for about £3.5-4k. Buying everything secondhand might bring the price down but also brings in more unknown reliability issues. This is based on my experience.

Going to a garage for this would be £7k easy I would think.