Never had one or been in one mind but i am thinking of getting a R5 and doing a volvo 1.7t conversion.
Not after breaking any records just after something to keep me busy and in a R5 i would be happy with 200bhp.

The only reason i thought of the 1.7 is the not so hard to fit (bar the wiring side of things) and its going to be EFI and alittle more reliable.

Anyone been in a 1.7 R5? what they like with 200bhp even with the 1.4 in them?
Dont see them about anymore but there a white one in Blackpool near my wifes mum and it got me thinking

 

I friends fella had one, blue one and was proper nice with a charisma body kit. Said it was quicker than his scooby.

 

Yeh bet there pretty quick due to the low curb weight i think its 900kg ish.

 

the volvo engine isnt great in standard for tho think they are only about 120bhp but only run 0.4 bar.

 

There good fun and fairly quick as standard. But they are not made of much and are a bit tempremental tbh. Would imagine one to go very well with the the 1.7t engine in it with a few mods. I think half the problem with them is people dont look after them very well which is why they break all the time.

 

i had one with the 1.1....... not exactly the same but from mine apart from the huge body roll it was a pretty fun car though failures were often....

 

I run mine daily, has gone 12.1 on the 1/4 with abit of gas, my brother also runs one daily, he's gone 13.3.

There's a good secret to keeping them reliable, a damn good set up that's not to greedy.

 

Is that running 1.4 still?

i agree i bet the majority of failures were down to crap running engines, people just had the attitude turbos just to wind the boost up and forget the rest tbh.

 

Brilliant cars but im biased. They just Need the love/respect the same as any other classic hatch.

Made of tin, but go like stink(when working).

Have a look at RTOC site Propper helpfull bunch.

 

So true, bleed vavle tons of boost then wonder why the liners are cracked and the pistons are melted.

A good tune and some common sense and they are cheap fun.

 

love these cars, the boxy shape of them always turns heads even today, when you see them going past you always make an effort to get a good glance, says a lot for a little 1.4, love these cars and one day I will own one, 1.7 option sounds like a great plan, is there an efi conversion for the 1.4 on the market? these engines are so easy to get decent figures out of if done properly, so with efi on the cards im sure they power with reliablilty would be much more accesable

 

My S1 back in the day, destroyed all the so called quick R5 GTT's in blackpool

 

dont bother with the 1.7 they aint all that and you can get more out of the 1.4. i had a 209bhp one a few years ago and it was quick, but didnt feel brilliant, @80 you can hear the doors flapping cause there so thin lol, my 11 turbo felt better with the same power and the 21's are even better

 

i currently run a 230bhp c1j r5gtt and my god does it shift more power to come this year as well

1.7 conversion isnt a bad idea if you want efi but there isnt much out there in the form of tuning, also the standard ecu is limited to about 12psi iirc, the standard cam is terrible for performance but there are cams out there which improve this no end.

there is efo conversions out there and it can be done for around Ł1200-1500 all in, but the route im going down is mappable ignition this gets rid of the standard aei unit and improves low down performance no end gains of 30-65lb/ft are had between 3-4k which helps improve spool etc

id personally stick with the c1j and join up to www.rtoc.org ,im an area rep on there and i can honestly say its a cracking club so much help on there. The big reason these got a bad rep are because numpties used just whack the boost up and not alter the fuelling and obviously they went pop. No group A carbs or massive main jets though thats old hat tuning and they run like a bag of shite on them.
i currently run 23-24psi through mine with no probs and my mates old one ran 28psi for 2.5 years and it was used hard

 

I want an r5 turbo now lol always had a soft spotfor them but never had one, my mate had one but it was a total heap, kinda put me off when I was younger, still a few kickin about up here tho

 

I have had two R5 GTTs and tbh i want another. Love them. They feel quicker than what they are (but thats the fun in driving them...as standard imo) and for an old low tech warm hatch....they have phenominal brakes as standard..

***off to ebay and gumtree to look at R5 Turbos***

 

My brother had a 1.7 5GTT with a dyno print out of 261 bhp now that was fast when it lasted lol but he got rid of it as he couldnt insure the thing

 

I put a 460 turbo engine in our old clio. Never let us down. Wasn't massivly quick but was totally std.
The R5 gtx with the aspirated 1.7 in it is almost as quick to 100 as a std Gtt. All the mounts ect from the gtx will allow it to drop straight in. You will need to come up with a vacum for the servo, and swap the casing behind the cambelt as they are different between the renault and volvo.

 

From memory the 1.7 volvo lump is porsche designed and developed , when it was delivered to volvo they requested the power levels to be backed off as it was not as conservative as volvo wanted.
So must be scope for more i would have thought.

 

I read somewhere that the volvo 1.7 was infiact a Renault engine with stronger internals (volvo uprated them)
also i hear they have a crap can and that the N/A 1.7 cam is even a improvement over the turbo cam.

I like the idea of going EFI + there not exactly megga expensive to buy, and regarding the volvo ecu i was aware that there not great but i thought 12pss should be enough for 200 ish bhp although maybe on a t25 or t28.

"blunty"
What do you think i would take to get the C1j to 200bhp? not really after crazy performance i just love retro cars and ive always fancied a R5 i would be happy with less power tbh i was just a est its not going to get used much plus im after something to do with my spare time and dont really mind the odd breakdown here and there lol

 

why not turbo a 16v lump and chuck that in one like bb tuning did, that was a monster. the 16v lump is based on the 1.7 volvo.renault engine and so is volvos 1.9 turbo in the s/v40 t4's irrc

 

My sister's r5t was running the Volvo 1700t lump. Originally was running standard management, later on running adaptronics and a T25.
Was a mega fun car to drive and 100% more reliable.

Other options are 2litre 16v out of the clio's with a turbo conversion or the 172 turbo conversion seems a good'en.

 

Dont really want to start turboing a none turbo engine it will just end up costing too much,

I want something to keep me busy have a bit of fun in and if it goes bang its not the end of the world you can get a whole volvo for not alot of money so if it goes tits up ill just get another engine or rebuild the old one.

Theres a ropy old volvo 480 on ebay now for Ł250 BIN
for that i get all the bits i need pretty much i would buy it if it were closer but sods law its bloody miles away lol

 

200bhp in a c1j, easiest way is as follows

t25 or t28 turbo
285 cam
18-20psi
and most importantly a well jetted carb, invest in an afr gauge, the trickiest bit of tuning the carb is drilling the 2nd stage out as its non removable.

 

Thats not too bad then, if i get a runner i may keep the c1j, i take it a fmic is best at this stage too hear the std one arent up to much.

Ill defiantly be getting a AFR gauge i had a lumination one in my RST best bit of money i spent tbh lol

what they like on clutches at this point also gearboxs? i take it they are open diff?

Ill have to do some reading i think see whats what.
Cheers Stu