any tips?

Bunch of girls!!! The emergency handles on the floor are all you need!!!!
Stephen...you say that 280bhp is widely accepted as the ceiling on turbos....but David has seen 299bhp on a car with cams and a standard ECU (as well as the hybrid turbo, chip, injectors and exhaust).....once the upgraded ECU is here over 300bhp may be possible with all the other factors added. You say that 330bhp is possible on the atmo....what you mean is the factory team acheived this....when you say mega bucks you may well mean it!!!!! If I had limitless money to spend on the turbo engine I'm sure that an engine builder could come up with the necessary manifolds, race cams, football sized turbo and other add ons to acheive well over 330bhp......the low down appears to be, if you want the car to tune and play with for ultimate speed get the turbo (unless you are intending to break the 5 figure barrier) if you want tractability and ease of maintenance get the atmo, both handle similarly and look the same..... If you want crap electrics....buy either!!!

get a spider cup car........ no doors!

You need a bit more money for the spider cup......if you dislike the door release on the GTA, seal the doors and remove the windows......just like a spider cup!!!

[stephendell]

Stephen...you say that 280bhp is widely accepted as the ceiling on turbos

One of the main factory tuners (Danielson) could not break the 280bhp ceiling on the A610 even by adding twin turbos. They had set what they believed to be an unambitious target of 300bhp which suprisingly they could not achieve and that is the reason why there was no A610 Danielson or Danielson II.

The most powerful GTA with original manifolds in this country is probably the ex Prima car with 500+ NM torque. We have now seen the power plots and there is a freefall in the power curve again at 280 bhp.

You say that 330bhp is possible on the atmo....what you mean is the factory team acheived this....when you say mega bucks you may well mean it!!!!!

Probably but still mostly basic mods that could be carried out by most 'old school' tuners. Bigger valves, porting, raised compression and crappy Lucas mechanical injection.

If I had limitless money to spend on the turbo engine I'm sure that an engine builder could come up with the necessary manifolds, race cams, football sized turbo and other add ons to acheive well over 330bhp......

Yes that is probably true. The Danielson guys admit that with revised turbos and manifolds they could have achieved the 300bhp target. However they decided that the necessary development and parts costs would be uneconomical. I suppose the proof of the pudding will be Tony Smiths output from his 3.0 turbo and whether he can break the 280 'limit' retaining the existing manifolds.

I think that most people would agree that the best way to obtain big power on a PRV is to dump the existing manifolds and fit twin turbos, preferably starting with the 24V engine. The engine management is also a big deciding factor. This would have been a very costly barrier in the late 80's and early 90's and is now easily and relatively cheaply achieveable.

What is up with all you guys? The best power and refinement comes from the A610. Ok, they cost more and are have even more techy electrics than the GTA turbo but they handle better, are much stronger and start off with 250bhp that can easily and cheaply go up to 280 or so ART keep telling me! You also get ABS, aircon etc. Any Alpine will present some challenges in terms of getting it and keeping it reliable ( I should know!) but it is not as bad as a TVR and much more civilised.

You keep talking about the 280 ceiling.......David has posted maps for a car that reached over 290 with the standard ECU etc!!! If 300 is difficult to break on an A610 then surely Tony will also have trouble with it as his car doesnt seem much different to an A610......single turbo and 2 valves per cylinder.

[stephendell]

You keep talking about the 280 ceiling.......David has posted maps for a car that reached over 290 with the standard ECU etc!!!

Actually it was 284bhp, the Prima car was 283bhp, the Venturi is 281bhp...

Hence the 280 ceiling

We're on the phone now discussing it!

Sorry Pete, it was 286bhp I said...

[stephendell]

Notice the total loss of power at..... 280bhp!! regardless of RPM and boost.

[Alpineandy]

ahh, but you lot with two, should aspire to be in the elite 3 alpine clu:

Quite a few of us around, Eh Mr D...

I hope that includes spiders if so.....
don't mind being a member

I have 3 Rover P5Bs (peaked at 4) and one Alpine A610 although I was looking at a Le Mans the other week. Dont think I could cope with 3 Alpines though!! On the subject of power output I used to run a Rover 827 Vitesse from 1991 until early this year (actually I even had 2 of those for part of that time). RPIV8 in Norfolk tried tuning one of the Honda engines used in those and gained around 8bhp with air filter and exhaust mods but no matter wht they did with mapping etc the only thing they could make the engine do was use more fuel. The Honda engines produce 177bhp as standard and 185bhp once tuned. Very understressed for a 2.7 compared to an Alpine 2.5. It seems some engines will only go so far and no further and I guess the 2 valve per cylinder setup of an Alpine must limit it at around 286bhp.

get a spider cup car........ no doors!

.... and lest you forget I have one of these for sale too......

Yes mate but you need some good shocks on it, Speak to Graham he probably has some lying around in his large collection of bits

In theory at least, over 300Hp should be easily enough achieved. I am in the process of building a reasonable 2975cc motor for my GTA Turbo, and admit I will be a little dissapointed if I don't make 300.

I have an ex Super Tourer 2L motor in my BMW 2002, with no turbo that makes 275Hp, ( not as torquey or quiet as the GTA) so surely 3L and 13Lb of boost should do better. I am not really looking for a race car, just something that goes as fast as it looks.

How hard have people been revving their 3L modified even fires to? If the exhaust manifolds and throttle butterfly are the big restrictions to power, I will just have to fix this . Any experience of the difference to performance with these mods.