almost complete

[chriskowal]

Hello all I'm new but thought I would say hello.

Bought an RCZ about 3 moths ago and its almost complete. DE badged front and rear, Kenwood 7170dabs head unit, High Flow air filter, Quad exhaust system, Titanium wheels and eagle F1 Tyres.

Will start rebuilding engine next week I am after 300+ bhp have bought rcz r engine and with some mods should achieve 327bhp.

Also will be upgrading pistons, rods, diff and brakes, this car has become a bit of an obsession, surprisingly the wife doesn't mind.

Nice to meet you all.

hmmm cant seem to upload the pics!!!!

Chris

 

[chriskowal]

Ok have put pica on hidden page of company website here is link if anyone is interested.

http://wishtraining.com/car/

 

[chriskowal]

I think I have managed to upload some pics.

 

[tianorth]

You say you have Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres, these have a load rating of 92 which is fine for the RCZ-R, but the other RCZ's have a load rating of 96.

Just thought you might not be aware of this.


Brilliant pictures btw.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[chriskowal]

Thanks I wasn't aware of that, I will check it out with the tyre guy. The car is about to go on a crash diet.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have bought a Rcz too, not the R-version, but 200hp.
Now I want to buy new tires on it and I read that you have the Goodyear Eagle F1 ass 2 on yours.
How is your review of these.
I have now Coni sport 3 but they are noisy and hard. I want softer and quit and I found tthe F1’s.
The loadindex is 92 but thats good I think. Not extra load, this makes them hard.

Can you give a review about the F1’s please?

I am from Holland, so my English is not very well, sorry for that,

Kind regards,

peter

 

[tianorth]

Yes the load index needs to be the same as supplied from the manufacturer or higher.

For the RCZ's they have a load index of 96, the RCZ-R has 92.

Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres have 92 loading and therefore not suitable for the RCZ, only suitable for the RCZ-R.

A lot of tyre places are not aware of this and may sell you the incorrect tyre.


There are a lot of tyres out there from all brands some budget, some premium you have to sort through to see which are suitable for you.

When I changed mine I went for Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's, but was also tempted by some budget ones with an A wet rating and B fuel rating.


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[renegade79]

I wonder how @chriskowal is getting on with his R conversion. ever so slightly intrigued at this one..... :eusa-whistle:

 

[RCZ-R]

I wonder how @chriskowal is getting on with his R conversion. ever so slightly intrigued at this one..... :eusa-whistle:

Yep, right.
I just spotted this post for the first time and I'm wondering why he would replace the pistons, rods and other stuff on the R engine? Those parts are good enough for his 330 bhp goal. Peugeot Sport drives the TCR cars with a stock engine at about 330 bhp. He only need to apply cooling to the stock gearbox, change the air intake, the whole exhaust system, replace the turbo and apply a new fuel map to the whole thing.

 

[Plecodoras]

I wonder how @chriskowal is getting on with his R conversion. ever so slightly intrigued at this one..... :eusa-whistle:

Yep, right.
I just spotted this post for the first time and I'm wondering why he would replace the pistons, rods and other stuff on the R engine? Those parts are good enough for his 330 bhp goal. Peugeot Sport drives the TCR cars with a stock engine at about 330 bhp. He only need to apply cooling to the stock gearbox, change the air intake, the whole exhaust system, replace the turbo and apply a new fuel map to the whole thing.

I thought the exact same thing. It's OK to change these if it was a stock 156 / 200 engine, but a bit pointless in the R.
Unless he's going for Nissan GTR figures ??? !!!! :wtf:

Interesting to find out progress though ?? :eusa-whistle:

 

[chriskowal]

Sorry for the delay but haven't been on here in a while but got a message that people wanted update.

So the engine swap turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as I bought a bit of a lemon out of a flood damaged RCZ. The work required to get the old pistons out and other stuck and grotty components took an age. My mechanic does it on weekends as he cant stop the other work just for me (GRRRRRRR)

I had already bought the pistons, lighter crank, Competition Clutches STAGE 4 Ceramic Clutch & Flywheel. the reason for the upgrades are i want to fit a nitrous kit. Firstly took the engine striped it and installed new bottom end, stronger con rods, forged pistons and high lift cam shaft. Ported and skimmed the head. Almost the only thing we kept is the block.

I am also looking into a twin scroll turbo, upgrading the brakes and maybe air ride

The engine is now back together but not in the car yet. The air ride suspension kit is 5k so that may have to wait.

I have bought a wet NOS system from masters of NOS.

Having a real problem with the exhaust as the wheel compartment is in the way, I used to be a welder so i am looking to cut it out and replace the floor of the boot.

The project has gone so far over the budget the wife allowed me that if you are interested i have currently spent just shy of 12k on this engine. It has become a bit of an obsession.

I will take some pics of it over the next few week and post them so you can see just how silly this thing has become, I only paid 9k for the car.

So that's where i am at the moment when complete i will be taking it to shows and hopefully rcz rallies.

Oh, i forgot the body is going off to and artist in Belgium for a custom paint job, and i bought the number plate BE57 RCZ how vain am i.

 

[renegade79]

Great to hear the update on this! It sounds like you’ve really sunk some amount of money into this project but I hope you continue it and keep us updated :thumbup:

 

[chriskowal]

Sorry again only just read the comment on my tyres.

They are fantastic even in the wet as long as you are not silly they grip the road very well.

They are low noise although a bit expensive, but they are cheaper than others.

 

[neilgsxr69]

Wow this sounds like an epic build possibly has the potential to one of the best :dance: looking forward to the updates and obviously the finished result. :thumbup:

 

[Plecodoras]

If my memory serves me well, that car was a Red RCZ R which was bought from a Peugeot dealer that I use. It went to Hills breakers.
There can't be that many flood damaged RCZ R's around hey ?
Now I know why you are changing the pistons etc, though I thought that they would probably be ok since the engine is oil tight.

That does sound like a mammoth project, one that I hope you pull off, it would be good to see the outcome at meets or similar.
Keep us updated even if it's snail pace. :thumbup: :thumbup: :beer:

 

[chriskowal]

I will keep you updated as the project moves on, the two biggest mistakes made so far were underestimating the costs of doing a modern car as in past have mainly done older cars. Progress is slow at the moment because of money had a 10k budget originally which was a completely optimistic load of BS. (hehe)

I picked the RCZ as i love the look and knew the engine was upgradable, also like the real clock although changing the head unit makes it very difficult to set.

My mechanic thinks I'm mad and keeps telling me this is one of the worst engines BMW produce. (the man has no sole)

I assumed that an R engine would be a good place to start as had better components for what i was doing. (not true) so could have used any engine as a starting point. Still have to sort out how to fit bigger intercooler in the engine bay (scratches head).

The main weak point on this engine is the timing gear but luckily the Mini guys have been upgrading these engines for a while so using their websites for a lot of the parts.

I have bought a new sweet ride as a daily driver for when RCZ is taken off the road. Its a Toyota IQ does 0-60 in about 47 days. (dog wont get in it) wife thinks its very funny. (maybe i should have started with that hehe)

Anyway the pain continues, i didnt think posting updates would be so therapeutic.

 

[robrac]

And the brakes upgrade is?

 

[chriskowal]

Brakes are being upgrade to Black Diamond pads and vented & grooved discs, going from going from 302 to 340 which will fit in the wheels.

 

[SilverGTi_6]

Congrats on the build mate. Look forward to seeing the final product! I thought the 308 GTI / RCZ-R engine already had forged pistons etc (below from the 308 GTi release):

Turbocharged engine running 2.5 bar (or more than 36 psi) of boost pressure, that also featured forged aluminium pistons, strengthened connecting rods, a heat-treated aluminium block, a reinforced and shot-blasted gearbox and a limited-slip differential.

 

[anghel132]

Brakes are being upgrade to Black Diamond pads and vented & grooved discs, going from going from 302 to 340 which will fit in the wheels.

4 years later. I need to know what happened!