RE: PH Competes: Buying the EnduroKA

[andrewcliffe]

My wife had a SportKa for a couple of years. Steering and handling were great - lots of fun and great on twisty roads and around the city. Had an appetite for front wishbone bushes and was starting to show signs of rust before it was traded in.

Whilst I've driven a lot of much faster and exotic machinery, the SportKa was a real hoot, and I miss bombing from one side of Norwich to our preferred Indian takeaway on the other and back.

[anonymous-user]

Pat H said:

Yep.

Those Clios were crap....

Funny thing is the 172/182 does have an awful driving position! Steering wheel is too big and the column angle is bus like. (I used to own one)

[OKLewis]

Turbobanana said:

Also, we need to know more about the Mini Marcos lurking in the background...

What else do you wish to know Turbo banana?

[miscfiles]

BenLowden said:

I'm pretty sure the Mk4 Fiesta was the architecture for the Puma and the Ka too, but I stand to be corrected!

Dead right. I had a Mk IV Fiesta and a couple of KAs (all with the same uninspiring 1.3 lump). They were very similar to drive, but the Fiesta was much more comfortable thanks to the more substantial seats. The KAs had really short squabs which provided very little support and made my (average sized) legs ache on anything more than short journeys.

[Mr-B]

Drove an early-ish Ka a few times and it seemed to be a pretty good "fun" drive let down by it's engine, it always felt it could have handled a bit more power.

That example is mint! If I had the garage and drive space (and it had been on shed of the week) I would have been all over that. Far too good to thrash and trash racing.

[Munter]

Screw the Ka. Tell us more about the Mini Marcos!!!!

For those saying they were good when new....must have driven a different Ka to the loaner I had from Ford during services. That was a floppy, spongy vague thing. It was transport. I'll give it that.

[Pat H]

miscfiles said:

Dead right. I had a Mk IV Fiesta and a couple of KAs (all with the same uninspiring 1.3 lump). They were very similar to drive, but the Fiesta was much more comfortable thanks to the more substantial seats. The KAs had really short squabs which provided very little support and made my (average sized) legs ache on anything more than short journeys.

I used to own a Mk4 Fester, but it had the 1250 Zetec motor and was a great little car. Wonderful ride, steering, zingy engine.

The rest of it was a load of crap. The interior was particularly low rent, with ill fitting carpets, nasty plastics and cheap seats. The door locks seized up, just like the Escort that I had before it.

But it was a cheerful little thing and was much more fun than expected.

[JD82]

Turbobanana said:

varsas said:

The steering and brakes are woefully vague? No, that isn't: "as you'd expect as you'd expect" at all, I've only driven a couple of KA's but the steering felt pin-sharp (to the point of nervousness in one case) and don't remember the brakes so they must have been fine. Didn't this basic architecture underpin the Puma?

Quite. Daft journalism.

Also, we need to know more about the Mini Marcos lurking in the background...

Agreed. For a city car, I'd say they were the opposite of vague! I did manage to overheat my brakes a bit occasionally though, so I\'d agree the brakes were crappy the minute you went beyond city limits.

[Turbobanana]

OKLewis said:

Turbobanana said:

Also, we need to know more about the Mini Marcos lurking in the background...

What else do you wish to know Turbo banana?

Whose is it: the buyer's? The seller's? Does it go? Such a rare thing always piques my interest, ever since I used to pass a pair of seemingly abandoned ones on the A12 years ago.

They're an intriguing thing: not pretty, but purposeful and a bit different.

[OKLewis]

The Mini Marcos is mine.

Engine:-
1330 A+, +60 thou re-bore.
Hepolite pistons 10.5:1 compression ratio.
Lightened rods.
Wedged reground and balanced crank.
Ultra-light steel non-verto flywheel.
Rally spec clutch, orange diaphragm.
Whole assembly balenced including crank damper.
Big valve head, reshaped chambers for C/R, ported with Rimflo valves (37mm,29mm), Three angle seat inserts, Bronze guides.
Double valve springs, Isky valve retainers, Hardened thick wall rocker shaft.
Chilled Iron cam followers, Piper 285 cam, duplex timing gear
Maniflow single box centre exit and 3 branch manifold,
Minispares water heated alloy intake (ported).
1¾" HIF44 Carb,. Pipercross ram pipe and sock.
Facet solid state pump, Filter King pressure regulator.
Standard 1.3 Metro box, 3.9:1 straight cut CWP and drop gears plus Salibury LSD, modified Metro rod change.
Brakes:-
Cooper S discs
Cooper S drums on the rear. Mintex 1144 all round.
Suspension:-
Hi-Los on the front, adjustable tie rods, 2° negative camber bottom arms. Spax or GAZ Adjustables. All re-built or new ball joints, bearings and CVs.
Spax Coil overs at the rear, adjustable camber toe brackets, Re-built radius arms.
Interior and Electrics:-
Modified Metro loom, Metro wiper motor re-fabricated to fit Marcos. Intermitent wash wipe!!
Alloy dashboard, Mini lower steering column, Rover 216 UJ and splines, Metro upper column and stalk controls.
Body:-
Fully stripped, nut and bolt re-build. Fiat Super Strada 135 bonnet vent, BMC Farina Grey.

She's a lot of fun!!

[GhellopeSir]

I have an EnduraKA not an EnduroKa AKA DurateKa. The endura is woefully underpowered but as the for Ka itself, it's great. So much fun to drive in such a dinky car. Reminds me of my old 107, but slower, and more expensive to run.

[Gemaeden]

OKLewis said:

The Mini Marcos is mine.

Engine:-
1330 A+, +60 thou re-bore.
Hepolite pistons 10.5:1 compression ratio.
Lightened rods.
Wedged reground and balanced crank.
Ultra-light steel non-verto flywheel.
Rally spec clutch, orange diaphragm.
Whole assembly balenced including crank damper.
Big valve head, reshaped chambers for C/R, ported with Rimflo valves (37mm,29mm), Three angle seat inserts, Bronze guides.
Double valve springs, Isky valve retainers, Hardened thick wall rocker shaft.
Chilled Iron cam followers, Piper 285 cam, duplex timing gear
Maniflow single box centre exit and 3 branch manifold,
Minispares water heated alloy intake (ported).
1¾" HIF44 Carb,. Pipercross ram pipe and sock.
Facet solid state pump, Filter King pressure regulator.
Standard 1.3 Metro box, 3.9:1 straight cut CWP and drop gears plus Salibury LSD, modified Metro rod change.
Brakes:-
Cooper S discs
Cooper S drums on the rear. Mintex 1144 all round.
Suspension:-
Hi-Los on the front, adjustable tie rods, 2° negative camber bottom arms. Spax or GAZ Adjustables. All re-built or new ball joints, bearings and CVs.
Spax Coil overs at the rear, adjustable camber toe brackets, Re-built radius arms.
Interior and Electrics:-
Modified Metro loom, Metro wiper motor re-fabricated to fit Marcos. Intermitent wash wipe!!
Alloy dashboard, Mini lower steering column, Rover 216 UJ and splines, Metro upper column and stalk controls.
Body:-
Fully stripped, nut and bolt re-build. Fiat Super Strada 135 bonnet vent, BMC Farina Grey.

She's a lot of fun!!

Invest in some top spec dampers and it'll be even more fun.

[markcoznottz]

Best handling car ford have ever made pound for pound. Sunday morning trip to get the milk turned into a 10 mile detour. Especially good at speed humps as I recall. Definitely some witchcraft going on with parry jones at that time, as all his other cars were superb. A rare thing, someone good at his job left to get on with it. Wouksnt happen now. Didn't go unnoticed, several autocar staffers wondered why cars costing 30 times more weren't even close.

[humphra]

OKLewis said:

The Mini Marcos is mine.

Engine:-
1330 A+, +60 thou re-bore.
Hepolite pistons 10.5:1 compression ratio.
Lightened rods.
Wedged reground and balanced crank.
Ultra-light steel non-verto flywheel.
Rally spec clutch, orange diaphragm.
Whole assembly balenced including crank damper.
Big valve head, reshaped chambers for C/R, ported with Rimflo valves (37mm,29mm), Three angle seat inserts, Bronze guides.
Double valve springs, Isky valve retainers, Hardened thick wall rocker shaft.
Chilled Iron cam followers, Piper 285 cam, duplex timing gear
Maniflow single box centre exit and 3 branch manifold,
Minispares water heated alloy intake (ported).
1¾" HIF44 Carb,. Pipercross ram pipe and sock.
Facet solid state pump, Filter King pressure regulator.
Standard 1.3 Metro box, 3.9:1 straight cut CWP and drop gears plus Salibury LSD, modified Metro rod change.
Brakes:-
Cooper S discs
Cooper S drums on the rear. Mintex 1144 all round.
Suspension:-
Hi-Los on the front, adjustable tie rods, 2° negative camber bottom arms. Spax or GAZ Adjustables. All re-built or new ball joints, bearings and CVs.
Spax Coil overs at the rear, adjustable camber toe brackets, Re-built radius arms.
Interior and Electrics:-
Modified Metro loom, Metro wiper motor re-fabricated to fit Marcos. Intermitent wash wipe!!
Alloy dashboard, Mini lower steering column, Rover 216 UJ and splines, Metro upper column and stalk controls.
Body:-
Fully stripped, nut and bolt re-build. Fiat Super Strada 135 bonnet vent, BMC Farina Grey.

She's a lot of fun!!

^^^ this is why I love these forums! Real passion for cars. Sounds awesome

[aaron_2000]

I bought one for £100 to take a few bits off, it was so rusty, holes in floor, arches gone, sills gone, doors gone, filler cap, boot floor, filler everywhere. It was such a characterful car to drive, great steer, engine wasn't great but wasn't horrid either, nice enough interior for the car, great steer, real fun to drive. I didn't wanna scrap it, but it was too far gone. One of my favourite cars that I've owned genuinely, kept the plates and badges and hung them on my garage wall before it went to the crusher. RIP SF02BYW

[BenLowden]

humphra said:

^^^ this is why I love these forums! Real passion for cars. Sounds awesome

Olly is an engineer at Caterham and is as passionate as they come. To be honest we'd be lost without him on our team; I can wield a set of spanners but he's on another level.

He did miss out that he's had the car since he was 14/15 and has probably done a complete nut and bolt rebuild at least twice in that time, but I'm sure he'll be along again to but me right and tell the story.

[willmagrath]

I'd also have to disagree about the steering. I've had one as a quick fixer upper and it had fantastic steering!

[ChevronB19]

OKLewis said:

The Mini Marcos is mine.

Engine:-
1330 A+, +60 thou re-bore.
Hepolite pistons 10.5:1 compression ratio.
Lightened rods.
Wedged reground and balanced crank.
Ultra-light steel non-verto flywheel.
Rally spec clutch, orange diaphragm.
Whole assembly balenced including crank damper.
Big valve head, reshaped chambers for C/R, ported with Rimflo valves (37mm,29mm), Three angle seat inserts, Bronze guides.
Double valve springs, Isky valve retainers, Hardened thick wall rocker shaft.
Chilled Iron cam followers, Piper 285 cam, duplex timing gear
Maniflow single box centre exit and 3 branch manifold,
Minispares water heated alloy intake (ported).
1¾" HIF44 Carb,. Pipercross ram pipe and sock.
Facet solid state pump, Filter King pressure regulator.
Standard 1.3 Metro box, 3.9:1 straight cut CWP and drop gears plus Salibury LSD, modified Metro rod change.
Brakes:-
Cooper S discs
Cooper S drums on the rear. Mintex 1144 all round.
Suspension:-
Hi-Los on the front, adjustable tie rods, 2° negative camber bottom arms. Spax or GAZ Adjustables. All re-built or new ball joints, bearings and CVs.
Spax Coil overs at the rear, adjustable camber toe brackets, Re-built radius arms.
Interior and Electrics:-
Modified Metro loom, Metro wiper motor re-fabricated to fit Marcos. Intermitent wash wipe!!
Alloy dashboard, Mini lower steering column, Rover 216 UJ and splines, Metro upper column and stalk controls.
Body:-
Fully stripped, nut and bolt re-build. Fiat Super Strada 135 bonnet vent, BMC Farina Grey.

She's a lot of fun!!

Have you seen this one? What an absolute bargain, sold on a no reserve for 5.6k

http://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1976-mini-marco...

Edited by ChevronB19 on Thursday 14th March 12:31

[Ilovejapcrap]

Pat H said:

TrivsTom said:

My ex had a Ka which I used to borrow when my Clio 172 was being French. Woeful machine. Awful driving position, hard seats, wobbly everything. Think it was only on 43k or something. Hateful.

Yep.

Those Clios were crap....

Lol

[Turbobanana]

OKLewis said:

The Mini Marcos is mine!!... and much more...

Thanks Olly, but now I'm just jealous. Always loved these for their weirdness and I can quite believe it's a lot of fun.

Keep up the good work.