Lightweight Fast Road KA

[silverzx]

These are the "Micro Cup"s most popular choice for banger racing from what I've seen up on the Mendip Raceways.

[Bailes1992]

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?

No idea. I think they are the same as MK1 Focus brakes which I've done tens of thousands of miles on with no issue. I've never had an issue with warping brakes myself.

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?

Many reasons. 
The paintwork is rubbish and I don't like the colour.

I like KAs in solid red.
Flame red is cheap to buy.
Flame red has no laquer. 
Any blemishes can be sanded back, touched in with an airbrush, flatted back and polished up for an easy repair.
Any repairs can be done very cheap for the same reasons as above.
Flame red only goes pink if it's neglected. A light polish with something like Autoglym Super Resin a few times a year will stop it oxidising. Even if it does go pink a light polish will bring it back to life! I've rescued a fair few pink Vauchalls over the years.

[procta]

bailes man, only reason you want to paint it red, is that you still think red cars are faster

[THE_Liam]

Another vote for the 1.7, that is a properly brilliant engine! I'm half considering a Puma as a toy...

[procta]

Another vote for the 1.7, that is a properly brilliant engine! I'm half considering a Puma as a toy...

liam man you want nearly every car on the plant as a toy!

[THE_Liam]

Another vote for the 1.7, that is a properly brilliant engine! I'm half considering a Puma as a toy...

liam man you want nearly every car on the plant as a toy!

Don't we all?

[Bailes1992]

Another vote for the 1.7, that is a properly brilliant engine! I'm half considering a Puma as a toy...

It's a massive job!
Custom engine mounts, custom drives hats,  custom wiring loom etc etc.

When I can get 120bhp out of a 1.6 with just a cam it seems a waste of time and effort. 
If I need more power then I may consider it but for now it's too much work for me to do myself.

[Bailes1992]

Brakes turned up this morning.
260mm Puma 1.7 Calipers and carriers for £15.50 posted.


Unsure if I should just give them a clean and a lick of paint or whether I should strip them down and rebuild them with new seals, pistons and bleed nipples?


Bailes.

[procta]

you wanting to be rebuilding them, or put them in for set already done.

[Bailes1992]

I'll probably strip them down. Clean and paint them and give them to someone who knows what they're doing to rebuild.
I'll get some new pistons, seals and nipple with one way valves ordered.

[procta]

I'll probably strip them down. Clean and paint them and give them to someone who knows what they're doing to rebuild.
I'll get some new pistons, seals and nipple with one way valves ordered.

best to do that, and have the brakes proper shit hot on it, look into the best discs and pads too. I am running yellow stuff at the front with EBC disks on, and brembo shoes at the back. I overhauled the rear brakes tbh, renewed all the springs and adjusters, So that everything was 100%

[fgrc76]

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?

I noticed this too, I uesd to have a flame pink meriva vxr
expect to give it a proper mop twice a year lol
love the project by the way but good luck with the colour

[7057sam]

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?

My first ever car (corsa) was flame red.And yes they wasn't a decent panel on it.

[Bailes1992]

Ordered FloFlex polybushes for the rear beam. I have no idea how good they are but they were half the price of Powerflex.

I also found a set of brake pads while I was sorting my shed. They are from my old Focus which also use the same 258mm brakes I'm planning on fitting to this!

So that is another £20 saved!

[Poodle]

If you want to use this in any sort of sporting manner i'd seriously recommend buying some different pads, standard brembo, mintex, pagid or something that's at least oem quality.

Couple of other bits of info that might help: c5 alloys are far from tough, they're actually the weakest wheels i've seen, not ideal for use on our roads. Pug and citroen wheels have less offset than ford stuff, so will widen your track without using spacers.

[Bailes1992]

Had another root around today, this time in the Father in laws garage. Found another set of brake pads (Pagids this time) and a set of 258mm brake discs.
That's the brakes totally sorted!


Also found a new set of drop links and a new heater control valve as the one that's on the car right now is a bit sticky.


Priority now is to get two new sills and a filler cap repair panel purchased.

[Poodle]

Haha that'll do it then, good result!

[Bailes1992]

More toys turned up!

[Bailes1992]

So in my quest for new sills and a new filler cap surround panel I 'stumbled' across on ebay a rare as hens teeth manual steering column. 8)



This was the only part I was seriously worried about acquiring. Unfortunately the steering columns are interchangeable unless you have the matching steering rack, so if I didn't find the column I couldn't have the manual rack!

The manual rack also has the advantage of being able to swap the lower UJ when it's worn.
The current column on the car has a lot of play in the lower joint but if we want to change it we would have to replace the whole column. Over £300 new.

The future of this car is a bit up in the air I must admit. The Missus isn't getting on with her C3 too well. It's a bit to soft and wooly for her liking and she wants this back.

Either way it will still be getting fixed up and modified somewhat.