Has anyone seen this?

[SteveP]

Got some good ideas here guys, I also agree with you James on them wheel styles, though im not sure which one I prefer! Maybe the first style...

James, Just a question about insurance.. what company are you with? £1000 for a 2 litre car seems very reasonable to me. My insurance this year was £1200 for a 1.3 litre Skoda Favorit! That was the cheapest by far too (Liverpool Victoria). Next year with 1 years no claims bonus and being a year older should help for gettin hold of a 360 for myself! Is there any difference in insurance groups between model specs such as GL/GLE/GLS/GLT? Tried to look on Parkers guide, but the 300 series doesn't exist for them!

Also, about that factory fit bodykit... I've never seen a model here in the UK with it fitted, but I've seen a brochure somewhere on the web with this body kit in the options section. Does anyone know if they were even fitted to UK models?!

It seems as though I'll have to be fairly quick... 360s are getting rarer... I dont fancy a 440!

Thanks for the advice,
Steve

[foggyjames]

Was using a little artistic license with the quote there...

I got a quote from Frizzell (part of Liverpool Victoria!) last year for £900, in a town centre, at 18yrs on a standard 360. Adding alloys, bodykit, uprated brakes, business class 1 and a 2.3 turbo block took it to £990!

This year, they won't insure me on a factory spec car until I'm 21...

Best quote this year so far (albeit with limited searching) is £1200 from Tesco and Adrian Flux. Elephant are pretty cheap, so might be tempted to try them.

360 carb (B200K....GL, GLE, GLS) is group 8, while injection (B200E....GLEi, GLT - with a mighty 10bhp more power!) is group 9.

Bodykits....hmm....there's gotta be *some* in the UK, but they're expensive, and as a result rare. If I see one on a scrapper, I'm having it...

I'm suspicious that most late (F-G plate) 360s are still 'owned', while 340's are becoming much rarer. You see a lot of 340s and older 360s in the scrappers, but late 360s are a rarity. But you're right, don't hang around, or they'll be gone. I'd be buying at least one more if I had the space for storage. The smart money is on a late GLT with PAS. Milage not important, as long as service history is good. Let me know if you want an extra gauge kit - I have a couple going spare :)

cheers

James

[JOHN 850]

I have a body kit at the moment which I am thinking about putting on my hatch, unfortunately the kit is off a saloon, so the rear skirt is too long !! The big front bib & side skirts fit though.

If I saw any in the scrappers though I'd have them straight off as the were as rare as rocking horse s_it even when new !!

With regard to aux kit, I have the mounting bracket plus a volt meter but still short 1 gauge ? Have you an oil temp or pressure with all the bits ?

Cheers,

John.

[SteveP]

Thanks for the information guys.. some interesting points!

Insurance companies really puzzle me.. what can change in a year for them not to insure you on a 360, other than actually gaining more driving experience!? Even so, £1200 is still not bad and certainly wont put me off buying one, hell of alot of car for the money! I know someone who paid £1400 this year for a 1.0 AX!!

Didnt realise the insurance group rised for the injection models, I *thought* they were all group 9! I heard also that the earlier spec models are more torquey? I'll definitely be aiming for a GLT, but it just comes down to what is available over the next few months.. preferably a 3 Door. Both of our 5 door 345s rusted quite badly along the top of the rear doors.

Bit disheartened to see an F Reg 360 in the scrapper last weekend, especially seeing as the bodywork looked very sound. Seen a few available on ebay recently, but none within a few hundred miles of me! Theres a Y Reg GLS available at the moment, but I dont like the look of early spec models (other than GLT) and £400 seems a bit steep! Though I wont be looking seriously for a couple of months, I'll see how my current car goes through its MOT in Feb.

Cheers,

Steve

[foggyjames]

I'd probably get a late GLT, purely because its got everything (all the toys), and its injection. I'd try to find one without a sunroof - theyre a real pain!! Good point about the 3 door model - the two extra doors rust quite badly!

As for the gauges...I have a couple of complete 'cluster' kits (Vacuum and Ambient Temp) for a B200 cluster and one for a B19 cluster (B19 having all-white / 8000rpm gauges) - although I think the B19 econ gauge is dead.

The 'tunnel' kit...I have a 'frame' and voltmeter and oil pressure gauges, although not the oil pressure sender (should be standard fit though). I'm trying to work out whether or not to fit them, as I really like that cubby hole - is very useful for mobile phone, CDs, glasses, cloths, etc!

cheers

James

Dear James,

Sorry to appear slow in responding but have had some puter probs. About Nitrous. Job 1, check out the following web site:-

http://www.dynopower.freeserve.co.uk/nitrous_oxide/

The site was updated in October 03 so it is not old hat. Print off the 23 pages and study them in detail. It is crack-on info. You will realise that with some scavenging, you can have a nitrous system for less than £30 and get any amount of instantaneous horse power if your engine will take it.

It doesn't cover filling your nitrous bottle, but, I can help with that when the time comes. Nitrous provides oxygen. For the power increase you must also provide fuel. The site tells you about enriching with petrol. My company as the name suggests 'LPG Auto Power UK' converts cars to run on LPG. We enrich with LPG and the jet sizes are different than the petrol ones.

The site noted will give you all the info for petrol and if you convert to LPG I can give you the info required.

Bolt on 100 hp at 4000 rpm and see how fast you reach 6000 rpm!

Thanks for the wheel picture

VBR

Len Morris

[foggyjames]

Hi Len,

I've always been a bit concerned about nitrous, not least because it has a reputation for being wild (not exactly what you want in a road car)! An instantaneous kick of 100+bhp might be ok in an overbuilt engine like a Rover V8 or even a redblock volvo lump, but stories of it breaking more economically constructed cars are rife. If it (in its most basic form) operates as ruthlessly as appears to, then it is no surprise to me that pistons get melted, and rods and cranks broken.

Having said that, the power delivery claimed (bags of torque off the power-band) is very much up my street - especially if it doesn't involve a big-block US V8! Phil Wright (ex-performance car organiser) was talking about a progressive nitrous system he was investigating. Presumably this is an electronically controlled system which introduces the nitro gently, so as to prevent the huge stresses on cranks, as often seem with big shots of nitrous and big boosting turbos.

Do you actually have your own nitrous system, and if so, on which car?
Given that claimed power delivery, I'm very interested in looking into it more. Burgerman's site gives a lot of detail, but I think I want more of a 'managed' system that he seems to go in for.

cheers

James