New to the Forum :)

[Nerosis]

My names Ricky, im 21 and currently drive a 250bhp Toyota Glanza V (1.3 turbo for those who dont know)

Im new to the forum, and obviously the reason ive joined is because i want a GTi-R

Anyone got any tips on what to look for when buying one?

Anyone selling 1 thats in good condition, minor mods, cheap?

Tips on insurance for 21yr old, 3yr no claims, 3 points (which come off soon )

What price should i be paying with certain mods etc?

Ive heard the gearbox's, clutches and headgasket are quite bad for breaking/damaging? Is this true? can this be prevented? can they be changed for better/upgraded version?

What is the standard spec for the Pulsar? 0-60? BHP? all 4x4?

Do they come with LSD's?

Sorry for all the question, i have alot more to come but in the meantime im gonna use the search button.

 

[PobodY]

Without intending to sound rude, you should read the FAQs - it's not that I'm not prepared to answer your questions, but there's a load of information in them and I'll just embarass myself if I get any of it wrong and need to be corrected.

In short; all GTi-Rs are AWD turbos. The clutch, gearbox etc, is ok for standard spec... but if you're running 50% more power than factory it's understandable that they get stressed and break. Never had a problem with my headgasket, but I have had to replace my clutch. - I've always thought that Nissan make a very strong engine, but their bodies always let them down; standard internals can take almost double the power they were designed for.

You might get a shock with the insurance; it's a group 20 car... but you may find that some insurers recognise that you have experience with a similar car (i.e. a different import turbo).

EDIT: I forgot to say "Welcome"!

 

[Mad]

Welcome to the club.

The glanza V is a great little pocket rocket.

As above, have a good look around the site first as should answer most questions for you.

Gearboxes are fragile but treated right, they are just fine and good for upto 400bhp, and some beyond.

250bhp sounds quite good for your glanza. What sort of mods does it take to get that sort of power out and whats the highest bhp you know of???

 

[Matt Evans]

Hi mate, welcome to the club!

Basically as Pobody said, Any specific queries most paople could answer, but have a good look around the site, there's loads of info on the car.

Anyway, this is what I can remember about standard spec...

220BHP (probably not exact but close enough.)

0-60 is about 5.5 seconds (once again prob, not exact.)

All GTiR use the AWD Attesa system, as standard. You can find info on this in lotsa places... Wikipedia, etc.

They come with a viscous LSD setup, which I believe controls the front/rear torque split. If I'm talking nonsense though, please correct me.

I've heard about gearbox problems, but after running around 290-300BHP for a few years I haven't experienced any myself. Probably only something the big horsepower boys have to worry about? My gears were a bit notchy when I bought the car, but I then used Redline MT90 transmission oil and its been great since!

The clutch is always something you should be looking to upgrade, if you're looking at increasing the cars performance. Bare in mind, unless you do it yourself, a clutch upgrade including parts, fitting, etc, can cost around £500 and upwards, but in my opinion is essential.

Headgaskets I've never had an issue with. I'm rebuilding my 120,000 mile engine right now and the headgasket looks absolutely fine. Gotta metal one to go on though.

Buying tips, just look for one without any rot, especially around the rear arches. Make sure the engine sounds ok from cold, then run it up to temperature and check for any nasty noises, smoke etc. They have a hydraulic clutch, so check the clutch fluid for black colouring or bits of black in it as this will indicate the cylinder seals are on their way out. Apart from that, just look for general signs of wear and tear, and whether its been thrashed or not.

The chances are its been thrashed, because thats what the cars are for, but see how its been looked after. frequency of oil changes, what oil etc.

In a bit of a rush now, but if I think of anything else I'll post it up later!

 

[fubar andy]

Welcome to the forum :thumb:

Owning a GTiR is a roller coaster ride. When its going to plan the car is such a joy to drive and the delivery of power is excellent.

When problems go wrong try to catch them early otherwise it’s a nightmare and can be costly.

Remember that the car is 20 years old now and you need to maintain it to a high standard otherwise you'll be spending it most of the time in the garage or off the road (short cuts are not an option).

As for gearboxes it depends on how you treat them. If you abuse them then they won't last that long, do full blown launches it'll not last long.

Standard clutched are rubbish if you are pushing anything more than standard power, but again most cars have got an aftermarket unit anyway.

Parts are cheap-ish, but most members look out for each other and prices are reasonable. If in doubt ask the owners club, that’s what we are here for

Apart from that, check out the FAQ's and use the search engine as 90% of your questions will have been covered before.

Anything else just ask :thumb:

 

[Nerosis]

Welcome to the club.

The glanza V is a great little pocket rocket.

As above, have a good look around the site first as should answer most questions for you.

Gearboxes are fragile but treated right, they are just fine and good for upto 400bhp, and some beyond.

250bhp sounds quite good for your glanza. What sort of mods does it take to get that sort of power out and whats the highest bhp you know of???

My car has got the following :-

TD04 turbo (Sti WRX)
Dastek Unichip
1.1Bar
Mild Steel WEPR Mani, DECAT, FMIC
relcoated AF to the front grille
RRFPR
JAM FCD
Maxnicore Leads
Blitz Nur Spec R exhaust
removed air con
coilovers
rota grids

Probably missed alot lol.

And it made 247 @ Fly
200+ ft/lbs torque

It goes well, its just annoying spinning up in 5th doing 70 on the motorway lol.

I just want summet AWD or RWD

So i thought id look on the GTi R forum.



Ive looked over all of those FAQ's and still not all my question are answered lol.


Insurance wise. Anyone on here like 20-21yr old? who you with? Price?

what minor/supporting mods should i be buying a GTiR with? (As a preference)

Best exhaust?

 

[PobodY]

Ive looked over all of those FAQ's and still not all my question are answered lol.

Insurance wise. Anyone on here like 20-21yr old? who you with? Price?

what minor/supporting mods should i be buying a GTiR with? (As a preference)

Best exhaust?

Are these the only ones left?

I can't help you with insurance; I never tried to run one at 21.

It's a good question; do you look for a modified car and hope it's all been done well, or do you try for a standard one and do it yourself?
What's your budget, because that might define what you should look for?
What's your intended use; a track toy is a different beast from a daily driver? - It's probably not all that different from you Galanza; FMIC if you think you're gonna get heat-soak (or just want easy access to the top of the engine); boost controller; fuel pump; suspension; brakes...

Exhaust is another good question. My preference is a 2.5" or maybe 3" custom system from the turbo-back with a big back-box and a silenced decat (not quite what I have though)... plenty of people run the mongoose straight-through system; noisy, but it flows well... front exit? :twisted:

 

[pulsar kid]

i was 21 with my 1st one paid like £1200 that was some company of go campare.
Now iam 23 its like £700 with exhaust+wheels declared

 

[markwashington]

I wouldn't like to be in your shoes trying to get insurance at 21! The cost will depend how you insure it, If you run it as a second car you might just be able to squeeze an early one onto classic insurance, which usually means limited miles, but no NCB being used. If it's going to be your only car I guess the best thing to do is to search the forums, Mine's insured through Adrian Flux but it has alot of mods (all declared) and costs me £800 per year.

Make sure you buy one with a cat 1 alarm then the price might go down.

If you decide to get one fair play, in my opinion they're better than Scoobies, Evo's and your usual but don't be fooled by the fact that they seem cheaper. Buying one is just the tip of the monetary iceberg but worth it if you stick with it.

Everything you could ever want has been discussed on here, make the search tool your best friend and more than likely you'll get an answer.

As for exhausts check search I suspect the name pipewerx might crop up pretty often.

 

[John]

Insurance wise I would advise phoning up a specialist like flux or sky and getting a quote, prices are very variable right now and different areas seem to be affecting prices quite a bit. End of the day takes 10mins to pic up a phone saying im thinking of buying a Pulsar with X, Y, Z mods, that way you'll no for sure where your at.

Reliability wise, there a 16 year old, at best, Datsun at the end of the day which has probably been abused for alot of its life. When there running well they are great, essentially mine has run at 390bhp for 18 months now without any problems whatsoever, however I wont mention the new engine, turbo, clutch etc etc that it took to get there :doh:

As most people have said rust is another issue to be aware of, unless its a fresh import I think your going to struggle to find a rust free example, so again if your serious about it either search for a rust free example or be prepared to spend some cash down the bodyshop.

Exhausts, take your pic really, most common are mongoose systems as there cheap and are of good quality, not to everyones taste though as they are pretty loud.

Mods wise, well 1 bar loop will see circa 300bhp, but again most cars will have this done as standard ones are few and far between.

Essentially the pulsar seems like a cheaper alternative to big performance, but be aware the bills and servicing are just the same as scoobs and evos, if not worse in terms of mpg! Also as there older you'll probably find alot more things go wrong if its been a fairly unloved one youve bought.

Oh and theres no HKS, Dakar or limited editions so dont let anyone fob you off with that. Only rare ones are the winter green ones, like mine and thats only a paint colour not anything else!

Hope this helps.

 

[darkyGTI-R]

Hi mate welcome to the site the standard pulsar is 227bhp and the japs restrict them to 112mph as that's their law as it is only a small island lol the UK spec sunny GTI-R is 220bhp standard don't ask me why I'm sure someone will tell you on here!
If you can find a winter green pulsar you'll be very lucky indeed as these are one of the most sought after being very rare and not easy to come by,with Pulsars they are a very tough nut to crack very simular to Glanzas infact which I absolutely adore!
We GTI-R owners on here often refer to the Glanza as a BABY PULSAR but in alot of cases this is not often true lol and could quite easy be modded as fast and sometimes faster then our R's,enjoy the site mate we're a good bunch of lads on here well most of us eh Dan lmao

 

[Nerosis]

Thanks for all your replies guys you seem a good bunch.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a decent priced, condition, etc GTi R?

Also, when i do buy one, what should i do when i buy it? regardless of what the owner says? i.e change oil, spark plugs, etc

Is there anything specific I SHOULD change, like clutch? gearbox? etc?

thanks guys.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Thanks for all your replies guys you seem a good bunch.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a decent priced, condition, etc GTi R?

Also, when i do buy one, what should i do when i buy it? regardless of what the owner says? i.e change oil, spark plugs, etc

Is there anything specific I SHOULD change, like clutch? gearbox? etc?

thanks guys.

Welcome,

Look for rust spots on the rear arches,

If the car drive's fine why would you want to change the clutch or the box??

If it has a hks mushroom filter i would get shot of it (there just shit and fall apart)

I would change the oils in the diff ect just because these are things people seem to forget about,

 

[PobodY]

If I was looking again...

Check for rust in the arches... it grows pretty quickly if it's not treated when it starts.
Check for oil down the front of the gearbox (the slave cylinder is shot, and experience tells me it will probably destroy an organic clutch plate).
Check for oil in the driver's footwell (the master cyinder is shot, and although they aren't expensive they are a right biatch to get out and replace/repair).
Check the wheels are in the middle of the arches (chassis could be bent, or if you're lucky it's just a wishbone; either way it's hit something pretty hard).
Check the state of the seats, steering wheel, gear knob; if it's been driven hard they'll show the wear on them... and if they have been replaced you can wonder why. - Having said that, it's a 16-20 year-old car so they won't be perfect.
Check the idle speed; it's a common problem given the age and wear on the engines, so if it idles nicely there are probably very few problems under the bonnet.
Check for noises; the engine can be a bit tappety because it has solid valves and lifters, and the injectors tick too... but it shouln't be rattly.
Check it revs all the way up to about 7000rpm without any rattles, bangs, or puffs of smoke.
Take all claims for parts you can't see with a pinch of salt; my "Nismo paddle clutch" was really an "Exedy organic clutch" when I took it out. Makes me think my "HKS Cams" might not be there either.
Be prepared to pay a reasonable price; if it's dirt cheap and "high spec" or "proven" it generally means that it was once high spec or proven, but the current owner has ragged it to death and is trying to offload it. - Obviously we'd prefer to see the prices go up.

 

[Tim]

Hi mate welcome to the site the standard pulsar is 227bhp and the japs restrict them to 112mph as that's their law as it is only a small island lol the UK spec sunny GTI-R is 220bhp standard don't ask me why I'm sure someone will tell you on here!
If you can find a winter green pulsar you'll be very lucky indeed as these are one of the most sought after being very rare and not easy to come by,with Pulsars they are a very tough nut to crack very simular to Glanzas infact which I absolutely adore!
We GTI-R owners on here often refer to the Glanza as a BABY PULSAR but in alot of cases this is not often true lol and could quite easy be modded as fast and sometimes faster then our R's,enjoy the site mate we're a good bunch of lads on here well most of us eh Dan lmao

I stopped reading at Japan being a small island..

 

[pulsarmoley]

Welcome. I've been insured with Adrian Flux since i was 20. Cost me £1200 then TPF&T with wheels, induction kit and exhaust. As mentioned, shop around, good luck getting an R