Opinions On A New, Potential Project

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

Yeah, thought so. I had a Saab B234R (I think - 2.3 16v turbo) head and a Pulsar inlet set-up once for another silly project idea and ditched the Pulsar stuff I think for the reason you said.

 

I think I'll have loads of room for plenum, turbo and intercooler in the Xsara. Will move battery to boot and lower rad as usual.

[Tesstuff 222]

Not the Stoke one on eBay? If so, you know that it's an Irish spec VTS (i.e 1.8) don't you and thus much closer to the UK spec VTR?

 

Not a major issue if you were just planning on junking the engine anyway, but I'm led to believe that they don't have normal VTS goodies like a quick steering rack and 21mm torsion bars either (I've never seen one of the Irish ones in the metal to check)

Rack is 2.9 on these Anthony.

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

I think the pucker (beautiful) VTS Mk1 rack - like several of us have on our 205s - is 2.6 turns lock-to-lock. Could be wrong, but 2.9 is still quite good.

 

Isn't a 205 GTI something like 3.7?

[Tesstuff 222]

VTS Mk1 - 2.4

VTS Mk2 - 2.6

VTS Irish - 2.9

[Type-R 3]

UK VTRs also have a quick rack, not measured it but it feels about as quick as a VTS

[Anthony 1,003]

VTS Mk1 - 2.4

VTS Mk2 - 2.6

VTS Irish - 2.9

UK VTRs also have a quick rack, not measured it but it feels about as quick as a VTS

Interesting. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

For comparison, 205/309 racks are roughly 3.9 turns non-PAS and 3.2 turns PAS.

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

So it's not that bad. But why on earth did the Irish version of the VTS become a VTR then? I'm being flippant, as generally a VTR is an 8v version of the 16v VTS.

 

Bottom line is I'm committed. I suspect I have more room for a decent exhaust system and can work in the engine bay without dislocating my elbow and losing my knuckles.

 

Am I needing to be afraid of any multiplex nonsense with this Irish VTS (I mean VTR)? It's a 2000 version pre the Mk2 cutover I'm sure.

Edited March 8, 2017 by DrSarty

[Anthony 1,003]

Don't get me wrong, I approve of the Xsara choice and it makes sense for lots of reasons - I just wanted to check you were aware that it wasn't a regular UK spec VTS.

 

Certainly it makes more sense to me than a van - yes I can understand the stealth factor that comes from shoehorning a silly engine into one, but once the novelty of that has worn off you're still left with all the downsides of a van (especially vans that aren't car-derived).

 

So it's not that bad. But why on earth did the Irish version of the VTS become a VTR then?

Tax reasons possibly - (Republic of) Ireland has a sliding scale depending on engine size for older (pre-2008) cars. From what I could see, a 1998cc engine is 710 Euro per year to tax!

 

Am I needing to be afraid of any multiplex nonsense with this Irish VTS (I mean VTR)? It's a 2000 version pre the Mk2 cutover I'm sure.

Mk1 Xsara's are all pre-multiplex, so it's only normal shonky French wiring you have to deal with

Edited March 8, 2017 by Anthony

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

Yay! With the wiring, I'll just map the multi-connector pins as I remove the engine as I've done before, and give the new engine a fresh loom.

 

I'm not rubbishing the van/stealth approach either, although I'm trying to make a quite usable car...not a van.

 

I'm sure anything with circa 300bhp which doesn't look like it should have it will tick the stealth boxes. George/Goliath on the EuroTrip in 2009 raced me in my 2.2 205 Mi16 with 240bhp in his (shoddy-looking) '1.6' and caused quite a stir, until it was revealed he'd inserted a V6!

 

So it looks like my Xsara VTS choice isn't so bad, albeit a slightly diluted donor vehicle because it's Irish spec. At least it seems a legit car...we'll see.

 

If the engine's good in the Xsara, maybe I can sell it for a few quid, and then spend that on its new Mi turbo heart.

Edited March 8, 2017 by DrSarty

[Type-R 3]

Interesting. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

For comparison, 205/309 racks are roughly 3.9 turns non-PAS and 3.2 turns PAS.

Just checked and it goes to about 10 o'clock on the third turn.

So about 2.8-2.9, a fair bit slower than an XU10 VTS but certainly not bad.

I know there's a Xsara rack quoted at 2.8 so maybe it's the same.

Nice cars though, look great from the front and you can really feel the lower centre of gravity compared to the 306s.

You need low compression 83x33mm pistons which is Toyota 7MGTE.

[Gaz205 50]

Did they do a xsara van??? ????

Good luck with the build mate

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

I have DFZ or whatever low comp Mi16 pistons from PeterT plus his stage 1 cam which I understand will work well together. Cam choice/combo is still TBC but I think I have compression ratio in hand.

Edited March 8, 2017 by DrSarty

[Alastairh 47]

Check the Xsara isn't rotten, of the few that I have stripped, some were basket cases.

[Goliath 94]

With the bigger engine bay on the xsara, you could fit a V6 in there nicely..... just saying

[DrSarty 99 1 Cars]

Going to close this shortly and start the project thread, providing the shell passes first muster (per Alistair) and isn't a rot-box!

 

No V6 I'm afraid. The only V6 for me will be an Alfa Guilia one day. But I did have an XR4x4i once though....

 

And while watching a Colin McRae tribute blu-ray the other day it dawned on me that the immensely successful Citroen WRC car was indeed a Xsara. I am tempted to make mine a full track/rally car that emulates the WRC monster; but sleepers are fun!

 

Incidentally: Does the Irish spec VTS have a 6-speed gearbox? 1.8 engine which I presume is a 16v rather than an 8v....anyone want it?

Edited March 13, 2017 by DrSarty

[Anthony 1,003]

5 speed 'box on them Rich - the ratios are reasonable from memory, if a little long for a 16v screamer.

 

No particular need for the complete engine (it's a ~110hp 1.8 16v XU7JP4 btw) but I'll take the flywheel off your hands for a few beer tokens if it's going spare