My Formula 27 Bike Engined Kit Car - how to blow up engines
Discussion
I had never driven a kit car, but in summer 2010 decided that I was after a fun weekend car, and since a lot of my friends had Lotus' (Lotii?) of various flavours, I wanted something a bit different. With this in mind, the hunt for a 'seven' type car was on. I had no idea there were so many different makes / options / engines etc and had no clue if I wanted a car or bike powered car.
I found a car fairly local to me, and set off to see it. It was a 'Formula 27' with an 1100cc Honda Blackbird engine. When I saw it I knew it was right for me. It was factory built in 2000, which appealed more to me that something that some random guy in a shed had knocked together. After the test drive I had my heart set on it. I know they say never buy the first car you see, but I was sold. He had it for sale for £6,500 but made the mistake of telling me he was desparate to sell because of an impending house purchase. I made a cheeky offer of £3,500 which was turned down, and with my best poker face on I walked away. A couple of days later he called back and as the house purchase was now in the final stages and he needed the deposit, we settled on £4200. Not bad. What could possibly go wrong?!
So I was the proud owner of X703 AHY.
8 second video trying to get the power down - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wuJ2kar5M
I probably got a bit carried away having never been in one before, and it was only a few weeks into the purchase that I was coming to the realisation that at 6'4” I didnt really fit into it, and with size 13 feet, I had to drive with no shoes on, and even then my feet would press 2 pedals at once... Not to mention the fact that my head was higher than the roll hoop, so in the even of a roll over I would probably be pretty screwed. Hey ho, it was fast, raw and good fun.
One fateful weekend I was out hooning on the North Yorkhire moors with the group of reprobates I drive with, when we came around a corner rather enthusiastically to find an old man had stopped in the middle of a cattle grid to enjoy the scenery and was totally blocking the road. Cue a line of sports cars all slamming on the brakes in a train, and unfortunately it resulted in my car having a slight coming together with my buddys Elise S1. It was a very low speed impact, however it cracked the tissue paper that the rear of the Elise was built from, and my front wheel ended up out of place. Damn.
So the time came around to rebuild the car in October 2011. I found a great local (ish) guy who builds and races sevens, who could fabricate me a new front suspension mount, weld new chassis bits in etc. While it was with him, and since it was coming towards winter, we looked at how we could adapt it to fit me better. In for a penny, in for a pound!
We fitted a new pedal box (which we adapted to accommodate my fat feet) although I still have to wear stupid karting boot type shoes to fit properly.
The exhaust was initially exiting from the drivers side, but we re-routed it out of the passenger side which meant the pedal box could move back and gain me a few extra inches in leg room.
The seats were also very thick, and so I found some GRP seats which got me even more leg room. The plan was coming together and I was now fitting into it well. We cut 2 new side pannels, removed the spare wheel from the back, resprayed the rear and made a usable 'boot' by bording the rear space out with aluminum. At the same time we did lots of little jobs like new fuel pump, new baffled fuel tank, oil sump, new wheel arch cycle wings etc.
Since the exhaust was now coming out of the other side, we had a new 4-2-1 manofold made.
I got the car back in December. It sat in the shed over winter, and I just tinkered with things like new steering wheel (which was taken straight off again as it was too small – definitely a case of form over function)
Fitted new plate
Come March it was back on the road properly, and I was straight out again with the Elise that I had the coming together with – he was fresh from a new rear clamshell and respray. Had to get back on the horse!
and fitted some new wheels which had been sitting around in my garage for 6 years, so they tyres were shot.
then painted them black and bought some Toyo 888 Tyres to fit to the other wheels.
In April 2012 I took the car to get corner weighted and set up at an acquaintances house. 480Kg with ¾ tank of fuel. Not bad.
While I was there he took me to his friends garage and they balanced the wheels. As the mechanic was putting the wheels back on there were lots of people around the car, asking questions etc and generally distracting him (This is particularly relevant to the bit that comes next...)
Then disaster.
I had bought some carb trumpets to fit, as the pipercross air filter was too restrictive. I needed to cut the bonnet open but didnt have the tools, so went to get it cut by the guy who had rebuilt it for me. As I was going over Hartside Pass (google it – mountain with big drops, hairpins etc – amazing road and right on my doorstep) the wheel fell off! Not good. Had it happened on any other part of the road I would probably wouldnt be here. I have learned that every kit car journey is an adventure so usually have a go pro or two filming, and this day was no exception – here's the video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabDnoWVR9w
and here are some photos
Luckily there was no real damage – it slid on the brake disk, and the front cycle wing came off. I 'borrowed' a fence post, lifted the car up, took a wheel nut from each other wheels, put then stray wheel back on and continued the last few miles, albeit a little bit slower. There had been no indication the wheel was going to come off, like increased vibration, but it was down to the mechanic not tighteing the wheel nuts up after balancing the wheels. I know you're supposed to check them, but I had only driven 5 miles from the garage to my house, then 15 miles to where this happened. Oh well, lesson learned.
Cutting the hole in the bonnet for carb trumpets
At the same time the guy gave me his old diffuser from last seasons racing, and I fitted it (yes it looks horrible I know!)
Anyway, then for a few months I used the car as much as possible
Had an A frame made up to tow it, borrowed a tow car and took it to a trackday at Teeside Autodrome with some friends. Great track for little cars, but I was hitting the rev limiter in top gear on the straight and kept blowing fuses.
Some videos of the day here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjUy0qkgG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmJrtqeXew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdSl6ONhq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgS6vzmGLw
Bought a hood for it (didnt fit properly) and sold it again very quickly. I accepted the car for what it is and decided not to try to turn it into something it isn't (ie practical in any way, shape or form).
Over winter 2012 – 2013 It was garaged and I didnt use it much. Come April I decided that the windscreen surround should be black, so removed it and sprayed it. I used it quite a bit without the windscreen and decided that one day I needed an aeroscreen, but not yet as my wife liked coming in with me, and its nice not to have to wear helmets.
I made a video edit of the video footage I had of the car so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0-VGEAG_hI
Then joined a local kit car club and made some new friends
In March 2013 found out my wife was pregnant, so suddenly got concerned about 'safety' and so refitted the windscreen and got a rollcage made for it. It stiffened the whole car up considerably, and feels much better when pushing on. It also makes you feel much less exposed. My head is now not the highest point of the car.
Then spent the summer using it as much as possible
Until the inevitable. After a weekend driving around the lake district – 30 second video edit of the trip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8iGWFbDy9c it developed an electrical fault and immobilised itself as I was on the way home. In the middle of nowhere. With no phone signal. Luckily some local nutter came to the rescue, and we managed to find a length of hose pipe in a car showroom rubbush bin (it was Sunday, nowhere was open and we didnt have a tow rope, and I didnt have breakdown cover. Schoolboy error). We made a tow rope, and he towed me 2 hours home. He was totally nuts, but that's a story for another day.
Then disaster... (For the second time).
Come September 2013, I was back in the stride of kit car ownership. After one 'spirited' run out with another kit car, there was an almighty bang, lots of white smoke and suddely my engine had a big hole in it. I had heard about Bkackbird engines being fragile and throwing rods in kit cars, but had figured it would never happen to me. It did.
So after my now heavily pregnant wife came to rescue me and tow me home, the engine siezed and I had to get a flatbed to rescue me from the rescue.
A new engine was sourced on Ebay, and the car was given back to my long suffering car builder to redo. It was dropped off in September 2013, and after the birth of my daughter had disracted me for a few months, I got it back in May 2014. 8 months out, but I was looking forward to getting a good summers use out of it... Or so I thought.
The new engine wasnt running right at all. I did a few short trips in it but it was overheating like mad and was popping and banging and shooting flames on the overrun at every oportunity. Looked cool, but probably wasn't a good sign.
At least a breakdown can be turned into a good photo opportunity
In the middle of May 2014 I managed to limp it to a local show, after which it wouldnt start and got me stranded in the rain.
I was now getting quite proficient at being towed, so managed to tow it home and got it flatbedded back to the mechanic to get the issues sorted. He was really busy with other work, so passed it on to another local garage, who measured time by watching wind erroding rocks.
Fast forward from dropping it off in May 2013 to March 2015!! I finally got the car back. I had driven it twice from when the engine went pop in September 2013 to getting it back in March 2015 and both times it had broken down. I was starting to wish I had more mechanical knowledge and time to be able to fix things myself. I picked it up, was really excited, and even the astronimic bill didn't dull my enthusiasm, until 10 minutes later when it broke down again.. ARGH!
The temperature sensor on the new engine wasn't working, so it was overfueling thinking it was too cold. I left it with them for another week and they fixed the issue. I collected it again, but the car didn't seem as fast as before. I put this down to the 'new' engine maybe not being as sharp as the old one, but I was just happy to get it back so didn't care.
The new few weeks, the only issue was running out of fuel, (as the fuel gague and speedo weren't working since I got it back) and I got bored and painted the tyre markings white. I hear it adds 10bhp.
Also since I got it back the brakes weren't working properly. When pressed firmly it stopped ok, but if the pedal was pushed gently it went all the way to the floor. Scary. It appeared that the master cylinder seals were knackered. Had a few run outs planned so took a brave pill and went with it.
Then disaster... (Number three)
In April 2015 after a good mornings driving with some mates, I was on the way home, cruising on a dual carrigeway at about 65-70mph when I heard the all too familiar BANG! White smoke everywhere and you guessed it, the engine had a hole in it.
2 blown engines in 2 years. Exactly the same thing.
At least I had equipped my wife with a suitable tow car now, so she rescued me. Again.
I decided drastic action needed to take place, and I was getting pretty fed up with replacing engines. After a week or two of phoncalls, internet reading and garage pestering, I decided an engine swap was the only way forward. I had two options, a trusy well known 1000cc Firebade or the almighty 1400cc Kawasaki ZZR1400. If I was spending the money doing a conversion I may as well plump for making it go faster, so ZZR power it was! I sourced an engine through Mal at Yorkshire Engines, and found the Scottish Kit Car Company who although they are 100miles away could fit it in quickly and guarentee a quick turn around. Plus I work around Scotland every week so I could pop in regularly and pester them. I didnt fancy another 2 years of it getting tosseed to the back of a garage and forgotten about, so I did some research and went and met the guys at SKCC and a deal was struck.
The next day (29th May 2015) I got the car flatbedded up to Edinburgh and crossed my fingers.
They opened the new engine up and it looks like I've got a good 'un. I sourced a nice billet sump, and they fitted it. About time I got some good luck! Very quickly they had the old engine out, and the new engine mounts made and new engine in.
So this brings things up to date. As we speak they are doing the wiring, then we'll modify the bonnet to allow the new air filter to pop out. Quite an eventful few years considering it was bought on a whim as a track toy, and only actually managed one track day in it! While it is at SKCC I am also having some other bits done – new brake cylinder, pads and fluid, aero screen fitted (finally!) gear indicator and shift lights, 12v socket, paddle shifter fitted, smaller dominator headlights as well as the new engine / wiring. I also have a nice rear diffuser being made up by SA motorsport which shoud tidy up the rear end. Eventually I want to move to a digidash, but will probably do that over winter, as this year I just want to get it back, make it reliable and get some good use out of it.
I must have now watched every video on the internet of a ZZR1400 powered kit car, and I can't wait to get it back. We have a sevens club trip to the Scottish Highlands this coming weekend which I will go on if the engine is running by then (still waiting on a new exhaust manifold), a Nurburgring / weeks euro hoon trip at the end of July (which I was going to take the other car on, but if the F27 is running well by then I might take it) and I would like to get to as many track days as possible this year.
I am currently building a nice new garage to house it in when it returns, and I am going to try to learn to do as many things on it as possible so that I don't have to rely on people quite as much when things inevitably go wrong.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I found a car fairly local to me, and set off to see it. It was a 'Formula 27' with an 1100cc Honda Blackbird engine. When I saw it I knew it was right for me. It was factory built in 2000, which appealed more to me that something that some random guy in a shed had knocked together. After the test drive I had my heart set on it. I know they say never buy the first car you see, but I was sold. He had it for sale for £6,500 but made the mistake of telling me he was desparate to sell because of an impending house purchase. I made a cheeky offer of £3,500 which was turned down, and with my best poker face on I walked away. A couple of days later he called back and as the house purchase was now in the final stages and he needed the deposit, we settled on £4200. Not bad. What could possibly go wrong?!
So I was the proud owner of X703 AHY.
8 second video trying to get the power down - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wuJ2kar5M
I probably got a bit carried away having never been in one before, and it was only a few weeks into the purchase that I was coming to the realisation that at 6'4” I didnt really fit into it, and with size 13 feet, I had to drive with no shoes on, and even then my feet would press 2 pedals at once... Not to mention the fact that my head was higher than the roll hoop, so in the even of a roll over I would probably be pretty screwed. Hey ho, it was fast, raw and good fun.
One fateful weekend I was out hooning on the North Yorkhire moors with the group of reprobates I drive with, when we came around a corner rather enthusiastically to find an old man had stopped in the middle of a cattle grid to enjoy the scenery and was totally blocking the road. Cue a line of sports cars all slamming on the brakes in a train, and unfortunately it resulted in my car having a slight coming together with my buddys Elise S1. It was a very low speed impact, however it cracked the tissue paper that the rear of the Elise was built from, and my front wheel ended up out of place. Damn.
So the time came around to rebuild the car in October 2011. I found a great local (ish) guy who builds and races sevens, who could fabricate me a new front suspension mount, weld new chassis bits in etc. While it was with him, and since it was coming towards winter, we looked at how we could adapt it to fit me better. In for a penny, in for a pound!
We fitted a new pedal box (which we adapted to accommodate my fat feet) although I still have to wear stupid karting boot type shoes to fit properly.
The exhaust was initially exiting from the drivers side, but we re-routed it out of the passenger side which meant the pedal box could move back and gain me a few extra inches in leg room.
The seats were also very thick, and so I found some GRP seats which got me even more leg room. The plan was coming together and I was now fitting into it well. We cut 2 new side pannels, removed the spare wheel from the back, resprayed the rear and made a usable 'boot' by bording the rear space out with aluminum. At the same time we did lots of little jobs like new fuel pump, new baffled fuel tank, oil sump, new wheel arch cycle wings etc.
Since the exhaust was now coming out of the other side, we had a new 4-2-1 manofold made.
I got the car back in December. It sat in the shed over winter, and I just tinkered with things like new steering wheel (which was taken straight off again as it was too small – definitely a case of form over function)
Fitted new plate
Come March it was back on the road properly, and I was straight out again with the Elise that I had the coming together with – he was fresh from a new rear clamshell and respray. Had to get back on the horse!
and fitted some new wheels which had been sitting around in my garage for 6 years, so they tyres were shot.
then painted them black and bought some Toyo 888 Tyres to fit to the other wheels.
In April 2012 I took the car to get corner weighted and set up at an acquaintances house. 480Kg with ¾ tank of fuel. Not bad.
While I was there he took me to his friends garage and they balanced the wheels. As the mechanic was putting the wheels back on there were lots of people around the car, asking questions etc and generally distracting him (This is particularly relevant to the bit that comes next...)
Then disaster.
I had bought some carb trumpets to fit, as the pipercross air filter was too restrictive. I needed to cut the bonnet open but didnt have the tools, so went to get it cut by the guy who had rebuilt it for me. As I was going over Hartside Pass (google it – mountain with big drops, hairpins etc – amazing road and right on my doorstep) the wheel fell off! Not good. Had it happened on any other part of the road I would probably wouldnt be here. I have learned that every kit car journey is an adventure so usually have a go pro or two filming, and this day was no exception – here's the video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabDnoWVR9w
and here are some photos
Luckily there was no real damage – it slid on the brake disk, and the front cycle wing came off. I 'borrowed' a fence post, lifted the car up, took a wheel nut from each other wheels, put then stray wheel back on and continued the last few miles, albeit a little bit slower. There had been no indication the wheel was going to come off, like increased vibration, but it was down to the mechanic not tighteing the wheel nuts up after balancing the wheels. I know you're supposed to check them, but I had only driven 5 miles from the garage to my house, then 15 miles to where this happened. Oh well, lesson learned.
Cutting the hole in the bonnet for carb trumpets
At the same time the guy gave me his old diffuser from last seasons racing, and I fitted it (yes it looks horrible I know!)
Anyway, then for a few months I used the car as much as possible
Had an A frame made up to tow it, borrowed a tow car and took it to a trackday at Teeside Autodrome with some friends. Great track for little cars, but I was hitting the rev limiter in top gear on the straight and kept blowing fuses.
Some videos of the day here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjUy0qkgG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmJrtqeXew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdSl6ONhq4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgS6vzmGLw
Bought a hood for it (didnt fit properly) and sold it again very quickly. I accepted the car for what it is and decided not to try to turn it into something it isn't (ie practical in any way, shape or form).
Over winter 2012 – 2013 It was garaged and I didnt use it much. Come April I decided that the windscreen surround should be black, so removed it and sprayed it. I used it quite a bit without the windscreen and decided that one day I needed an aeroscreen, but not yet as my wife liked coming in with me, and its nice not to have to wear helmets.
I made a video edit of the video footage I had of the car so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0-VGEAG_hI
Then joined a local kit car club and made some new friends
In March 2013 found out my wife was pregnant, so suddenly got concerned about 'safety' and so refitted the windscreen and got a rollcage made for it. It stiffened the whole car up considerably, and feels much better when pushing on. It also makes you feel much less exposed. My head is now not the highest point of the car.
Then spent the summer using it as much as possible
Until the inevitable. After a weekend driving around the lake district – 30 second video edit of the trip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8iGWFbDy9c it developed an electrical fault and immobilised itself as I was on the way home. In the middle of nowhere. With no phone signal. Luckily some local nutter came to the rescue, and we managed to find a length of hose pipe in a car showroom rubbush bin (it was Sunday, nowhere was open and we didnt have a tow rope, and I didnt have breakdown cover. Schoolboy error). We made a tow rope, and he towed me 2 hours home. He was totally nuts, but that's a story for another day.
Then disaster... (For the second time).
Come September 2013, I was back in the stride of kit car ownership. After one 'spirited' run out with another kit car, there was an almighty bang, lots of white smoke and suddely my engine had a big hole in it. I had heard about Bkackbird engines being fragile and throwing rods in kit cars, but had figured it would never happen to me. It did.
So after my now heavily pregnant wife came to rescue me and tow me home, the engine siezed and I had to get a flatbed to rescue me from the rescue.
A new engine was sourced on Ebay, and the car was given back to my long suffering car builder to redo. It was dropped off in September 2013, and after the birth of my daughter had disracted me for a few months, I got it back in May 2014. 8 months out, but I was looking forward to getting a good summers use out of it... Or so I thought.
The new engine wasnt running right at all. I did a few short trips in it but it was overheating like mad and was popping and banging and shooting flames on the overrun at every oportunity. Looked cool, but probably wasn't a good sign.
At least a breakdown can be turned into a good photo opportunity
In the middle of May 2014 I managed to limp it to a local show, after which it wouldnt start and got me stranded in the rain.
I was now getting quite proficient at being towed, so managed to tow it home and got it flatbedded back to the mechanic to get the issues sorted. He was really busy with other work, so passed it on to another local garage, who measured time by watching wind erroding rocks.
Fast forward from dropping it off in May 2013 to March 2015!! I finally got the car back. I had driven it twice from when the engine went pop in September 2013 to getting it back in March 2015 and both times it had broken down. I was starting to wish I had more mechanical knowledge and time to be able to fix things myself. I picked it up, was really excited, and even the astronimic bill didn't dull my enthusiasm, until 10 minutes later when it broke down again.. ARGH!
The temperature sensor on the new engine wasn't working, so it was overfueling thinking it was too cold. I left it with them for another week and they fixed the issue. I collected it again, but the car didn't seem as fast as before. I put this down to the 'new' engine maybe not being as sharp as the old one, but I was just happy to get it back so didn't care.
The new few weeks, the only issue was running out of fuel, (as the fuel gague and speedo weren't working since I got it back) and I got bored and painted the tyre markings white. I hear it adds 10bhp.
Also since I got it back the brakes weren't working properly. When pressed firmly it stopped ok, but if the pedal was pushed gently it went all the way to the floor. Scary. It appeared that the master cylinder seals were knackered. Had a few run outs planned so took a brave pill and went with it.
Then disaster... (Number three)
In April 2015 after a good mornings driving with some mates, I was on the way home, cruising on a dual carrigeway at about 65-70mph when I heard the all too familiar BANG! White smoke everywhere and you guessed it, the engine had a hole in it.
2 blown engines in 2 years. Exactly the same thing.
At least I had equipped my wife with a suitable tow car now, so she rescued me. Again.
I decided drastic action needed to take place, and I was getting pretty fed up with replacing engines. After a week or two of phoncalls, internet reading and garage pestering, I decided an engine swap was the only way forward. I had two options, a trusy well known 1000cc Firebade or the almighty 1400cc Kawasaki ZZR1400. If I was spending the money doing a conversion I may as well plump for making it go faster, so ZZR power it was! I sourced an engine through Mal at Yorkshire Engines, and found the Scottish Kit Car Company who although they are 100miles away could fit it in quickly and guarentee a quick turn around. Plus I work around Scotland every week so I could pop in regularly and pester them. I didnt fancy another 2 years of it getting tosseed to the back of a garage and forgotten about, so I did some research and went and met the guys at SKCC and a deal was struck.
The next day (29th May 2015) I got the car flatbedded up to Edinburgh and crossed my fingers.
They opened the new engine up and it looks like I've got a good 'un. I sourced a nice billet sump, and they fitted it. About time I got some good luck! Very quickly they had the old engine out, and the new engine mounts made and new engine in.
So this brings things up to date. As we speak they are doing the wiring, then we'll modify the bonnet to allow the new air filter to pop out. Quite an eventful few years considering it was bought on a whim as a track toy, and only actually managed one track day in it! While it is at SKCC I am also having some other bits done – new brake cylinder, pads and fluid, aero screen fitted (finally!) gear indicator and shift lights, 12v socket, paddle shifter fitted, smaller dominator headlights as well as the new engine / wiring. I also have a nice rear diffuser being made up by SA motorsport which shoud tidy up the rear end. Eventually I want to move to a digidash, but will probably do that over winter, as this year I just want to get it back, make it reliable and get some good use out of it.
I must have now watched every video on the internet of a ZZR1400 powered kit car, and I can't wait to get it back. We have a sevens club trip to the Scottish Highlands this coming weekend which I will go on if the engine is running by then (still waiting on a new exhaust manifold), a Nurburgring / weeks euro hoon trip at the end of July (which I was going to take the other car on, but if the F27 is running well by then I might take it) and I would like to get to as many track days as possible this year.
I am currently building a nice new garage to house it in when it returns, and I am going to try to learn to do as many things on it as possible so that I don't have to rely on people quite as much when things inevitably go wrong.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Edited by ol on Monday 22 June 22:21
Thanks for the positive comments!
With regards to the wheel falling off - I never went back and confronted the garage about it. They had balanced the wheels as a bit of a favour, and I was meant to drop them off a token bit of cash the next day to say thanks. Needless to say I never went back and never will do...
The blackbird engines are notorious for throwing rods when put in cars. I guess it's just down to the extra weight of the car v the bike. I had read lots of horror stories about it, but never thought it would happen to me! Let alone twice!
I am going to put an air filter on the new engine as I don't want to take any chances - I ran with bare trumpets as the engine felt so much more responsive without a filter. I had bought filter socks for the trumpets but never liked them so took them straight off. I guess I was just lucky that no stones / cats / small children were sucked into the engine.
I am lucky to have a very understanding wife when it comes to cars. She pretty much lets me get on with it and has never asked how much I've spent on anything car related. I work hard and do long hours, so as long as I'm not bankrupting us then I have carte blanche. We have a good understanding
Needless to say I have put in many times what the car originally cost, but I would never walk away from it. The way I see it, I've now pretty much built the car around me, and so need to keep it for many many years to get the enjoyment out of it that I deserve! I can't ever see myself selling it. I am looking at Ultimas at the moment, but would still keep the kit car.
As anyone who owns / has owned something like this knows, they really get under your skin. Most of the time its annoying, expensive and highly frustrating, but on that one summers day when everything is working well, and I'm hammering through the Yorkshire Moors with a group of mates it makes everything totally worth it.
I'm going to see it tomorrow to see how the last few bits are coming along. Can't wait.
With regards to the wheel falling off - I never went back and confronted the garage about it. They had balanced the wheels as a bit of a favour, and I was meant to drop them off a token bit of cash the next day to say thanks. Needless to say I never went back and never will do...
The blackbird engines are notorious for throwing rods when put in cars. I guess it's just down to the extra weight of the car v the bike. I had read lots of horror stories about it, but never thought it would happen to me! Let alone twice!
I am going to put an air filter on the new engine as I don't want to take any chances - I ran with bare trumpets as the engine felt so much more responsive without a filter. I had bought filter socks for the trumpets but never liked them so took them straight off. I guess I was just lucky that no stones / cats / small children were sucked into the engine.
I am lucky to have a very understanding wife when it comes to cars. She pretty much lets me get on with it and has never asked how much I've spent on anything car related. I work hard and do long hours, so as long as I'm not bankrupting us then I have carte blanche. We have a good understanding
Needless to say I have put in many times what the car originally cost, but I would never walk away from it. The way I see it, I've now pretty much built the car around me, and so need to keep it for many many years to get the enjoyment out of it that I deserve! I can't ever see myself selling it. I am looking at Ultimas at the moment, but would still keep the kit car.
As anyone who owns / has owned something like this knows, they really get under your skin. Most of the time its annoying, expensive and highly frustrating, but on that one summers day when everything is working well, and I'm hammering through the Yorkshire Moors with a group of mates it makes everything totally worth it.
I'm going to see it tomorrow to see how the last few bits are coming along. Can't wait.
There aren't many other cars with the ZZR1400 engine around. I've been watching every video I can find, and here is a good example of what it is capable of.
ZZR1400 kit car v 997 GT3RS on track - https://youtu.be/Tx5T9qVudB4?t=10m50s
ZZR1400 kit car v 997 GT3RS on track - https://youtu.be/Tx5T9qVudB4?t=10m50s
BenWRXSEi said:
Blimey, that's been some journey! I enjoyed that a lot
See you at Croft in August, maybe...?
http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/trackday/index.p...
Thanks for the info, I fully intend to come as long as the car is still in one piece after the Nurburgring / Euro hoon last week of July. The Javelin sprints seem to be a good way to dip your toe into competitive driving on a budget. See you at Croft in August, maybe...?
http://www.javelintrackdays.co.uk/trackday/index.p...
stevenorris29 said:
Great write up! Fitted a ZZR1400 to a robin reliant when I worked at ZCars! You wont be disappointed!
Sounds interesting, have you got any photos / video of it? I bet it was nuts! Baryonyx said:
f
king hell, it sounds like that has been a struggle to own!
I don't think it's so much that the Blackbird engine is weak, it's a fantastic piece of engineering and will do many, many thousands of fast miles...in a motorbike. It was just never meant to lug a heavy old car around.
Treat 'em mean keep 'em keen. Every time it breaks or blows an engine it makes me more determined to get it running properly. One day. king hell, it sounds like that has been a struggle to own!I don't think it's so much that the Blackbird engine is weak, it's a fantastic piece of engineering and will do many, many thousands of fast miles...in a motorbike. It was just never meant to lug a heavy old car around.
Quhet said:
Brilliant read, really enjoyed that. Thanks
Thanks! Anyway, I went to visit the 'patient' today and it's all looking good. Engine is wired up and mounted, just need the new exhaust manifold to arrive (next week) then the only things left are the headlights (smaller dominator style lights) the paddle shift, the aero screen and the gear indicator / shift light. Should all be ready by the end of next week!
We also decided to put new brakes on, since the power is being increased, so it now has a shiny new set of willwood 4pot callipers and mintex pads. Should make a big difference from what I've been told.
hello cheeky!
Engine in
And luckily the hole in the bonnet is in exactly the right place for the new air filter to poke out from. I'm so relieved as I thought I would have to patch the hole up and cut another one.
OliilO said:
Found the topic that I was thinking of on LCB, http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid...
Although it looks like it was you who started it!
Yep, was my thread! Although it looks like it was you who started it!
marky911 said:
Good write up and well done on your persistence.
I'm a firm believer, after running one for a couple of years, that bike engines don't work in cars. You spend more time fixing them than you do driving them.
The seller was a nicer guy than me. If someone came to buy something I had for sale for £6500 and offered me £3500, they'd be leaving with their tail between their legs. Well done on bagging a bargain though.
Good luck with it.
Thanks, I think bike engines car work if everything is done properly. I have friends who have run them hard for years with no issues. I was just unlucky.I'm a firm believer, after running one for a couple of years, that bike engines don't work in cars. You spend more time fixing them than you do driving them.
The seller was a nicer guy than me. If someone came to buy something I had for sale for £6500 and offered me £3500, they'd be leaving with their tail between their legs. Well done on bagging a bargain though.
Good luck with it.
Little update on the car. I keep adding more bits, so the rebuild is taking a lot longer than expected, but the car will be back in the next few days.
Added a Longacre 17" mirror. Much better visibility and looks great.
New smaller lights are on, the old ones were huge and acted as little air brakes
New diffuser fitted, much better than the old one. They had run out of black trim so finished the edge in white. I'll probably change this to some black trim soon
Aeroscreen fitted. Took a while to find a tall one so the wind isn't directed straight into my face!
We had some issues with the speedo not working, and the rev counter not reading properly. I would have had to send the old dials away to be re-calibrated, so I took the plunge and we've installed a Koso digital dash. I'll be re-doing the whole dash over winter so we just mounted it on a plate to cover the holes left by the speedo / rev counter
Fitted a new steering wheel and got the paddles working. They are connected straight to the gearbox so we've done away with a gear stick. I much prefer having paddles, so this should be a great addition to the drivability of it
Electric adjustable water pump fitted to help with cooling, and pipercross air filter with trumpets underneath
Here is a video of it running. It sounds great , very different to the Blackbird.. (click image to open video)
Garage coming along well so at least it has a place to live
So there it is. I'll pick it up on Friday and then will be taking it to Cadwell on the 30th for a sprint event. I was booked onto my first one yesterday at Croft, and was meant to be using the F27, but since it wasn't ready I took the daily - Panamera Turbo. Looked a bit out of place alongside all the stripped out race cars, but I won my class and got 3rd fastest time of the day, only getting beaten by a Radical and a modified Exige driven by one of the Croft race instructors. Pretty pleased with that
...and a little onboard video of my fastest lap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CUxhwyyiWs&HD...
Edited by ol on Monday 17th August 16:25
Thanks Ben. Yeah it's a bit of a beast - complete contrast to the F27 - I took it to Vmax earlier this year and got 186mph indicated. Here is is against my friends GT3RS
http://youtu.be/pvulDJONMoE
Then took it to the Nurburgring a couple of weeks ago. Was going to take the kit car but obviously it wasn't ready in time. Here's the first lap I did in the Panamera - quicker than anything else I've been out there in
http://youtu.be/ydHkuCaItxY
http://youtu.be/pvulDJONMoE
Then took it to the Nurburgring a couple of weeks ago. Was going to take the kit car but obviously it wasn't ready in time. Here's the first lap I did in the Panamera - quicker than anything else I've been out there in
http://youtu.be/ydHkuCaItxY
civicduty said:
I like the shots of the Ex-RAF Tri-Stars and VC10 towards the end of the VMax video!!
Haha, I prefer the GT3 doing 180mph but each to their own!! cheesewotsit said:
Super thread - great read!
Thanks I'm picking it up today, it feels like Christmas. Had a short test drive the other day and it's definitely nippy! I noise tested it with a DB meter I have and it came out at 107.8! I'm going to take it to Croft later this afternoon to get them to test it with their equipment otherwise I'll have to sort a new exhaust or get some exhaust baffles to be able to use it on any tracks.
AyBee said:
ol said:
nippy!
Nippy?! I imagine it's positively rapid!BenWRXSEi said:
Blimey that's noisy! Hopefully some baffles will sort it.
Looking forward to seeing it in action at Blyton
I'm going to buy some this weekend and test it. I definitely need to get the volume down! Looking forward to seeing it in action at Blyton
The diff needs changing too as top speed is 106 at almost 13,000 rpm... Acceleration is nice though!
Brought it home yesterday was a pleasure to drive. Aside from a little problem with the water pump and it overheating all is well.
Edited by ol on Monday 24th August 21:27
Mr Tidy said:
Brilliant write-up OP!
Have to admire your persistence - hopefully the ZZR engine will behave better.
Thanks, reliability is the name of the game from here on in! Have to admire your persistence - hopefully the ZZR engine will behave better.
sheepdip said:
I too once owned a F27 in yellow! I built it from new in 1999 with a blade engine. I raced it for a few seasons then changed to a ZX12R engine. Gave up racing as I seemed to spend all my spare time trying to make a reverse that actually worked! I then went sprinting. It ended up with 204bhp and 465kg. I then put it back on the road and scared myself senseless! so sold it. I blow several blade boxes, lost one zx12 to a failed dry sump system(Pace unit to blame)then another to a gearbox failure. Also had great trouble keeping it under trackday noise limits.
What diff are using as your gearing seems very low - also are sure the 1400 engine will do 15000rpm?
Sorry I meant 13,000rpm. Edited original post. I thought I had a 3.89 diff but I think now it might be a 4.1. The lowest I can get for an English axle is 3.54 which should give me 125ish. What diff are using as your gearing seems very low - also are sure the 1400 engine will do 15000rpm?
Your car sounds like it was good fun! 204 and 465kg are pretty good numbers - what did you do to the ZX12 to get 204?! I haven't dry sumped it but got a billet sump made up. I'm planning to do a fair bit of hill climbing / sprinting next year.
BenWRXSEi said:
How did you get on at Cadwell? Planning on coming to Blyton?
Not well mate, not well (see below)e46m3c said:
love it. want!
Cheers - get one! They can be a bit frustrating at times though rhinochopig said:
Small world, I saw you all parked up in Helmsley square - I'm a local.
Are you sure it was me? I don't think I've been to Helmsley square recently?! Another update, and more problems.
I was booked on to a Javelin Sprint at Cadwell Park. 2 days before leaving, the car wouldn't start. I presumed it was battery related as it seemed to jump start fine. I thought I'd chance it anyway as there wasn't time to get anything done on it. I still managed to get our for an afternoon to meet up with some other cars.
I've been worried about how loud it is, so I bought an exhaust baffle, but the lip around the exhaust end prevented it from fitting. I borrowed my neighbours garage and tools, and managed to grind it down so that it fitted if I needed it.
I bought a trailer so that I could tow it to events. It's a nice little Brian James Micro Max and just big enough for a seven.
So we set off for Cadwell, soon to be one of the most frustrating weekends of my life... The car towed fine with our Discovery and we got to the hotel ok on the Saturday night. The hotel experience was horrendous (I found pieces of metal in my food, wifes food was horrible, pool wasn't open and my 1.5 year old daughter managed to empty a bottle of hotel shower gel into her eyes and screamed all night. We finally got her to sleep and the fire alarm went off, waking her up again meaning we hardly slept at all... hey ho.
Got to Cadwell, jump started it, and bodged it through scrutineering - noise test up next. 105 was the limit and I was over 111 at three quarter revs. My rev counter wasn't working properly, so we 'guessed' at a lower rev limit and somehow with a nod and a wink I got through without having to fit the baffle.
So on to the parade lap.
I managed to complete the parade lap, then the car cut out. I had to be towed off the track, which wasn't a good start. Unbeknown to me, the guy who towed me fitted the tow strap to the lower wishbone, which broke the weld to the chassis. ARGH! I didn't notice this at the time...
After lots of people trying to help me get the car started again, we figured there was problems with the wiring which was stopping the battery get charge. I managed to stick a jump start unit on it and get enough charge in the battery to do two runs before it just stopped working all together. The two runs I did I noticed I was having to steer left to go straight, which wasn't good, then I found the weld...
little video of me coming off the starting line
Sometime during the day my new Longacre mirror had cracked. I don't see how I could have any more bad luck with this car let along another 7 years...
After trying to get it running again over and over again I decided to call it a day and loaded it back up on the trailer so we could make an early get away and go home.
Cue the Land Rover not starting. AARRGGHH! The battery was flat even though we hadn't had anything turned on in it all day. I went to open the bonnet so we could jump start it and THE F*ING BONNET CABLE SNAPPED!! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!
Everyone was very helpful and we all tried to open the bonnet by various means, and then after an hour or two of trying everything we admitted defeat and called the RAC. They took 3 hours to arrive, and after trying for a long time the RAC man couldn't get the bonnet open either. So frustrating.
In the end we jacked the front of the car up, and poked a long metal rod up through the engine into the started motor. We were then able to jump start it from that. I drove 4 hours home without letting the car stop just to make sure. Our bad luck didn't stop there – the Discovery was giving black smoke on acceleration (split intercooler hose, very common probem) which got worse and worst as we got closer to home, until 10 miles from home warning lights came all over the dash.
We limped home and got a local garage to sort it the following day. If it was easy it wouldn't be fun right?
The only positive was that won my class (of 1) so at least I got a trophy to remind me of the day...
So I'm set on getting this car right.
I bought a set of original bike clocks to replace the new digi dash which just didn't work (ZZR1400 is can bus and the Koso clocks aren't compatible with it).
Meanwhile my best mate bought a kit car too. He got an MK with zetec engine for about £4,000, and drove it home 7 hours from down South without issue. I can already see his being rather more relaible than mine annoyingly..!
I got my car recovered back up to Scottish Kit Car Centre who have been doing all the work, so that they can re-wire it and sort the battery issue, fit the bike clocks, re-do the dash and centre tunnel, fit the speed sensor (without it the bike is in safe mode and limits the revs to around 10k), re-weld the wishbone and do various other little bits to make good the job.
I bought a GI Pro gear indicator with TRE which should take off the safe mode that limits the power through the first few gears (stops bikers from flipping it).
I also bought a 3.54 crown wheel and pinion from Quaife which will be fitted this week. This should make a big difference as the top speed I was seeing was about 107mph. With this I should be able to hit 125-130 theoretically.
It should be ready in the next week or two – there is a Sprint at Blyton Park at the end of the month that I really want to get to, so that's the target. I've come so far with this car that I NEED to get it working properly and get some good use out of it, and I'm sure that day will come.
So at the moment it got back up to the garge safely and is currently been worked on.
...At least mine has an engine in it though, right?!
BenWRXSEi said:
Fingers crossed the rebuild goes OK. See you at Blyton with any luck 
ETA: which bung did you go for in the end? I keep meaning to get one but most seem to be for bike cans.
Fingers crossed! I have a track day at Anglesey the weekend after so I need it ready ASAP! I just got an ebay £20 bung, works well and really does kill the DB's. ETA: which bung did you go for in the end? I keep meaning to get one but most seem to be for bike cans.
Edited by BenWRXSEi on Monday 14th September 15:50
sheepdip said:
Welcome to the world of the F27! My chassis broke the same way! you will need to get your guys to triangulate the section where the lower are mounts. You will also need to change the front wishbones for later ones or make them stronger. If you still have the rear 4 links made with polybushes you will need to change them as they will break! I will try to find some old pictures to see where I needed to strengthen the chassis. How much was the cwp by the way - as I have several in stock!
Thanks, we are re-enforcing the front wishbone, definitely a weak point. We recently put new polybushes all over the rear so should be fine. I think I paid about £300 inc vat and postage for the CWP from Quaife. I'm sure I could have got them cheaper but liked the idea of a new quaife item. yonex said:
Nightmare weekend, but you won 
Top marks for your tenacity!
Thanks - it was a hollow victory! Top marks for your tenacity!
Limpet said:
Brilliant read. I really admire your perseverance with the car, and your determination to get it sorted. Lovely bit of kit too. I've enjoyed a number of big Kawasaki fours (on bikes) over the years and they have a very distinctive, hard edged, slightly angry note to them which I have always loved.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, the ZZR1400 definitely sounds more 'throaty' than the Blackbird did. It sounds like it's going to kick my arse. Keep up the good work!
sheepdip said:
If you want to sprint it you have the wrong 4 link bars. They will rip the eyes out. The second generation and I use that term loosely! used a metalastic bush. I then made my own using rose joints. I also changed the panhard rod mounting as the original made the roll centre too high.
Really? I know someone who sprints a F27 and I believe he has the same rear set up as me. He's been doing it for years. To be honest my technical knowledge isn't great, so I don't really understand what you mean about 'panhard rod mounting' - can you explain it in laymans terms? Also, where did you get the second generation link bars? I can never find F27 parts anywhere. So little update.
I finally changed the crown wheel and pinion in the diff from a 3.89 to a 3.54. Ideally I could do with a taller ratio but this is the best I can get for the English Axle. Should move my top speed from 105 to around 125ish.
As with everything involving me and this car it wasn't straight forward...
The garage got the diff out, I collected it and and took it from near Edinburgh to a diff specialist in Gateshead who told me they could get it done quick sharp. After a few days they called me telling me that they had heated it up with an oxyacetylene torch and (in their words) "smashed it with a mallet" and they couldn't get the half shaft out. Now, I don't know much about diffs, but smashing things with sledgehammers is something I would do, and I wouldn't trust myself to disassemble a diff...
Anyway, it was now Monday, and I had to collect the car on Thursday morning to drive to Anglesey for a track day on the Friday. I couldn't cancel as not only was it my birthday, but we had booked a cottage for the weekend and we were meeting a friend and his family there to pop his trackday cherry in his newly acquired Caterham Fireblade. There was no way I was missing this.
I called every diff specialist in Northern England / Scotland, and found one in Glasgow (Top Gear Transmissions) who said they might be able to do it. Good enough for me. I was working in Glasgow, but hightailed it straight down to Gateshead, picked up my diff from the pikies, and drive it straight back to Glasgow to drop it off. I spent the night crossing my fingers, and sure enough the following day they phoned to say it was done. They are awesome and I would highly recommend them. I collected the diff at 4pm, and drove straight across Scotland to drop it off at the Kit Car garage (Andy very kindly stayed behind until I arrived at 6pm). My Panamera now has the distinct smell of diff ingrained in it...
To cut a long story short, they spent the next 2 days furiously working on the car getting all the electrical issues sorted, welding up the wishbone that had failed at Cadwell, and getting the bike clocks working. We also put in a larger battery, wired the water pump so that it's on all the time, and put a switch for the fan so I can make doubly sure it doesn't overheat.
Roll on Thursday morning, and by midday it was ready. I drove from Hexham to Scottish Kit Car Centre and back to collect it (4.5 hour drive) Along the way I managed to get a speeding ticket for doing 60 mph on the A68, which is a 60 limit. Little did I know that I was only allowed to do 50 when towing, which is stupid as the Land Rover tows it without even noticing it's there... Hey Ho.
Then collected my long suffering wife and daughter and set off on the 5 hour drive to Anglesey. Almost 10 hours driving to get to a track day where I would be driving all day. Nice.
Friday morning was my birthday, so up early and got to Anglesey Circuit. I had always wanted to drive this track and it didn't disappoint. Great views and a nice layout - Gp track in the morning, Coastal in the afternoon.
This was my mates first trackday and he had recently bought a very smart Caterham Fireblade. I think some of my bad luck rubbed off on him, as for the first few hours we could't get it running (flat battery and then a stuck throttle cable)
Eventually we got it going thanks to some really helpful people, and had some fun.
There was a sprint weekend on, so lots of people were using the track day as a warm up, so there was about 25 sevens of different flavours (mostly Caterhams) which meant we had lots of fun with them on the track.
My car was faultless all day, and we racked up over 110 laps! Hopefully my luck has now turned and it's going to be all gravy from here on it.
Here's a video of my fastest lap of the day on the coastal layout (1.22) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af31sYlzajw
and a 9 second clip of it getting very sideways -
And the cars tucked up for the night at the cottage we rented for the weekend.
I finally changed the crown wheel and pinion in the diff from a 3.89 to a 3.54. Ideally I could do with a taller ratio but this is the best I can get for the English Axle. Should move my top speed from 105 to around 125ish.
As with everything involving me and this car it wasn't straight forward...
The garage got the diff out, I collected it and and took it from near Edinburgh to a diff specialist in Gateshead who told me they could get it done quick sharp. After a few days they called me telling me that they had heated it up with an oxyacetylene torch and (in their words) "smashed it with a mallet" and they couldn't get the half shaft out. Now, I don't know much about diffs, but smashing things with sledgehammers is something I would do, and I wouldn't trust myself to disassemble a diff...
Anyway, it was now Monday, and I had to collect the car on Thursday morning to drive to Anglesey for a track day on the Friday. I couldn't cancel as not only was it my birthday, but we had booked a cottage for the weekend and we were meeting a friend and his family there to pop his trackday cherry in his newly acquired Caterham Fireblade. There was no way I was missing this.
I called every diff specialist in Northern England / Scotland, and found one in Glasgow (Top Gear Transmissions) who said they might be able to do it. Good enough for me. I was working in Glasgow, but hightailed it straight down to Gateshead, picked up my diff from the pikies, and drive it straight back to Glasgow to drop it off. I spent the night crossing my fingers, and sure enough the following day they phoned to say it was done. They are awesome and I would highly recommend them. I collected the diff at 4pm, and drove straight across Scotland to drop it off at the Kit Car garage (Andy very kindly stayed behind until I arrived at 6pm). My Panamera now has the distinct smell of diff ingrained in it...
To cut a long story short, they spent the next 2 days furiously working on the car getting all the electrical issues sorted, welding up the wishbone that had failed at Cadwell, and getting the bike clocks working. We also put in a larger battery, wired the water pump so that it's on all the time, and put a switch for the fan so I can make doubly sure it doesn't overheat.
Roll on Thursday morning, and by midday it was ready. I drove from Hexham to Scottish Kit Car Centre and back to collect it (4.5 hour drive) Along the way I managed to get a speeding ticket for doing 60 mph on the A68, which is a 60 limit. Little did I know that I was only allowed to do 50 when towing, which is stupid as the Land Rover tows it without even noticing it's there... Hey Ho.
Then collected my long suffering wife and daughter and set off on the 5 hour drive to Anglesey. Almost 10 hours driving to get to a track day where I would be driving all day. Nice.
Friday morning was my birthday, so up early and got to Anglesey Circuit. I had always wanted to drive this track and it didn't disappoint. Great views and a nice layout - Gp track in the morning, Coastal in the afternoon.
This was my mates first trackday and he had recently bought a very smart Caterham Fireblade. I think some of my bad luck rubbed off on him, as for the first few hours we could't get it running (flat battery and then a stuck throttle cable)
Eventually we got it going thanks to some really helpful people, and had some fun.
There was a sprint weekend on, so lots of people were using the track day as a warm up, so there was about 25 sevens of different flavours (mostly Caterhams) which meant we had lots of fun with them on the track.
My car was faultless all day, and we racked up over 110 laps! Hopefully my luck has now turned and it's going to be all gravy from here on it.
Here's a video of my fastest lap of the day on the coastal layout (1.22) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af31sYlzajw
and a 9 second clip of it getting very sideways -
And the cars tucked up for the night at the cottage we rented for the weekend.
Edited by ol on Monday 12th October 23:29
There were also 3 new 911 GT3's at the trackday. Porsche GT3 / GT3RS are my some of my all time favourite cars, so I couldn't resist having a play. This was in the morning before I was too confident with the car and track. I'd like to fit a set of slicks and go again for round two...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7d5KnHYC4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7d5KnHYC4
Yesterday I took it out for a jaunt on the roads with my friend who bought the MK Indy mentioned earlier in the thread. He hadn't really been out in his much and fancied a drive. We took in a great route from Hexham up to Kielder forrest, through the boarders to Jedburgh, then back down the A68. Great roads and scenery but it rained a little on the way back.
My car wasn't sounding as silky smooth as before, and I noticed that the nuts had come off the exhaust manifold mount. Something I'll sort out ASAP.
On the way home I met my wife who was out in my Panamera Turbo. We had a little play, and they are dead level from 15mph right up to about 65 where the Panamera then walks away from it (as would be expected). Not bad considering the Panamera is 500bhp, 4WD and 0-60 in 3.8 seconds.
Also, the garage that I have been building for it (for the past year) is almost finished, and while I normally store it at a neighbours while the building work is going on, I couldn't resist giving it it's first night in the garage. Satisfying. (It was washed the following morning)
My car wasn't sounding as silky smooth as before, and I noticed that the nuts had come off the exhaust manifold mount. Something I'll sort out ASAP.
On the way home I met my wife who was out in my Panamera Turbo. We had a little play, and they are dead level from 15mph right up to about 65 where the Panamera then walks away from it (as would be expected). Not bad considering the Panamera is 500bhp, 4WD and 0-60 in 3.8 seconds.
Also, the garage that I have been building for it (for the past year) is almost finished, and while I normally store it at a neighbours while the building work is going on, I couldn't resist giving it it's first night in the garage. Satisfying. (It was washed the following morning)
Edited by ol on Monday 12th October 23:22
TvrJohn said:
Great post, really enjoyed reading that
Thanks, it's been an adventure, but hopefully will just be boring and reliable from now on BenWRXSEi said:
Great stuff - glad to hear it's back on track (in both senses!)
Cheers, are you doing the last round at Cadwell? I don't think I'm going to bother - I'm planning to do a few more track days to get the car dialled in then do a full seasons sprinting next year (but probably not the Javelin one)BenWRXSEi said:
Yes I'm booked on already. Looks like it is already full anyway 
Not sure what I will do next year - I think the Javelin series is splitting away from the TSS so there'll be more Javelin entrants. A few members of other series seem keen to move over to Javelin because of the new MSA rules on roll-over protection - sounds like there will be a fair few additional Westfields involved.
Interesting. I'll see if there are any other bike engined cars as it was a bit sparse this year. There are lots of other good series and I have a few friends who've done one for the last 5 years and keep trying to get me to join that. Not sure what I will do next year - I think the Javelin series is splitting away from the TSS so there'll be more Javelin entrants. A few members of other series seem keen to move over to Javelin because of the new MSA rules on roll-over protection - sounds like there will be a fair few additional Westfields involved.
At Anglesey last week there was a Caterham sprint series the following day and a lot of the competitors were using the trackday as a practice. Here's a video edit onboard my car having a play with lots of other sevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XKmhI_L0oY?hd=1
Thanks for the replies.
Haven't updated this thread for a long time, due to a very exciting distraction which I'll post about after this update.
The car was looking a bit rough inside, so I took out the seats and gave everything a good clean.
I wasn't happy with the carpeted aluminium centre tunnel, so I set about making one out of some polycarb sheeting I had laying around.
.and at the same time made some new stone guards for the rear arches. I had never liked the old aluminium ones that had been on the car before
..
The handbrake looked tatty, so I ordered a suede cover, meant for a Honda Civic, with the intention of cutting it up to make it fit. Amazingly it fitted perfectly, and didn't need any alterations.
The hole in the bonnet was never quite right for the ZZR air filter, so I went about cutting it to make it neater, and finished it off with some trim
Think the interior looks much better now
Haven't updated this thread for a long time, due to a very exciting distraction which I'll post about after this update.
The car was looking a bit rough inside, so I took out the seats and gave everything a good clean.
I wasn't happy with the carpeted aluminium centre tunnel, so I set about making one out of some polycarb sheeting I had laying around.
.and at the same time made some new stone guards for the rear arches. I had never liked the old aluminium ones that had been on the car before
..
The handbrake looked tatty, so I ordered a suede cover, meant for a Honda Civic, with the intention of cutting it up to make it fit. Amazingly it fitted perfectly, and didn't need any alterations.
The hole in the bonnet was never quite right for the ZZR air filter, so I went about cutting it to make it neater, and finished it off with some trim
Think the interior looks much better now
Edited by ol on Friday 3rd June 12:51
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