5 GT Turbo My Red 5GT F701/E2

[Ian M]

Owned my 5gt for just gone 19 years now. It first arrived in November 2002



A few months of work and fettling before I could even afford to insure it , it hit the road in February 2003 on my 18th birthday!

Then over the next 18 months the mods rolled on , engine build, t2, then t25 , front mount



Mid to late 2004 the bodywork was the main job, new wings, all rot repaired, smoothed bumpers, GT tuning spoiler, full respray



2005 saw the main aim of the 1/4 mile, previously the car had ran mid 14’s, the cam was changed to an EP05, compression lowered , head work and a t28 was added. At National day 2005 on slicks I smashed my time down to 13.5 and a couple of months later in October 05 pushed down to a low 13.2.


2095 also saw a trip to France for the 21st anniversary.







Winter 2005/06 came one of the first efi conversions in the club, custom manifold, shortened cossie rail, cossie injectors , edis spark, megasquirt ecu



T28 turned into a T3 and external wastegate, mainly as I decided to build my own turbos and t3’s were easy to come by



Trial and error for the next 18 months or so with the efi, then from late 07 to 2014 the car was dry stored and only used occasionally as I was otherwise occupied with work.

2014 I found micro blisters had stated to appear under the paint in a few areas, gutted as the paint was still in top shape. Anyway engine out , bay painted , subframe off and painted , then whole car stripped down. Also finished the screamer pipe from many years previous



Paint work was taken back to pretty much bare metal. Also I sourced an omp roll cage , but wanted to retain all the original interior plastics so I made some mods to make it all fit, the cage was painted body colour and I fitted it while the car was in primer with no doors on - wise move!

 

[Ian M]

Fresh red paint followed

 

[Ian M]

And finally all built up early 2015

 

[Ian M]

Next up was to get it running better on efi
so it was off to Chris @ EFi parts for some proper mapping, after a few problems on the first session, i did some mods done and had some work done to the ecu. Now running wasted spark, electronic boost solenoid control and overboost protection.

Second mapping session went fine. boost back upto 22psi. Slightly lacking on the bhp side of things due to the engine being low compression and cam not done much above 6200, but good enough to get back out at pod!

 

[Ian M]

Few trips to pod followed and abit of road driving , on 10 year old sticks I worked my times back down to 13.4 with a slightly higher terminal

 

[Ian M]

A little gearbox issue at pod meant engine back out, so some mods to the engine also to try and sort the breathing. std compression, new cylinder head, bp270 cam and vernier pulley, tubular exhaust manifold and a bigger comp side on the turbo (60 trim) and some more mapping! Better than previously , got up 200 bhp and 210 lb ft at 26 psi but any more boost and the engine wasn’t producing any more power, in the end we put it down to the inlet manifold design choking the engine.

This is pretty much how the engine has stayed for now. Extending family the year after has never seen me return to pod which is a shame as my aim of 12’s was probably in reach now.

 

[Ian M]

Last few years the cars been on and off the road (sorn) but has been maturing nicely ££! Here’s how the car is still looking now

 

[Ian M]

Recently I’ve got the bug back, car is ready for mot but ran out of time this year! As I said it’s never seen the wet since 2006 so it’ll sit in my unit again for the winter and be in for MOT as soon as the weather turns next year, hope to use it a little more and get to some shows.
Then the mods will probably start again !

Ian

 

[Adey]

Serious commitment there well done. Cheers for sharing there is a French car event at Pod in May if you fancy it.

Le French Fest

Details are still a little sketchy at time of writing this... but thought it would be a GREAT season opener for the 2022....? Here's the official blurb from Santa Pod: Le French Fest is a celebration of automobiles originating from just across the channel. The French manufacturers offer...

turborenault.co.uk

 

[Brigsy]

Can remember when you done the efi conversion back in the day. Still looks bang on.

If you ever take the engine apart again raise the c/r a bit. Mine with raised comp makes quite a difference to drivability on efi.

 

[Ian M]

So your running slightly higher than stock?

 

[Ian M]

If I do any more mods il be changing the inlet manifold too. Yours seems to work well enough

 

[Brigsy]

From memory when i done the calcs the cr on mine is around 9.0, its basically stock compression gtt pistons and campus head that measures around 71mm.

My inlet is a tierney one, im surprised yours does not work better with a plenum. I did have plans to change mine to a better design but its hard to package something decent in the engine bay without chopping the firewall. Im also looking at DBW throttle options too as benefits for cold start/idle control as i dont run an icv of any description.

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Great story and history @Ian M !!! Hope to see you at Pod with it soon!!

 

[Ian M]

From memory when i done the calcs the cr on mine is around 9.0, its basically stock compression gtt pistons and campus head that measures around 71mm.

My inlet is a tierney one, im surprised yours does not work better with a plenum. I did have plans to change mine to a better design but its hard to package something decent in the engine bay without chopping the firewall. Im also looking at DBW throttle options too as benefits for cold start/idle control as i dont run an icv of any description.

im surprised too, but i changed the head, cam, exhaust manifold and turbine wheel and it still won’t breath properly. i think with Scoff we put it down to either, the plenum size, lack of trumpets in the plenum or the runners to the head. if i ever have to go any engine work il probably switch it to a tiernet one as see if it makes any difference. my megasquirt 2 is abit old hat too now so would probably need an ecu upgrade too

 

[Ian M]

For 10 years I’ve not been able to have my sunroof open as part of the handle has been broken that’s keeps the glass connected to the car. Refusing to pay the £35 for a second hand britax handle, I found one on eBay that looked very similar and the hole centres matched. £10 well spent!

 

[Ian M]

Another little job ticked off ready for next year! I keep my car at the back of my work unit and bumped something into the passenger door earlier this year, luckily I have so many covers on it didn’t touch the paint just left a tiny dink that most probably wouldn’t see but I knew it was there! This guy does great work and did some work on the car when it was in the body shop being prepped years back. 15 minutes and all done and you’d never know!

 

[Ian M]

Another job I’ve wanted to do for years! My bucket seat centre pads retrimmed in original material! Happy with how they’ve come out !

 

[JonnyGee]

Looks good mate and glad you kept yours to ,I don’t supposed you ever found any pics of mine as can see it in the background in 1 of the pod pics

 

[Ian M]

Looks good mate and glad you kept yours to ,I don’t supposed you ever found any pics of mine as can see it in the background in 1 of the pod pics

Came across a couple will find them out mate!