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Advice Needed/New member intro - Glanza V Auto


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Good evening Gents,

I'm new to the site so will start with a small introduction to get the ball rolling. I love cars, classics and modern classics in particular. Don't want to bore you guys with the details but I have some ability to work on cars however more the older stuff with less of the electronics. My first car was a mk2 fiesta. Swapped the little 1 litre lawn mower engine out for an 1.6 XR engine and box. Nothing amazing but was a fun little car which I drove around for 3 years. Since then, I've had a Renault Clio, BMW 520i e39 and currently drive an Audi 80 Cabriolet 1.8. It's a good car but can't justify the mediocre fuel economy with poor performance. And I've started missing my little fiesta and that go kart feeling! So I had decided to start looking for a hot hatch again which I could use as a daily. Oh, I'm also restoring a W123 280ce which is an ongoing project.

I always liked the Glanza. 1.3 turbo engine which can go 0-60mph in 7 secs and can still achieve 35-40mpg is impressive even by today's standards. I've seen them around in their few numbers and love the way they sounds(and go).

Picked one up today for sensible money from a 70 year old chap named Bob. It was Glanza V Automatic, which had failed it's MOT and had been abused, a couple of scrapes. Very untidy interior. It had failed it's MOT on the following:

  • Reason(s) for failure
    Offside Body has a sharp edge caused by damage door wind deflector damaged sharp edges (6.1.C.1)
    Rear fog lamp tell tale not working (1.3.1b)
    Rear fog lamp missing (1.3.2a)
    Registration plate lamp not working (1.1.C.1d)
    Offside Headlamp aim too low (1. 8)
    Offside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
    Nearside Rear Shock absorber has a serious fluid leak very soft no oil (2.7.3)
    Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)
    Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
  • Advisory notice item(s)
    Oil leak ()
    rear disc corroding
    n/s rear tyre wear bars and stepped inner edge

Overall the car was looking very sorry. However it drove well and more importantly, went like stink! Sure, it was a bit rough, suspension sounded quiet unhealthy over the bumps but an honest car with a healthy engine. The car was screaming at me to save her from the abuse of the 70 year old haha.

Anyway, I've never owned a turbo car, and never owned a glanza so would like to ask for some advice:

1. The car is high mileage, has done about 230,000km (143,000 miles), so I'd like to give it a full service to avoid any failure. As well as your standard service (oil change, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, fuel filter?), what else would I need to consider servicing? Would I need to consider a rebuild?
2. The car is an Automatic and I would have preferred a manual. How hard is it to go from Auto to Manual? What parts would I need to gather for the change? Will add that I was surprised by the automatic experience in the Glanza, still very responsive and not a stupid amount of turbo lag either.

3. Being an import, I'm assuming parts are going to be a pain to get hold of. Any recommended suppliers? I wil need some parts to get it through it's MOT.

Look forward to hearing from you lads(and ladies).

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Edited by Shyam
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Welcome

You have got yourself a nice little ride their and on your lists of jobs that need doing, doesn't sound to bad easy fix.

Parts are still very easy to get on these, second hand parts always comes up for sale on here and you got eBay plus parts traders on this forum 🙂 anyway you lucky bugger i have been looking for a glanza v auto myself and nothing ever came up for me😞 where was this up for sale mate? I must of missed it, mind you stopped looking for one about a month back, i decided on buying a very nice Mitsubishi fto 😀.

I have had two glanza v auto's mate love them and never had any problems with them and i would rather have auto, not many automatic​s left.

If you're car is running fine no blue smoke nice sounding engine, then just do the cambelt and water pump change that is if it hasn't been done for some time also find where that oil leak is coming from, it might be the crank seal very common.

Anyways good luck with it hope you get it back on the road soon and keep it auto haha because i might buy it off you sometime 😁

Edited by mart1
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It's me again lol go for KYB suspension shocks 1996 to 1999, the glanza and the UK starlet has the same fit, the KYB shocks are gas shocks much better than the old oil shocks, plenty on eBay 😉 if your car isn't lowered​? Hard to tell on your pictures, i went for APEX 35 springs good springs and they don't go silly low and you still get a nice comfy ride.

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Mart1, thanks for the warm welcome and kind words mate... this one popped up on ebay in Rothley, was less than 5 miles away so worked out well for me.



Yeah, I imagine many people convert their autos to manuals so not many of them left. I don't blame them though, this is a drivers car and I'd personally like to have control over the gears whilst driving it. I was pleasantly surprised by the auto box in the Glanza, however, I'd imagine if I wanted tune the motor up to free up more power, I'd need to think about converting to a manual as stress on auto box would be too much?? Will probably leave it standard for a little while until time and money permits otherwise.



haha you gave up your search at the wrong time fella, it was only online for a couple of days before I snapped it up. FTO's are great cars, a friend of mine had a mivec and that was a very quick car...not so good on fuel though haha.



Okay, just had a look on ebay at them KYB shocks and they're not bad for the money. I'm not 100% sure, but didn't seem to be lowered on inspection. I guess I'd probably be better off replacing all the shocks (and springs) than just the rear shocks for that money..


Edited by Shyam
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Your welcome mate, when you get going put a progress build thread up of your glanza v:-)

yeah I would just change all 4 shocks mate, that's what I did on me old v.

The auto box is good for 200bhp anymore then don't expect it to last very long lol there has been a couple of progress build threads on the auto v, one being a tdo4 turbo at around 210bhp and the other a forged build auto, gearbox failure in the end with that one, I will see if I can find the thread's.

Very nice the fto mivec, I went for the 2.0 v6 gr 170bhp, mivec is 200bhp, but from advice the gr is a much stronger engine so that's why I bought the gr, here is a PIC of it:-) like I said only had the FTO for a month, and so far £800 has gone out of my wallet for it already, the biggest bill being £620 cambelt kit water pump plus labour.

IMG_20170404_164454937_zpsn6iqet45.jpg

Edited by mart1
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Thanks for dropping those links Mart1! Will certainly give them a read.

Haha may set up a project page. I'm not planning anything too extravagant so don't want to look like a fool setting up a project thread for something not so exciting.

When you say that the Auto box is good for about 200hp, is that a safe figure to work with? I would be aiming for 180-190HP and I reckon I'd be happy keeping an Auto box after the little spin I had today. It's different but it has won me over a little. Great fun and still can't get over how much fun this little pocket rocket is, even in it's standard form.

These Glanza's certainly take no prisoners. Felt the car wanting to pull me off course on boost so I'm wanting to do something about the handling before I start playing around with the engine. What's the take on this? Proper suspension set up?, upgraded anti-roll bars and struts? Powerflex bushes? Recommendations?

Here's the picture of the engine after 143000 miles:

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Looks in pretty good shape and unmolested to me(although I'm not familiar with these engines) besides the air filter. Can you experts spot anything out of place?

Thanks

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Just a couple of rubber pipes missing on your high & low boost, must be blocked off so its on full turbo boost all the time, a lot of people tend to do this trick but just cross over the pipes not take them off, apart from that it's all there mate.

200hp is safe for the auto however yours has done some miles so go careful with the old dear lol

Mine was the same when doing an overtake Felt the car wanting to pull me off course, I never really found why sometimes it did this, one's I blamed it on the cats eyes that's in the roads, around my way on the country roads they stick right out lol and you feel them when you go over them so I'm sure a cats eye chucked my car right over to the other side of the road, my old v seemed OK in a straight line.

Edited by mart1
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Hi Shyam, welcome! I'm pretty new to the site too, I've been looking hard for one of these over here in Ireland but no luck!

Do you mind me asking, roughly how much you got it for?

I went for a manual but still want an automatic as a daily driver.

Anyway best of luck with it!

Matt.

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Mart1, you've been great fella, thanks for the help! I really appreciate it.

It seems as though I have some pipes missing rather then it being a by pass. I'll tidy that up then, nothing better than a free mod. I wondered why this thing was so quick even on lo boost haha. Would the performance not be the same even with hi/lo boost switch or does the system restrict flow even on hi boost?

Matt, thank you for the humble welcome, I'm glad I've got another newbie to share the experience with haha.

I would like to say what I paid but I would rather not as it's worth a lot more money than what I paid and wouldn't want to undervalue it. The smile it puts on my face is priceless though. The poor chap was gutted, he said he would have asked for much more if he wasn't going through a divorce and moving to another county the following week, he really needed a quick sale and I took advantage of the situation.

I've had a good look on the net and there's not a single auto glanza out there for sale so I'll probably keep it on an Auto box to keep it unique. From what I've read there's definitely a few individuals out there who prefer the auto to the manual, and now I've driven one, I can definitely see why! The auto box's on these Glanza's perform wonders.

Matt, there's very minor work needed to get this thing through it's MOT and as you can see from pics, there's a couple of scrapes and marks. Interior will need a good cleaning but a good honest car underneath. If it's of any use to you, I'd consider a swap with your manual one. I've not seen yours but I'm assuming it's in better nick than mine so I'd consider parting with a little cash your way if you'd like to make me an offer for what it's worth? PM me mate. I could even do the work on the car and get it through MOT before we have a deal.

Edited by Shyam
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haha yeah good fun at first but it soon where's off when your always filling up lol

haha yeah I won't mind too much fella. Will be better than my Audi 80 1.8 giving me around 28-30mpg for some shit micra like performance.

The 280ce will give me 15mpg and 20 on a good day haha.

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I'm the same with the fto it's the semi auto 2.0 v6, I've not really travelled that far in it yet, I recon its not going to be good on fuel but one good thing for me is I bought it for a weekend toy to tinker about with, it will be more of a garden ornament haha

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t'mill thank you for the welcome fella. haha yeah mate, it's certainly quenched that go kart feeling I was so thirsty for! Nothing else even comes close

Just can't wait to get this back on road now. Plan to give it a thorough going over and then start improving the handling and performance bit by bit.

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Haha turbo Uno's, always liked those! Unfortunately never been in one myself. Yeah, driven a few big cars but got to love a hot hatch. They're more fun and easy going.

This is the first Glanza I've ever driven myself and I've gotta say, i am truly impressed. Ive heard they're brutal when tuned up but never expected them to be this much fun when stock. Great little cars.

Edited by Shyam
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The Uno's were a real hoot man!! Even though it was 22yrs since I had mine, I still miss it.

Just a bummer the Glanza's and GT's are relatively pricey for a good un, otherwise I'd snap one up.

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Not seen an uno on the roads​ in ages, i forgot about them must have a nosey on eBay now.

With the glanza there known for not the best car for handling, nice and comfortable though, but all this changes​ with a couple of mods, like decent shocks and lowered springs make a big difference and if you don't go to low with them you still get the comfort for UK knackered roads lol.

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