as title whats the difference between uk spec and imports and whats the pro`s and cons of owning and modifying one to stage 1. pics if possible. are they easy to find in good nick?

p.s. its not for me its for friend. ive tried trying to get him to buy a ford but hes having none of it

cheers
daz

 

UK has rubber gearstick gaitor (import leather), plastic gear knob (import leather), vinyl on door cards (import material) Uk cars miss the umbrella's in the doors (being late 92 early 93 iirc) plastic steering wheel (import leather) different clocks, different bootlid (for uk long plate) etc

I much prefer the bits on the UK car though as I hate the nasty floppy leather gaitor and knob on the imports.

Obviously theres a few other things the imports have.. folding mirrors etc.

Pretty sure there's no mechanical difference

Stage 1 is reliable as hell, had mine 2 years at 1 bar and was sweet as a nut the whole time.. that was 4 years ago I sold it and last time I saw it the engine was still going strong (and it had 90k miles on it then) bodywork on the imports is the problem.

If he gets an import make sure it's a fresh import and get it cleaned up underneath and waxoiled up. If it's been here a while it'll either be rusting on the rear arches or on it's way to.

 

what bhp is standard and stage one i have heard differing reports?

also what will they 1/4m in standard and stage 1?


carl

 

fast as fook mate .. downside ..ugly mother built like a tin of baked beans

andy

 

everyone says fast as fook as standard, i have a mag from back in the day when they compared the escos, gti-r and, delta intergrale evo

the nissan was the slowest at 6.1 to 60

 

i was behind one in my s2 and when it pulled away from me the accelaration was just awsome mate

andy

 

 

personnally i like em probably one of the only jap cars id have, looks wise yes its ugly but also very sleeper like
how much does a good one go for cause i think theres a black one on autotrader for 4.5K with bout 70,000 kilometers.

heres the link
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www...xact=1&photo=1

 

Fucking awesome little cars, they get the first 10mph dispatched with amazing ferocity they really do, its amazing how they launch.

Not mega powerful as standard though, but easily taken to about 280bhp where everything just about hangs together other than the gearbox, and there lies the problem

You are looking at about 4K for a PPG gearkit (so about 5K for a built box) and thats the only way you will see the box being reliable at big power.
Although a couple of grand of quiaffe is fine for 300bhp or so even if driven hard (although not unheard of for the casing to split)

Absolute cunts to work on, its an engine and box out job to do almost anything on them, but in fairness it does all come apart relatively easily.

Standard pistons/rods arent upto the sort of abuse/power that YB ones are, but uprated parts are cheaply available for them so not a big problem.

 

i had one and i loved it...

you get some at bargain prices now..

i would defo look at another on if i was in the market for another car

 

they are fucking great to launch

 

It's the brakes that are the biggest problem as standard.

The really are shocking.

Stage 1 level of tune should be able to get into the very high 12s if you have no mechanical sympathy, but whilst rolling, there's not really a lot in it from say 40-110 between that and a stage 3 cossie.

Handles pretty nicely, rocket off the line.

Four years we've had one with no issues bar a split clutch hose.

I love driving it - really good fun!

 

Rich good point on the brakes, they really are CRAP as standard.

150mph car with a 50mph set of brakes.

They HAVE to be changed if you are even vauguely serious about driving it hard.

 

Yep - ours rund a 308mm 4 pot conversion, and it makes an obviously huge difference

 

ok another spin on things try and compare these 2 vauxhall astra coupe 2.0 turbo
nissan pulsar gtir

which do you reckon??? i know which id choose but these are the 2 cars my mate likes at the minute

 

stage 1 will do low 12s rich

I ran utter shit small darkhorse tyres so never suffered anything with the box but launched it every traffic light every day! Also found if you removed the rear interior with such crap tyres it did massive dodgy slides

 

.... into trees?

Stockton was round at mine last week in london - tells me you like throwing yourself down hills on bikes these days!

 

there's alot of miff's on these.

the gearbox's are stronger than 4x4 cossie's and if used genterly can do 11 dead 1/4's with 500+ bhp,
The weakest part of the gearbox is the Alloy selector forks, which brake if forced into gear.

and again the pistons are good for 500 bhp if mapped correctly, but safe at 400 bhp.


a Gtir running zorst, A/f and 1 bar boost around 270 bhp will do 12.8@106 mph quarter mile time.
And a 300 bhp one will do 12.3 @ 109mph.

i know as my brother's had one for 5 years, and run those times.


a 280bhp one will hold its own from 0 - 130mph, but above that strugle. but are geared to do 180 mph with std box and rev limit, but just the lack of power once in 5th.



But as mention'd the brakes and old suspension aint upto much, but are fine once renew'd for something better.

 

Markturbo and Creedy on here are both friends of mine who live quite local to me, neither has over 300bhp, Mark is on his 4th gearbox now and creedy on his 3rd IIRC, thats in only about 30,000 miles or so between them, Mark drives hard but doesnt launch it a lot and creedy drives like a girl (no offence mate ) so i really dont agree with you on that.
Its true about the selector forks, but thats not the breakages they have been having mainly, its been bearing failure in the main im pretty sure.

I do agree though that the selector forks are more about how its driven than how much power its making.

Indeed, so like i said, not as strong as cosworth ones which will make 500bhp quite happily with a bit of machining to sort the CR and are safe at 600bhp potentially

 

hey! i only drive it lke that incase it breaks
well thats untill i get that ppg kit


they realy are awesome cars...buy one

 

Yeah but you drive it like a girl and it still breaks anyway

you going to weston tonight?
(in the frontera thats acutally running, not your pulsar which is still off the road after braking the box )

 

nah i dont always.. launching it so much is wot broke it in the first place.

yeah i will be, wot time?

 

i really like the pulsar and i always thought as standard against a standard escos they beat them 0-60 and 1/4 mile, i would love one that was just stg 1 as they look good as fook and they go like stink for the power they run, would a stg 1 pulsar give the e36 m3 a beatin

i love the way the pulsar squats off standing starts and just launches so well

 

You got 3 spare seats in the wagon?

If so, pick us up at 7pm at cally's place?
(her housemate is coming along too)

 

We all know its thats down to Marks poor driving

I don't know if its luck, driving style or general servicing but i've had mine for 5 years with approx 100 timing slips and a few track days and only broke 2 selector forks in the gearbox (both due to me ramming it into gear a little hastily )

Good little cars when left at stage 1 tune (280bhp) and this is when they're at their best.
Anything more and its just hassle with little r and d being invested into them and uprated parts not so easily available.

They launch really well but i've always struggles against other cars once I get into 5th.

 

Yeah down the (private offroad legal reconstruction of the) M5 into fifth and my 3 door pulls from creedy's SO easily, but in the lower gears its the other way round, especially off the line

 

ok 7pm...ooo000ooo new meat

 

Mine will, but it's the RB model with a close ratio gearbox and I've lost another 110kg off what the car weighed when I got it.

Your average one should manage high 12s without any problems. That's 0-60 in 4dead for most.

 

Aged 19 and size 8

 

Using 2nd hand gearboxes is just the luck of the draw, as they might of done 200k miles, with out services, and alot of abuse before being sold on.

i know of a few low low 11 second road trimmed pulser's, to name one is Lou Rob, with 550ish bhp, doing 11.1 @ 130 at TOTB 2005 and the pod, with even rumours of a baby site still fitted. on a std box.
and i think there's even a late 10 second on on std box in scotland somewhere.

As for the pistons, Yes Std yb's are up for 100+ bhp more, but i weren't meaning that, i used to hear that std pulser pistons are only good for 330 bhp, which has been proven different, and the 10second car also uses std pistons.

 

I stripped the rear interior and still ran small wheels which really seemed to work for times other than that it was bleed valve and zorst lol - unbelievable perfomance for the money and never missed a beat

Clutch is a shit job so make sure its good

 

So what times have you run? and terminal?

is stg1, just zorst, a/f and 1 bar?

 

The guy needs to learn how to launch then

Well this one shows it as 5.3. One of the mags did 5.1 and the one that did do 6.1 was a faulty car, they admitted they were having problems with it.

 

If by a standard box, you mean a fully rebuilt one done properly, as opposed to some high milage snotter then i agree with you with all your comments, other than that if you talk about a fully rebuilt cossie box i dont believe they are really any worse than the pulsar ones, both are on "borrowed time" when you get to 400bhp+ IMHO

Totally agree on the pistons though, bad mapping was the problem with all the melted ones around the 300bhp mark IMHO

 

I think he had a standard engine and gearbox and did a 10.9

 

No, Cossie box's die after 400 bhp, no matter the condition, thay dont even need to be launched, as its 3rd gear that brakes.

 

I'm actually quite tempted by a Pulsar.

What about how cheap they've become.

 

SECS was running a standard box on 450bhp or so i believe, and it used to last quite a while between changes.

I agree on 3rd gear though, definately the weak point, but at least you almost never hear of a cossie actually blowing the gearbox casing itself to bits like you do with the pulsars!

They are both fundamentally far too weak to be considered reliable for big power, wether a couple of people manage ok with them or not doesnt change the fact they are a common point of failure in both cases.

 

Ive owned one, there great little cars but expensive when they go wrong

I payed £1200 for a recon gearbox, £750 for a clutch and £1500 for a new engine..

 

I had one decided to sit on my arse the other night at 40MPH and I mean on MY ARSE... al I could see in my mirror was his bonnt vent ... I was a little worried, as I know some can be silly power....


To be fair... that one was SLOW ... ha kept coming back for more though... but from 40-60 ish in third, it was neck and neck, after about 70ish-100+.... it was SLOW