entertaining a 20vt conversion

[QSHIPQ at aol.com]

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Many of us have been waiting for that "collector" pricing to come Brett.  I'm
not with you at all on this.  Right now, urq's routinely sell for under
5KUSD, I saw an 83 with 30k on it go for $6k just recently.   Really pristine
examples *can* go as high as 20k *asking price*, but when you see those, you
have a lot of time to shop around, cuz it will still be around in 6 months.
Really fine examples can be had for $10KUSD, and you have a few to choose
from.  Right now the prices on even the best rarely top 10,000 in the USA.

WRT 91 200 motors, I suppose you could try to get greedy cuz you have one.
Me, I could care less what I5 it is, they are pretty bulletproof motors (all
of them), so purist ideals wrt who "gets" a yard motor is an amusing thought.


Putting 20vt motors into older urq's has great advantages.  Few repair shops
are qualified to work on the urq's, and the experienced master techs from the
dealer, have long since retired.  The fuel systems on the early CIS cars
require a thorough knowlege of CIS diagnostics.  Add to that a dwindling
supply of new/used parts, the EFI conversions become very attractive.  Too,
the limit in HP on a CIS urq is 270HP or so (then out of fuel), the limit on
the EFI 20vt cars is 400+.

I currently own 2 urq's, an 83 mit the WX, and a "rare" (cough) 84 with the
RS2 motor going in.  The 83 has a new head, WR cam, k24 turbo, 18psi, and the
rest completely done over stock.  It's fun and fast (the best setup for the
WX motor IMO/E).  The RS2 on the other hand, is quite capable of 400hp with
bolt on mods (btbt), which puts it (A/C delete) in the 7lbs/HP range.  An M3
is 10, the 996tt is 8.5.

Watching price in the last year, you could *drive* both the donor car 91 200
AND the reciepient (urq) to your garage for under 10k.  Put in the chip only
and you are at 10.3lbs/hp.

Urq's are awesome classic GT's.  They aren't collector cars, I doubt they
ever will be.  Over 100k, few want them, cuz fixing stuff is just a
nightmare.  The SQ is the collector car, and is reflecting that in pricing in
the last 10years.  The A1 chassis prices have dropped almost beyond belief
(many a running car can be had for under 3kUSD) for a 38,000USD automobile.

Take a ride in a 20vt conversion, the debate is moot.  And the
head/heart-aches much less.

My .02 arbitraged thru the peso

Scott Justusson
'84 RS2URQ
'83 Urq mit k24 and WR cam
Brett writes:
My feelings on dropping the 3B into other cars are well known. Iparticularly
despise those that rip them out of salvageable200q20v's, but it sounds like
the donor in this case isn't.  Still,that's one less engine for a 200q20v
owner who has blown theirs andneeds a replacement.In this case, it's more of
a question of destroying the value of theUrQ(remember, it is about 3 years
from being a "classic" car, a fewmore and it will be an antique.)Personally,
I'd drop the engine into a 4000q(if you wanted to domostly track) or a 90q(if
it would be the daily driver taken out onthe track once in a while), probably
a 90q.  The 20v becomes thezippy "fun" car, the UrQ becomes the garage
queen/show car.  Let'sface it, its probably cheaper to drive the UrQ less
:-)Given that the 90q sedan weighs less than the oh-so-popular eS2conversion,
it should be even more of a blast, and your UrQ avoidsthe knife and retains
its value.B--