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1700 x-flow


Young Pretender

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Again, i would urge against assuming you need bigger bhp for more fun or interest. The catherham academy and 750mc locost boys make do with considerable less bhp and never seem to complain on track or go slow. Remember well sorted chassis, excellent brakes and correct gear ratios will make a far faster car than mealy adding bhp. Mr Greenand mean above is/was successful in our speed series on track, so again further strength to that point.

If you add 50bhp more but can not stop or grip any more, then the 50bhp will never be used, just wasted.

Sorry if i am on my big white horse here, but this is a pet hate of mine. People become fixated on bhp as though this is the only aspect that matters. What about lightness, a well set up chassis, brakes and tyres up to the job and a transmission that wastes little and allows you to put the power down? 2 other important aspects; 1. Make sure the engine is in fine shape.....many an engine has claimed 160bhp etc only to find that it makes a lot less. Search for the countless posts from people praising Northampton Motorsport, they all say something like "wow, what a difference getting it set up made, it was making xbhp and now has ybhp, it is like a different car" all the posts are similar. NMS also off a sellers pack, so perhaps insist that a potential car has some documented proof for the claims? 2. Driver training......don't care how good you are, there is always something new to learn and if you are new to sevens a very new driving experience to get up to speed with.

Horse needs feeding now, so i'll be away........but don't let me catch any of you making this school boy error again. Ignore the bhp and buy a car on spec an quality.

original Poster, you asked is it tuneable, the answer is yes. Are you asking is the x flow any good, and to that we all say it is good at what it does but in the context of a 50year old engine....adding modern efi etc will dramatically improve it, but fundamentally it is not a modern engine. If you are asking if it is the correct car for you, then the rest of the spec is far more important than just the engine.

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Understood Marc and don't get me wrong I'm not someone that's fixated on power, just asking a related question.

A well balanced car is important but that shouldn't negate any level of consideration towards bhp which may also be a part of peoples plans.  Personally I would like to keep the door open to tune the car to a moderate level whether I actually ever get around to it or not.

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The other makes about 190bhp and revs to 9500 BUT you could take a world cruise for the amount of money it took to get there.

Hello...

:love:

Is that Rob's old Mass?

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I've got a Vulcan 1740 xflow on webbers and I love it.  My local rolling road claims it makes 128bHp which, as others have said, is plenty enough to amuse and scare me as required.

It means the car has a 53% / 47% weight distribution and geometry has been set for fast road use.

Yes there are faster cars than me (partly engine and majority driver) but the thrill I get, the noise it makes, the fact that I can strip/maintain the car because it's so simple and the way it drives/handles outweigh any desire for more power!

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Just to make 150bhp from a x/flow,let alone 160+, will take a lot of money,

far better to fit a more modern twin cam (1600 or 2000) .

With EFi , good map , good exhaust most will be in 150-160 bhp without opening up the engine.

Then with uprated cams and a bit of head work you can lift power to 180-200 .

But I also agree - sort handling, brakes, general set up as this will give you confidence to push yourself and car to limits (on track ,)

Having said above I also like x/flows and you will be suprised how quick a 130-140 bhp car is on track, its just a twin cam will be so much easier to upgrade in future

HTH

Stu

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  • 2 weeks later...

This post has saved me a post! I've been looking for a couple of months now and have put my hyperthetical shoes in many different cars with an intent to owning them only to turn away at the last minute for various reasons, all bar one have been miles away, the local one was rough! The first car I noticed and really fancied has come back on auto trader this week and I have to say still floats my boat more than any of the others apart from that it has a 1991 1700 cross flow in it. It's in a dealers I rang him today and he tells me it's a factory car with good history and receipts for £2.5k for recent cosmetic enhancements and stage 2 engine mods. I keep telling myself I need something neck bracingly fast but I've yet to drive any Westy so shouldn't make any judgements I know. I'm going to travel the 80 miles to see this little Westy and just hope it puts a big enough grin on my face, it will be for Sunday B roads and polishing/tinkering. If at some point £1500 would bring me majorish power gains if I fall for it then that would be fine, like the op says though I just can't help worry that I will regret not going for modern power from the start...... :suspect:  ???

BUT on the other hand I like the idea of a more classic car that can still deliver the goods :bangshead:

If it was just power delivery I could pick up a 55 plate imp sti for similar money but where's the fun in that....

Smigga

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This post finally struck a chord with me last night, I was lucky enough to own or have friends who owned the best of the eighties/nineties hot hatches IMO, I was thinking back to the performance of my r5gt 130bhp, 309 gti 130 bhp, xr2 120ish?bhp, 205gti 1.6 125bhp? Fiesta sport 1.4 110bhp? Golf gti 1.8 130 bhp? Cav sri 130, escort gti/orion 1.6 ghia etc 125ish bhp and all really quick! All  had 0-60s and handling to prove it and all had metal bodies, back seats and windows! I think I'll forget all preconceptions of "low bhp" and wait for my test drive.....

Smigga

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