605bhp Per Ton 200SX Powered Kitcar
Discussion
Well I'm sure this Covid-19 is because of my car. Everytime I get it working something gets in my way and stops me from driving the damn thing 
I'd always wanted proper rear brakes, the capri-drum brakes (whilst they worked) weren't ideal and I was always mocked by people for having drums on the back.
The common choice is to replace the drums with Sierra Cosworth calipers. Aside from being old and expensive they're also heavy. I had my own idea.
I got some Fiesta Mk6 st discs, calipers and pads for less than £60. A trip to my fabricator, Clark Customs, in Barnsley saw them fitted within a few hours. (pre-lockdown btw)
I did a short vlog of the fitting process and also a few videos of my first drive in the car on high-boost.
As the car is now quarantined with the rest of the UK I'm going to get it up on axle stands and have a bit of a fettle with the chassis and remove some of the surface rust that's amounted over the last 7 years.
I've also got some aero-catches to fit as my bonnet keeps popping up at over 100mph which is never a good thing!
I'd always wanted proper rear brakes, the capri-drum brakes (whilst they worked) weren't ideal and I was always mocked by people for having drums on the back.
The common choice is to replace the drums with Sierra Cosworth calipers. Aside from being old and expensive they're also heavy. I had my own idea.
I got some Fiesta Mk6 st discs, calipers and pads for less than £60. A trip to my fabricator, Clark Customs, in Barnsley saw them fitted within a few hours. (pre-lockdown btw)
I did a short vlog of the fitting process and also a few videos of my first drive in the car on high-boost.
As the car is now quarantined with the rest of the UK I'm going to get it up on axle stands and have a bit of a fettle with the chassis and remove some of the surface rust that's amounted over the last 7 years.
I've also got some aero-catches to fit as my bonnet keeps popping up at over 100mph which is never a good thing!
Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:58
InitialDave said:
Ah, I remember when FWD Escort front brakes were the bargain option for rear disc conversions on RWD Escorts, the disc bell height meaning everything lined up neatly with a simple flat plate adaptor, assume this is similar?
yep, that option still works but the calipers are both heavy and expensive (and don't have a handbrake).The original drum plate that houses the cylinders and drum mechanism acts as a small (3mm) plate that goes between the axle itself half-shaft. We cut that off using a plasma cutter and then made a new bracket to bolt to the back of the hub that holds the caliper.
It was fairly simple tbh and a lot cheaper and lighter than the sierra version.
As there is very little of me driving the car anytime soon I started on all the little jobs that you can never be bothered to do normally.
The first was to go over the chassis and clean off and repaint where any surface rust was showing through (no pics).
The front brake kit has a number of areas that are never covered by the pads and, as such, had a lot of surface rust. I cleaned it all off and painted up with hammerite.
I was going to re-paint the rear calipers from red to something lairy and then do the front ones to match. I decided against making work for myself so opted for painting the fronts red to match the rears.
Whilst doing that, I also replaced the seals on the Wilwood calipers. Wilwood calipers don't have dust seals on the pistons so it's always worth doing periodically.
..and all painted and on the car
Not a 100% perfect job on the painting but cost me less than a tenner instead of the £150+ that local specialists want to charge.
Next up, fitting some aero-catches to stop my bonnet flying up at high speeds.
https://www.instagram.com/locost_turbo
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5IQ4lTmiEAVhrNU...
The first was to go over the chassis and clean off and repaint where any surface rust was showing through (no pics).
The front brake kit has a number of areas that are never covered by the pads and, as such, had a lot of surface rust. I cleaned it all off and painted up with hammerite.
I was going to re-paint the rear calipers from red to something lairy and then do the front ones to match. I decided against making work for myself so opted for painting the fronts red to match the rears.
Whilst doing that, I also replaced the seals on the Wilwood calipers. Wilwood calipers don't have dust seals on the pistons so it's always worth doing periodically.
..and all painted and on the car
Not a 100% perfect job on the painting but cost me less than a tenner instead of the £150+ that local specialists want to charge.
Next up, fitting some aero-catches to stop my bonnet flying up at high speeds.
https://www.instagram.com/locost_turbo
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5IQ4lTmiEAVhrNU...
I'm a sucker for carbon and couldn't pass up this bargain. Sadly/strangely it weighs half a kilogram more than the GRP one it replaced but looks so much better.
The quality is not amazing by any means but it matches the rest of the cabin now.
Assuming I'm not living off bread and water at the end of COVID I might treat myself to a B4 Tillet for the drivers seat.
The quality is not amazing by any means but it matches the rest of the cabin now.
Assuming I'm not living off bread and water at the end of COVID I might treat myself to a B4 Tillet for the drivers seat.
Awesome car and thread. I used to have a Westfield which I made lots of changes to, so can relate albeit I found 180bhp ample on the road! Reading this really makes me miss it, even though i replaced it with a turbocharged mx5.
Anyway, i noticed you've hammerited your front discs. Hammerite will suffice on calipers on normal cars, but it melts at temperatures much lower than your front discs will see. Then it will be lubricating your brakes.
I've seen this happen and have just had to redo the paint on the brakes on my mx5 to stop this happening to me. Even some specific caliper paints aren't very heat proof and I've yet to find any paint that could safely be applied to front discs. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd hate to see you bend it.
Anyway, i noticed you've hammerited your front discs. Hammerite will suffice on calipers on normal cars, but it melts at temperatures much lower than your front discs will see. Then it will be lubricating your brakes.
I've seen this happen and have just had to redo the paint on the brakes on my mx5 to stop this happening to me. Even some specific caliper paints aren't very heat proof and I've yet to find any paint that could safely be applied to front discs. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd hate to see you bend it.
BEN99W said:
Awesome car and thread. I used to have a Westfield which I made lots of changes to, so can relate albeit I found 180bhp ample on the road! Reading this really makes me miss it, even though i replaced it with a turbocharged mx5.
Anyway, i noticed you've hammerited your front discs. Hammerite will suffice on calipers on normal cars, but it melts at temperatures much lower than your front discs will see. Then it will be lubricating your brakes.
I've seen this happen and have just had to redo the paint on the brakes on my mx5 to stop this happening to me. Even some specific caliper paints aren't very heat proof and I've yet to find any paint that could safely be applied to front discs. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd hate to see you bend it.
Interesting is that. I've hammerited loads of discs/calipers over the years and never had an issue with it running or melting.Anyway, i noticed you've hammerited your front discs. Hammerite will suffice on calipers on normal cars, but it melts at temperatures much lower than your front discs will see. Then it will be lubricating your brakes.
I've seen this happen and have just had to redo the paint on the brakes on my mx5 to stop this happening to me. Even some specific caliper paints aren't very heat proof and I've yet to find any paint that could safely be applied to front discs. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd hate to see you bend it.
It'll be on the road again well before a track day so I'll get some heat into the front brakes and have a look and see what's what before I do anything.
Another update due to not being able to drive it!
On the last drive the bonnet kept popping up over 100mph, presumably due to the large bonnet scoop that is catching air at those speeds.
I bought and fitted some aerocatches to make sure that can never happen again
I'm just going to have them at the front and it's very unlikely the back will get enough air pull to lift (I hope!)
Next up, fitting a clutch switch on my pedal box to enable flat-shifting
On the last drive the bonnet kept popping up over 100mph, presumably due to the large bonnet scoop that is catching air at those speeds.
I bought and fitted some aerocatches to make sure that can never happen again
I'm just going to have them at the front and it's very unlikely the back will get enough air pull to lift (I hope!)
Next up, fitting a clutch switch on my pedal box to enable flat-shifting
andburg said:
Good read, fair play for keeping going with this.
Amazingly I'm in and around your area every day and i dont recall ever seeing this, probably because its mostly broken down though
Last engine breakages aside; becoming a Dad 5 years ago put a serious dent in seat-time. The car only gets used occasionally on a weekend and if its dry. Rest assured it will be out a lot once the lock down is gone.Amazingly I'm in and around your area every day and i dont recall ever seeing this, probably because its mostly broken down though
As noted above, the front and rear wings were sold; more of a garage clearout than anything.
BUT, whilst browsing eBay as you do, I saw an auction for a big rear wing for sale. It was fitted to a space-frame hillclimb car and was originally used in Formula 2 racing in the 80s.
Anyway... I'm sure you can tell where this is going!
General consensus seems to be about 50/50 good and bad. I know it might make the front end lift because of the size, but I'm not planning on any track days soon and, despite just selling the old front splitter, I've been offered another as a gift.
I only fitted it to pass the time so unsure whether or not it will stay. It gave me something to do during lock down anyway...
BUT, whilst browsing eBay as you do, I saw an auction for a big rear wing for sale. It was fitted to a space-frame hillclimb car and was originally used in Formula 2 racing in the 80s.
Anyway... I'm sure you can tell where this is going!
General consensus seems to be about 50/50 good and bad. I know it might make the front end lift because of the size, but I'm not planning on any track days soon and, despite just selling the old front splitter, I've been offered another as a gift.
I only fitted it to pass the time so unsure whether or not it will stay. It gave me something to do during lock down anyway...
I'm not a massive fan of the wing I must say - you don't want the front end getting light at speed which I suspect the wing might do....
But a massive fan of the car in general!
Have you looked into maybe swapping out the live rear axle for some additional traction? Would be an interesting project, I know that some caterham style kit cars have IRS so there must be good designs out there.
Could even swap in a Jag rear end but I suspect that would be a bit too heavy
But a massive fan of the car in general!
Have you looked into maybe swapping out the live rear axle for some additional traction? Would be an interesting project, I know that some caterham style kit cars have IRS so there must be good designs out there.
Could even swap in a Jag rear end but I suspect that would be a bit too heavy
shalmaneser said:
I'm not a massive fan of the wing I must say - you don't want the front end getting light at speed which I suspect the wing might do....
But a massive fan of the car in general!
Have you looked into maybe swapping out the live rear axle for some additional traction? Would be an interesting project, I know that some caterham style kit cars have IRS so there must be good designs out there.
Could even swap in a Jag rear end but I suspect that would be a bit too heavy
I did some [relatively] high speed runs the other day and it didn't feel anymore 'floaty' at high speed than it did before. I do plan on doing some slow motion videos with/without it on so that I can see how much 'squish' I get in the suspension.But a massive fan of the car in general!
Have you looked into maybe swapping out the live rear axle for some additional traction? Would be an interesting project, I know that some caterham style kit cars have IRS so there must be good designs out there.
Could even swap in a Jag rear end but I suspect that would be a bit too heavy
In regards to the rear end, the live-axle system is actually one of the best for traction on smooth roads and drag racing. The IRS is newer, lighted but more suited to general road driving as it's a lot more forgiving. Live axles tend to skip at high speed, but I don't drive fast enough round corners on the road to worry about it. Live axles can also take a lot more abuse than the IRS counterpart and I'm not one for being mechanical sympathetic to the drive train.
Hello all.
There's been some more changes.
I went back to the whole aero thing and decided to fit a front wing. I've no 'fitting' pictures as I did a video that's now on YouTube.
The video is here -
Opinions welcome as always! I quite like it. It won't be for the road. I'll save it (front and rear wings) for the track and do some back to back testing. If the car is no faster or it slows it down, I'll get rid of them.
Oh, and this weekend.. this happened Be sure to keep an eye out on the 'Officially Gassed' YouTube channel later in the week for the video.
There's been some more changes.
I went back to the whole aero thing and decided to fit a front wing. I've no 'fitting' pictures as I did a video that's now on YouTube.
The video is here -
Opinions welcome as always! I quite like it. It won't be for the road. I'll save it (front and rear wings) for the track and do some back to back testing. If the car is no faster or it slows it down, I'll get rid of them.
Oh, and this weekend.. this happened
Be sure to keep an eye out on the 'Officially Gassed' YouTube channel later in the week for the video.
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