18GTS v. 16TS Motors

Virage Racer

Virage Racer

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jun 6, 2002
Messages
163
Location
Perth Western Australia
My Virage runs a 16TS motor and I have the chance to buy a rusty 18GTS manual wagon (which I wanted mainly for the gearbox). Will I get any value out of the motor - I presume for starters the water pump will be up the other end of the head and that the engine mounting points will be different ...
 
If the 18 motor is original, it will have a non crossflow cylinder head. Also it is likely to be a 1647cc motor with the liner seals having o-rings instead of the paper liner seals of the 16TS, neither of which are interchangeable with each other, unless of course you do a lot of machining.

Simon
 
Hey there,

I have put the 1647cc motor in my 17, FYI it has so much more go than a standard 1565cc that it was well worth it!! Admittedly mine now has twin sidedraughts, and a sports exhaust but it felt stronger than the original motor from the start.

For the conversion for mine- the hardest/most expensive? bit was the gearbox- with shortened linkages, halfshafts and fabricated mounts- along with speedo cable changes, clutch cable alterations too....

The motor needed- new engine mounts- 2.5cm further back as the front pulleys hit the front crossmember, alternator shifted to the other side as it fouled the chassis rails, new radiator and supports..(18gts one obviously-careful of the plastic end tanks though...) as the hoses are all different. Due to space restrictions I then fitted a non standard electric fan- maybe in the 12's the 18 electric fan will fit- I found it wasn't narrow enough in a R17!

Of course all this is fairly irrelevant if you wish to just pillage parts off it (was it you that had picked up a gordini motor?) and use the standard 1565cc motor- as Simon said the seals at the base of the block are different- other than that the blocks are identical.

Feel free to drop me a line if you wish.

Good luck

Ben
 
Just a quick idea that I learnt when I put a 5 speed in my old virage (with a 17 engine). If you pull apart the virage instrument cluster, you can install a renault 18 speedo assembly int the virage cluster and then re-assemble it. The only thing you lose is the trip meter reset, but the rest looks original. I think you have to drill some small holes in ther rear of the housing, but once its apart its pretty obvious how it goes together.
 
No, wasn't me who bought the gordini motor ... I wish! But Simon, have a friend with a 16TL. Since the motor is non-crossflow, any use there do you think ... wait a mo, the water pump has got to be wrong!
 
Virage Racer:
No, wasn't me who bought the gordini motor ... I wish! But Simon, have a friend with a 16TL. Since the motor is non-crossflow, any use there do you think ... wait a mo, the water pump has got to be wrong!
Click to expand...
So Keith-was that the 843 motor or not? I figured in your original post that as you already mentioned the water pump being at the 'wrong end' - that that was a given....

Anyway, the 843 motor that I got from a fuego GTS has been worthwhile. If it is the same motor I can e-mail you a pic if you are interested as to what it looks like in a std 17 engine bay...

That idea from Mistareno re: changing the speedo sounds a good 'un -and easier than a reduction box of sorts to figure out the correct speed.

Ben
 
Mistareno

Why would it be necessary to change the speedo?
I thought the 395 box was the same as the 352 box except for the 5th gear, ie. same diff ratio etc.
If the wheels are the same diameter and the diff ratio is the same, then the secondary shaft (where the speedo is taken off) should be turning at the same speed. It's just the motor and primary shaft that would be running slower wouldn't it.

Ren
cheers!
 
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