Building Kit Car (Locost)

Aero · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:14

BarGAIN then really, i'd love to do something like although I wouldn't have a clue where to start.

Hope you enjoy it

Aero

Dogbreath · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:17

Jonny69 said:
Yes, Duratec, Zetec, Ka engine, ST170, any of the Ford inline 4 petrol engines from the 1960's 105E Anglia up to present use the same bellhousing pattern.

Apart from the Zetec SE and the new 4 pot Duratecs!

Wicksta, congratulations on a great purchase and I hope you can spend more time on yours than I can on mine! A Zetec makes a lot of sense when building a car like this on a budget. They are cheap as chips, compatible with the Type9 and MT75 box, and very well supported in terms of aftermarket tuning products. It's a well trodden path so there should be few surprises. Another excellent (better in many ways) choice is the Vauxhall C20XE, or even the 1.6 Ecotec. Both capable of big power with only external mods, and bell housings to mate them to the Ford boxes are fairly cheap and readily available.

Without wishing to be negative you might want to do some research on the fiberglass mouldings and rear suspension geometry on the Avon. The rear tub has the left and right wheel arches in different positions on a lot of them, people have had to chop them around considerably to make them fit. They may (hopefully!) have fixed this in later mouldings (ask on Locostbuilders).

When the Avon came out the IRS geometry was widely regarded as an example of "how not to do it", again this may have been fixed so ask about it.

K.C. Leblanc · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:22

Begbie said:
You can put whatever engine in you want, thats the whole point. Just the old sierras where a easy swap.

Saw people put 2litre turbos in them, motorbike engines. All sorts.

I've always thought the Mazda RX engine would be good.

Dogbreath · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:26

K.C. Leblanc said:
I've always thought the Mazda RX engine would be good.

That's been done too. More popular in the US than here though.

Wicksta · 27 Mar 2008 at 13:29

Dogbreath said:
Without wishing to be negative you might want to do some research on the fiberglass mouldings and rear suspension geometry on the Avon. The rear tub has the left and right wheel arches in different positions on a lot of them, people have had to chop them around considerably to make them fit. They may (hopefully!) have fixed this in later mouldings (ask on Locostbuilders).

When the Avon came out the IRS geometry was widely regarded as an example of "how not to do it", again this may have been fixed so ask about it.

It's not an Avon, that's what I was going to go for before seeing this one! This is a Stuart Taylor chassis, which is distributed by this place: http://www.ariesmotorsport.co.uk

The bodywork seems to fit well but I'll certainly have a closer look before painting!

I was thinking of the Vauxhall lump you mentioned as well, I found a place called Yukspeed who sell all the kit for converting it (including bellhousing) but it did seem to jack the price of the engine costs quite considerably.

There is also a guy selling brand new black top 1.8 Zetecs for 650 delivered, this would guarantee a good engine and much much less cleaning but adds about £500 to the budget! Also from what I've been reading there is far less support for the black top engines than the silver top ones, but you may be able to advise on that.

I just want to go home and get cleaning bits now.

Dogbreath · 27 Mar 2008 at 14:38

Wicksta said:
It's not an Avon, that's what I was going to go for before seeing this one! This is a Stuart Taylor chassis, which is distributed by this place: http://www.ariesmotorsport.co.uk

Ah sorry, I misunderstood. The ST is a good kit by all acounts, several people on Locostbuilders with them. Definately worth paying a fiver to stop the nag screen, there is a vast wealth of information on the forum.

Quite a few people have used the black top Zetec due to the availability of very cheap new ones, so it's entirely possible. When you fit a silver top you have to use the waterpump from an Escort (assuming engine was not from an Escort), because the way you re-route the belt (after removing PAS pump and air-con etc.) would cause the Mondeo pump to run backwards. The blacktop was never fitted to the Escort, hence there is no readily available "backwards" pump available. Several people have just run the stock pump backwards with no apparent problems, and you can get a new impeller for the stock pump from the US I believe so it's not an insurmountable problem.

Perywinkle · 28 Mar 2008 at 13:01

Stick a bike engine in it

Got an r1 lump in the mk indy i'm building, goes like stink

Wicksta · 15 Apr 2008 at 11:49

Well thanks to a timewaster on eBay winning my Ford Escort my plans were put back a bit, but someone else won it (for 300 more!!) when I relisted it and picked the car up today. I've done a couple of bits in the meantime:

Started to clean diff to get it ready for painting:

Working out what wires do what and marking them:

And last night I picked up a 60k mile 1.8 Ford Zetec, from an Escort GTI and with all ancillaries (including alternator) for the measly sum of £80!

I've also started a blog now, but I'll still post here as well:
http://wicksta-seven.blogspot.com/

Off in a bit to paint the garage floor.