DO NOT BUY A COSWORTH!

bigchez

bigchez

bigchez

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Joined
28 May 2007
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1,068
Fancy a good rant.

Bought the car on the 26th of Jan for a lot of money due to the condition and "scene tax" and I must admit I was over the moon with it. It had a slightly annoying missfire at low revs, but I thought it just needed a set up with the tuner who "mapped" it. Took it for the set up, he ran it on the rollers and pronounced all to be fine. Great.

Had the chance to go to Bruntingthorpe for some high speed fun, and did. Managed to get to 163 mph and decided to go for one final run. Bad choice. The jubilee clip that holds the coolant hose to the header tank worked its way one click loose due to the rough surface, and I lost my coolant at 160+. :mad:

Got the car home and it was missing and pouring steam out of the exhaust. Hoping it was just a head gasket it was booked into Reyland for an inspection and diagnosis. It was bad - a new head was required. I was let down on 2 supposedly mint, unskimmed heads, as both having been x-rayed were cracked. Someone tried to sell me something totally unsuitable. I finally got a good one and had it all bolted back together with the best of everything - including a WRC MLS head gasket which cost a fortune.

Booked the car for mapping with the top guy in the country (same one as maps Reyland's own cars, so he's good ;)) and got it back last Friday. I was over the moon, it drove smoothly at low revs and sounds like a jet fighter on full boost. It kept pace with a Bentley Conti GT from 50 to a bit more than it should, much to his annoyance!

Took it to a show at the weekend and it was perfect. Then got a mile from home last night and all of a sudden no boost. :mad:

This has happened:

DSC00041.jpg


The flipping actuator rod has snapped! I'm so fed up with this thing now. In the 3 months I've had it I've spent over £3k on it and its been off the road more than its been on it! Its not a particularly expensive fix, but it does mean driving 60 miles with no boost to get it checked with a new actuator and I'm just wondering what's gonna let go next. Diff? Gearbox? Lets start a sweepstake! :mad::mad::mad:
 
You've only spent 3k on it... count yourself lucky :) When pushing these cars they can break pure and simple the second problem you had is only a minor one. What psi are you running on it?

Used to LOVE my saphire cossy but I had it built to a bigger spec than what I used to run it at engine and everything could take 450 500 but I only ever ran at 400bph tops... miss the boost but all I can say is bad luck...

If you want to swop it for a Evo 8 I'll be interested ;)
 
When you have something that isn't a supercar, tuned to supercar performance, it also inherits supercar running costs, unfortunately.

Only way to avoid it is to buy something designed for it and known for being reliable and able to take the pounding.

You might just be having a bad spell anyway - fix the actuator rod and you might find that it gives you sterling service for the rest of the year :)

Had it been used much prior to you buying it?
 
I know, I know. Just that the guy I bought it from had no trouble with it for years, now bits are falling off for fun. When it works I love it, its everything I ever wanted, but so far its been broken more than its worked. Bit down with it really.
 
Dead and Gone said:
You've only spent 3k on it... count yourself lucky :) When pushing these cars they can break pure and simple the second problem you had is only a minor one. What psi are you running on it?

Used to LOVE my saphire cossy but I had it built to a bigger spec than what I used to run it at engine and everything could take 450 500 but I only ever ran at 400bph tops... miss the boost but all I can say is bad luck...

If you want to swop it for a Evo 8 I'll be interested ;)
Click to expand...

Its over 2 bar now.....
 
Well at least you've managed to get most of the problems fixed now! Just get that rod replaced (shouldn't be too much of a problem? or do you need a new actuator?). Then I reckon you'll have lots of problem free motoring! Don't let it put you off, you have a beast of a car it's highly tuned expect some niggles, IMO it's worth it. But that's just me...
 
As said above, old cars tuned by 3rd parties and running higher power outputs than the road cars were designed to take. Something always is going to be stressed.

Just look at the plus side, tuned right they can put anything but supercars to shame in a straight line. They are still legendary cars for performance.
 
Oh come on, minor breakage! Fix it yourself, stop mucking about with all this 60 miles to get it checked with a new actuator malarky and drive on.

Check why it broke as well. Is it moving out of its natural range or getting bent or something?
 
Jonny69 said:
Oh come on, minor breakage! Fix it yourself, stop mucking about with all this 60 miles to get it checked with a new actuator malarky and drive on.

Check why it broke as well. Is it moving out of its natural range or getting bent or something?
Click to expand...

I will put the new actuator on myself, but I want the fuelling and boost checked to make sure its ok. Its running over 2 bar boost, it only has to be a little bit out at that level to cause terminal catastrophic damage.

I know this time its only a minor set back, but I'm just feeling down and fed up with it, and wondering whats gonna break next.

From looking at it there has been a small crack for some time on the underside. It sits directly above the exhaust housing, and as such will get quite warm. I think its just a heat related stress fracture.
 
I feel your pain, it's really disheartening when one thing after another goes wrong, we all know I've been there lots of times :(

On the plus side, the actuator rod breaking is hardly the end of the world, shouldn't take much to sort :)

Infact, take the opportunity to get that internal gate welded up and run an external TiAL with screamer pipe ;)
 
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