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What silly car/car project have you always wanted, even though it's daft?
An old Alfa Spider or original Fiat 500.
honda vtec in a mini club man (been done before)
r32 running gear on a VW jetta (mk2) seen a mk2 golf so i know it can be done.
912.
Mate of my bro had a Morris Minor with a Rover 3.5 in it.
A Dax Cobra.
Ever sisnce I was a little boy and saw some poncy git in a Porsche turbo get his arse handed to him by someone in a Dax Cobra.
Volvo Amazon
Volvo 240 estate
Volvo 740 estate
Volvo 940 estate
Saab 99
Saab 900 Turbo
BMW E30
Citreon 2CV
Audi 80
Audi Coupe
Lada Riva
Lada Niva
I nearly did this when my XR3i blew up.
Take XR3i buy a 2.0l zetec Mondeo put the mondeo engine power steering and whole wiring loom into the XR3i shell leave the XR3i gearbox in and away you go. I wish I had the money at the time because that would have been fantastic.
Oh and I also wanted to get an escort van and a 4wd sierra and put the sierra running gear in the escort.
I still have thoughts about buying a 200sx and stripping it out and tuning the engine.
I want to get a totally boring everyday car like the 15 year old Passat diesel Estate I used to have and restore it to showroom condition. Just for a laugh, and the knowledge that no-one else would have one 🙂 Oh and then mod the engine up to 200bhp.
Elise with a K20 V-tec lump in it.
Oh a sleeper would be good too. A bit like rat cars but looking more standard. Say something like a standard Focus LX with steel wheels and an RS engine. Ive seen an M3 with a 318 badge on it much cooler than a 318 with an M3 badge.
Yes I do have a thing for fords.
hora you should include a Volvo 480 in that list, they're fun projects 😯
with you on the Lada Niva for some strange reason.
I'd love a big old american muscle car/van. Then make it greener in some way .
Love the 480- I looked into them and alot of them are on their last legs 🙁
with you on the Lada Niva for some strange reason.
Its just....lush yet really wrong for some reason.
American muscle cars are really crap tho whippersnapper. Just crap. No redeeming features.
Mk1 Escort
Mk2 Golf with a VR6 lump in it
Westfield SEight
Ultima GTR (can be bought very cheaply)
I grew up with Dad having very tuned up cars so it's rubbed off!
They included:
A Ford P100 (Cortina shape) with a Rover V8 tuned to 400bhp
A Mitsi Shogun with a BBR conversion - not far off 300bhp
One of the last mk1 Golf GTis tuned before it was even delivered - about 160bhp
An Audi Quattro turbo fully converted by Treser
Lada Nivas are DEFINITELY cool!
I looked into them and alot of them are on their last legs
tell me about it. Mechanically mine is fine. It's the electrics. My god. It's like owning Herbie.
American muscle cars are really crap tho whippersnapper. Just crap. No redeeming features.
aesthetically they do it for me. It'd probably satisfy my boyhood Dukes of Hazard/Smokey and the Bandit/Cannonball Run/Vanishing Point dreams.
I'm currently in the early stages of planning to drop the running gear from a Celica GT4 (300hp, 4wd) into a spaceframe chassis which I intend (probably to my detriment) design from scratch myself, hopefully staying well below 700kg. I will do it, it just depends how long it takes. And how many chassis and suspension design books I can read before plucking up the courage to start cutting!
+1
hora - MemberVolvo Amazon
Volvo 240 estate
Volvo 740 estate
Volvo 940 estate
Saab 99
Saab 900 Turbo
BMW E30
Audi 80
Audi Coupe
although: Citreon 2CV WTF'ks with that. the only good thing about a 2cv is the car chase in 'for your eyes only' (and the chick riding shotgun), apart from that they are terrible motors.
landy bobtail too. or a crew 90. something like that with a v8
Mini Turbo 8 port (maybe even 16v) injected, Turbo Inter cooled T25
(not a humongous old T3)
had a 5 port 8V T3 a few years back
much fun was had 8)
happy to have done without the endless looking after the thing though
MG midget, the itch is well and trully scratched.
Moral of the story is you can't buy an old car as a rolling project, the day to day maintenance, bits going wrong and just cleaning it keeps you busy for a couple of hours at the weekend. Leaving no spare time or money to play arround with it.
Original plan:
megasquirt EFI
lowered to MK3 height - 2 inches (i.e. dangerously low!)
panard rod,
telescopic conversions all round
brake servo
oil cooler
fast road cam
tubular manifold
airbox and cold air induction
The reality:
engine out this week to fit a new clutch braring then sell it having spent almost as much in parts as fuel.
Eary bay windowed camper with a modern vag tdi lump so it would be useable to actually go places and modern brakes so you'd get there alive. Or, tvr Tuscan with e46 m3 engine and box, or a Vx220/elise with a diesel engine
Get a Delta Integrale....
Get and restore an original Mini Cooper
Get & restore a 205 1.9GTi
Get & restore a Renault 5 Turbo
Or, Get a car like mine (Seat Ibiza TDi) and keep it looking fairly standard, but put some proper brakes & suspension on it & get engine worked on to give it a heap more power.
Never gonna do any of it, I doubt.
My father in law has an old knackered Porsche 928 or 944 don't recall which - the cheap crap one anyway.. and he also has a spare 1.9 TDI which needs rebuilding.. I'm trying to persuade him to make the world's first 200bhp TDI porsche but that might just be too hard.
Stumpy - all you need to give a TDi a heap more power is a remap for £400. Just zap it into your car and you're done - 140bhp becomes 200bhp.
Showing my age here 😉
Always wanted to do a Morris Minor Van, with a silly a-series in 😉
Or for that matter a clean early Mini, standard looking on 10' wheels but with somthing nutty under the hood.
Did a sleeper/shed looking MK1 XR2 with a trick 1700cc crossflow/twin webbers, hepi pistons, race ported head, kent cam, etc... which pushed out 150bhp at the wheels!
Does not sound a lot compared to cars today, but at the time, it sounded and went like a rocket, only 80 miles to the tank if I played with it!
Plus I had a Austin Sprite (Midget) with a a-series 1293cc block, that was fun until it blew up, caught fire and rusted away 😉
I'm easily pleased but I really want a long wheelbase Delica with a small lift and a camper pop-top, that'd be fantastic. Drive anywhere, stop and sleep, take the bikes out, ride... Ace. Stick the motorbike in the back or a load of pushbikes...
I'm quite partial to little VW hatches as well but I'm too torn between 4 different models of Golf and Polo to ever be able to choose one there, plus I'm rubbish at welding 
TINAS - you can.
I managed:
megasquirt
better turbo
better clutch
better intercooling
better brakes
fully stripped and under-coated body
replacement gearbox
LSD on rear
re-built engine
all at weekends on a daily driver! Does take up a bit of time though! Could get your MS working for you and a base map created in a couple of hours if you were nearby and plan to do it.
[i]Oh a sleeper would be good too[/i]
I had an old Mi16 that looked just like a base 405, that was fun.
Yeah Molgrips I have contemplated a re-map on numerous occasions.
But, I don't wanna have to fork out £700 for an uprated clutch which is apparently a distinct possibility. Luck of the draw from what I can gather as to whether the original slips or not.
Apparently with the 130bhp in mine, 170bhp is pretty safe, 180 is pushing it and 200 is new clutch more likely than not.
Also doing 600 miles/week commute and not sure I can risk any increased component wear, like the turbo & the increased tyre wear from all that associated torque.
Would love to, but my head is too sensible...... I've managed to resist asking on the SeatCupra forums for a go in one, as I know once I'd driven a re-mapped one, that would be it.
Well it won't get extra wear unless you boot it all the time.. are you likely to do that? 🙂
I have just ****ed the engine on my Integra Type-R.
If anyone wants a 'project' involving either rebuilding the bottom of the engine or swapping the bottom of the engine then email me. It is up for sale now.
What caused the failure BBB?
Tranny with a Rolls Royce Merlin / Meteor in the back
Someone did that with a mini van, did they not? A spitfire engine I think.
Yep, seen a vid of a Meteor (tank variant or Merlin aero engine) in a tractor as well
I like the Rover SD-1 meteor myself. Doesn't seem the most practical daily drive though.
I had a a 1977 triumph 2500 with twin webber 40's, went like stink....wheel span in third!!
the brakes and suspension was crap though and the fuel bills was quite high even when it was £1.80 a gallon!
I'd love to fit a big bad behind engine into my 406 estate, stiffen the suspension, get sporty seats and decent sound. Something to smoke chavs in their Civics/Preludes.
my 406 estate, Something to smoke chavs in their Civics/Preludes.
A taxi driver in your car could do that.
My mother's cousin has had a Ford Cortina Savage V6 for getting on for 40 yrs. Refurbed it a few years back - fantastic car for it's day and not as well known as the Lotus Cortina.
Mate my rusty MGBGT with a written off Scooby WRX!
Even when I was a kid, I always lusted after a Shelby Cobra.
....still do.
As for more modern day cars, I'd have to plump for an Aston Martin. ( would still prefer the Shelby)
Chris
An original UR Quattro 20V. Quite a cheap car to buy but a pig to afford the running costs. Exhaust manifolds being the main culprit.
Really anything from the days of Group B Rallying.
Either a Skoda Rapid coupe with a 993(porsche) lump, or a box arch MK11 escort with a cossie lump & transit diff (top speed 100mph).
I would love to give a GT2 (like I have been ragging today 😉 ) a run for its money in a 'shed'!
putting a Audi S3 engine into a mark 1 golf GTI
I'm tempted but every time I get the motivation and money together it throws a wobler and eats it all up.
Its going to be replaced by something faster, shinier and all together newer, but not decided exactly what yet.
one of those updated E type Jags would be nice. Or a citroen TA.
