Discussion
I'm looking seriously at a factory built Raw Striker. (I don't have the mechanical know-how to build it myself). Went to have a look at and sit in one today and loved it. I discussed the idea of fitting a 2.0 Duratec engine, but I'd like to know what owners think of the Toyota 4AGE units, as this might be a better option. What's the power delivery like in different states of tune? Plus, reliability is a big issue, so any comments there would be gratefully received. I'm also thinking of ticking the supercharger box, to make 220bhp.
I'm trying to get a feel for what would be the best use of funds.
Thanks in advance,
Tim
I'm trying to get a feel for what would be the best use of funds.
Thanks in advance,
Tim
I love the power delivery of the 20v 4AGE in my Striker 
Very smooth, revs to just past 8000RPM and develops good power up at the top end of the rev range too.
I bumped into someone with the supercharged version a few weeks ago. The supercharged one was silly quick, he took a friend out for a ride in it and it was one of very few cars that I thought looked fast pulling away watching it from the outside.
Gearing is really important too though and you have to take a bit of care here with the 4AGE because it revs so much higher than the Ford stuff you use the drivetrain from. I built my car with a standard Ford Type 9 gearbox and the shortest standard Ford 7" diff ratio (3.92:1). That gave me a car that was geared far far too long and with a hugely wide spread of gears too - it'd do over 70mph in second and was geared for 170mph+ in 5th (but in reality was slower in 5th than in 4th as it couldn't overcome the aero drag). As a road car that was just about ok, but on track it was really limiting.
Very smooth, revs to just past 8000RPM and develops good power up at the top end of the rev range too.I bumped into someone with the supercharged version a few weeks ago. The supercharged one was silly quick, he took a friend out for a ride in it and it was one of very few cars that I thought looked fast pulling away watching it from the outside.
Gearing is really important too though and you have to take a bit of care here with the 4AGE because it revs so much higher than the Ford stuff you use the drivetrain from. I built my car with a standard Ford Type 9 gearbox and the shortest standard Ford 7" diff ratio (3.92:1). That gave me a car that was geared far far too long and with a hugely wide spread of gears too - it'd do over 70mph in second and was geared for 170mph+ in 5th (but in reality was slower in 5th than in 4th as it couldn't overcome the aero drag). As a road car that was just about ok, but on track it was really limiting.
Have you also been to these 2:
http://www.forum.jpsc.org.uk/
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sylva-chat/
Plenty of Striker owners & info.
http://www.forum.jpsc.org.uk/
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sylva-chat/
Plenty of Striker owners & info.
Thanks guys. I'm onto it.
I went over and talked to Rob Sinclair at Wakefield, and sat in his car. It had the most LOVELY snickety short throw Quaife straight cut gearbox, but said the downside was it was noisy. I guess I'd be looking for a 5 speed unit with a similar action. Another issue is whether to go with the Sierra uprights.
Cheers,
Tim
FlatPack said:
Gearing is really important too though and you have to take a bit of care here with the 4AGE because it revs so much higher than the Ford stuff you use the drivetrain from. I built my car with a standard Ford Type 9 gearbox and the shortest standard Ford 7" diff ratio (3.92:1). That gave me a car that was geared far far too long and with a hugely wide spread of gears too - it'd do over 70mph in second and was geared for 170mph+ in 5th (but in reality was slower in 5th than in 4th as it couldn't overcome the aero drag). As a road car that was just about ok, but on track it was really limiting.
Yeah that's the sort of info I was looking for. So how would you get round that problem FlatPack? Do you know what other options there are. I'm sure gearing for a top speed of 130mph would more than do, and do see myself adding the supercharger in time. Sorry for the newbie lack of knowledge. It will be predominantly a road car, but I'm sure upgraditis will set in so would like to futureproof as much as poss. I went over and talked to Rob Sinclair at Wakefield, and sat in his car. It had the most LOVELY snickety short throw Quaife straight cut gearbox, but said the downside was it was noisy. I guess I'd be looking for a 5 speed unit with a similar action. Another issue is whether to go with the Sierra uprights.
Cheers,
Tim
There are a few problems with the standard Type 9 and a 4AGE engine.
If you plan on supercharging it I doubt a standard box would cope with the extra torque for all that long.
They're rumoured not to like sustained use at high RPM and the synchros start to suffer - makes sense as they're not designed for it (and the 3rd gear synchro on mine was dying too, but that could just be coincidence).
The ratios are just all wrong! With my 3.92 diff, 1st was way too short and everything else was too long. People like BGH make uprated versions of the Type 9, which can cope with higher power, higher RPMs and have closer ratios. Sounds good, but I found one problem with them. 4th gear in a Type 9 is a 1:1 ratio and cannot be changed the way the others can, so these close ratio gear sets are made with the gears clustered around that 1:1 4th gear. 4th gear was a theoretical 140+mph in my car, already well beyond the actual top speed and of course 5th would be longer still. In theory I could use a shorter diff ratio to bring the whole lot down to more reasonable speeds, that would work and is probably an option. The problem is that 3.92 is the shortest standard ratio fitted to a Ford 7" diff that my Striker uses, so I'd need to go for an aftermarket diff ratio kit (4.4 or even 4.7 : 1) but those were expensive and unobtainable when I looked. Another possibility is modding the car to take a different diff.
In the end I worked out that I could fit a Caterham 6 speed box to the car instead. My car is pretty much a track car now and if I want to take it anywhere I trailer it these days. Having said that in 6th I'm still just under 4000RPM at motorway speed and that's fine (car runs closed loop lambda up to 4000RPM so economy is good, go much faster than that and because it's aeroscreened the wind trying to pull your head off gets boring quite quickly). The other ratios are absolutely fantastic now. You probably can't get that gearbox in a factory built car though
Talk to Raw about it, I know they were looking at options for differentials and with the right diff the BGH box would be great too.
The standard Type 9 ratios are the worst part of a lot of 7 type cars, it's made even worse by having an engine that revs higher than most so you can't just drop in a standard close ratio boxes and make everything ok.
David
If you plan on supercharging it I doubt a standard box would cope with the extra torque for all that long.
They're rumoured not to like sustained use at high RPM and the synchros start to suffer - makes sense as they're not designed for it (and the 3rd gear synchro on mine was dying too, but that could just be coincidence).
The ratios are just all wrong! With my 3.92 diff, 1st was way too short and everything else was too long. People like BGH make uprated versions of the Type 9, which can cope with higher power, higher RPMs and have closer ratios. Sounds good, but I found one problem with them. 4th gear in a Type 9 is a 1:1 ratio and cannot be changed the way the others can, so these close ratio gear sets are made with the gears clustered around that 1:1 4th gear. 4th gear was a theoretical 140+mph in my car, already well beyond the actual top speed and of course 5th would be longer still. In theory I could use a shorter diff ratio to bring the whole lot down to more reasonable speeds, that would work and is probably an option. The problem is that 3.92 is the shortest standard ratio fitted to a Ford 7" diff that my Striker uses, so I'd need to go for an aftermarket diff ratio kit (4.4 or even 4.7 : 1) but those were expensive and unobtainable when I looked. Another possibility is modding the car to take a different diff.
In the end I worked out that I could fit a Caterham 6 speed box to the car instead. My car is pretty much a track car now and if I want to take it anywhere I trailer it these days. Having said that in 6th I'm still just under 4000RPM at motorway speed and that's fine (car runs closed loop lambda up to 4000RPM so economy is good, go much faster than that and because it's aeroscreened the wind trying to pull your head off gets boring quite quickly). The other ratios are absolutely fantastic now. You probably can't get that gearbox in a factory built car though
Talk to Raw about it, I know they were looking at options for differentials and with the right diff the BGH box would be great too.The standard Type 9 ratios are the worst part of a lot of 7 type cars, it's made even worse by having an engine that revs higher than most so you can't just drop in a standard close ratio boxes and make everything ok.
David
I have the 16v version of the 4A-GE motor in my Tiger. It came from RAW with their 'trac pac' kit. I have since fitted bike carbs and agree that it is a cracking motor. The comments about the revs v gearing are right but I have tried to overcome this by fitting a 4.1-1 cwp to my ATB diff. I was able to do this using standard ford parts but my car uses the Cortina rear axle.
I am able to hit 60mph in 2nd gear and 5th gear gives me a relaxed 20mph per 1000rpm, i.e. 80mph is at 4000rpm. On track i do not need to use 5th as 4th gear makes use of the power at the top of the rev range.
I am able to hit 60mph in 2nd gear and 5th gear gives me a relaxed 20mph per 1000rpm, i.e. 80mph is at 4000rpm. On track i do not need to use 5th as 4th gear makes use of the power at the top of the rev range.
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