Since a young age I had always wanted a cossie, My cousin had owned 2 and used to pick me up from school in one. I also used a cossie for my leavers do for school. And it actually didnt let us down either lol !!
I managed to buy my first 2wd sapph cosworth when I was 21 for £2500. When people say theres no such thing as a cheap cossie, they're right!! but I bought the car knowing it was ropey and that it would be built to be used properly.
I SPENT a year saving and building an engine for this car. I learnt a lot about the engine and its components, It also robbed me of a considerable amount of money. I bought a bare 200 block and converted all my 2wd gear onto it.
I was aiming to run around 350bhp using a ut t34.63, greens and msd chip etc. GGr .5 2wd pistons.
800 miles into running the engine I lost oil pressure
I took the sump off and this was the end result.
My 200 block had distorted main cap on number 3 from overheating due to oil pressure,
and the bores were heavily scratched, The reason for failure was the oil pump which I later found out on here was from a dodgey cosworth batch.
Instead of repairing the 200 block I decided to re-use my 205 block.
So once again as you can imagine This is where some serious money and time took its toll on me. I had to get the turbo rebuilt, I needed a new crank, New bearings, New gaskets etc etc. Luckily the pistons were ok to go again just bought new rings for them.
After building the car for a year and it failing after getting tax and mot for it.
It was soul destroying. I didnt give up though but I did feel like beating the shit out the car with a fuck off hammer.
So for the fourth time I by myself pulled out the engine crane, and fitted the newly built 205 block.
My trusty £400 van which I did 80 miles a day in it for a year without no problems.
So with the engine back together, I didnt bother to make everything shiney and looking good on the outside. just new seals and gaskets where needed etc. I ran the engine in with my left eye permanently fixed on the oil pressure gauge. 1000 miles no problems. Changed the oil+ filter, And upped the boost to the chips spec and co etc.
The Car was running superb and the power delivery was to me amazing for my first big power rear wheel drive. But the money I had spent on the engine number 2 meant I was shortchanged for my suspension upgrade, and the car handled like a shopping trolley.
The back end felt like wibbly wobbly jelly. and I knew the bushes werent too healthy.
I started saving yet again for parts. I needed a bonnet and so I bought a 4x4 bonnet.
My mate asked me if we could go in the cossie to milton keynes to pick up his mum and brother and bring them back down to pompey. I said sure. So on the national rs day, tony and me set off for m keynes. We got half way there and the car broke down. I lost ignition. and I coasted the car to the side of the road. Then there was a strong smell of burning and smoke came out the dash. I knew exactly what had happened, the ecu supply wire had melted. I had no tools on me otherwise I would have taken the dash off and tried to fix it. I was really pissed off and I said to my mate thats it, thats the end of this car, I've had enough she pushed me too far. I'm selling it. And so i did to my mate Tony,
So thankfully my cousin tony came, (some might know him from classic ford hes built a space framed ford capri chevvy twin turbo) and with his trailer brought me and tony and the cos home. luckily it werent too far away.
I sold my van to tony too.
With my bad cosworth experience I was disappointed by the cosworth, not solely because it was unreliable, It was only going to be a toy, I had an every day driver my van. What annoyed me was the amount of money i spent on it, yet the car never seemed to appreciate it.
My friend Jade and her 400bhp tt manual supra. (proper toy)
I wasn't driving the cos there so tony's to blame for missing 2nd gear.
So with that I had almost 2 years of cheap worry free motoring until I looked on pistonheads one night. I was looking at series rs turbos rs1600i's and then I spotted something which just seemed exactly what i was looking for.
After asking advice on here, I decided to take my mate with me on a way ticket from Portsmouth to Edinburgh. I just had this strong feeling that the car was the right one.
To be continued