Hi all, new here!

[M1tch]

Hi everyone,

I have joined up to this forum to get some advice and to research into a fun track/drag project next year, I have had an RX7 previously and so far the best power to weight alternative is a 1.8t power A3 or TT as the 1.8t has lots of tuning options.

The initial plan was to get a mk1 TT with a BAM engine and swap out the rods, however as I know the 1.8t and the quatro system came in the A3 and the A3 should also be slightly lighter I might go with an A3 as the project base. I do know that the S3 had the BAM engine fitted and would be the ideal choice, issue being is that they are becoming rarer and I don't want to get an S3 to simply strip the interior out.

I can see that there are some mid range 1.8t powered A3s with around 180bhp, I will probably look to get one of those once I confirm which engine has a forged crank and then drop in rods and OEM forged pistons to get to the power goals I am after.

Anyway, just thought I would say hi!

[Trevor]

Hi David...welcome to the Forum

Wow!  you have some great ideas there, costly as well I would think?

Keep us posted on your progress as would be interested to see where you go with this.

Cheers   Trevor

[M1tch]

1 hour ago, Trevor said:

Hi David...welcome to the Forum

Wow!  you have some great ideas there, costly as well I would think?

Keep us posted on your progress as would be interested to see where you go with this.

Cheers   Trevor

Thanks for that, it will be a long project so will be done over time, the frustrating thing is that my stock FC3S RX7 ran a 14.2 1/4 mile, I can't seem to find anything that really gets close. I guess the good news is that there are lots of 1.8t engines out there plus many parts, I was looking at the 2.0TFSi but not too sure due to all the issues with the oil consumption in stock form.

Still working out which combination I want to go with - the good news is that the 8L A3 seems to have a kerb weight of 1,145kg meaning to run a 13 second 1/4 mile I would need 201 bhp (using a calculator). Shaving off weight will mean that I might be able to get into the 13s with just a stage 1 tune on even the lower powered K03 turbo.

[Trevor]

I don't think the 2.0 TFSi engine will be a problem if you are replacing the pistons but otherwise honing and setting ring gaps should resolve that issue.

Weight reduction is always a good thing....I would have to start with myself if I was doing this as I would be a huge weight gain to the vehicle 

[M1tch]

14 minutes ago, Trevor said:

I don't think the 2.0 TFSi engine will be a problem if you are replacing the pistons but otherwise honing and setting ring gaps should resolve that issue.

Weight reduction is always a good thing....I would have to start with myself if I was doing this as I would be a huge weight gain to the vehicle 

I will still look into the 2.0TFSi engine as an option, its a newer engine and you can get more power out of them, but there is also the weigh up of a cheaper base car + good value performance parts vs a more expensive base car. I like the idea of being able to simply get another 1.8t engine as there are so many of them out there, plus all of the parts and combos have been tested. The 8L A3 is quite a cheap car to start out with and would be lighter anyway, I have found most first gen models of most cars are lighter before they start adding on extra weight like leather seats, air con etc etc.

As this will be a project car and a 2nd car I am not too worried if the car is off the road for weeks at a time, gives me more freedom to be able to try different things and take my time over certain aspects. Due to the lighter weight A3 vs TT it also means that I won't need to go for big power for the same performance AND the A3 is cheaper! I have read that the kerb weight for the 8L is at 1,145kg, I should be able to pull a fair amount of weight out the car by just unbolting a few things and removing items such as air con etc.

I do find it quite funny how small the turbos are on some of the cars though, the stock RX7 turbo was probably around a GT35 sized turbo, a GT28 turbo is tiny but is seen as a mild upgrade on the 1.8t. Might look at a few other options for turbos - wonder if anyone has every run a twin turbo setup running 2 K03s or something?

Anyway, just researching around different options and ideas, and as the Lotus motto goes - simplify and add lightness!