Supercharged 205's

[Daxed 7]

As this conversion seems to be gathering more interest on the forum of late, here is my 10 pence worth. Let me give you some waffle on how I ended up with it, why I wanted it and what it is like to live with before answering some of the questions that the OP and others have raised.

 

My daily drive is a 205 GTI-6 fitted with the low boost Lynx SC. It has covered several thousand miles since having a 'drive in' – 'drive out' conversion by Lynx.

 

Until recently I drove 50k miles a year, business and pleasure combined, all in 205 GTI's in various guises., MI16, std 1.6, 1.9 cab auto and GTI-6. Why? Because I like them, because doing over the speed limit on the motorway doesn't interest me and because I could drive depreciation free and use my mileage allowance to pay Anthony and others to maintain and service them for me, still leaving me quids in. The only modern device lacking would be aircon although if I ever stuffed it I am sure I would add airbags to that very short list of one.

 

Then the business mileage disappeared, leaving me with pleasure only. The std. 205 no longer ticked all the boxes for me. My weekend sunny Sunday toy covers the standing ¼ in the low 12's, not too shabby for a road car. It is impractical as a daily drive, heavy steering, heavy clutch and doesn't have a proper roof. The time, money, blood sweat and tears invested in it also make me a tad 'precious' about it.

 

I hankered after a bit more 'go' from my daily. The standard 6 conversion does make for a capable car. I'm not a good enough or enthusiastic enough driver to be bothered particularly by the additional front end weight of the engine or the 6 brakes and the ability to bring the 205 more in keeping with modern hatch performance outweighed the disadvantages. I think this is probably the happy medium, I love the relatively modern aspect of the 6, it started first time, every time, rain, sun or snow. It returned similar MPG to the 1.6 my car originally was and the performance is OK.

 

The car seemed so capable that I decided to add some more power. I considered the carb, then ITB routes along with cam/s mapping etc. but just found the SC route more appealing. The money this conversion costs would buy some pretty capable metal in the current car market so careful thought is required, but as on this forum I am probably talking to the already converted I guess that some of you will share the desire for a much quicker 205.

 

Obviously please do your own research but for me Rich's / Lynx kit stands out. It cost me about £700 for the drive in – drive out aspect. After having read multiple SC build threads both on here and the 306 forum this was an easy choice. I saw people that had been bogged down for months trying to cram what is in effect a simple bolt on kit for the 306 into a 205. The main requirement stressed to Lynx was that my car look totally standard, I didn't want a visible inter-cooler on my road car. Whilst on my car this does compromise what would be an ideal solution to cold air feeds to both the inter-cooler and air intake, I prefer it this way. It makes quite a fun sleeper.

 

So, what's it like to drive?...... Its easy.

 

My g/f's car is off the road at the moment, waiting for me to fit a new bottom arm for it's MOT, so she is pottering to work and back in the 205 in rush hour major town traffic. It starts as before, first time every-time, returns 28 MPG when used like this, stays cool, doesn't hunt or kangaroo and is quite a reasonable place to listen to TMS. It's a bit 'crashy' over potholes and speedbumps etc, BBM super-hard top mounts, solid rear beam mounts, engine and gearbox mounts etc and whilst these are nothing to do with the SC conversion as such I would recommend that all the usual suspects when it comes to mounts and bushes are spot on before adding the power. Mine doesn't torque steer any more than it did as a 1.6, but oh my, 205's with worn suspension components sure can be scary when coming on or off the throttle.

 

When she is in the left hand seat and the national speed limit sign slips past the car does get more interesting. Lynx have said it is running 0.7 bar boost, producing mid 260's. The power feels linear and progressive, no kick in the pants as a particular RPM is reached, just more and more and more 'go' as the revs rise. Its great fun.

 

Seems like an appropriate topic...

 

Wouldn't the power require major mods though to include:-

 

brakes - GTi6 wouldn't be enough? - Absolutely fine when coupled with competant pads and regular top spec fluid changes for road use. They are so good i have high hopes also for occasional track use. Will report back when I have tested this.

suspension - going to need a very good set up? - As per anthony's comments

diff? - Quaffe fitted here, love it. Never driven this without or with a plate, so no comment.

 

So at new prices you are taking 5k minimum + the 205 GTi6. Reasonable ball park yes.

 

 

charged 205's are the way forward, i'm going high boost this winter for next summer

 

its a right ball ache hiding the intercooler unless you want it on show? i would say if your going to do it, do it right and dont cut any corners. i tried cutting corners and in the end it cost me more getting it right.

 

the only thing i think is rubbish is torque steer but i think i might change my tyres as it was fine with toyo's on but when i changed to yokos it seemed to pull all over the place and follow the camber of the road. and it seems to drink optimax like its going out of fashion as well so be ware its not cheap running them either. Your torque steer is indeed down to other issues

 

Ro

 

 

Fuel consumption isnt a worry to be honest, old Gt4 did 16-19mpg at best so nothing new there. Although the 200sx doesn't use any petrol she'll happily do 25mpg and is capable of over 30 on a run.

 

27-28 rush hour town

Lots more on a run

 

Lots less on a hoon.

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

Not a kit as such, but have a look at Madspike's thread - that's an 8v with a Mini sourced Eaton M45

 

(and having been stood next to it at Pugfest when he fired it up, it certainly would satisfy your love of supercharger whine!)

 

Ta - I just spilt my beer laughing so much at comment! True there is some whine.... but she's quite tame once she's warmed up and the idle has settled to around 700rpm... much higher and the dump valves / non re-circ valves can't cope! Design floor, throttle is the wrong side of the charger really.

 

I managed 30+mpg on the drive up to pugfest and back... with 3 runs up the hill...

 

The best thing about the supercharger is the torque.. makes it such a lazy car to drive... The bad thing about the torque is just getting the power down!

 

There was a 205 Mi16 around with a eaton in it.

 

 

My feeling is that eaton off the mini is too small flow wise, and too big size wise really. My setup generates around 0.45 bar of boost, which is slightly disappointing after all the work.

 

mad.

Edited August 10, 2011 by madspikes

[feb 47]

Daxed, £700 for the cost of the kit and supercharger and having it fitted?

That's cheap!! Is the Gti-6 ECU remapable?

Edited August 11, 2011 by feb

[Anthony 1,003]

Daxed, £700 for the cost of the kit and supercharger and having it fitted?

That's cheap!! Is the Gti-6 ECU remapable?

That's just the labour aspect - the costs and more info on the whole kit can be found here

[welshpug 1,657]

yes the magnetti gti6 ecu is mappable, thats what most have done with the lynx kit, wayne at chipwizards has custom mapped most, those he hasnt done are on an ecu with an appropriate map supplied by lynx

[feb 47]

Thanks Anthony, it sounded too good to be true!

Looking at the low/high boost graphs both seem to have the same torque up to about 5k rpm, the 400bhp one must be mental/scary to drive and spin the wheels constantly.

Edited August 11, 2011 by feb

[Spiky 37]

All depends on car setup,

 

I can launch mine and get no wheel spin, as seen on my YouTube vid, no point having the power if ya just spinning the wheels

[Daxed 7]

Been back in mine for the last few weeks.

 

Engine went bang last summer (not related to the s/c conversion)

 

Whilst it is still a nice place to spend one's time, it's a total pig.

 

Pulls badly to the right under constant throttle, you sit there having to put pressure on the steering wheel just trying to hold it in a straight line. No change to torque steer, the amount it pulls isn't affected by how enthusiasticly one is making progress.

 

Engine re-fitter told me that nothing they had done could have caused this, the car drove perfectly following being constructed by Miles/Anthony, but had been sat staitionary for many weeks outside prior to being towed to the re-fitter.

 

Booking it in with Miles for him to have a 'look-see:'

[Spiky 37]

you probably got a worn wishbone bush, or sticky caliper

[changingman 7 1 Cars]

Has anyone supercharged an Mi16 lump????

 

Im getting a 205 with an Mi16 delivered to me at the weekend and am planning an assault on the nurburgring next summer.

 

I have a year to get the car sorted................................................

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Yes, allanallen, 250bhp. Project details on here if you look for them.

[Gman 29]

I would like to do this at some point in the near future, but is there any butchering of the shell required, or is it mainly bits of the bumper that need cutting to allow for the intercooler, rad, oil cooler, etc. Just seems like a lot of stuff to fit in a small engine bay.

 

I wonder if Lynx would fit second hand parts, and can you still run the standard power steering setup or would you have to go down the 106 electric route?

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Has anyone supercharged an Mi16 lump????

 

Me non of this gay centrifugal s*it either!

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=95503

 

[stef205 92 1 Cars]

I with you Allen us m45 boys stick together! Imbrace the whine!

[Spiky 37]

I'm happy with my "gay" 270bhp

 

I'd really not want the whine either

 

What I do love about the eaton though is the price to replace it , very jealous of that

[stef205 92 1 Cars]

I agree the rotrex has more potential power wise but 4x the price of a m45, personally I'm using a m45 for the fact that I built it and mainly for the whine got nothing against the rotrex kit think its a brilliant bit of kit and sure I'd love one if I had the money

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

The whole point of a supercharger to me is instantaneous tourque in any gear at any speed. The centrifugal chargers simply dont perform in this way with it essentially being a crank driven turbo and rely more on revs.

Don't get me wrong I'd love a rotrex for my track car but when I can pick up an eaton blower for less than £150 it makes the rotrex pretty undesirable at nearly £1500!!

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

The whole point of a supercharger to me is instantaneous tourque in any gear at any speed. The centrifugal chargers simply dont perform in this way with it essentially being a crank driven turbo and rely more on revs. Don't get me wrong I'd love a rotrex for my track car but when I can pick up an eaton blower for less than £150 it makes the rotrex pretty undesirable at nearly £1500!!

 

So true, I do just love the instance power and torque... Makes most other things seem really slow.

 

Mad