Customising / modifying old cars..
 

Followed by Sunday nights Top Gear where they had Morris Marina fitted with a set of Ice Tyres on rally rims which I thought looked ok and this comment in another thread by Viney

Which also sounds like it would be a laugh, what other old cars would work with suitable treatment...

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

Mk1 / Mk2 Escort

Obvious and very unimaginative choice. They look ace though.

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

I have many ideas, something that i would persue if i had the cash and a garage. I have always liked the idea of a sleeper (For the ones who dont know what that is, its car that looks normal from the outside but underneath all is not what it seems)

Anyone can stick a V8 in somehing, but i like the subtle ideas, like my VXR Viva or similar.

Too many Cosworth 'scorts out there.

A cosworth Mk1 though, now that would be special. (the new engined version) and a S3 powered Lupo (there are 2 in existance i believe) Or that blokes Konisegg Granada that was posted on here a while ago!

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

I've seen a couple of VR6 powered Lupo's that looked pretty standard from the outside, I always thought that was pretty bonkers in such a small car though.

Theres somewhere on youtube some footage of a Ex GPO Red Ford Escort MKIV van with a Cosworth 2 litre turbo lump in it with the 4 x 4 running gear, looks completely standard even down to the faded red paint showing where the stickers were.

My brother had a MkI Astra 1300s that had GTE engine and brakes. That was also quite a good sleeper as well, especially as we passed a guy in a MGF one day who was really really p*ssed off that he couldnt keep up with a manky old Astra :D

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How about a nice Rover Princes.

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

Austin dear fellow, Austin! Yupone of them with something tasty...however i dodnt think that Austin ever put anything tasty in thier cars. Maybe a Honda CRX lump. The problem with some of these conversions is the fact that most old cars are Rear Wheel Drive, and the new ones FWD. Soooo, mating it to a RWD box would be tricky. Probably easier if you stick to the same make i would imagine.
Agreed, i have seen one in the flesh, however the engine is sooo heavy it sort of defeats to object. The S3 lump (The old 1.8T) is a 4 pot and usues the same bottom end casing at the 1600 so, only slight modification to the engine mounts to get it in. Its slighlty taller so the engine has to sit a bit lower in the chassis. Im trying to convince Verna to let me do it to peanut, and shes keen, just need the Engine and the cash, then the money for tuning as 223bhp per tonne just sisnt enough :)

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:cool:

Have you seen that MkIV Golf that was doing the rounds ages ago, with 2 VR6 Lumps in it, one in the back and one in the front. Mental, but it was styled very subtley so it doesnt meet the sleeper requirements...

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When I killed the engine in my rover 200 ('99) I was tempted to stick a turbocharged T series engine in. Would be 200bhp in a small car...nice! :)

...sadly though reality kicked in and I realised that the insurance would kill me so went a got another 1.6 K series (engine made from cheese)! :)

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

have seen a v6 mini. that was a touch quick.

morris minor :)

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

i used to work with a guy who tried to get a 2 litre pinto in one of those blue disabled/old person vehicles!! he showed my so many pics of the vailiant but alas in vain attempts him and his brother made !

i think the phrase he used was square peg and round holes.....

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It's only the plastic dowels that cause the problems with K-series motors. As an engine in general, it's a bloody brilliant design, with no major flaws. Can be tuned to well over 240BHP with the HG dowels sorted and a few internal mods.

Lad I knew of had a K series at about 210BHP which had done about 90K as a daily driver in its state of tune, without a hint of an issue because he'd fitted a decent HG and locators.

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Yeah, the sandwich design is brilliant and leaves you with a nice lightweight engine, but unless you do the mods like you say it has issues sometimes. Early engines and post year 2000 engines had the steel dowels but for some reason the inbetween years had plastic. My old engine died because of the resultant HG failure...new one (from a scrappy) isn't as sound and I lost faith in them! Maybe when I'm old and grey and finally have a workshop I'll modify one to hell and back! (Car currently sits on the drive racking up NCB - got the SV now!) ;)

Also, I read an article where someone modified a K series in an Elise so it could comfortably spin up to about 14-15k rpm...crazy stuff!

To be on topic - Fiat Seicento - smallest looking car out there - Abarth engine maybe? :)

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There used to be a Morris Minor in and around York with a 4.2 V6 Jag engine in it. What made it even weirder to look at is the driver sit in the back. At first glance there was no one driving it. Quite what is was like to drive i haven't got a scooby.

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I'd like a VW Caddy Pick up truck, but with a VR6 engine.

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how about a Lada Riva, 1300 high lift cams, flowed head and twin webber 40's.. yes it was a lot of fun.. looked totally standard from the outside including the bashed in door..

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

When i was into tuning my old MK2 golf, i used to buy the vw mags.
Dubsport up north somewhere had a golf running 2 x VR6 corrado engines, both turbo'd, 4 wheel drive, i think it was something like 460 BHP at the wheels.
I seen it run at santa pod, it was awesome.
Got in on film somewhere.

Sorry fizz, didnt see your post where you mentioned this.

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toyota starlet... with a rover V8...

my mates and my old project.

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Mate had a Lada Riva with a 2 litre Fiat twin cam engine and box fitted, along with odds and sods of Fiat 131 Mirafiori suspension. It went like stink, and had the added surprise of 'smoke injection' - a spare Austin Metro washer bottle under the bonnet that pumped old engine oil into the exhaust manifold. You flicked a switch on the dash and it belched smoke so thick out of the exhaust that no-one behind could see where you'd gone. Great for losing fast cars that try to race you

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Best engine ever that 1.6 16V K series mmmmmmm

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2.0T16 is better... IMHO as an ex owner of several tubby Tomcats. Saw a Metro with one in on the web somewhere. That must have shifted.

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I remember seeing on blue peter, no honestly, a V8 mini that done 0-120 in 11. something seconds.
V8 was massive and bulkhead had to be moved back loads.
Always fancied a quick mini, ultra light and handles decent as well.

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

I'd quite like an unmodified slightly tatty looking Vauxhall Viva HC 2 door saloon body fitted with a 2.2 litre Lotus twin cam engine, 5 speed ZF gearbox and LSD from a Jensen Healey, running on Chevette HSR suspension (It all fits, cos I know someone who built just this car)

Re: Customising / modifying old cars..
 

There's footage of it on youtube, belongs to a guy who lives just outside Canterbury (friend of my ex). He's also got a late 70s Mini Clubman with a modified MR2 Turbo lump in it. His wife uses that as her shopping and commuting car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RlktUKNJq0

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Coool, i have to look out 4 that:D

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LOL that car should be in the dictionary under "Torque Steer"

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Minis are ripe for this sort of work (Yes, I like 'em!). Honda VTEC or Vauxhall engines are fairly common conversions.

I always fancied putting a VFR engine in one, preferably with some sort of 4x4 transmisison (Fiat Panda donor, perhaps). Wouldn't be that quick being only 100hp-ish, but the sound would be better than original or any IL4 conversion.

Another sleeper ideas I had was to fit an original Beetle with Porsche 911 lump & uprated suspension/brakes etc.

My boss is currently musing over a Morris Minor fitted with a Ford 2l Duratec (mild tune to c.200+hp).

Oh, for more time/space/money to indulge such engineering fantasies!:smt032

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minis are also good for hyabusa engines, two of them in some cases

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGr4kKemUOQ

2m 45 secs :) :) :)

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Apparently a 2.0l ford engine from a mondeo or something fits quite nicely in a ford Ka

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My uncle had a 1972 Viva with a Chevetter HSR motor in it, that was some time around 1981, it used to eat 3.0 Capris for brekkie.

Our local Vaux nut has a pair of Chevettes, one has a Calibra turbo lump in it, the other has a V6 from I think an Omega in it. Quaife boxes and Manta axles.:)

I had an old Lada 1600 with Fiat Argenta running gear and a 1600E Orion with a RST lump in it.:)

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I'm more of a fan of restroration rather than customising. I personally get more enjoyment and reward out of getting a car back to it's original condition. If it was slow and handled like carp in the 70s then that is how it should stay!

Modern rims on any old car is a crime.

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http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...ly/2ztezib.jpg

http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/t...lly/rbioph.jpg
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/CAPTAI%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/CAPTAI%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]

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better be good at self defence, i saw a fight break out once because some bloke hacked up a minor and dropped a ford Grenada lump in it... was at run to the sun, minor nut took offence to it some how:confused:

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Have a look on youtube for a robin reliant with a zx6r engine. Hilarious to watch, and it was recently for sale on pistonheads! was something like this http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1152026.htm

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http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1117655.htm

Here it is!

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a G-wiz with a motorcycle engine in it?

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This was mine from a few years ago. Took the inspiration from the Japs :)
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8zKrDFralEI/SF...2/IMGP0027.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8zKrDFralEI/SF...2/IMGP0028.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8zKrDFralEI/SF...2/IMGP0024.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8zKrDFralEI/SF...Ak/buckets.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8zKrDFralEI/SF...gon_micron.jpg

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classic mini with a 1.8 vvc engine what im doing!

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As my first ever car was a HB Viva, replaced by a 1.3 Morris Marina, I have to admit there is nothing in these cars I would like to see the light of day again. unlikely as wire worm must have eaten every model ever built

Even worse I replaced the Marina with a Chevette that ate engines that 1256 3 bearing crank was a pile of poo. 3 engines in 4 years. And to think I then bought a Maestro

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In the MEtor (For london types) is a Ferrari powered Citroen Van the old 2cv type.

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Someone sent me a link today at work Has a certain appeal!