New G40 owner here!

[markh450]

Hi

After spending many years with fast fords and a few others I saw a G40 for sale in my area which looked really well looked after and the guy selling it was spot on and spent plenty of time telling me about not just the car but G40's in general. and went to have a look last night, suffice to say I am now a g40 owner and loving it!

I've got some q's if thats ok?

its been rolling roaded at 118 and is standard apart from a stainless system. I have a stainless tubular manifold which I will be fitting (and decatting at the same time). any ideas if / what diffference it will make to the power / delivery?

I don't really wnat to go the smaller pulley route as although the chargers been rebuilt recently I don't want to over stress it. Is it worth chipping the car without changing the pulley and what gains will you typically see?

cheers! 

mark

[G40supercharged]

Welcome to G40 ownership!

The manifold and decat probably won't be that noticeable on an otherwise standard car but worth doing anyway. If the airbox still has the restriction in you can free up 5+ bhp just by removing it. (Check diameter of outlet from the airbox where the rubber pipe to supercharger joins. Internally it is only about 45mm or so and limits the peak boost.) The pulley makes by far the biggest difference and it's not just maximum power but will increase torque across the whole rev range. If you are concerned just fit a 69 or 70mm instead of 65mm (stock is 75mm). Pulley and unrestricted filter should see 130bhp. The charger isn't as fragile as people make out; I've run an unrebuilt one with 140K+ miles on it with a 68mm pulley with no problems. Just don't bounce it off the rev limiter all the time - the peak speed of the charger rather than the pressure is what is going to kill it. A chip is a good idea with a smaller pulley to allow for the higher boost but in my experience has no noticeable effect on a standard car. 

[tdh-syorks]

Hi Mark welcome,
dont be afraid to change things on your G, as supercharged said, the g-lader isn't as fragile as people make out. look at some of the photo's and video's on this forum to see what people are running at, its safe to say that no G is the same. they all have their unique little differances.
Cheers Tom

[markh450]

Right, thats it you've convinced me! smaller pulley it is! I've already bought a drilled and de restricted airbox last night from the classifieds on here (didn't want to ruin my standard un messed with one).

I will get on with my research as I agree with you G40supercharged that a chip seems a must to go with the pulley. However having dabbled with a few chips on my old 944 s2 I found some after market ones made the car over fuel really badly, are there any tried and tested chips / suppliers? jabba sport?

Tom, i notice your user name has syorks in it, I'm based in Rotherham btw.

thanks for the info gents!

[tdh-syorks]

i'm in brightside sheffield mate, there's quite a few G's in and around this area. where in rotherham are you?
if your after a chip i'd PM yoof on this forum, he's the man for anything like that.
look for new G40 maps in the traders parts and services section.

[markh450]

Hi Tom

I'm in Bramley, not far from you at all. is there ever a casual G40 meet at a pub or anything? being new to these cars I'd love to see some others and what mods etc have been done before I do much to mine.

thanks for the info on the chips / maps

[samg40]

Get yourself on the G40 rally, details in the meets section! Be a good place to meet a few of the regulars. I'm a Rotherham lad by the way too.

Hows the S2 compare to a G then? Very different beast I should imagine. Oh gets some pics up too!

[DMWG40]

top gear this weekend had a 944 s2 on it with clarkson driving it

[tdh-syorks]

just the G40 rally in a few weeks time, we don't meet localy that often at pubs or anything, shame really. there are a few other local groups that meet like www.lowdownvw.com they meet every first wednesday of the month at the carbrook hall opposite meadowhall retail park. i drive through bramley every now and again got friends that go in king henry.

[markh450]

I had a look at the G40 rally last night, I'm on holiday! gutted! 

The 944 s2 was a really nice car, very nice handling, you could really push it hard in corners with no real under or over steer, if anything it felt like all four tyres let go at the same time. I had a chip, induction kit and exhaust on mine, the engine is very torquey, smoother than the G40 but perhaps a little too refined? it lacked any real punch, and although it was undoubtly pretty quick it never really felt as quick as it should have been (if you know what I mean). Mine was rolling roaded at 220 something from memory.
The main problem is parts prices and things going wrong as they don't seem as reliable as some would have you believe, brakes calipers constantly corrode, and eventually the only option is replacement (circa £200 a corner). Clutchs are circa £600! cam chain AND cambelt need doing along with the water pump, sometimes the cams wear on the timing chain sprockets meaning new cams (£££). Maybe its me being paranoid but you find yourself spendign more time worrying about something breaking than actually enjoying the car!

[markh450]

This is my new toy



can't make my mind up whether the go for silver on the wheels?? might have to do a bit of surgery on the arches as the fronts are rubbing whenever I hit the slightest bump.

[tdh-syorks]

very nice Mark, saw this on ebay other night. was it from doncaster? mine has the same damage on as that, some asshole clipped it on both sides on mine. tidy bus tho. wheels look sweet as is., ill keep a look out for it.

[markh450]

Yeah its just got a very slight indent in the rear quarter (like some one has pushed the panel in with their hand) which for some crazy reason the insurance company declared a Cat D on! its never been repaired and was put straight back on the road. its an orginal G40 with orginal shell and as far as I can tell has never had any panels or paint! seems a shame to start painting it, so I think I'll be leaving it as is bar touching up a few minor blisters, unless you look hard you can't really tell the indent is there anyway.

Ironically the guy who had it turned out to live only a 10 min walk from my house in Rotherham! I was about to drive to Bournemouth to buy a S1 escort RS turbo and thought I'd just have a quick look as it was so close. next thing I know I'm a G40 owner!

Just before I got it it had had a new fuel tank, clutch, brake over haul,  new stainless ex system. Its got all service history from new mainly VW with a specialist from Doncaster in the last few years. All orginal handbooks and brochures, run on mobil 1, G werks charger rebuild 10k ago as well as £££'s of invoices.

It feels pleasantly tight and rattle free despite 120k on the clock. Not something i could say about most of the RS and XR fords I've owned with that mileage!
 

[G-spot]

It must be VAG thing I got a 928 S2, and after rebuilding the engine earlier this year I agree parts can be pricey, but its n old car so I'm happy to repair/recondition stuff rather than replacing, anyway until you have a cambelt slip (4 weeks ago)general maintaince cost are meagre, looks I need 4 exhaust valves this week and I've considered myself lucky on that one.  Don't think G matches the handling characteristics of Porsche(and woundn't expect it too). But G has got the legs on it up til about 90/100mph then the 320bhp V8 just keeps pulling.

[markh450]

Hmmm always fancied a 928!! until my last car I never had a V8, in the end I bought a nice black sec merc with 18" amgs to do a run to switzerland and back which it did really well! you can't beat 5.0 s class mercs for motorway cruising, I'd much rather be in the G40 when it comes to the swiss passes though!!

anyway back to polos....

I wonder how much quicker the G40 will be with a chip, 69mm pulley, 4 branch manifold and drilled airbox? 

Next step is the handling, not sure whether to polybush the front or polybush and fit some of these anti rollbar block thingys?