After a few years now, my cash flow is a bit better, and I can actually afford to insure my 20vt (in my own name) at a reasonable price!!! Go team me.

Now, as some of you might know, my friend owns a motorsport tuner, and he'd like to start playing with my car. I've been asked to do some research as to what I'm going to need, and what I'd like etc, so we can take it to some events next season. I'll be paying cost price for parts, and won't be paying any labour, so this is where it gets interesting... (For me that is).

Now, the car will need a cambelt service as the first port of call, so is there any advice on what kind of belt to get? They use Blueprint belts on most of their cars, but is there any "uprated" (shall we say) belt available? I'm not prepared to go the whole hog and get a Kevlar one like they run in their Evo 6 and 8, but if there was a "better than standard", I might go for one of them.

So what sort of things shall I go for? I've got the basics at the minute, as in, turbo back Blueflame, air filter and some chip (no one knows what chip) but it made nearly 280ft/lbs at the fly and about 260(ish)BHP when I first got it with the standard exhaust and air box.

The things I need you to help me with is, from experience, what will I be best going with...

Intercooler - Evo? Pro Alloy? Better?

Chargecooler - Worth it with a front mount?

Pistons - We have a deal with JE, has anyone had any experience with these?

Rods - What rods? Has anyone changed the length of the rod to alter compression ratios?

Turbo - That'll be sorted by AET for us, depending on the spec that we decide on.

Clutch - Although we deal with Exedy, there isn't a direct application for the Coupé, as we know. If we can't get one, what has been the best clutch kit that the "big boys" use?

Fuel pump - We'll sort something out with this...

Air fuel management - What do people use here? I couldn't afford to go all the way and get an M800.

Gearbox - Is there a gearset out there that'll go into the 5 speed?



Basically, give me an idea of what parts I'd need to build a quick car. The way it'll more than likely be built is low comp, high boost, so it'll be a torquey motor. Any input is massively appreciated, and I'll keep you updated with pictures as the game goes.

Currently no kevlar belts available and not needed. Stick to FIAT or something like Gates.



Pro Alloy is great, you can save some money and make up your own pipe route with a good Evo cooler, plenty of VI-VIII available.



Not needed.



I run JE pistons as do a few other Coupes. They have the design specs for standard and oversize.



Cunningham, Pauter, Farndon and a few others... all available and used on the Coupe. These are standard length rods, although you can stroke the 20vt. You can change the comp ratio by other means if required, although it sounds like you want to drop the CR so I would look at either Wossner pistons (8.0:1) or use a decompression plate/double up gaskets.




Helix organic or paddle is the most widely used. Off the shelf and good to go for a "reasonable" price. CG Motorsports also offer a much more competitive fast road or paddle clutch. There is also the Brazilian option of Displatec which looks competitive.



Motec, Omex or the existing Motronic ecu. The Motec is very expensive but a great system. You'll hear a few advocates for the Omex which is also a very good system. The Motronic ecu is the most widely used for anything up to 500bhp+ so unless you are going for huge power i.e. 700bhp+, then no need to change.




To what end and what use? A good 5 speed will happily cope with 400bhp for road and track, indeed it will take more but like anything it starts to get a little close to the limit. If you want more then you are looking at a custom box.

Thanks very much for that, I appreciate the time you've taken to read that through and answer in good detail, so thank you.

As far as the box goes, we've been getting PPG kits for the Pulsars and Subaru's, but the Evo's have been using Hollenger, and Clarke gearsets (and they've been smashing them ha ha). Would it be worth speaking to these company's to see if they can come up with something?

The lad who will be building the motor said we're going to look into the stroke of the crank and asked loads more questions that went right over my head.

The thing is though, we haven't even thought about what the car will be used for. I think they just want to play with it to see what we can get out of it.

Like I said as well, cash flow is better, and I'm not paying top whack or labour, but on the other end of that, I'm not made of money, so it's all going to be done in little stages. I think that we may as well change the clutch while the cambelt service is being done, and probably boost/fuel control. I'll keep you all updated on the progress with this one!

I consider this to be the most important factor, you need to decide what you want the car to do before you start.

Regarding rods and pistons for a build intended to have a decent go at power increase the way to do it is design a piston for the task and get a rod that connects it to the crank with an appropriate piston to head clearance. I personally like a reduced compression height (race style rather than copy conservative factory spec) for the piston which increases the rod length but essentially the rod is just there to connect piston to crank correctly. To do accurately the block should be decked and then measured to allow the length to be specified correctly.

Simple way of looking at intercoolers for high levels is fit the absolute biggest you can get in, you'll be most likely restricted by space before you went oversize. Suitcase size wouldn't harm an ambitious build.

As mentioned the first task is set a target and design around that. Build it strong and forgiving with care and bolt on an exhaust and inlet system to suit the task, buy suitable electrickery and get someone who can to tune it, CAREFULLY, this isn't an area to skimp on and I don't just mean the hardware.

Nik