605bhp Per Ton 200SX Powered Kitcar

[dave2007bc]

RenPug said:

That looks a lot of fun. I see a photo of Noble Motorsport on the first page, are you local to them?

No - Huddersfield. Noble Motorsport (historically) always mapped by N/A, TBd powered cars so it was a natural choice to go back to them with this car.

tankplanker said:

How much weight do you think you have saved with the carbon bits?

I'm not sure yet. I've tried to keep a running total and think I'm at around 30-35kg off. The side panels (see this current post) took off nearly 9kg alone!

Krikkit said:

Looks awesome, how's the engine doing now you've chopped some more holes?

That lap around Blyton is good work, looks a bit lively mind!

Holes for the engine didn't make much different to be honest, but the new rad (see this post) made a huge difference.

Atmospheric said:

I now fully understand kit cars.

Currently the manufacturers don't make a car which I want as a fun car at an affordable price.

Seeing what you have done, has inspired me; make what you want how you want it. It's bloody excellent

I honestly believe there isn't a way to go this fast and have this much fun for this amount of money. I regularly look at car for sale ads and consider moving this on but to have the same amount of 'grunt' in a normal car I'd need at least 650-700bhp and that would mean major expense compared to the kit car so I always end up closing my browser and buying more carbon fibre stuff haha.

Ultimate weight saving with a carbon fibre VIN plate -



I was having major problems with over-heating still. I spoke to numerous companies that make bespoke stuff but was told to simply replace the 'copy' chinese radiator I had for a proper one. Out came the wallet







The old rad was replaced for a slightly thinner (but crucially lighter!) Mishimoto version. Temps are hugely reduced, I genuinely can't believe the difference.

More carbon weight saving in the form of a carbon-fibre coil-pack cover


I then decided to rip the car apart during the 'warmest' weeks we had over Summer. The reason; carbon fibre side panels. Partially weight saving..partially to save me money when the car gets its new colour. More on that later..

The old side panels were fibre glass so it was a mixture of wood chisels, dreamers and grinders to get it all off.









I decided to 'do it properly' which meant all the front suspension came off.







I had vented side panels before; this time I upgraded them to 'fins' to give further cooling.





Finished!!!









Replaced the headlights for something brighter, smaller and again lighter!


Then went out for a drive with my buddy. He has a Hayabusa powered 'MK' kit car. We did some comparative roll-racing. My car goes past his like it's standing still; I genuinely thought he'd put the brakes on and given up as I went past!





I'm at the last car-show of the year this weekend and then all the panels that are currently green are coming off to go to the local bodyshop for a new colour. This will be totally different to the current/previous ones.

[dave2007bc]

I do run 15" wheels, originally this was because I had a supplier of cheap 888s but this has since dried up.

I do need the 15s to get over my front brakes (288mm). I could get smaller discs and go to 13s but even if I changed to forged/CXR wheels I'd only save about 1.1kg per corner. The wheels alone would stand me at about £1k. Whilst that is all unsprung weight, it's a lot of cost for 4kg of saving.

Over Winter I'm sending my one piece vented discs to Hi-apex to be converted into bells/rotors which should save me at least 2.5kg on each corner and cost <£400

[dave2007bc]

Davie said:

Superb thread... the Team Dynamics wheels look so much better than the originals and must have saved a fair amount of unsprung weight too?

Approx 2kg per corner iirc.

Lots of changes happening atm..I'll do a proper update later this week &#128513;

[dave2007bc]

The car made it's trip the most pointless show ever. It was a local Gala/Country Fair that had a stand of Classic and Sportscars. The organisers for some reason stuck the cars in the corner of the field miles away from footfall and the public.





The outcome of that meant I was home by 1pm so decided to tear the car apart ready for the bodyshop.

Scuttle and bonnet vents off




Rear panel removed (this took so long!)


Panels loaded into the daily for paint. Holes to fill all marked up


Time to paint the cage whilst I've no panels to worry about. Nothing lairy, but I am swopping from matt black to a gloss black to tie in with the new paint and the carbon side panels.




...and this is just one of the potential new additions. A big rear wing. Currently just thrown on the cage as a test-fit but the end-game is to have custom CNC brackets off the rear bars. I have a friend in SA that competes in their TimeAttack and the rear wing made a big difference to his traction in high-speed corners; something I really struggle with.



The Jury is still out on whether or not it will actually go on. But my other on-going project is a big front spoiler/splitter to match from a Formula 3 car. As with the rear one; I'm still not 100% on how I'll progress with this yet.

[dave2007bc]

ECG1000 said:

Seriously cool!
I think you live fairly near me - I'll make sure I don't attempt a traffic light Gran Prix with my mere 360 per tonne...

Where about are you?

Mr MXT said:

Do you ever run out into the peaks? I'd be keen on that (Duratec'd Westfield).

Sometimes - I'm minutes from Holme Moss so can be in 'Derbyshire' very quickly! I've been on a few runs with the WSCC but then got banned from their website because I fell out with the boss on there LOL.

Mr MXT said:

Watched that Monky London video, would be nice if he let you finish a sentence!!

That's the first thing one of my friends send when he watched it. I didn't realise how much he did it until I watched it back. It was bit disappointing really as I was hoping to try and make the video almost educational to people that know nothing about kit-cars; sadly I don't think that came across.

irvine1 said:

This build is totally what pistonheads is about...

For even more weight reduction you should consider titanium boost pipe work and a titanium exhaust.
The titanium will change the exhaust tone and make it almost scream when on boost.

Just YouTube titanium exhaust on gtr's

Thankyou Irvine.

I didn't realise Titanium was that much lighter than stainless. In hindsight I should have had my hard-pipes made out of aluminium instead of stainless but it's done now. Titanium is obviously a lot more expensive than stainless though so it will have to be added to the list of other things to swop first.



I've finally managed to get my hands on some Tillet Carbon Fibre seats, these should hopefully saved me another 3-4kg. I've also just replaced the MOMO Caterham steering wheel for a smaller one; a small 500g saving but every little helps.

Disappointingly, the body panels are still not back from the bodyshop. Everytime I have something painted for a car I always get fkd about by the company doing it - if I had the patience to do my own painting then I wouldn't have to rely on other people.

[dave2007bc]

This weeks update -

The roll cage is all finished in gloss black


I'm never far from 'For Sale' boards on a variety of forums.

Last week I found a reasonably priced steering wheel to replace the Momo Caterham one that I already had.

The old steering wheel was 260mm whilst the new one is 240mm, so a fair bit smaller. (and crucially lighter, ha)



and all fitted into the shell of my car


Good news from the bodyshop - the panels are all prepped and ready for paint -


Now a step-back in time.

This is the development of my front 'aero' - still very much a WIP. Still very much a learning curve for me. Whether or not it will work, make me faster or slower, or just fall off is all up in the air. It may not even make it onto the car, we will see.

No idea where the front spoiler is from; I suspect some entry level 'formula' racing? Jazzy graphics that's for sure.


Removing the graphics and marking it up


VERY rough idea for a bracket


Original mounting brackets on the wing removed and new ones made. I just needed to make some holes for them


Something like that -


New bracket plates mounted. Sikaflex always comes in handy. Along with some fixings underneath that have been ground off. They aren't going anywhere!


That's as far as that's got at the moment.

Whilst waiting for my body panels to come back I thought I'd give the car a check over. Around a month ago I smashed the sump pan on a spirited drive over Holme Moss. I knew I'd hit the floor but, as it wasn't leaking I didn't really worry about it.

On jacking up the car the sump had clearly taken a big hit -


Not ideal - decided it best to take the sump off and find a replacement.

On taking the sump off I found -


Urgh.

Doesn't look better on your finger either!


Best take a look at the bearings then -


Clearly worn but not that bad. Original as they have a 1989 date-stamp on them!

I've examined some of the other oil-ways, checked the filter etc and there is no other gunk or mess anywhere. I'm fairly convinced (or should that be have convinced myself) that the gunk and mess was in the sump was all dislodged when I smashed it. I also noticed the pickup mesh was damaged and dented so was obviously resting on the base of the sump itself.

I've ordered some replacement bearings (Clevite) and will of course flush out the engine, change the filter and replace all the necessary gaskets. I'm not one to spend money un-necessarily being a Yorkshireman and I'd love an excuse to actually rip it out and rebuild it with uprated parts but until it ACTUALLY breaks SWMBO says that's not an option

[dave2007bc]

The bits are back from the bodyshop

So happy.

The colour is Yas Marina Blue (New m3/m4 colour)- it changes colour in every photo I take. It's such a great colour.

Just after the spraying


Collected in the daily


Rear panel bonded on and held with multiple 'clamps' (looks like the car has a nappy on!)


Scoop going back in the bonnet. Mesh to follow on the holes at the back



Scuttle panel back on


Carbon fibre aero-screen back on


Nose-cone in the boot of the daily to fit the NACA duct


Bonnet and nose-cone offered up on the car (see what I mean about the colour changing!)


Hoping to finish off building it all back up tomorrow, then it's just the engine I need to worry about it.

[dave2007bc]

Wing on. Car built Up. Engine back together.

More than a little bit slippy on Sunday, still lots of fun.

The front f1-esqur wing isn't finished but at least it's all back together for the moment.

With the weight savings over the last 6 months I should hopefully be creeping over 480bhp/ton now.

I'd love to get over 500bhp/ton but that would require significant investment in the engine which I just can't warrant at the moment.






I'm hoping to fit a proper (quaife) LSD before the season starts so it's probably not going to be back together very long, such is kitcar ownership.

As always,more photos and videos on Instagram @locost_turbo

[dave2007bc]

Jjones3008 said:

Just read this start to finish and cant believe how awesome this thing is. I found myself browsing ebay before finding this thread looking at atom based kits and unfinished projects. After seeing this I am even more convinced i need to own something like this. I have had a few tracks toys but never anything like this. I was wondering if you knew what kind of out lay you had initially and where this stands you at now

Thanks for the feedback &#128513;

My initial layout was sub £3k.
DVLA/registration costs were another £700.
TB parts and mapping - £1k

...and so it goes on.

If I was to do it again I'd ignore the 'road-going' bit and stick to track only. If you were handy you could comfortably build something of a similar spec for sub £13k. Still a fair amount of cash but way way less than an Atom (or anything else with a similar power to weight). This may get moved on later this year for less than the above so keep your eyes open &#128521;

RS Grant said:

Brilliant thread and progress, however I'm assuming the original 'low budget' plan has somewhat faded away...

New colour is lovely too.

Thanks Grant. I think you mis-understood the low budget comment; the budget was in relation to 'most' builds in this section of the forum. It was never my intention to hold back my spending on this project but through being a Yorkshireman and watching the pennies I've bought and sold parts at reasonable prices but still always consider all the options before purchase.

You can pay £1500 for a cage, I found a second hand one for £200.
You can pay £800 for 4 pots, I paid £250 for second hand ones.
Etc etc

I try and spend the money where I feel it is most worthwhile. My only regret was the Capri LSD; it simply wasn't for for purpose andI should have waited and gone for a quaife from the outset. That being said, the Capri lads are like gold-dust and I won't loose anyoney on the item itself just a few hundred from he cost of having it replaced.

I hope that explains it in a better context.

[dave2007bc]

I can't believe it's almost 6 months since I last updated this thread. I'd love to say it's been an amazing 6 months of tyre shredding antics, track-days, sprints and road-trips but alas it's been half a year of utter crap due to mechanical issues..

Read on...

I finally saved some pennies over Christmas and got the all important Quaife LSD I'd always wanted.

Out came the Ford Capri 2.0 axle and off it went to a chap in Sheffield to have swopped. A bargain at £75



That was fitted nicely back into the car. Bolts all checked and off we went to the local watering hole.



The difference from the Ford 'LSD' is quite simply phenomenal. Where before I span through the gears the car now hunts out even the smallest bits of traction and when struggling, instead of simply spinning up the wheel 'tramps' as it fights for grip. A serious serious improvement to the car.

I went to a coffee and cake meet at GBS cars in South Yorkshire


Finally replaced my old and crusty 'caterham' harnesses with some wider Titon Motorsport ones


Went out for some more spirited drives



Now back to the upgrades for a moment. You may recall the large front spoiler from previous posts. I mocked up some cardboard templates of brackets and a friend at a local engineering firm made me some CNC versions


Quickly offered up on the car



There was far too much side to side movement so I added some wire bracing and also made my own end-plates from carbon fibre.



Cleaned it and went out for some more drives



It was at this stage things took a turn for the worst...

...you can see the dark clouds rolling in.

Since putting the engine in I've always had a strange rattle. The rattle went away when the engine warmed up which implied there was no issue with the shells. I swopped them out anyway for ACL ones but the noise remained. I ignored it, for a bit but then noticed the engine was breathing a lot! To the point where people were pointing at it in traffic!

So, before the engine stained the country roads of Yorkshire I decided to take the head off for a nosey.

Pulled out the magnetic sump-plug to find this -



not ideal!

Shells had done just 35 miles and look 'ok'






Cylinders a bit of a mess


I decided at this point there was no going back so out came the pistons..with there rings in pieces



3 and 4 were gone. 4 being the worst

Note the varying fuel spray marks on the pistons which shows the fuelling in each cylinder is different -


My engine spread across my workbench


Engine out




At this point I wasn't sure what to do. I'd priced up forged rebuilds and new management (c.£2k) and even a normal rebuild (£1k) when I stumbled across a second-hand engine for sale for the right price.

On my way brick from London I called off the M1 and threw it in the back of the daily


..and back at home


The GTiR injectors had to be cleaned; no brainer decision. Off they went to a local cleaner who reported all were 'ok' but one was 'bad'. After cleaning all were 'good' and had matched spray patterns and quality. I also replaced both my fuel filters too.

A few days later the new engine was in the car



Noticed a burnt through vacuum hose going to my boost controller solenoid which I promptly replaced


All back together (just 11 days off the road!)


..and mostly importantly working well



The old engine was clearly dying as the new one felt like a monster in comparison... until on it's second outing to Wakefield the temperature rose suddenly and water burst out of the expansion tank.

I limped to a lay-by, let the car cool down, topped up the water and then cruised home slowly.

Deciding that the new engine probably had a manky water-pump and galleries I flushed it all out and replaced the water-pump. (old on the left obviously!)


Coolant refreshed and engine timed up again I plodded around the local area for a test drive. No issues forthcoming so I headed for the local hillclimb - 'Holme Moss'.

Holme Moss is a 524metre high hill between Yorkshire and Derbyshire with a windy road all the way to the top. A national speed limit of course so speeds of up to *cough*60mph are achievable

I got less than a third of the way up the hill when I saw the temp sore past 100deg and smoke come out of the bonnet. I pulled over and saw smoke-machine style effect coming from my exhaust. That'd be the head gasket then

Turned round, rested in a layby and called a mate to tow me home.


Sooo...off with the head again -


Clearly a blown gasket between the waterways around cylinder 4 (the one furthest from the pump)


The spark plugs show a huge variance in colour and from the image indicate 1 & 3 are running very lean


I've no idea what the actual problem is. The tune hasn't changed. The fuel quality hasn't changed. Dunno, out of ideas.



I took the cylinder head to a local form which has now been pressure tested and skimmed and I've also ordered a thicker Cometic head-gasket to fit.

The plan is to get it all back together and get it back to my tuner for some runs on the rolling road to check it all over before I melt something else.

IF, if this engine can get me through the rest of Summer then I am committed to a forged build with proper aftermarket management and a target of 400bhp+ over Winter. If it doesn't, then it's likely to be the end of the road for me and the car.

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:46

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:50

[dave2007bc]

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin.

It’s been 14 months since I last updated this thread and to say it’s been one hell of a journey is an understatement.

Following the replacement cylinder head and thicker head gasket in my last post, I suffered further problems. Whilst re-fitting the camcovers I dropped a bolt into the cylinder ?

The head had to come off again to get it. In my haste of refitting I put the head gasket on the wrong way round! I didn’t notice and ran the engine. Oil couldn’t get from the block to the cylinder and bang. The cams seized and the cambelt snapped. One dead engine.


Not to be put off, I threw all my spare parts together and finally, finally got the car running. But alas, the eBay engine was a bag of nails and smoked (and clearly had lots of metal floating around in it). I made the decision to do a forged build.

Over the next 3 months I amassed my pile of parts; APR rod bolts, ACL race bearings, cometic head gasket, carillo forged pistons and maxspeeding rods.

I also bought a new turbo (gt2860rs) along with a tubular manifold. I acquired another cylinder head which I sent off to local specialist AL Developments to be improved and checked over.




With money (somehow) still in my bank, I invested in proper aftermarket management. My loom was old, maybe 30 years, so I wanted something that would work well but came with a new loom.

After many many hours of research I plumped for MaxxEcu. It’s a largely unheard of system in the UK but its features largely outweigh those of Link, especially for the what it cost – sub £800 WITH a loom.

I entrusted the making of the loom with a company near Leicester that will rename nameless. The engine build was entrusted to a good friend from Kent.







Fast forward to early January and I had a new loom, ECU and a built engine. The engine was built-up in my garage and then fitted to my car over the period of a few days..




I didn’t want to go through the process of running the engine in on the road. It was Winter, I have no roof or windscreen and didn’t want to risk breaking down somewhere.

The chap that sold me the ECU and loom offered to run in and map the engine for me at his mates rolling road.

Early April I’m all booked in and trailer the car down to ‘StreetRacers’ so we could borrow the rolling road. The run-in commenced around midday and we completed around mid-afternoon. Injectors were swopped for 1000cc ones and then proper mapping commenced.





During mapping, I noticed the car was breathing quite heavily but apparently the guy knew what he was doing so I kept quiet.

Mapping stopped around 11.30pm. The car apparently made 299bhp (although I have no evidence of that) but would not respond to increased boost levels. Boost increase was attempted up to 1.6bar but the power remained the same.

I was told that the poor intercooler design and pipe routing was to blame. We did a quick test drive on the road and the car had huge amounts of lag, but when boost came in shot went well.

I went back home and was told to get the intercooler fixed and then come back for further mapping.



Over the next few weeks I continued to use the car, fairly hard.





I broke down on two occasions. On the first, it appeared as though my lift pump was not powerful enough to keep up with the new fuel demands. My swirl pot was ending up empty. A high-powered lift pump was purchased and installed.

The second time, an oil cooler hose split leaving me stranded and required further assistance to get home from a friend.



The car then went over to Clark Custom Fabrication in Barnsley to have the intercooler pipes modified; which at the very least made a good visual improvement!







It should be noted at no point did the car suddenly loose power or feel any different to my midnight drive immediately after mapping.
At this point, I just wanted the car done and working so went to my regular tuner in Leeds – RS Tuning.

Once on the rollers, Paul attempted to do a power run and immediately stopped. I was told it was knocking [DET]. He took 4 degrees out across the map. He tried again. Still knocking [DET]. He took another 4 degrees out and just about managed a full pull.



The fuel and ignition maps looked like a mountain range. Paul tidied up the fuel and ignition maps before a figure of 255bhp was produced. Something wasn’t right.

We pulled the timing cover and found that the timing had jumped 3 teeth on each cam. Mapping was halted and I was sent off to replace the entire timing belt setup.



I replaced the belt and pulleys but the car still breathed and had smoke emitting from the exhaust. I decided to take off the cylinder head.
On doing so, it was apparent that the head gasket had gone and cylinder 4 had some bore damage. All 4 pistons had evidence of DET marks.







I pulled out piston 4 and it looked like this. Basically scrap from sustained DET. Pistons 1,2 and 3 were all the same.



The pistons went in the bin along the head gasket, bearings and block.



I spoke to the original tuner, who blamed the new intercooler pipework for the cause DET and of course the slipped timing. I drove the car daily since it was originally mapped and I know it never felt any different. At this stage, I think the timing jumped whilst it was on the rollers whilst it was being run in and the DET was never noticed.

Of course I have no proof of this so just need to take this one on the chin.

After a few days moping about I picked myself and started ordering parts; pistons, head gasket, gasket set and bearings.



My spare block went to the engine builders and was machined and another friend gratefully came to my house and built the engine up for me.






The engine was fitted, run up to temp and the oil dropped. New running in oil was fitted and I took the car back to my regular tuner; RS Tuning in Leeds.
A coil pack died during mapping, so a trip to GSF fixed that. Around lunchtime we ended up with 307bhp @ 6,500rpm @ 1bar of boost. The original standard engine made 298bhp @ 7,500rpm @ 1.1bar of boost. So I’m making more power, at less rpm and less boost.



Throughout the mid-range I have an increased of between 30-40bhp across the board so a huge improvement in that regard.



There was a problem though, the engine was getting hot on boost and wouldn’t cool down. I was told to have a look at the cooling problem, swop the oil out again and get some road miles on it. Then return to finish the mapping.

The cooling issues was found to be a lack of thermostat. I’d removed this from the eBay engine and simply never refitted it as I stupidly thought an engine without a stat would run cooler but apparently this isn’t the case.

I’ve dropped the oil again and been out for my first drive which I’m pleased to say went very well.

Over the next few weeks, my plan is to get out in the car as much as possible before heading back over to Leeds to get the mapping finished and see what she can make. Based on other engines with a similar specification I’m hoping for somewhere in the region of 330-340bhp but it is of course not just about chasing numbers.

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:44

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:52

[dave2007bc]

Turn7 said:

Good update, thanks for sharing...

Its been a long and hard road, but looks to be coming to fruition....

Thanks. Hopefully nearly there... &#128513; Just in time for Winter ,ha

[dave2007bc]

MKnight702 said:

The trials and tribulations of modifying.

One question, when you went turbocharged, why didn't you stick with the Zetec? Or was the engine swap supposed to make things easier?

Great question - one I've had many times.

I wanted an engine that was meant to both have a turbo and be RWD to start with - the zetec isn't either.

I sold the zetec engine, gearbox, loom, ecu and throttle bodies for just short of £2k as a turn-key package. The ca18det stuff I bought as a package cost me just £600. A further £300 or so to fit and then off I went with over a grand still left over for 'stuff'.

C70R said:

However, I think a lot of your struggles have been a combination of the self-build aspects and the general flakiness of the CA18DET (I had one - I know).

It's been great that you've been able to go on a journey with the car, but I suspect you'd have reached your destination quicker by being a bit more risk-averse.

I think that's a bit harsh on the CA18DET engine. When I bought it it came on the back of a recovery truck in bits, well, 2 engines in bits. The engine that was dead had been in a drift car, at the youngest they were both 26 years old. After putting it in my car, adding another 60bhp and giving it hell for 2 years I then added another 30bhp or so.

Sure things broke but most were in relation to heat management, braking or traction.

The latest eBay engine was a bad call, as what having it mapped by someone that clearly lacks basic numerical ability but I wouldn't change anything. I've learnt so much about this engine particularly, engines in general, turbos, mechanising, engine management, fuel and ignition maps. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you (or get you divorced) only makes you stronger.

I know hope I'm in a position to make the most of my new found strength

Side note: I've done a few videos of the last few months - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5IQ4lTmiEAVhrNU...

and also plenty more pictures and videos on instagram: www.instagram.com/locost_turbo

Edited by dave2007bc on Tuesday 17th September 19:33

[dave2007bc]

[quote]
I get it, honestly I do. The CA is a great way to pretty cheap power, but they are old tech and not particularly robust.

If you're going to go ahead and spend your time rebuilding the bottom end and forging the internals to get to 300bhp, that's great. But you could have probably had a similar end result without the arseache if you'd gone with a different engine (like an SR20, or a bike engine, or tuned Zetec, or an MX5 with a turbo etc.).
[/quote]

Bike engines aren't for me
Sr20 engine too expensive and taller
Zetec as above
Mx5 potentially

Any of those options would have meant new mounts, gearbox propshaft, exhaust, ,flywheel, clutch , rad and intercooler piping. Not to mention management. It all quickly adds up. I did the sums, it's what I do for a job.

You get so far invested in something it's not cost effective to look at other options.

The engine isn't built for 300bhp, it's massively over specced and would do 500bhp with the right turbo.

[dave2007bc]

yonex said:

I’d be looking at a Honda K or even B series, they are capable of monster HP when built properly.

b series turns the wrong way so that won't work.

K series should have been an option and, if I'd known it fitted in my car I'd have fitted one instead of forging it. &#129335;&#127996;‍♂&#65039;

[dave2007bc]

wormus said:

Interesting choice the CA18DET. Did you ever consider the B235 2.3L turbo engine from Saab? Originally fitted to the 9-5 Aero, they make 250hp standard and with a software remap (£90 from Noontune) will easily make 300hp with standard hardware. You can pick them up on eBay for about £400 complete. Chain driven camshafts too.

Edited by wormus on Thursday 19th September 07:27

I did consider it, but it goes back to my original point. Saab engines aren't meant to be red meaning you have to find a gearbox to mate it to, most of which are made of chocolate.

You also don't see too many cars going sideways sitting in the limiter. That was part of the reason I went for the ca18; tried and tested to take abuse if the oil setup is maintained and considered.

[dave2007bc]

wormus said:

I’m pretty sure you can use T5 gearbox ? Bit of Googling shows plenty of people have used these engines in drift cars.

Maybe now. This engine went in over 4 years ago.

Don't see why I'm having to defend my choice of engine anyway tbh

[dave2007bc]

Greg_D said:

As an outsider looking in, I don't see it as you having to defend your choices, more of a pub conversation about the options.

It's more of a sharing of opinions thing. I imagine there are many people on this thread considering a similar car, and someone suggesting, for example, a saab engine may encourage another forum member to go down that route...

I wouldn't take it personally if i were you...

ps your car looks ace....

Sorry, was having a bad day clearly. I'm a fairly chilled out bloke normally

C70R said:

Exactly. There's no need to be defensive about it.

You posted a long and detailed thread about your car, which featured multiple engine failures.

Surely you'd expect someone to ask the question about whether you'd considered alternatives?

As above. Bad day.

DavSki153 said:

Fantastic log of your build throughout the years. Forged engine looks like its working like a dream. I personally love the CA18, how did you find fitting the gearbox in the chassis? Much chassis modifications? Keep the updates coming!

Gearbox fitted without modifications. The original chassis was built to have an MT75 gearbox which I understand is slightly wider than a Type 9?

Gord1 said:

Are you planning on taking it to Teesside again Dave?

Probably not. I love the track because it's relatively close and so cheap but the car was bordering on being over-powered for such a short track when it was 260bhp so it'd be a bit pointless now to be honest.


Post run-in update

The update you've all been waiting for?

I completed another 150-200 road miles on the car with the running in map. It was properly good fun. I'd lowered the rev limiter to 6k (mapper said don't go above this for running) and it got there so so quickly.



I booked back in for the final setup some weeks later


Before mapping, I was asked how much boost I wanted to take the car to. All of it was my answer The mapper said at 1.5bar the turbo will be on it's arse. You might get 350 flywheel bhp. We'll see eh?

After just an hour or so on the rollers, at 1.2 bar we achieved 343bhp (flywheel) and around 270lb ft. The massive amounts of work to the cylinder head and new and improved intercooler pipework were noted as the reasons the car is making such good power at such low boost. The engine has the capability to rev to over 8k rpm but we've already made peak power so the new limiter is 7,500rpm.

The image below shows the before and after of the old engine was the new with new turbo


It's such a lovely power graph, great linear power with no boost spikes. Incredible for such an old-skool turbo really.

I wanted to turn up the boost but the mapper advised I would be sensible to leave it how it is and see how it drives. As it stands neither the engine or turbo is over-worked and the car is making good, reliable figures.

There's a video on my YouTube channel about the last lot of mapping -


The car is quite simply awesome. 1st and 2nd gear are utterly useless but it is so much fun. Unfortunately the cold weather has of course now set in which will prevent any properly spirited driving. Give or take, that puts the car at 550bhp/ton or equivalent to a McLaren F1 or 488 Pista

Again, lots of videos of how the car now drives on my Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/locost_turbo/

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 28th November 12:30

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:53

Edited by dave2007bc on Thursday 7th May 10:55

[dave2007bc]

So, now that's all resolved lets spend some money elsewhere, ha

My LED headlights were always just DRLs so as I want to drive the car more (and it's Winter) I purchased some eBay special motorbike headlights -




They're not amazing by any means but they look a lot better than the other ones and have main beam now so that's a bonus.

When browsing one of the Westfield forums I noticed an absolute bargain come up for sale. A brand new AIM MXS 1.2 digital dash. For those of you that don't know, the AIM dash is a full digital unit that, using CANBUS, can display almost any output that your ECU can give it. Wiring is relatively simple and you use some software to modify your display. My MaxxECU has a CANBUS facility that can provide those outputs.

This is an example of some of the things the dash can do:


I've hated my dashboard for a long time. It had holes where old gauges used to be, mis-matched gauges and just generally looked rough.


The AIM was purchased. The problem with some kitcars is that all the gauges sit to one side of the wheel meaning they're practically useless as they're not even close to being in your line of sight. I wanted the AIM above my wheel and under the aeroscreen.

I would need a new dashboard so a new carbon fibre dashboard was ordered. I only need a hole for the steering column, battery switch, headlight switch and map switch. Way tidier than the old setup.

The new dash was marked up using the old as a template and then cut using a drill, grinder and dremel.






For those of you that are counting, this is my third dashboard so the process was fairly well rehearsed now!

I then needed to connect up the dashboard and configure it. With a bespoke 'welcome screen' of course


Once the dashboard and AIM were in place I went out for another drive to test that everything works. I need to configure my fuel gauge, but other than that it's all complete.




Yes I said that. The car is "complete". In theory, no more money will be spent on it other than consumable such as tyres, brakes, fuel and servicing.

I've also been approached by a well known car YouTuber to feature the car (again). This will hopefully be completed at some point over the next couple of weeks, providing that we get some decent weather.

[dave2007bc]

Dave Hedgehog said:

look forward to watching it

you pretty much have a complete car in the bits you have upgraded lol

I was discussing this with the Wife the other day. The only items that haven't been changed/modified since purchase is the basic chassis and steering rack.