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I `e-mailed` Hayward and Scott who make some of the best custom exhausts in britain about getting one done for a Lupo GTi and the plan was to have a rectangle backbox where the twins are, as there is a rectangular gap for them already! there is one small problem, they said they haven't done one yet and so they need it for 3 days and then it will cost £450 + VAT and that is an estimate so no doubt will go up! i need suggestions on backbox design, the funkier the better, but not stupid! ta

just asked my mate about the M3 conversion, and he said it was about 8k all in all, which is still a lot, and it was done in a mates garage so will have been reduced price!

well a whole engine conversion is going to rape u of a lot of cash as that price suggests, and i reckon the Lupo would be a harder job too, as less space! someone has done a 1.8T Lupo haven't they, there is a pic of it on this site i think! it would be nice, but insurance company would have a fit! a mate of mine had a 318is BMW and put an M3 engine in and his insurance more than doubled!! Turboing ur GTi, if that is what u have would be cheaper but obviously due to smaller engine not give a much power gain. I know it is a great idea modifying ur car, but it would be cheaper to get a faster car probably, big engine mods are for people who don't mind about insurance really!

right, well i have a bit of mechanical knowledge, and i can tell u that chips on non turbo cars are a waste of time all together! if u fit a turbo it will be f**king expensive but will make the car fair bit quicker, and if u fit a chip to that, it can give u an extra 30bhp! without a turbo, a chip will be lucky to give u 5bhp max, i promise it is a waste of money! I think u need to think hard bout this, as a turbo conversion is a costly job and will just make for a big loss when u sell it! a mate of mine has a saxo VTS that he got tunned and has a turbo, which rules, but was big job! Similarly engine transplants are massively expensive and u lose loads of money on sale, if anyone will buy it at all! I have to say, if u are going to start serious engine mods then u need lots of cash and are not going to change the car for a while, but at the end of the day its ur choice!

Matty - what are the amps, sub and fronts u have?

these are 2 cars belonging to 2 of my mates, so i just thought u might facy a peep, go to http://www.sqplus.com then click on Exotic installs and look at the 318is, this is actually an M3 now but still. The other one is in Wild installs, and is the E46 coupe. have a look they are both very tidy. tell me what u reckon?

Well Matty, its not a hard thing to get into at all! style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> I had a head start, as my dad ans his friend race already so i use my dad's second car, but i still had to take my Racing test and then join a race club that covers my car! its not hard i promise and is worth every penny, i love it, and all my mates are really jealous, but it is time to move on to higher things in the race world i feel! Matty, have u been to any trackdays?

well age is not a problem, and the balls thing has nothing to do with it, as u can go as slow or fast as u like, and the dosh factor is not too bad, it isn't as expensive as everyone seems to think! but it is so much funa s u can thrash the car to death and not break any laws, and get to thrash older men is great, especially my dad!

i mean like real racing, like i race a 1970's Lotus, i.e. u have to hold a racing license and use a track sort of racing!# u done that?

how much is an RS6? is it like the RS4 @ £50,000 or so? Me and dad took a mates RS4 round Oulton Park for a good session, and when i had a go it scared the living crap out of me, and i thought i could drive fast from racing but this thing is a track weapon! I can't believe the man let me out on a track in it, looney! Drove it back to his and took some detours to race some Scoobys, which we rinsed! we kept up with my mates 22B which is not bad going! Does anyone here race?

how many Euros are there to the pound at the moment? and i think the new S3 comes with the polished mirrors as well! I am trying to get mum to get the new S3 at the moment, and i think it is working! yey, and Dad wants to get an RS4, but i reckon it would be worth waiting for the RS6, who agrees?

the old S3 wheels are in one of the garages, but stuff gets lost in there, its like a black hole, things go in and somehow disappear! how much are u offering for them? we don't have an elise any more, but we do still have 3 other lotus's, and used to have a TVR, which was great fun, but built like crap!

well my mum has an S3 at the moment, which has got the RS4 rims on it, and the old wheels are in one of the garages somewhere and i tell u the wheels are f**cking wide, and doubt they will fit in anything but a GTI, and even then i reckon it would be a huge squeeze! Matty B, the Elise is nice, but it is not reliable, comfortable or waterproof! we had one but got rid of it! we have always had Lotus but they are badly built. But like u say, they are the best thing to throw about a track! As i race one i can safely say they rule!

what is the deal with Lupo exhausts? are they easy shapes? i mean are they DTM shaped or is it a non conventional ones, that require special construction or custom making?

me again! who does body styling kits for Lupo's? price is not an object, but i can't seem to find may people who do it, and i don't wanna have to get one made! it won't be for a while probably, but i am collecting all my information, so i can get it all done quickly! any names for styling companies?

i'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but i would like to know! What is the largest wheel u can fit on a Lupo? i guess it is 16's with a lot of arch work? anyone know?

well the day after they came out i managed to get me a game cube, and it rules! and i reckon it would be rude not to try and put it in the Lupo, but i just ain't sure where to put it, as the boot will be full, so no room i wouldn't have thought! any ideas on placement?

hey gordon, well if u want a very standard look with great sound then Nakamichi is the best thing, but they are quite expensive, but about £450 gets u a great single cd player unit and they look really standard! but if they wanna steal it they will, regardless of how standard it looks! i had my old headunit stolen, which was a really good Alpine one, which i had taken the facia off and they still took it, despite the fact it had no facia and they couldnt tell what it was! Basically get the one u like the most, and if they steal it, it is just bad luck!

where abouts do u live? coz quite a few places do tinting, and all that do will be able to do the security film as well! As far as i know the only rule, legally, is that u can't have the front window tinted, but i don't think there is any rule of how dark they can be! if and when u do get it done, make sure that u do get good people to do it, as the film can be done badly if ur not careful and start to peel off!

i mean GTI's and i don't know if the usual ones have them!

Right, i have found yet another barrier for my ICE Lupo, and this would be, that i hear it has rear speakers as well!!! when i went to test drive the car i never really checked it, just nailed it about at high speed! If these rear speakers exist, where are they? and how big are they? i wasn't planning to have rear speakers, but if VW have given me the space i feel it would be rude not to use it! I imagine that in the rear unlike the front there are no tweeter holes? I have some JL 5.25" VR's and i love them, but may swap them for a set of Focal Utopia's, or maybe just put the Jl's in the rear and the Focals up front! any views?

I intend to make my car an ICE beast, but don't know whether the seat backs will accomodate screens? do any of u lovely people know if they will take screens? I also wondered how big the glove box is? is there enough room to fit a PS1 in it? I ask the silly questions as i don't have my car yet, but need to plan the ICE setup as it needs quite a lot of prep, especially as there is so much to get in such a small space! thanks

i think the front speaker holes will be 5" i imagine, thats not definite, but its the usual size. As far as cheap but good goes, there are a few, but i reckon for the money Caliber is really good (competition not rally version), it gives good sound quality for not too much dosh, Alpine r good too! The thing is with speakers, that most companies make cheaper speakers, and so all the good companies e.g. JL, Focal, etc have lower price stuff, so they are worth a look. If u tell us the budget we can give u a more exact price!

well i have spoken to my man with the plan and we have pretty much decided how this will all work!!! style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> he reckons and i do to that the best thing to do is to put the amps in a stack, but slanted so u can see most of them, in the centre of the boot, with a sub either side!!! we are fairly confident this will go well, as the W3 subs don't need much air to move in, and they fit in (just)! It will be finished in metalic silver fibreglass and will sound the badgers nadgers!!! as soon as it is done (bout 6 months) i will show all the sceptics! :0

i was told that i could get it all in, the subs are 10" and i can lose one of the amps but not two! one amp for tweeters, one for mids and one for subs, the tweeter one can go if necessary, but would like to keep if pos. i have a friend who used to work for Dimma and is now forming his own company and he was trained by SQ plus to make fibreglass boot builds! he reckons that he can fit it all in with a bit of moving about and all in painted fibreglass i can't see it all going in, but he thinks its doable, and for less than a grand! which is good for fibreglass! does anyone have a big boot build in one? or know of one that has been done, or will i be the pioneer in this area?