Fireblade Seven // The Devastator
Discussion
Bare with me on the name, it will make sense in a few paragraphs 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0ZWQ_WpuQ8
A few years back I bought an MK Indy RR running a little Zetec motor. Previously driving a Cosworth Powered Westfield with silly power and quite a dog rough chassis, the car was quick but i wasn't learning a damn thing other than when you spin off at 90mph on a damp Donington you sure feel alive!
So 160hp and a dream chassis, full inboard suspension, rose joints everywhere (not a rubber bushing in sight), incredibly wide track are just a few things that make the MK Indy RR nothing short of MIND BLOWING to drive!
My plan was always to drop an F20 s2000 motor in after I had learnt the chassis with less power. I had the manifold and many other parts ready. The poor zetec had given me nothing but headaches. Type 9 boxes are utter t*ss and eventually when a webber float broke and flooded the engine bay and surrounding few meters in fuel and nearly set me on fire in the pit lane at Cadwell I had to get rid and start the f20 swap earlier than planned.
That is when everything changed. In April 2014 our whole lives took a massive blow. We lost a very good friend when an unfortunate accident on his CBR Fireblade while he was out on the Cat & Fiddle (our all time fav road) took him from us. Dev had planned to race at club level the next year but instead the Bike was left in a sorry state in my workshop and we were faced with an impossible situation to overcome.
Me and Dev at Blyton.
Dev the day we picked the Fireblade up.
It was at this point i knew i needed a focus, something to repel the demons. A reason to get up in the morning and go to work and a vision to aim towards... The MK needed to become the Devastator.
For months i researched the install and over and over in my head envisioned my first lap of Cadwell park in minuscule detail. The emotions of pulling out of the pits and hammering the car listening to his bike roar again sure gave me a focus!
It took 18 months to slowly build the car. As you can imagine it is a bit of a mission getting a bike motor to run in a seven. Research told me that 08/09 blade motors suffered from crank teeth wear and 2011 onwards used fly by wire throttle so thank you Dev for buying a 2010, the goldilocks of Fireblade motors! A custom made two piece billet sump to give more floor clearance and to stop any nasty oil surge, reversing the whole throttle body assembly to package neatly in between the cylinder head and gearbox then resulted in us making a fibreglass intake that bonded onto the oem airbox to give one forward facing duct instead of two sideways ones are just a few of the troubles we overcame.
It was vitally important to keep the oem airbox as it runs dual fuel rails. One housed as usual in the throttle bodies and then a further rail above the stacks feeding a mist for the higher RPM requirements. Fuelling was taken care of using a low pressure fuel pump feeding a swirl pot with the oem Fireblade pump in the base. This ensured no nasty fuel surge that many suffer from.
The mech water pump was blanked and an electric water pump added to fully hard piped coolant lines, custom two piece prop and sprocket adapter took care of transferring power from the motor to the rear differential.
A Woolich racing ECU managed the subtle changes the custom exhaust manifold would bring along with getting the most out of the motor and deleting the oem exhaust valve, electronics steering damper etc. Along with a full custom loom and map from EFI. The Woolich now including race tools which allows flat upshifts, launch control and a few other trick options, pub ammo maybe, trick as f@#k? Yes!
A short walk around vid showing the install in more detail...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUwY7VYEQd4
Another gifted item as well as the motor came from a friend Ron when he took me with him to collect his new GSXR 600. We walked in and all i could see was this Yoshimura MotoGP can sat in a glass display cabinet for a stupid, STUPID price... He had to have it, and i made sure he bought it haha. The lobster tail, tidy welds and dull finish made me damn drule... A matter of weeks later he fell off and scuffed the damn thing up and the oem can went back on. So i made a custom bracket, reversed the can and the result visually was wild. Only to be trumped by the noise which you can hear in the Curborough vid below...
So the Devastator was ready just in time for summer 2016, and what an incredible summer it was! The day i had been dreaming about was here and I finally got to sample mine and my close friends hard work. Did i find myself overcome with emotion at the shear significance of what I was now driving? NOT A BLOODY CHANCE! If you think you can drive this thing while even so much as thinking about anything else you are so wrong. What this now gave me was utter 100% focus. An outlet to switch off from the world and switch on to the most engaging driving tool I could ever want. It is only as the motor ticks cool and i take my helmet off and step out of the car that i can then smile and truley commemorate my friend.
The year was spent making slight improvements in drivability and temp stability. Below you can find a link to the Blyton, Curborough and Cadwell track days and some road parties in North Wales, Peak District oh and scaring the crap out of the wife.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ06kmO0-r6...
If you got this far thanks for reading and showing interest. This is a car i will keep for life. A few tweaks in time for the summer season including flat floor and diffuser but really nothing major at all. I just want to drive the thing as much as i can! Full slicks and improved geo settings will make the days i have planned at Oulton, Curborough, Cadwell and Anglesey and many more over the summer mega fun. I will be sure to keep this thread updated with all the drama! If you are on instagram search for CT.Willis for much more footage of the car in action along with my other projects including 350z, MX5 track cars and previous builds.
Thanks, Will
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0ZWQ_WpuQ8
A few years back I bought an MK Indy RR running a little Zetec motor. Previously driving a Cosworth Powered Westfield with silly power and quite a dog rough chassis, the car was quick but i wasn't learning a damn thing other than when you spin off at 90mph on a damp Donington you sure feel alive!
So 160hp and a dream chassis, full inboard suspension, rose joints everywhere (not a rubber bushing in sight), incredibly wide track are just a few things that make the MK Indy RR nothing short of MIND BLOWING to drive!
My plan was always to drop an F20 s2000 motor in after I had learnt the chassis with less power. I had the manifold and many other parts ready. The poor zetec had given me nothing but headaches. Type 9 boxes are utter t*ss and eventually when a webber float broke and flooded the engine bay and surrounding few meters in fuel and nearly set me on fire in the pit lane at Cadwell I had to get rid and start the f20 swap earlier than planned.
That is when everything changed. In April 2014 our whole lives took a massive blow. We lost a very good friend when an unfortunate accident on his CBR Fireblade while he was out on the Cat & Fiddle (our all time fav road) took him from us. Dev had planned to race at club level the next year but instead the Bike was left in a sorry state in my workshop and we were faced with an impossible situation to overcome.
Me and Dev at Blyton.
Dev the day we picked the Fireblade up.
It was at this point i knew i needed a focus, something to repel the demons. A reason to get up in the morning and go to work and a vision to aim towards... The MK needed to become the Devastator.
For months i researched the install and over and over in my head envisioned my first lap of Cadwell park in minuscule detail. The emotions of pulling out of the pits and hammering the car listening to his bike roar again sure gave me a focus!
It took 18 months to slowly build the car. As you can imagine it is a bit of a mission getting a bike motor to run in a seven. Research told me that 08/09 blade motors suffered from crank teeth wear and 2011 onwards used fly by wire throttle so thank you Dev for buying a 2010, the goldilocks of Fireblade motors! A custom made two piece billet sump to give more floor clearance and to stop any nasty oil surge, reversing the whole throttle body assembly to package neatly in between the cylinder head and gearbox then resulted in us making a fibreglass intake that bonded onto the oem airbox to give one forward facing duct instead of two sideways ones are just a few of the troubles we overcame.
It was vitally important to keep the oem airbox as it runs dual fuel rails. One housed as usual in the throttle bodies and then a further rail above the stacks feeding a mist for the higher RPM requirements. Fuelling was taken care of using a low pressure fuel pump feeding a swirl pot with the oem Fireblade pump in the base. This ensured no nasty fuel surge that many suffer from.
The mech water pump was blanked and an electric water pump added to fully hard piped coolant lines, custom two piece prop and sprocket adapter took care of transferring power from the motor to the rear differential.
A Woolich racing ECU managed the subtle changes the custom exhaust manifold would bring along with getting the most out of the motor and deleting the oem exhaust valve, electronics steering damper etc. Along with a full custom loom and map from EFI. The Woolich now including race tools which allows flat upshifts, launch control and a few other trick options, pub ammo maybe, trick as f@#k? Yes!
A short walk around vid showing the install in more detail...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUwY7VYEQd4
Another gifted item as well as the motor came from a friend Ron when he took me with him to collect his new GSXR 600. We walked in and all i could see was this Yoshimura MotoGP can sat in a glass display cabinet for a stupid, STUPID price... He had to have it, and i made sure he bought it haha. The lobster tail, tidy welds and dull finish made me damn drule... A matter of weeks later he fell off and scuffed the damn thing up and the oem can went back on. So i made a custom bracket, reversed the can and the result visually was wild. Only to be trumped by the noise which you can hear in the Curborough vid below...
So the Devastator was ready just in time for summer 2016, and what an incredible summer it was! The day i had been dreaming about was here and I finally got to sample mine and my close friends hard work. Did i find myself overcome with emotion at the shear significance of what I was now driving? NOT A BLOODY CHANCE! If you think you can drive this thing while even so much as thinking about anything else you are so wrong. What this now gave me was utter 100% focus. An outlet to switch off from the world and switch on to the most engaging driving tool I could ever want. It is only as the motor ticks cool and i take my helmet off and step out of the car that i can then smile and truley commemorate my friend.
The year was spent making slight improvements in drivability and temp stability. Below you can find a link to the Blyton, Curborough and Cadwell track days and some road parties in North Wales, Peak District oh and scaring the crap out of the wife
.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ06kmO0-r6...
If you got this far thanks for reading and showing interest. This is a car i will keep for life. A few tweaks in time for the summer season including flat floor and diffuser but really nothing major at all. I just want to drive the thing as much as i can! Full slicks and improved geo settings will make the days i have planned at Oulton, Curborough, Cadwell and Anglesey and many more over the summer mega fun. I will be sure to keep this thread updated with all the drama! If you are on instagram search for CT.Willis for much more footage of the car in action along with my other projects including 350z, MX5 track cars and previous builds.
Thanks, Will
Edited by WillisRR on Friday 10th March 20:32
Nice build and a very fitting tribute, BEC's are great fun and as you say they require 100 pct focus and reward in spades as you really have to be on your game in the upper reaches of the rev range where things happen very quick, the noise, the blur of gear changes. People often bemoan the lack of torque but if a car is light enough it's not really missed if you in the right gear. Look forward to following it's development
Thanks mate. Yeah, it sure is intense but almost over before it begins in terms of grunt! I have such a short final drive that it really does whip through the gears. Tops out at 125mph so only good for the shorter circuits at the moment. I have a longer FD to put in it but there's something I love about the way it feels as it is! I have the 350z for the longer circuits if required anyways.
Will be getting out in it at Oulton in May to start of the summer dates in the MK but until then I will be doing Cadwell and a rally day in the MX5, and then in the 350z i have April 12 at Anglesey and a 10 day trip to Nurburgring booked! Busy but i love it!
Will be getting out in it at Oulton in May to start of the summer dates in the MK but until then I will be doing Cadwell and a rally day in the MX5, and then in the 350z i have April 12 at Anglesey and a 10 day trip to Nurburgring booked! Busy but i love it!
Thanks Jon, mega happy with the result! I was very shocked at how smoothly everything went together. A few of my friends have had such bad luck with kit cars, including one that still isn't ready after 5 years and another I think has been 8 years + now!! I kept the zetec ln for as long as possible while collecting the expensive parts of the install limiting the amount of time the car was unusable. I sold the zetec setup in Sept 2015 and the instal was complete by late Spring 2016 .
Came in well within projected budged to everyones surprise too! As a rule i always thought double the cost and time you think a project will take haha!
.Came in well within projected budged to everyones surprise too! As a rule i always thought double the cost and time you think a project will take haha!
k me, that thing flies. Very good op
Can't wait to get home and watch the videos later 
800hp per tonne jeeeez!!!
The Cosworth Westfield belonged to my friend Ron (mentioned in original post) but i was lucky enough to drive it.
It was a YAB motor converted to run higher comp NA setup on Jenveys, dry sump, quaife straight cut box etc. Think it was around 250hp. It was brilliant but we soon realised the drivetrain/motor setup was worth so much for a relativley average amount of power. Not only that but the thing kept breaking! We both agreed he should break the car for parts (which he did) to fund an f20c powered kit car that would be built from new.
Unfortunately the build of the s2000 powered Road Runner Racing SR2 has been riddled with problems and still in process. I cant wait for it to be ready so we can have some friendly battles!
Me, Ron and Dev removing the motor back in 2011! Was a regular ocurance!!
The Cosworth Westfield belonged to my friend Ron (mentioned in original post) but i was lucky enough to drive it
.It was a YAB motor converted to run higher comp NA setup on Jenveys, dry sump, quaife straight cut box etc. Think it was around 250hp. It was brilliant but we soon realised the drivetrain/motor setup was worth so much for a relativley average amount of power. Not only that but the thing kept breaking! We both agreed he should break the car for parts (which he did) to fund an f20c powered kit car that would be built from new.
Unfortunately the build of the s2000 powered Road Runner Racing SR2 has been riddled with problems and still in process. I cant wait for it to be ready so we can have some friendly battles!
Me, Ron and Dev removing the motor back in 2011! Was a regular ocurance!!
Edited by WillisRR on Saturday 11th March 08:49
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