F1600 Rallycar [WIP]

ProjectPuma

Help Support ProjectPuma:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

emk

New member
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
16
Hello!

Here is a thread for a 1.6lt rally car project that should be finished around February. The project was halted for around 1,5 years due to various reasons but is now ongoing with speed. Still some part choices need to be made, so all the hints are appreciated.

You can find gallery from here: https://goo.gl/photos/7QBVGd98GkEE8hbW6 and below you'll find one pic from the progress when starting the thread. The images don't show lot of detail at the moment as starting a thread was not in my mind, but I'll try to change my approach from now on and add more accurate photos. The project is progressing on daily basis at the moment so pics will follow.

yaxr2v6r


About the technical spec:

1.6 Zetec-SE with mild modifications:
- Original lower end and original size valves
- Pair of cams and valve springs from Newman Cams
- Bike throttle bodies and aftermarket ECU
- New exhaust manifold (is there any reasonable available ready-to-fit?) and exhaust system

Drivetrain:
- Sadev 5-speed sequential gearbox
- Modified Fiesta R2 driveshafts
- Sintered clutch plate with original clutch cover assy
- Would like to have lighter flywheel but searching for reasonable option, hints appreciated

Supension:
- Protrac 3-way adjustable in every corner
- Original front and rear axles with Powerflex bushes, want to try first before making any modifications

Brakes:
- Now fitted original front brakes with Pagid pads
- No idea for rear brakes yet. I have some Focus disc brakes available, but not really sure what would be the best option to begin. About this on an another post after this opening post...

Chassis:
- Full self made roll cage
- Totally new self made electrics
- Braided steel brake and fuel lines with black coatings
- 4mm polycarbonate windows
- All unnecessary stripped that is allowed by the rules
- Looking for low 900's weight, got the first figures to you soon.
- Body will be wrapped with a mix of matte orange and gloss black
 
The ongoing work at the moment are the electrics, started with them yesterday. Will give you some photos tomorrow when continuing with this.

The hot topics at the moment:

Exhaust manifold - What are the options available? Ashley manifold has 4-1, is there any 4-2-1 ready-to-fit manifolds on the market? Has anyone fitted the Ashley manifold, is it any good?

Flywheel - Shawspeed has some on their website, any other available? Been trying to contact them earlier with no response to emails, but I'll give them a call if there are no serious options for this.

Rear brakes - What hubs+brakes fit the Puma axle? And what is the change on the track width with these? I have some Focus rear brakes available but no hubs yet, just wondering if it's worth to find the hubs or fit something else. I want to try some small discs at the rear first, because too big brakes on a light car like this isn't many times the best approach. After some mileage with original discs I would have more opinions on which to base my next step with the brakes.
 
I'm sure there must be lots of manifolds still available, I'm on my phone so it's less easy to check but people like Piper, Miltek and Sportex come to mind.

Cool project, good luck.
 
Two choices for manifolds here...

http://pumabuild.com/pumacat/product_info.php?cPath=43_119&products_id=280

http://www.pumaspeed.co.uk/product-Milltek-Sport-Fiesta-EVO-4-2-1-Manifold-Decat-Package-FiestaPuma_324.jsp

Rear brakes.... I use the Fiesta ST150 rear's, can't remember if/how much wider track it gives though.
 
Excellent info, thank you guys! Will look into these options.

Just added bunch of photos to gallery, more to come tomorrow evening.

One quick question about the engine side mounts... I have attached a photo under here with Puma original 1.7 chassis side and the engine side is from a 1.6 Zetec, from Focus I believe. Did the 1.6 engines in Puma have similiar bolt pattern as the 1.7 part, or was the chassis side different? If it did have, is that same mount fitted on 1.6lt engine in some other model, Fiesta maybe? I'm asking because the 1.6lt Puma was never imported to Finland so we don't have these cars available here.

This might be a long shot, but does anyone happen to know if the two bolts that match on the mounts are on the same place? Meaning if I just take the third bolt out that doesn't fit would the engine be at the right place and angle in the engine bay? Making a new mount to match that pattern on engine surely isn't a problem for me, but the problem is finding the right place for the engine to make the measurements needed for the producing. As said the gearbox is completely different, so I will have to make the mounts to gearbox end anyway.

y8uduqfd


New clutch disc to match Sadev spline and original size clutch assembly:

y8qf2e8u


Some wiring work going on

ycg5ymtz


Roof scoop needs some work after a roll :lol:

ya8ct624


Matte Orange looking tidy :cool:

y83p5h58


More images in the gallery, https://goo.gl/photos/7QBVGd98GkEE8hbW6!
 
I would try to find an engine mount, the part that bolts to the engine for 1.7 (I am sure Ian G can help you there) and try bolting it to your 1.6 engine. There is good chance it will fit and then you can use the normal engine mount for 1.7
 
The 1.6 wasn't a specific Puma engine but I'm not sure what other cars had it.
 
Just some wiring work for past two days, so not much to tell with photos. Should have all the wiring except for ecu wiring completed during weekend, so probably could move into suspension and brake work soon, as well as assembling the engine.

y9v2kqfx
 
Added some photos to gallery, mostly wiring work so not much new to show. Wiring is now completed except for connections to relays and fuse box, was missing some of the connectors. After few days of wiring it looked like nothing was happening, so wanted to do something more visible to bring the motivation up. Avery Matte Orange wrapping applied :cool:

yddtt22f

y9jwl7tz
 
Ah,those jobs that are invisible start eating into you after a while as there is, so it seems, no visible progress! Same thing with installing ICE when treating the doors and all other surfaces with dynamat. You spend two days and have nothing to show for...

But, nice progress on your car!
 
Bit of time since last post, had to work through last weekend so not much progress lately. Today full day at garage, and added some pics to gallery (https://goo.gl/photos/7QBVGd98GkEE8hbW6). Some thing that have been done since last post:

- Been finishing the Polycarbonate glasses, front side windows are already attached and actually first of rear windows also, but forgot to take image. Going back tomorrow and I'll take more pics.

- I put the front Protrac suspension to pieces since the struts needed modification to fit Puma, also it was necessary to do some service. The struts are now machined to fit the Puma knuckle, some assembly and suspension dyno-work coming up next week, I'll keep you posted on this.

- Electrics are basically finished, the bracket for switches will be 3D-printed soon and after that everything is ready (except for the engine wiring). Will give you photos once the bracket is ready.

- Modified the front door panels to fit the roll cage and painted them to black with a paint meant for vinyl interior parts. The outcome was better then expected to be honest. Some black wrapping tape to door bodies where the panel were cut out and the end result is good enough for now. These weight like hell, so in the future probably going to make carbon fibre ones.

- Had the car on scales after long time. The figure today was 609kg, and most of the parts that were not attached are fairly easy to calculate so it was the first time I was able to calculate the final weight. The calculations gave 860kg. Even if there always are some small thing you don't calculate, now it seems that figure starting with 8xx should be possible. And that pleases me, the minimum weight for this car in 1600 class is 920kg.

y7s2r9jb
 
Added some images to gallery (https://goo.gl/photos/7QBVGd98GkEE8hbW6)

Today I went to garage to check if I have any old usable parts of exhaust system to be used in Puma. Was lucky enough to find all the parts needed for whole system in 2,25" and actually after that I already manufactured most of it. It is now ready from manifold to rear axle, have to add FIA-catalytic converter to rear but i didn't have that with me today. I put just one small racing silencer, let's see if that's enough with the catalytic converter, it is fairly easy to add one silencer if that's needed.

ydbya7vu


Tomorrow I'll be measuring the rear shock absorbers to find out the best solution, I can get hand on one pair of decent second hand rear Protrac's but those would probably need a little fitting, around 30mm shorter then I would like to have I think. But we'll see, I'd like to get Protrac on rear as that is what I have in front also, it's surely not the best option available but good for that money and it works OK. Plus these are familiar to me and I have some parts in stock so modification in the future wouldn't be a problem, that's the most important thing about the suspension parts.

ycfdplnq


More to come next week, hoping to get rest of the electrics and interior work done as well as the windows and suspension attached during next week and weekend. After that the next step would be building the engine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top