locost with 1098 a series

[drellis]

hi all looking at a locost with a a series 1098cc with balanced flywheel - will this be very slow ( ie slower than my focus 1.8.
cheers all
dave

[MR2Mike]

The one on Ebay that needs SVAing I guess? Firstly, it will be fairly slow compared to even a 1300 crossflow, and certainly slower than your Focus (though it will probably "feel" faster). The 1098 A series is reasonably torquey, but it's long stroke and thin crank means it dosen't like high RPM. IIRC it would have about 48bhp.

If you buy this car, the only sensible thing to do is sell the engine fit something better. For minimal effort a tuned 1275/1380 A series engine could give around double the power, but a more modern engine (e.g. Zetec) would be a better solution.

However, the engine should be the least of your worries, make absolutely sure that the standard of building is adequate. If not you may as well start from scratch and build your own, as fixing other peoples mistakes/bodges is not a pleasant task. Be wary of cars that are sold at this stage, i.e. after all the hard work and prior to SVA, with an SVA the car would be worth considerably more money. It may be that the seller genuinely dosen't have the time or inclination, but it may be that it requires a lot more effort to make it SVA compliant.

>> Edited by MR2Mike on Tuesday 1st November 13:23

[dern]

My guess would be putting that through an sva test would be a nightmare. If it was 'ready for sva' then either the guy who built it would have put it through or the seller would have as it would be worth more than it'll go for plus the cost of the sva IYSWIM.

I wouldn't have thought 50bhp even in something that light would feel very quick at all.

Mark

[tr7v8]

I had a Dutton Phaeton S2 with a 1275 Sprite engine & box and it was slow, struggled to
even cruise on a motorway comfortably. Personally I'd give it a miss as a 1098 will
be even slower.

Jim