850 T5 1994 Tuning/Lightening project.

irmunkar · Post by **irmunkar** » 04 Sep 2009, 17:46

Hey everyone, I was active on this forum a little while ago under a username I can't remember so have had to re-register.

I'm posting on behalf of a syndicate of 6 petrolheads who've each put £100 into owning a poor mans race-car.

Having loved and adored my old '95 850 T5 I convinced the other chaps it was the way to go and we now have a '94 850 T5 with 182,000 on the clock that we got for a bargain £350 off Ebay. The idea is to use it purely to drive to, from and around the Nurburgring in Germany.

The car was cheap as it has a blown Heater Matrix/Core which we're intending to bypass, as well as the obligatory wet carpets which will all be coming out anyway. If you want to see the original Ebay post it's here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0370262765

Currently, it's intended that we strip the entire interior out of it and perform a few tweaks and tunes to get the most we can on our meagre budget (This budget WILL be increased the more the others fall in love with the T5).

So I'm looking for some ideas from all the knowledgeable brains on MVS to make sure we don't waste time and money while ensuring we get the best results we can when we make the trip to the fatherland in around May next year.

Within the last 3000 she's had: new cambelt & idler gears, water pump, plugs, air filter, distributor cap & rotor arm, new turbo intake pipe along with pressure sensor, gear position sensor and Lambda probe.

Current ideas include an ECU remap, a damn good service, uprated brakes, as near to slicks as is legal and putting her on a serious diet. Any further ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer us . . . .

Nick.

FCPEURO · Post by **FCPEURO** » 08 Sep 2009, 08:31

If you are just looking to get a little bit more power out of the engine, I would get a boost gauge and manual boost controller. You could safely run around 13 to 15 PSI on high octane gas without an issue.

I would really look into upgrading that suspension. That will help get you around the ring the fastest even with the stock boost levels, and get yourself some really good brakes.

irmunkar · Post by **irmunkar** » 17 Sep 2009, 17:17

Okay folks,

The car is now on my driveway and it feels great to have an 850 back in the fold, despite her leaking heater core/matrix

After a good service she's running great and a quick repair to an intercooler hose means she boosts like a charm.

So the next step to this project is to start stripping her out of all unnecesary weight. As a result I have some parts that before I stick them up on eBay I thought I'd give everybody here first dibs?

I have rear seats (black leather, good condition for age and miles), front e/h/m seats (black leather, good condition for age and miles), all door cards, all window motors, central locking parts, headlining, grab handles, side trims, a tow bar with electrics, headlight wiper assemblies, rear wiper assembly, speakers all round, dashboard/switches . . . . . .

Essentially anything you can pull off an 850 interior is available with the exception of the radio and CD changer (already taken), so anyone interested in parts please reply or message?!?

Pictures of the car and her diet will appear soon!

Cheers

N

FCPEURO · Post by **FCPEURO** » 18 Sep 2009, 08:45

Post up some pictures of her.

will bj robinson · Post by **will bj robinson** » 14 Oct 2009, 16:40

This is the one all time motorsports related thing I would love to do... Though lapping the ring in my own car would be a very expensive proposition!!!!! as for brakes ebay has many different brands of cross drilled rotors. I use a set of unremembered brand with hawk performance pads with crazy amazing success. my setup hauls my 854 down from 100 km/h in at least one quarter the distance of the stock set-up, brake fade is also a thing of the past.

will bj robinson · Post by **will bj robinson** » 14 Oct 2009, 16:45

I forgot to mention that I have been using this brake setup for almost three years now in a terible winter climate and they still show no sign of rust or wear.

irmunkar · Post by **irmunkar** » 23 Oct 2009, 13:14

Hey chaps,

An update. The car is going well - all interior removed, Towbar removed, all window regulators removed, dash out in readiness for roll cage, Steering wheel and airbag out, heater matrix sourced and replaced.

The next task is to weld in a cage followed by replacing the dash.

I have a few questions some of you may be able to help with. If I remove say the airbag unit, will the car flash a dashboard light, throw a code or go into limp mode? All the airbags are now out of the car, so the airbag unit (located in the centre console) is surplus to requirements. I guess the same question applies to such things as heated seat switches, elec window switches etc as well - can they simply be removed?

Secondly, there's large amounts of the car loom that are now also surplus to requirements - the interior lighting for instance as well as all wiring for the rear doors (locks/windows/courtesy light). What would people advise regarding cutting out these sections of the loom for the sake of tidiness? I can't see any immediate problems with it apart from cutting out a shared earth later on in the loom but I'm sure someone has some pearls of wisdom to share!

Many thanks in advance,

Nick

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 01 Nov 2009, 05:59

Taking the airbags out will throw a code but the car will still run.

irmunkar · Post by **irmunkar** » 01 Nov 2009, 14:32

Thanks MadeInJapan, that's good to know, any ideas regards other stuff like window switches etc?

I'll try to post some pictures of her in her (currently sorry) state soon.

Nick

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 02 Nov 2009, 17:03

As long as none of the "engine management" is effected it will still run- window switches, etc. won't have an effect.