205 Gti Dilenma - What To Do With It..........sell, Jenveys, Bike Tb&#

[Robin205 7]

My first real post after being a member for about 6 months after buying my first 205 after many many years of VAG's, BMW's and Honda's.

So a bit of background history, as i just mentioned i have been a VAG owner since i passed my test many moon's ago and one of the cars i owned was a Polo G40 which was a pure track car (turbocharger replaced the SC, forged bottom end, methanol injection, plate diff, slicks, cage, etc running 200bhp from a 1.3) which was extremely quick in a straight line but lacked fun on the corners, a couple of years ago I decided to break the Polo for parts due to the lack of spare time to do track days mainly due to having a young toddler at the time and work commitments (lots of vehicle testing abroad).

I also had (and still have) a Honda S2000 which I used for occasionally for weekend drives and the odd track day but I missed having a dedicated track car so at the start of this year I came across a 205 GTI which was advertised locally which I bought on a whim………….

 

The spec of the car is as follows:

 

1.9 standard head and bottom end

PT27 Kent Cam (won't idle!)

Atom G4+ aftermarket ECU

Vernier Cam Pulley

Fully Stripped out

OMP Roll Cage

Sparco Bucket Seats with Sparco Harnesses

Fuel Swirl Pot

AD08R tyres

Spax suspension

Camber adjustable top mounts

The engine was mapped @ 148bhp by a local garage using hub pack dyno.

 

I have done 3 track days in the car now (Oulton Park as i live 12miles away) and the car has been great fun, it just needs more power so I have the following options:

1. Sell the car and buy something quicker.
2. Fit a set of Jenveys although these are expensive – around £800
3. Fit a set of GSXR1000 throttle bodies – around £600
4. Engine swap to a GTI6 engine – I did plan to do this and bought the reangled manifold, down pipe, ECU along with an engine but the engine turned out to be a right snotter which had been flooded.

 

I really am in 2 minds on what to do, any advice or experiences with the options would be gratefully received.

 

 

 

[welshpug 1,666]

clio 182 would be less than the cost of the jenveys, maybe even a megane 225 or a 306 gti6.

[Robin205 7]

clio 182 would be less than the cost of the jenveys, maybe even a megane 225 or a 306 gti6.

 

The 182 is something i have considered but the driving position is terrible.

[Robin205 7]

clio 182 would be less than the cost of the jenveys, maybe even a megane 225 or a 306 gti6.

 

The 225 and GTI6 would need a fair bit of money spending on them to get them track worthy :-(

[blandy 29]

Been in the same boat and chose in the end to stick at it and go for more power in what i had. Reason i did it was because like you say whatever you go into you will end up spending more to get it to how you want with upgrading the rest of the car to get it to where you are now- unless you buy something already done.

[Robin205 7]

Been in the same boat and chose in the end to stick at it and go for more power in what i had. Reason i did it was because like you say whatever you go into you will end up spending more to get it to how you want with upgrading the rest of the car to get it to where you are now- unless you buy something already done.

 

What path did you end up going down to get more power Mike?

[dcc 855]

For a track car you just want a screamer of an engine. Something n/a and big horses - put the s2000 engine in the 205

[Robin205 7]

For a track car you just want a screamer of an engine. Something n/a and big horses - put the s2000 engine in the 205

 

Haha that engine is staying in the S2000 where it belongs. I would however love to do a B16 conversion on the 205.

[Gaz205 50]

I've been offered an old MG ZR for peanuts and considering the options... So try and think outside of the box a little. Set a budget and see what you could achieve in all the diff scenarios. A 182 is a capable car but showing their age and would more than likely need a lot of remedial work including bushes bearings arms and the good old dephaser. If you've got a decent 205 and all you need to worry about is more power then I'd say that's the common sense route to take though

[Robin205 7]

The 205 is really well set up and is really solid, the MOT tester mentioned that it's been a long time since he has seen such a solid 205 which makes me think I should keep it.

 

On the other hand I really want to try out a DC2......

[Gaz205 50]

If you've that big a budget?......

Do it then! Only here once

[Robin205 7]

only thing putting me off the DC2 is all the ones within budget are rotten and will need more money spent on it.

 

I'll stick with the 205 for a while and one way or another get some more power out of it, I am just struggling to find info on fitting gxsr1000 TB's to the 205.................

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Don;t even bother with Bike stuff, you can do it but the price of doing it properly is just the same as Jenvey's, Loads of info around the site so worth sticking a day aside and having a read

[barneys66 124 1 Cars]

How long are the main straights - would a 4.4 final drive add to the fun..?

[Robin205 7]

Don;t even bother with Bike stuff, you can do it but the price of doing it properly is just the same as Jenvey's, Loads of info around the site so worth sticking a day aside and having a read

Thanks for the feedback, having priced everything up for the bike TBs it works out to be about £200 cheaper than going for a 2nd hand set of Jenveys but that £200 could easily be swallowed up with additional set up time etc.

 

I am leaning towards the jenveys route unless a good gti6 engine comes up for sale soon.

[Robin205 7]

How long are the main straights - would a 4.4 final drive add to the fun..?

Straights at Oulton are quite long so it's annoying as I am struggling on keeping up with more powerful cars on the straight and then come to the corners I am all over them and as soon as we get into a straight it's struggling again. Just could do with a bit more power.

[Gaz205 50]

To get close to your polos performance you'll need to find another 80-90bhp from somewhere to match its bhp/ton. Your stripped out 205 with that power shouldn't be that much of a slouch surely?

When you say struggle to keep up with more powerful cars what league are you talking about as you'll always struggle to keep up with more powerful cars no matter what you do to yours! I'm wondering if you miss the low weight and turbo on your old car?

[welshpug 1,666]

 

The 225 and GTI6 would need a fair bit of money spending on them to get them track worthy :-(

not at all, set of pads and a service, maybe some tyres.

[Robin205 7]

The polo was 197bhp and weighed in at 865kgs which I think is heavier than the 205 isn't it?

 

It was quicker than the 205 because it had a load of low end torque but it certainly wasn't as much fun as the 205. Around oulton I could manage a 2:02 min lap and in the 205 I am 4 seconds slower and doing a back to back comparison the 205 is much slower on the straights as expected.

 

I barely manage to keep up with 182's on the straights at the moment but then again they are not slouch either.................

 

I reckon I will go for some jenveys and see what power I can gain from them, a gain of 12-15bhp would be nice and the noise that comes with it is a big bonus.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

You'll gain throughout the rev range.

The noise is a bonus!

[Gaz205 50]

It depends how much has been taken out of the 205 but I'd imagine they are similar weights, a standard one is more than your polo was. You could save that time back on the lap with a better suspension and brakes maybe? Could different ratio gears help too to pull you out of the corners?

Doesn't sound like you're that far away really from where the 205 sits in the league of track day cars.

 

I only had a 106 xsi as a track car and it had minimal work done to it, just a massive diet, but I was happy to keep up with similar cars and never tried to 'giant kill' so I think I'm more towards making it best in class idea than trying to push out of it.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Gaz205

[Robin205 7]

Here is a video i created comparing the 2 cars around Oulton, the 205 is very capable considering how much more power the Polo has.

 

https://youtu.be/YvzgO4I6lNQ

[Robin205 7]

You'll gain throughout the rev range.

The noise is a bonus!

 

What power gains do people achieve with TB's out of interest?

[welshpug 1,666]

clios were fair game for a friends 306 track car, even before he strapped a supercharger onto it.

 

weighs about 1000kg, nothing fancy but quite a big cage.

[Tom Fenton 1,547]

Don't get too hung up about any particular car. The difference between a good and average driver in whatever car is massive!

 

I've done plenty of track days in a 205, around 175bhp on slicks. As you are finding you can out corner most things there but you are down on grunt in a straight line.

I found it a just a matter of picking your circuit. Somewhere like Silverstone forget it, too big wide and open. Cadwell or Blyton Park on the other hand you will enjoy your day out.