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Venturi 200 —
hand-sewn around the PRV

Before the 400 GT, the French manufacturer Venturi — MVS, Manufacture de Voitures de Sport, founded in 1984 — built its first hand-assembled sports cars around the turbocharged PRV: the 2,458 cc Z7U 730, 200 bhp, exactly the engine of the Alpine GTA V6 Turbo. The two cars are contemporaries and come from the same technical pool.

200
bhp · Z7U 730 turbo
2458
cc · 12 valves
1984
MVS founded
3
PRV V6 Venturis: 200, 260, 400 GT
Engines

One code only: Z7U 730

The Z7U 730 is the second-generation 2.5-litre turbo — the first turbocharged PRV, inaugurated by the Renault 25 V6 Turbo in 1985 —, shared under the same code with the Alpine GTA V6 Turbo. EIA prepares the Venturis' mechanical base, as Danielson did for the GTA Le Mans; Venturi, like Alpine, never struck an engine code of its own.

Venturi 200 MVS · hand-assembled Every known code →
Z7U 730200 bhp
2,458 ccElectronic injectionGarrett T3 turbo12 valvesZ7U engine file →
Venturi 200 — and 210, in the MVS PRV range listed on the Tuners page (200 · 210 · 260 · 400 GT · 600 LM). The Alpine manual for the same engine gives a Garrett T3 with integral wastegate, rated at 0.95 bar.
The engine specialist

EIA, the Venturis' engine specialist

Venturi entrusts all its PRV V6s to the tuner EIA, which turbocharges them for its hand-assembled sports cars — the « EIA PRV ». From 200 to 260 then 408 bhp: three Venturis, one engine family, one engine specialist. Only the later 300 Atlantique would break the link by moving to the 60° « PR » V6 — it falls outside the PRV's scope. The 260 carries a 160 bhp 2.8 L PRV pushed to 260 bhp; the 400 GT starts from the 24-valve ZPJ4 of the 605 SV24 and XM V6 24S (≈ 200 bhp) and pushes it, twin-turbo, to 408 bhp.

The full engine-specialist file — codes, outputs, reliability of sources — is on the Tuners page.

200
BHP · Z7U 730 · THE GTA V6 TURBO'S ENGINE
2458
CC
1984
MVS FOUNDED
408
BHP · 400 GT
The Venturi line

Two steps to the summit

Venturi 260, a hundred more horsepower

A 2.8-litre PRV (Z7W), 160 bhp stock, turbocharged by EIA to 260 bhp — where Douvrin delivered a saloon engine, the tuner draws a GT powerplant from it, without it ever being a factory version. 260 file →

400 GT, the « French F40 »

The summit: 24-valve ZPJ4 and twin turbocharging, 2,975 cc, two Garretts, 408 bhp — the most powerful PRV-engined road car ever built. 400 GT file →

The 600 LM, on the track

In the mid-1990s Venturi brought the PRV back to the circuits with the 600 LM, the racing version of the Atlantique entered in BPR and at Le Mans: EIA's 3.0 L 24-valve twin-turbo pushed to about 600 bhp. Its story is on the Prototypes page.

No document, for now

No document specific to the Venturi 200 is in the Library yet — if you own one, the Contribute page awaits you. What is known of the Z7U 730 comes from the manual and workshop sheet of the GTA V6 Turbo, which carries the same engine.

In the workshop

What is known of the 200's Z7U 730

The engine figures come from the Alpine manual for the GTA V6 Turbo — same code, same engine; nothing here is specific to the Venturi installation — and from the FAQ answers.

Venturi 200 The full FAQ →
Z7U
What is the Z7U engine?
The turbocharged 2,458 cc PRV (180 to 210 bhp): the first turbo PRV, fitted to the Renault 25 V6 Turbo, the Alpine GTA and the Venturi 200. Z7U file →
Turbo
What is the boost setting of the Alpine GTA V6 Turbo?
The turbo is a Garrett type T3 with integral wastegate, set to 0.95 bar ± 30 for an actuator rod travel of 0.38 mm ± 0.02. The pressure actually read at the inlet manifold is lower and — this is the surprise — it falls with engine speed: 0.80 bar ± 50 between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm, but only 0.65 bar ± 50 at maximum speed. A safety switch cuts in on overboost, between 1.10 and 1.20 bar — though the switch's own check page (B-61a) has it closing between 1.0 and 1.1 bar — and the bypass valve (Umleitventil) opens at a vacuum of 0.20 bar ± 20. Alpine M.R.273, D501 update, folios B-49a and B-61a.
Réglages
What are the Alpine GTA V6 Turbo's own settings?
Idle 700 rpm ± 25 and CO 1% ± 0.25 — a tighter CO window than the 1 ± 0.5% the Renault 25 V6 allows. Fuel pressure regulator: 3 bar −0.2 at atmospheric pressure, 2.5 bar ± 0.2 under 500 mbar of vacuum. Solenoid injectors: 12 volts, 2.5 Ω ± 0.5. And one service interval that stands apart: the paper air filter is replaced every 15,000 km, against 20,000 km on the R25 V6 Turbo and on the A610. Two turbocharged V6s from the same family, and the Alpine asks for its air filter twice as often — a mid-mounted engine breathing from the rear wings does not take in the same air as a front-engined saloon. Alpine M.R.273, D501 update, folio B-49a.
Allumage
What ignition does an Alpine GTA V6 Turbo have, and how are its plugs reached?
The advance curves are stored in the injection-ignition computer, which sends a 5 V control signal to the ignition power module; a distributor shares the high tension out in the order 1-6-3-5-2-4. The module's connectors are not wired like the A610's: three-way — A battery +, B earth, C rev counter (free on the A610); two-way — A computer earth (free on the A610), B control signal. Distributor: remove its clipped protective cap, then the cap (3 screws); check the electrodes and carbon brush, the rotor at 0.8 to 1.3 kΩ, and the O-ring on the insulating inner housing; rotor at 0.2 to 0.3 daN.m — the same values as the A610. Plugs: Eyquem 805 LJSP on the Z7U, gap 0.65 ± 0.05 mm (on the same table, 803 LJS for the Z6W A700 and 803 LJSP for the Z6W 702). Access: bank 1, on the right — remove the turbo's air hose; bank 2, on the left — remove the turbo's oil line; on refitting, run the leads through their grommets. Alpine M.R.273, D501 update, folios C-2a, C-10-1a and C-10-2a · Alpine M.R.297, folio 17-1.
Coupure
Why must a turbocharged engine idle for 30 seconds before switching off?
Because of what happens after the ignition goes off, and the manual spells it out: “if the engine is not idled for about 30 seconds, or if the engine is revved before the ignition is turned off, the turbo charger will continue to turn under inertia (engine stopped), which may damage the turbo charger shaft”. Engine stopped means oil pump stopped: the shaft is still spinning, and nothing is feeding its bearings. Thirty seconds of idling brings the turbo's speed down before the supply stops — which is the same problem the Alpine A610 and the catalysed R25 V6 Turbo solve mechanically, with an electric water pump running on for twelve minutes after switch-off. The same page carries a second warning, about the oil filter: two boss threads exist, 20 × 1.50 and 19 × 1.587 (3/4 inch, 16 TPI), and a 20 × 1.50 filter can be wrongly screwed onto a 19 × 1.587 boss — where it will work loose under vibration. The play is obvious before the filter is offered up to the block, which is the moment to notice it. Safrane M.R.302, chapter 10.
EIA
Who is EIA?
Venturi's engine house: it turbocharged the PRVs up to 260 bhp (260), 408 bhp (400 GT) and around 600 bhp (the racing 600 LM). 400 GT file →
Venturi
Which Venturis have a PRV V6?
The 200, 260 and 400 GT — the later 300 Atlantique switched to the L7X and falls outside the scope. 200 · 260 file → · 400 GT file →
Turbos
Which cars have a turbocharged PRV V6?
Six production models: Renault 25 V6 Turbo (2.5-litre, 182 then 205 bhp), Alpine GTA V6 Turbo (200 bhp) and GTA Le Mans (185 to 210 bhp), Venturi 200 (200 bhp), Venturi 260 (2.8-litre, 260 bhp) and Alpine A610 (3.0-litre, 250 bhp). The first was the Renault 25 in 1985, with the Z7U. Z7U file →

In the Library

No Venturi document; the Z7U 730 is documented by the GTA V6 Turbo: V6 GT Turbo (Z7U-730) — Pub et Trade sheet · M.R.273 Alpine — D501 update, turbo Z7U injection

The code behind the 200

Z7U — the first turbo PRV, code by code — and the two Venturis that followed.

Z7U file →260 file →400 GT file → All vehicles →