Lightweight Fast Road KA

[Bailes1992]

Ever since I passed my test I've pretty much always had big diesel cars with loads of torque and loads of spec.


I fancy something a bit different to have for the weekends and track days but also went to keep it OEM+.
I want something a bit like a 205/306/106 Rallye. Something lightweight with just the essentials and with a bit of go.

My Missus has had as 2005 KA Collection for the last 4 years and the master cylinder failed a month or two back. She lost confidence in the car and we got her something else. I am now using the car as a base for a build.

I took this about 18 months ago. It had a new clutch and a SportKA gearbox fitted.


We've had the interior out about the same time and the floor was totally solid...


So the master cylinder was goosed. You had to constantly pump the pedal or it would fall to the floor.
Unfortunately when trying to remove the master cylinder one of the pipes was rather seized in place and had to be cut off.



Installed the new master cylinder & brake line.





And proceeded to snap a bleed nipple.  :frown:



The nipple looks like an M6 thread which I cannot find in a motorfactors anywhere.  :evil:


I made a bit of a cock up with the master cylinder.
There is a rubber O ring that sits between the servo and the master cylinder that I forgot to refit and had a massive vacuum leak.
Had to syphon out the brake fluid. Remove the master cylinder and reinstall with the new O ring.





And back together and running sweet again!


Unfortunately there is still the matter of the snapped bleed nipple.
Removed the wheel cylinder to try and extract the broken bleed nipple but it was too tight.


This is what the car is like currently.




There's two small patches of rust unfortunately. First is the filler cap which is going to need to be cut out and a replacement welded in.

Second is the sill on the O/S rear seems to have gone. I've actually pulled a fair bit off here, just fell to dust in my hands.


So plan?
1) Get the rear brake cylinder fitted and back on four wheels. Bleed brakes.
2) Get the car down to a welder to have the two patches above sorted.
3) Clean and under seal the entire underside.
4) The current 13" alloys are buckled. I plan to replace them with Citreon C5 15" hybrid steel/alloy wheels which are tough and weigh just 4.7kg each.
5) Respray the entire car. Planning on single stage vauxhall flame red. Easy to spray, easy to repair and easy to sort any blemishes and no lacquer!
6) Strip the interior and rebuild getting rid of any unnecessary features. Central locking, electric windows and air conditioning will be gotten rid of. Also going to thin the wiring loom of any unnecessary cables. Any sound deadening to be removed and the standard carpet and seats to be refitted to retain an OEM look. At this point I'll spray any visible interior paint red.
7) Clean up the engine bay of any unnecessary features and wiring. Power steering and aircon pumps to be removed along with anything else associated. Should also free up a few more HP.
8) Make it handle! New standard shocks to be fitted with lowering springs. Going to fit polyurethane bushes all round. Going to fit front and rear strut braces. Rear axle spacers to widen the track (If Citroen wheels allow?). Also want to fit a manual rack and steering column.
9) Make it stop! Not sure weather to just fit Sporka brakes or to go all out and fit 300mm Mondeo items. The car will be lighter than a standard SportKA and afraid without ABS the KA will lock the 300mm brakes too easy.
10) Make it go! 1.6 SportKA engine with an induction kit, Steve Wyndham racing cam & exhaust manifold along with an aftermarket catback exhaust and a remap. It should be ~120bhp.

Going to try sell what I can off the car that isn't needed to try help fund the performance parts. Don't want to throw money into this. Planning on using second hand parts where I can or parts that will hold their value.

Bailes.

[procta]

you want to be reading the fast ford mags bailes as they have some cracking tips and even some info on parts etc, i am sure you can slot a puma engine in one of these, Be very powerful with that in mind!

[bashbarnard]

I had a friend put the 1.8 zetec engine in his other half's. Not my cup of tea though I think they are hateful cars. But Fairplay.

[procta]

I had a friend put the 1.8 zetec engine in his other half's. Not my cup of tea though I think they are hateful cars. But Fairplay.

Hateful cars make great sleepers

[Dum-Dum]

THe 1.8 and 2.0 zetec out the mondeo makes a great car out of these although it is a bit of a tight fit.

[Seb_Ryan]

THe 1.8 and 2.0 zetec out the mondeo makes a great car out of these although it is a bit of a tight fit.

If a cosworth engine and full 4x4 running gear will fit.. Im sure just a zetec would.

*some cutting may need to be done :p

[Piggy]

Could just replace the wheel cylinder for like, £5/6!

And the brake servo seal, you can just pull the brake master forward away enough to get those seals in without removing the lines

Been in a few of these back in my ford days.

Turbo'd cvh lump fits rather sweet in these, good for 200bhp without spending very much and easy to work on and parts are EVERYWHERE for them!

I hate them, but they are light and handle pretty well. Those stock brakes need to be binned mind.

[Orta]

These handle really well. My uncle in law had a late 08 plate one as a commuter car as his commute was 100% twisty B roads. It's like a go cart. The Mondeo engines are the cheapest choice for an upgrade. 1.8 = 115bhp and 2.0 = 130bhp and are straight fits I believe

[Niall]

The missus used to have one of these. It was hateful. Utterly awful BUT to drive it put a huge smile on your face. It was dead slow, you know if you reversed into a post parking it you WILL die as its just tin foil but it was such good fun to drive.
So basically, people will be looking at you driving this thinking what a cock but you'll be having fun which is all that matters

[Bailes1992]

Could just replace the wheel cylinder for like, £5/6!

And the brake servo seal, you can just pull the brake master forward away enough to get those seals in without removing the lines

I do have a replacement wheel cylinder on my desk now. I just need to get it fitted and the system bled.
I couldn't get the servo out enough to even attempt to get the seal on and I was on the verge of breaking stuff trying to pull it out.

The Zetecs are far from straight fits, but not a hard conversion either. Custom engine mounts and loom are needed for a start. Then you have all the cooling pipes to deal with.


I'm looking for a reliable bolt in alternative which is why, for now I'm sticking to a 1.6 SportKA engine. If however I get bored then an engine conversion may be considered.
If I do go down the conversion route then I would probably be looking at fitting a Lynx diesel of some sort. Shouldn't be any harder than a Zetec as the Lynx was fitted to the Fiesta and the Lynx in my Mondeo used to produce 400nm at 1800rpm and 146bhp at 3750rpm. I imagine it would be a bit lively in a KA.

[Piggy]

a 1.7vvc puma engine is 125bhp and proper punchy too. Easy swap iirc. Epic engine

[7057sam]

Interesting project this.

Be interesting to see how light you could get it,even with a 1.7/1.6 should be fairly fun.

[procta]

the puma is practically a fiesta isn't it, which I think is what the Ka is too? be a good donor for you bailes!

[Bailes1992]

Even the Sigma engines need custom mounts unfortunatley. It's all a bit of a farse when I can get a Steve Wyndham Racing cam in a SportKA engine which is a straight swap and have 120bhp anyway! The SWR cam is only £105 delivered from South Africa!

It's 955kg as it is. if I can get it down to 850kg I'd be happy! I want to keep it OEM looking though. So although I'm removing all the sound deadening I'll still be replacing the carpet and seats.
There is a lot I can remove. Central locking, electric windows, rear wiper, electric boot release, aircon and all associated wiring.

[shervo]

I had a fiesta with a 1.7 puma engine before my 306, very good engine.

[Piggy]

955kg!? Flip, thats heavy!

[procta]

Even the Sigma engines need custom mounts unfortunatley. It's all a bit of a farse when I can get a Steve Wyndham Racing cam in a SportKA engine which is a straight swap and have 120bhp anyway! The SWR cam is only £105 delivered from South Africa!

It's 955kg as it is. if I can get it down to 850kg I'd be happy! I want to keep it OEM looking though. So although I'm removing all the sound deadening I'll still be replacing the carpet and seats.
There is a lot I can remove. Central locking, electric windows, rear wiper, electric boot release, aircon and all associated wiring.

850kg with 120bhp will be nippy, if there are a lot of bolt on stuff for the current lump, then Id sack engine conversions off too, not worth the hassle, as you never get bob on info.
are you going buy stuff from a basic car? that's what I did with the gta, robbed stuff from the lower spec models.
Even my car loom is very basic. 

[Bailes1992]

850kg with 120bhp will be nippy, if there are a lot of bolt on stuff for the current lump, then Id sack engine conversions off too, not worth the hassle, as you never get bob on info.
are you going buy stuff from a basic car? that's what I did with the gta, robbed stuff from the lower spec models.
Even my car loom is very basic. 

I don't want something mad, just something with a bit of go so I hope 120bhp will be enough.
The car has a standard 1.3 Rocam at the minute running a SportKA gearbox (very short, close ratios) and a bluefin remap (didn't do much but it cost us £70).
The SportKA has a 1.6 Rocam so it's a straight swap. Just swap the engine and change the ECU.

Considering he hassle that fitting a 1.6/1.7 Sigma or a 1.8/2.0 Zetec will be I'll wait to see how it goes with the 1.6 Rocam first. If I'm not happy and want more then I'll look into another engine conversion.

My plan is to fit stuff from a basic model. Manual rack & steering column, windy windows etc etc.
Stuff like the interior loom will just be thinned out, no point replacing it with one from another model, just remove anything that isn't any use!
I want the car to still look like a standard car. Don't want to be driving around in anything completely stripped out, it's not my thing.

I had a spare half hour this morning so I refitted the wheel cylinder.

Just got to get the drum back on and the system bled now.

[Piggy]

that 1.3 has been around since 1945! bluefin wont do much for it.

I think you can remap those 1.6s to get a little more mind

[Bailes1992]

that 1.3 has been around since 1945! bluefin wont do much for it.

I think you can remap those 1.6s to get a little more mind

Not quite, in 2004 (I think) they replaced the old Endura-E with the Rocam. Essentially based on the same block but has a reworked alloy head with an over head cam.

The bluefin did give it a bit more top end and made it a bit sharper. Nothing to writ ehome about but for £70 I wasn't going to moan. You can sell used handsets for not a lot less.

[Bailes1992]

A bit of research and a Puma 1.7VCT will pretty much just bolt in.
I will have to trim the slam panel somewhat. Need to find out if it's integral to the structure of the car. it is spot welded in place at the moment. If it isn't I will remove it for the conversion, modify and bolt it back in.
Need to find out if the IB5 in the KA now will bolt up to the Puma engine happily.
Wiring shouldn't be too much of an issue for me.


Wait... I lied.
It's a massive arse of a job.
You need to alter the driveshaft length, custom make a drivers side mount, either use a ka gearbox, or make a custom gearbox mount, then you have got to get the wiring to work and the PATS if you want the Puma engine to run correctly and loads of other little tweaks.

I'll stick with the 1.6 Rocam.

[Ricky]

I had a sportKA and I loved it. Took it for a thrash around the roads in north wales and it was the most fun i've had driving. Got some abuse for driving it though!

[procta]

A bit of research and a Puma 1.7VCT will pretty much just bolt in.
I will have to trim the slam panel somewhat. Need to find out if it's integral to the structure of the car. it is spot welded in place at the moment. If it isn't I will remove it for the conversion, modify and bolt it back in.
Need to find out if the IB5 in the KA now will bolt up to the Puma engine happily.
Wiring shouldn't be too much of an issue for me.


Wait... I lied.
It's a massive arse of a job.
You need to alter the driveshaft length, custom make a drivers side mount, either use a ka gearbox, or make a custom gearbox mount, then you have got to get the wiring to work and the PATS if you want the Puma engine to run correctly and loads of other little tweaks.

I'll stick with the 1.6 Rocam.

surely there is some info in the ford mags for these?

[Jonny81191]

surely there is some info in the ford mags for these?

PROCTA MADE A POST THAT DIDN'T HAVE THE WORD "METRO" IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[procta]

surely there is some info in the ford mags for these?

PROCTA MADE A POST THAT DIDN'T HAVE THE WORD "METRO" IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jonny its all about the Takeaway now mate

[Bailes1992]

Managed to grab a pair of Puma 1.7 260mm calipers and carriers for £15.50! That's the stopping sorted.

[Eeyore]

Looks like bargain on the brakes. These all go aorund the filler caps. my mate had a kasport and it was ruined just because of filler cap rust!

[Bailes1992]

It's less than £20 for a repair panel for around the filler cap and replacement sills are less than £20 a side.
I think as a precaution I'm going to get both sills and the filler cap surround replaced then under seal the entire car. At least then I know i have 100% solid base to work from.
How much would you expect to pay for the welding?

[Dum-Dum]

Managed to grab a pair of Puma 1.7 260mm calipers and carriers for £15.50! That's the stopping sorted.

Arent those the same brakes off the mk6 fiesta that warp for lolz?

[1616six]

I've just noticed you are planning on spraying it Flame Pink.

Why oh why?

The single worst quality paint for longevity ever, as well as being flat red. Why not just leave it blue?