Rover Streetwise VVC
Discussion
My Dad's Rover Streetwise, which started off life as a 1.4 runabout for the chap over the road's retired father...
I bought it and used it as a daily driver, until my Dad sold his car and I got a company car, which is when he bought the Streetwise off me.
Then the bottom end on the original engine started to fail...after 52,000 miles (I don't think the earlier life of being exclusively poodled 2 miles to Asda and back did it any favours).
Fortunately I had a spare VVC engine lying around...naturally the two were mated along with a few choice mods to take the estimated power in the region of 170-180bhp.
The looks are a "personal taste" kind of thing but to be honest, that makes it more of a fun sleeper in my eyes.
When I did the conversion I was told by a chap from the MGOC that it was the only one in the world, since a couple of others have been completed.
The aim was to 1/ get the car back on the road & 2/ create a fun sleeper on a budget without compromising useability.
Quick spec list;
-1.8 VVC engine
-52mm throttle body (from a MGF Trophy)
-Short ratio gearbox from a ZR160
-ITG induction kit
-Janspeed exhaust manifold, sports cat & XPower centre/rear sections
-Z&F tuning "Stage 2" map with higher rev limit (7600rpm)
-ZR160 suspension
-ZS180 front brake setup
-Standard Streetwise SE instruments (which means hilariously it'll now go off the clock) & interior
I bought it and used it as a daily driver, until my Dad sold his car and I got a company car, which is when he bought the Streetwise off me.
Then the bottom end on the original engine started to fail...after 52,000 miles (I don't think the earlier life of being exclusively poodled 2 miles to Asda and back did it any favours).
Fortunately I had a spare VVC engine lying around...naturally the two were mated along with a few choice mods to take the estimated power in the region of 170-180bhp.
The looks are a "personal taste" kind of thing but to be honest, that makes it more of a fun sleeper in my eyes.
When I did the conversion I was told by a chap from the MGOC that it was the only one in the world, since a couple of others have been completed.
The aim was to 1/ get the car back on the road & 2/ create a fun sleeper on a budget without compromising useability.
Quick spec list;
-1.8 VVC engine
-52mm throttle body (from a MGF Trophy)
-Short ratio gearbox from a ZR160
-ITG induction kit
-Janspeed exhaust manifold, sports cat & XPower centre/rear sections
-Z&F tuning "Stage 2" map with higher rev limit (7600rpm)
-ZR160 suspension
-ZS180 front brake setup
-Standard Streetwise SE instruments (which means hilariously it'll now go off the clock) & interior
Quhet said:
Excellent!
What kind of performance are you getting from it?
Not measured anything with stopwatches or dynos but similar to a ZR160; although the Janspeed kit is a superb upgrade, it really makes the engine rev more freely. The K-Series with the right mods and in good fettle is a decent little engine, I'm a big fan of it-I've got the same unit in my Elise and it's characterful, powerful for its size and reasonably lightweight.What kind of performance are you getting from it?
Max_Torque said:
The Streetwise was always my somewhat unexpected pick of the range bizarrely! Mainly because it had a decent ride and wasn't catastrophically over sprung / under damped like the rest of the ZR range.....
I've kept the Streetwise steering rack & bushes as the slower rack ratio and softer bushes (plus the higher profile tyres) means it doesn't pogo about like a ZR does on B roads. You can really get a move on in it-it's not as nice or accomplished as my ZS180, but it's not half bad. Utopia one day would be a set of Eibach springs/shocks as the damping is what lets it down when really pressing on. It could also do with a LSD.Bang goes the "sleeper on a budget" idea...
gazmk2 said:
Should have stuck a T16 in it mate! still must be a a good laugh as is though!!
Not that outdated lump of pig iron...a decent engine but I thought it suited application in e.g. my old 620ti rather than something like this (small and relatively lightweight).I've driven a T16 ZR and thought it a bit nose heavy and reluctant to turn in compared to a K-Series car.
MagicalTrevor said:
I've no idea how much it's worth either but I was thinking of getting something cheap and cheerful to enter a few Sprints with so if you think of a price then I might be interested
I was quite hoping that it would stay "as is" and be preserved rather than raced or rallied-albeit if someone comes up with the readies, money talks but it's a mint example and something I've put a fair bit of work into.It's probably worth a lot more to me than anyone else, so it'll end up mothballed in my parent's garage!
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