First post!
Hi All,
An oldie member here rejoining! I was a member of the RTOC way back when it was just a magazine which was sent out every so often, before the internet was invented I guess! Must have been back in 1995/96! Id wait with baited breath for the next issue of the mag to land on my door step & me and other members would chat on the phone for hours about ideas we had for mods.
I had a few 5GTT`s around then and tuned them up. The current one ive got ive owned since about 1996 I think. I bought it as a project at the time. Stripped it down and had it repainted. I modified it quite a bit back then. Group N clutch, T25 turbo, dump valve, alloy intercooler, in car boost, scorpion exhaust system, better radiator etc. I then got talking to portformance and I believe I was about the 2nd 5 turbo they worked on following another guy in the RTOC who had his head done just before I did. Portformance ported and gasflowed the head, manifolds and carb out. I seem to remember they got about 17% more flow through the head. The carb was basically turned into group N spec I think as it was bored out so much it had no choke. After speaking to GT Tuning about fueling I stick a 160 mains jet in it and it ran like a dream. The gas flowing / porting made the engine spin up miles quicker and on the road it was lethal. Nothing I came up against was quicker around my way!
I used to use it for my daily commuter but then the heavy clutch, the low mpg after the mods and the constant watching of the temp gauge made me take it off the road back in about 2003 and its been in my garage ever since.
Roll on 2014 and ive finally decided to get it back on the road. First port of call was google and my god how things have changed. EFI systems, AFR meters, a lot of the big names are now gone and a whole load of new people out there. I soon stumbled accross CGB who must be loving me, ive just dropped about 2grand with them on spares and bits over the last few weeks, not to mention what ive spent else where. Basically i will nearly be rebuilding the whole car.
Ive got a budget of about 3k atm which I think should do me to get it back on the road. Im very handy with the spanners so will be doing it all myself.
So far im just in the middle of overhauling the front running gear - fitting new poly bushes to the wishbones/roll bars, new ball joints, bearings, tie rods, brake discs, braided hoses, new brake calipers & pads to the front end. Next on the list will be popping off the side skirts as I think the sills are a bit rotten as I work my way down the car to the back end.
The list of bits to do is long and will take a while, but fortunately all the performance bits I did way back in the early days, so its already got a stripped out interior, full 6 pt cage, buckets, harnesses, spax adjustables, lowered suspension, 15" wheels, quick shifter, and the engine with its current spec should be pushing out around 200bhp, although once its back on the road it will be straight onto a dyno to see exactly what its doing.
Look forward to reading whats been happening with the R5 since I was last into the scene and will probably be asking loads of questions!
Ive already found out about the cup mod which sounds like it may solve my uneven idling problem the cars always had. I did think it was something to do with the breather system, so will see if that helps.
Cheers
rabbitstew.