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hi all, just got a mk3 1043cc coupe went straight through mot but its very slow,
im struggling to get 70mph out of it, all the timing seems to be ok and it runs like a dream, any ideas

They are pretty slow but you should be able to get more than 70mph out of one. My old mk2 1043cc was covered in dynamat and audio equipment and that could still reach 90. At 60 you should notice the car pulls steadily upto about 80/90. It is a gradual process but it was less than a half a minute's worth.

i know what your saying my mk2 was a pocket rocket. I done about seven miles with foot flat to floor and we got 73mph somethings not right but im not sure what ive not had anything to do with mk3 injection polos

last time i had trouble getting the bugger over 70 was when i had a roofrack on, with a bike and a couple bags, and all my uni stuff on the inside... still managed about a 75mph cruise with my foot planted hard to the metal.

really, you should get that looked at mate the only time a 1043 should be that down on power is when it's a mk2, with a pierburg that's never been serviced, and a busted hot air feed, giving it massive carb ice in the depth of winter.

they don't top out at particularly great speeds, and take a while to reach 60 by the numbers, but it should pull through 70mph in 3rd/4th (depending on your gearbox) without too much bother under normal conditions.

they belong to the class of "gradual acceleration" cars if you know what i mean. not storming performance, but the needle keeps on plodding upwards if you have patience for it, and it can hold a good 75-80 without you having to totally kill it 24/7

When I had a 1.3CL I used to struggle to get above about 86, I'm sure it would have eventually gotten over that but it was taking about 42 years and I had no road left.

I had my MK2 at well over 110mph down a big big hill with 5 lads and it would pull 100 on the flat given a tailwind and half an hour. This motor would usually hold 90 on a long journey and it never let me down.

The MK3 1l outside right now has done 106mph (indicated) down an equally big hill and is not as quick as the MK2 on the flat, will manage 95 and stay above 85 all day.

I reckon you should get your fuel system looked at. These cars should do 80-90 all day no problems.

Duck

i'd say check the basics first

air filter, fuel filter, state of the oil, run some redex through to clear any cank that might be in the fuel pump or injector, check for anything that might be stuck in the intake (or the inlet ), plugs, leads, all that sort of thing. in sort of that order, too.

is it running smoothly, or chugging and shaking some? you may well have lost an entire cylinder, though it should be obvious particularly at low speeds whether it's coughing along on 3s.
any smoke coming out?
what's the acceleration like at lower speeds?

also lamdba sensor, temperature probes, make yourself up an ECU fault reading kit (its basically a switch, a resistor, an LED and a couple wires to tap into the super-basic diagnostic plug) and see if there's any long-standing faults logged, that sort of thing.
maybe a de-coke...?

(if e.g. the lambda is done for, it might be overfuelling badly and thus harming the peak power - basically on full choke all the time. this is also very bad for your catalyser and the engine in general. still, could be worse ... could end up running really lean... )

oh, and the catalyser / exhaust themselves might be blocked up, holed or otherwise knackered too.

...binding brakes...?
...super-shagged out gearbox/wheel bearings causing mega drag at high speeds, or a battered clutch slipping at 70mph?

its a big ass mystery
but those things are as they've come to me and fairly much in order of likelihood.