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5 GT Turbo Phatty - The Original build [Pic Heavy!]

When I built the car 1st time I was still serving in the REME. I was attached to the Irish Guards who were on Palace duty. We didn't use many Army vehicles so I used the workshop to build Phatty. ☺
Very handy, but I am a little disappointed it didnt have any sort of weaponry attached lol
 
The car was featured in the first ever Performance French Car magazine after it went Bi-Monthly and changed it's name from Performance GTi. It was shot at the ABRO right next door to my house in Warminster in the unused sheds away from the military equipment for security purposes.
They also did a sound bite and video of it which could be downloaded on your mobile.

phatty 001.webpphatty 003.webp phatty 002.webp Not the best pictures but I still have the mag somewhere so might scan it properly at some point.
 
Back in the days when the word "Phat" was still allowed and didn't make you sound like a 1.2Nova driving bad boi tosspot! LOL
 
The car also had quite a nice multimedia install.
There was the Alpine in dash screen, DVD player, Sony PS2, 12" Pioneer Sub box, 2x Pioneer Amps, HiPhonics 6" Componants in the front and Cerwin Vega 6x9s in the rear. This was backed up with OFC cable and gold terminals and fittings.

This was the early days of in dash TV and it cost £600 just for the head unit. The amps and sub were special in the way that while on tour (with the Yanks) I bought 8 subs, 4 amps, and 4 sets of componants which I then had to stash in my vehicle to get them back to the UK. I was originally going to bin the rear seats and do this.
Picture 050.webp

The amps were to run down the middle between the subs with a laptop built in which could spin round and display engine info or DVDs.
I was going to fit the front doors with this..
Speakers 002.webp
Unfortunately once I decided the cage was going in then these did not fit so I fitted the speakers in the std door holes and rear instead.

The extra speakers and empty pods were sold to help fund the project as the price I paid for the Pioneer stuff was literally peanuts new.
 
The car was a trailer queen to start with all that chrome took ages to polish up after driving it.
It attended many shows around the country.
Renault World series Where it won Second Place in the best modified class.
World Series Renault 08 002.webp

RTOC National days.
nat day 015.webp
and Castle Combe Rally Days.

cc.webp
 
I decided to bin the chrome and go full out track fun so the second incarnation of Phatty was born.
The entire chrome engine bay including Engine, Gearbox, ancillaries and pipework all got sold to a girl who was building a show car for the princely sum of £2600. It costs me a damn sight less than that so I was well happy with that!
I then sourced a 2.0l 16v Megane F7R engine complete with manifolds and ancillaries for £150.
With a modified GTT front engine mount and using a std GTT gearbox this engine was in the car within 20 minutes of arrival!
Megane conversion 002.webp

I decided to go with an Adaptronic standalone ECU rather than trying to fit the Megane one as it was more complicated and I wanted to future proof the car for the turbo conversion I had planned. I built the loom up from the basic unterminated one supplied to a full engine loom utilising the std plugs on injectors, sensors etc.
The starter motor, alternator, oil pressure light, oil pressure gauge and oil level gauge were all taken from the original GTT engine loom and used so the dash all worked properly.
I also used the std AEI wiring to make the rev counter work.
With a lot of tinkering with settings the car fired up and ran.
I had a basic map and was happy with the progress of the weekend.

UNFORTUNATELY.........

The fuel line connection onto the std plastic Megane rail had a faulty O ring and it sprayed out 3.5 bar or atomised fuel into my garage.
A garage that was being heated by a gas fire.
The fuel mist ignited and a massive backblast of flame enveloped the garage.
I grabbed the laptop from the roof as I ran out and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the back of my SLaguna which was outside.
I put out the fire after turning off the fuel pump and was left with the following....

P1070030.webp P1070031.webp
The new wiring was destroyed as was the brand new headlight and plastic trims on the engine as well as damage to the paintwork and other components.

I then decided to start again with the wiring and it took me a solid 3 days to create the new loom with all new plugs, pins, wires and the lot was fully waterproofed and protected with Army grade heatshrink.
The ignitor units are required so I can use the std Megane wasted spark coilpack. I mounted them on the aluminium heat sink so they wouldn't overheat as air could circulate around them.
P1100037.webp
The entire loom was shaped into the minimum profile possible so the std Megane covers could still be used. A fuel pressure gauge and alloy fuel rail were also fitted to get rid of the plastic one and stop that failure ever happening again.
P1100036.webpI tried to make as much of the wiring hidden as possible and even bolted the MAP sensor to the head so it wasn't too obvious. P1100035.webp
All these bits led to a tidy install that almost looked factory which was what I was going for.
P1100034.webp
Once the wiring was replaced and the car was now fully running properly a new headlight was fitted then it was up to Mech Motorsport in Cheltenham for mapping.

P5030001.webp
With a K&N filter and Clio Williams 4-2-1 Manifold fitted to a modified GTT exhaust the car made a good solid 150BHP and 136lbs/ft of Torque. This was 3bhp and 9lbs/ft up on the standard Megane engine and totally realistic considering the minor mods.

RR Printout Phatty.webp
 
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