Originally Posted by
Michael2
I drove my SIII as a daily driver for 19 years. Things that improved drivability were :
1. make sure the carby is in good nick. The Zenith 36IV is the best, I also fitted a double barrel weber, which has been good, but compared to the cam regrind, the webers power was not noticable.
2. LPG & 8:1 head (unless you can find a 9:1).
3. Cam Regrind (all valves (inlet & exhaust) open 5 degrees earlier and close 5 degrees later). It's amazing what that on it's own does. It only cost just over $100, but you need to get the cam out. The specs are the same as the 6cyl 2.6 cam.
4. High tyre pressures (50psi)
5. Overdrive.
6. Extractors (I only put them on because they were free, I think the 2.25 has a pretty good exhaust manifold).
7. Removing the fan and fitting a thermofan added some kph, reduced some noise and allowed it to rev more freely.
with all this, on the flat I could sit on 110kph all day. economy didn't change much, hills still slowed it down.
PM me if you want any of these items, as the car is sitting unused and I could sell some stuff off it. The thermofan's in the shed, as I put the standard fan back on when I fitted an oil cooler.
If you can afford a Tdi conversion, then that would be the way to go.