I've spent easily over that on parts alone to get it from 360-370bhp to hopefully 400+! When I bought the car off Joe I worked out that he had spent close to £15k. Tuning isn't cheap!

really? i think i might give up on the coop then as pretty much any other turbo car i ahve had i could get 400 bhp for around £3000 to £3500 using secondhand parts.

it wouldn't cost nowhere near what has been spent on mine, but I think you are looking at least double what you've said to have a "reliable" 400bhp. And thats without suspension and brakes.

This has been done a thousand times, but let's do it once more with secondhand parts prices

Rods - £500
Pistons - £500
Flowed head - £500
Turbo - £750
Downpipe - £200
Boost control - £250
Intake (filter, SIP) £100
Intercooler - £300
Dumpvalve - £50
injectors - £200
Mapping - £500

Total = £3,850

This assumes you can actually FIND all the parts secondhand - you may end up with a very long wait.

It also assumes you fit everything yourself - it doesn't include all the extras (would you fit a flowed head without replacing the cambelt? - no, neither would I)

I reckon this is the absolute minimum you would need to get to 400bhp - however, IMHO, you would also need to spend another £1000 or so on making the car stop and handle as well.

To do it properly and with someone fitting bits for you, I still reckon you're looking at £7,500 minimum

peanut - the reason you can get to 400bhp on other turbo cars is because you're thinking of a Skyline, which starts off with a bigger displacement, higher starting power and more easily accessible (and cheaper) tuning bits

If you're thinking about a Rover Tomcat, you cannot possibly get one of those to 400bhp for £3k

Those bits that Nigel mentioned like cambelts soon add up! rebore, gasket set, spark plugs, bearings, the list goes on.

Nigel can I shop where you do for cylinder heads please

yeah you could get 400bhp using secondhand parts on a tomcat.
infact there was a full setup including new forge block bored to 2.1 and so on for 2k including turbo rated to 380bhp for 2k on rovercoupe forum.
so maybe 400bhp would be achivable on the tomcat.
well maybesay 4k if i done the work myself on the coop.
using secondhand parts a gtst would be about 3k and a rb26 gtr even less.
i have some of that list waiting to go one or already on so im getting there :-)
i agree with the handdling and brakes but thats another story. i know one guy with 610bhp on a certain car and he had standard carpy brakes. he was happy with it but then he is a nutter lol

i recon acttully 4.5k with the bits and you would be in there with a uprated clutch and so on.
to be fair though 400bhp coop should be worthn the money and be very quick.

also i recon that you would driven day to day achive 10mpg better than you would at 340bhp and the difference is price on parts is maore due to a rebuild but that coule be recouped.

Me too, coupe for bhp and fun

turbo diesel run around for mpg and genral running around in confort and economal movement.

well i just think that unless i get really rich then i want one car that does it all and a coop that could get 35-40mpg driving carfully but has the neck breaking power when putting my foot down would be ideal.

out of intrest if i went from 300bhp to 400bhp i doubt any parts really are interchangable so i was just going to save and go for the 400bhp from the off or do you think its worth hit 300bhp first?

most of the parts you are going to use getting 300bhp will still be used getting 400bhp. The only things that you won't are the turbo and the map. Just go for a downpipe which fits onto a GT series turbo and also a clutch which will support 400bhp (I know clutches are rated to torque )

300bhp

GT28R
FMIC
Full Exhaust
Walbro Fuel Pump with wiring mod
SIP with Filter
EBC
Dumpvalve
Some sort of map/chip

400bhp

GT****
Rods
Pistons
Flowed head
Larger injectors
Bigger MAF
Maybe Cams??
Remap

another idea would be to install a gt30r say for 400bhp and the fmic, down pipe, full exhaust,welbro fuel pump,sipand map it on a low boost setting and deal with slightly more lag and then build the engine up and add the forged bottom end, head, injectors, maf,cams and then get mapper later on?

maybe, but for the little money you are going to lose by the time you have sold the GT28R (presuming you bought it secondhand) I would run a smaller turbo. It won't be much fun having a big turbo with no headwork.

Just to set JIM16VT's mind at rest. When I asked the original question I wasnt trying to find out what I can do to improve MPG, I was just wondering if there are certain mods that can improve both BHP and MPG. IMO if you can get the horse power and keep the same MPG or improve it, that makes financial sense for those who cant afford to run 2 cars.

Ok mate, one thing I do know is keeping air filter clean helps. And also just genral looking afterr and maintaing car too.

As for the mods I have always thought that it makes mpg go up, who knows tho.

basicly headwork and a decent map will increace mpg and bhp together but head work isn't worth it unless rebulding the bottom end so really just a decent map and keep the car serviced well.

Supose everyone has there own view and story on how they want there coupe.

IMO, tho there is always going to be a issue with burning MPG in a 2L-turbo

To me it seems crazy talking about trying to save petrol with a engine like that.

i know mate i wasn't really being serious. that is just what you tell the missis why you have to get a remap and a bigger turbo lol
it will get better mpg but you wouldn't just doing it for that but more the fun factor.

I agree with JIM16vt. There is no point buying a 2litre turbo engined car and then worrying about fuel costs, I just want to make sure that when I get mine (Hopefully next month) and start doing some work on it, I dont end up going a bit too far and ending up with a car thats a massive amount of fun, but I can only use it on the weekends because I cant afford to put petrol in the tank.

Bull - why re-build the bottom end if it does not need it?

Why not just get a big V8 then? If you only want one car to do everything and a lot of miles then a turbo gives you the best of both worlds.

I'll sum this up. A flowed head a good map = efficient engine for cruising and more MPG.

However....

High boost and a big turbo mean when you put your foot down MPG will be in single figures, so depending on how you drive I reckon the average is probably about the same. The only exception is if you do a lot of motorway miles.

Why not get a v8?

For me tubos are much more fun to drive than Nateraly asperarated cars,Not matter how fast they are. Plus it is alot easyer and mcheaper to mod and increase power of a turbo than it is with non-turbo.

fine - but they are also better on fuel on a run - so you are onto a winner there!

Keeps you away from the MRS

Suba the thing is , a V8 will kill the fuel weather it has 5 liters or eight. Turbo or not engine that size with 24 valves and 6+ cylinder will kill fuel.

Think tho, knowbody who buyes cars with engines like that gives a crap about the mpg.