Metro 1.8vvc

[AbingdonBoy]

Hi All,

Firstly hello, this is my first post...

Now my question, I am looking for a run around with some go, and have read a little on the 1.8 vvc conversion for the metro, and was thinking that that looked like a lot of fun. Bit what is involved, and what car should i be looking for to fit it too?

Do you use a standard exhaust manifold, what ECU wiring is involved, do you use the Metro box or the donor, is a bigger radiator required or just a safety thing.

Also what do people mean by 'individualising' the suspension ?

Any help much appreciated.

Regards,

AbingdonBoy.

[114gta]

Hi All,

Firstly hello, this is my first post...

Now my question, I am looking for a run around with some go, and have read a little on the 1.8 vvc conversion for the metro, and was thinking that that looked like a lot of fun. Bit what is involved, and what car should i be looking for to fit it too?

Do you use a standard exhaust manifold, what ECU wiring is involved, do you use the Metro box or the donor, is a bigger radiator required or just a safety thing.

Also what do people mean by 'individualising' the suspension ?

Any help much appreciated.

Regards,

AbingdonBoy.

Firstly, Hi.

Big engine metros are fun (some would say i'm biased ) because they feel like go-karts to drive and its great fun seeing off 'proper' cars in a metro!

Trouble with VVCing a metro is that the engines themselves go for silly money - a std 1.8 can be picked up alot cheaper. Also, the VVC loom will require chopping about with a few other bits, its quite alot of work really, whereas a solid-cammed engine will drop in.

Basically, start with an MPi car - this will make your life sooo much easier! It means you can just swap the engines over, plug and play style. A GTi MPi (not SPi - can be told apart by their wheels - SPi have cross spokes, MPi have 7 spokes) is the ultimate car to start with as it comes with better suspension setup and vented brakes. Trouble is, a good GTi is about impossible to find now. A R100 MPi will be a more solid start as they can be found alot newer, but it means you'll need the front and rear ARBs from a GTI, front dampers from a GTi (or aftermarket) and vented brakes/calipers frmo a GTi to make it all up to the 1.8. You can retain the original metro MPi loom.

Get the ecu from the donor car too, and you'll need to take it to rover with the car to have it coded to your alarm/fobs. Then gearbox - to fit a PG1 you'd need an MGf rear subfame to bolt in the front which means time and money, so go fr an R65 'u' box as they will bolt straight in and are uprated. They're found on most 1.6 rovers - look for a 'U' in the code on the gearbox. Standard R65 boxes wont really last very long with the torque.

Exhaust wise, you can mate the standard 1800 manifold to a GTi MPi downpipe or keep the GTi MPi manifold - they're the same.

Std rad is fine.

Individualising - well worth the time. Basically, the metro rides on hydrogas suspension and the units are linked via a pipe front to back allowing the gas to travel from unit to unit. This works well for ride quality but under braking/acceleration means all the fluid runs away from the unit under pressure so the car handles a bit messy under stress! To individualise it involves removing the linking pipes and giving each unit a valve of its own. You can buy kits from some places, or pay a pro to do it. Whilst you're under the car, lower the suspension units too - go to http://www.metropower.co.uk and look in the guides section.

I hope that makes some sense!

[vi turbo]

Hi All,

Firstly hello, this is my first post...

Now my question, I am looking for a run around with some go, and have read a little on the 1.8 vvc conversion for the metro, and was thinking that that looked like a lot of fun. Bit what is involved, and what car should i be looking for to fit it too?

Do you use a standard exhaust manifold, what ECU wiring is involved, do you use the Metro box or the donor, is a bigger radiator required or just a safety thing.

Also what do people mean by 'individualising' the suspension ?

Any help much appreciated.

Regards,

AbingdonBoy.

Trouble with VVCing a metro is that the engines themselves go for silly money - a std 1.8 can be picked up alot cheaper. Also, the VVC loom will require chopping about with a few other bits, its quite alot of work really, whereas a solid-cammed engine will drop in.

very true on the price of the things they go for silly money but the loom isnt that hard to do all you are wiring in is .


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and all that is joined into the original metro engine loom - car loom connector

all the above is from memory from around 4 yrs ago so in my opinion cant be that hard to do

also if you can go vvc i would recomend it over a standard 1.8 as i have owned both and at santa pod there is around 1 second difference between the 2 .

on the other side i would not bother with pg1 unless you are going to get some longer gears put into it as they are way to short .


john

[ross_lewis]

well worth doing mate imo, the lads have sumed it up in 2 posts, soo much fun to drive and as toby said, the satisfaction of seeing 'proper' cars get smaller in your mirrors is priceless, but once again, BIASED!!!

[AbingdonBoy]

Thanks very much for all the help guys...

Can anyone advise which models of the Rover 100 are MPi ?

Cheers,

AbingdonBoy.

[fastash1]

late 114gta's are mpi P reg onwards i think. if you have one you wont regret it, they upset so many people

[114gta]

All R100s turned MPi after a certain date, not sure exactly when but its around '96. Easy enough to tell when you pop the bonnet though - the MPI has a small, rectanglular airbox on the right hand side of the engine and an obvious alloy inlet manifold. The SPI has a big triangular airbox ontop of the engine.