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Forged or 250 swap?

marksedR26

New Member
I’m looking for advice really. Have a 57 plate R26. Bought last year with a few choice mods already done to the engine (forge intercooler, ktec induction kit, decat into miltek exhaust and an EFI parts remap) I’ve just gone through the suspension and polybushed the lot along with new cup shocks and grams springs. And it’s going into BTT motorsport for some brembo HC disks and DS2500 pads. Once all that is done I’m looking for more power, nothing silly. Just mid 300’s as anything more is a bit daft in what is primarily a road car. I’m not great on the spanner’s so any work will more than likely be done by BTT in Wigan who I rate highly. I’m currently running 280 bhp with similar torque so taking the standard lump any further is a no no. I could go down the forged route but looking at prices from engine dynamics with hybrid turbos etc this isn’t going to be cheap…. Could I realistically get mid 300’s from a megane 250 engine with the standard 250 turbo? This has got to be the Cheapest option or am I missing something? Also I believe retaining the standard R26 box is the best option? Synchro is already a bit crunchy on 5th, does anyone know of anybody in the north west that could do a box rebuild? Sorry that’s a lot of questions! Cheers in advance
 
to forge an r26 engine and buy all the necessary parts to accommodate it your looking atleast £3k before you or anyone else starts building owt but you’ll be able to use your oem loom and ecu. If you want a 250 engine in a r26 from what I know you’ll probably need to either use a 250 ecu and splice the loom or get stand-alone and have a loom made. By the end of it they’ll probably cost about the same
 
Fair enough. I’d read somewhere that you could use the R26 ecu on the 250 engine but would loose the vvt. But if that’s not the case I may be better going down the forged route.. stand alone ecu isn’t going to be cheap.
 
Fair enough. I’d read somewhere that you could use the R26 ecu on the 250 engine but would loose the vvt. But if that’s not the case I may be better going down the forged route.. stand alone ecu isn’t going to be cheap.
You could do that but then you might aswell buy a 250 lump and fit the internals into the r26 engine and fit the turbo 🤷🏼‍♂️
 
Mid 300s on 250 engine is really the upper limit for a stock engine on 20t hybrid or similar.

250 turbo will do around 320hp max so you will need a 20t.

You can use the r26 ecu and loom on the 250 engine with a few mods. R26 ecu is pretty shit once you get to mid 300s so best off with a standalone ecu.

No matter which avenue you take for more hp be prepared to spend loads of money to go 350hp and up. From personal experience i would seriously consider how much you want it.
 
Thanks both..
It’s a hard one to answer. I love the car. Handles like nothing I’ve ever owned before (mostly beemers and jap stuff) but can’t help but feel another 60 bhp would make the world of difference. Chassis feels like it could cope with more.. I’m not against spending a few quid as I said I love the car. But obviously spending 3-4K on fitting a used 250 lump is more appealing than spunking 6k + on forging my existing engine. Need to have a think over the next couple of months. Appreciate the advice
 
Personally wouldn't go to the expense of putting a250 lump in just to get to 315-320bhp. Also I don't see the point in hybrid turbo's for the money on these.
If your going to go MK3 meg engine budget for the ktec turbo kit and get to nearly 400bhp.
Yes it's safe and clean on a stock engine. And they feel brilliant at that power. It is quite an expensive run.

For my two penny's worth, talking from tuning my mk 3 I've gone stock, map and ic (297bhp-330ftlb), then added a 200cell and full exhaust plus map tweek(317bhp-355ftlb), added a hybrid and 630cc's (348bhp-360ftlb), the Garrett g25-550 and 875cc's (393bhp-360ftlb) then finally fully build w/cams fuel system and clutch w/975cc injectors (487bhp-440ftlb)
The best bang for buck was non forged and 390bhp. Immense on the road and more than enough on track.


But I bet your r26 feels mega at 280bhp either route you choose is going to be a slab of money so go big or go home 😁🤘🏻🤘🏻😈
 
that set up sounds amazing but the thought of winding standard internals up to nearly 400bhp makes me a little nervous! How long did you run it in that state of tune for? If the standard internals are happy at that level, I’d by lying if I said that amount of power wasn’t extremely appealing!
 
that set up sounds amazing but the thought of winding standard internals up to nearly 400bhp makes me a little nervous! How long did you run it in that state of tune for? If the standard internals are happy at that level, I’d by lying if I said that amount of power wasn’t extremely appealing!
It's the torque that kills an engine and my torque was capped at just over 350ftlb. I think it peaked at 360. I had 360 ftlb when the car was only making 317bhp on the standard turbo.
I did over 15k and 8 trackdays.
An I'll fitted cambelt was it's downfall, well a loose bolt got into the belt housing.
Slippy Skippy snappy BANG! 😅🤣🤣
 
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