Easy, division of labour is that I'm doing the basic design and particularly the load analysis for the structure; we're sharing the spannering and the zizzer gun, and Joe's doing all the cutting and welding.

Sam is teasing me. There's nothing wrong with building a car based on three small hand-drawings. (As it happens, I have a 35-year-old Tech Drawing 'O' level!)

Didn't need to kill anyone on the train, Sam - ask me on monday!

The pictures now hang around with captions and occasionally comments to explain. Address as above.

Now there will be a small pause for a few weeks while Joe and I catch our breaths. The car has been left at Joe's rather than bringing it back here as there were still things that needed decisions based on comparison of 'which bit fits best'.

In particular - we're not planning to use an oil cooler, just the oil/water heat exchanger from the 20NA. This isn't a track car, just fast road, and it's only towing three-quarter's of the weight of a coupe. We may need to reconsider that choice later.

Interesting choice about the oil cooler?

Is it a case of you genuinely do not think you will need it or are there location issues with the standard 20vt oil cooler.

I can see your point to an extent, Oil takes a long old time to get hot on the 20vt and you are pulling at least half the weight.

Good luck with the rest of the project!

Bit of both, Sam. There's the weight issue, too, though I think we could get it in the same place as the original.

Neil what will be the power to weight ration on that thing??

Also what's the handling like??

Ask me about the handling when it's finished... power to weight will be in the order of 300/ton.

At the moment the handling is excellent, and it's not a bad ride either apart from the too-soft rear springs. We'll need new springs fore and aft; clearance is about 90mm at the moment. The current problem with the handling was that the throttle, clutch, and brake response was very non-linear.

Thanks for posting the photos.
It looks to be going well- I'm really surprised how much you have achieved in a week.

I hope you've had time to get the large hammer out and also to swear a bit.

Here: http://www.nailed-barnacle.co.uk/Quantum/Quantum%20upgrade.pdf is a *large* pdf describing the week in slightly more literate prose, just dashed off in a hurry for Quantum Mechanics (the quantum owner's magazine).

It's a 14M download; don't bother if you have a dialup!

About the same as a 400 bhp Coupe then. That will shift.

That point had not escaped my notice.

just keep your eyes peeled for stan in your rear view mirrors!!

He's my friend, Stan is... (checks frozen doughnut supply)

lol do you want a hand with this at any time mate??

if so... you have my number!! drop me a text and im more than happy to come and help!

Just had a read of this. Entertaining stuff

The current plan is first to try and resolve the issues with the Ford parts. A lot of back and forth has established that whatever those hubs and driveshafts are, they *ain't* off a Fiesta, or indeed anything else on the ford car range.

So the current plan is to source complete hubs, hub carriers, brake callipers, and driveshafts from both sides, so we know what we're working with. After that, we bolt on Mondeo V6 discs (280mm) and brakes, and sort out the spring rates - I've located a supplier, but I need to do the sums on them to calculate the correct rate. I also need to find some 15" wheels to fit the larger brakes in.

After that, the engine comes out again so we can mount the pedal box and steering column, and rerun the brake pipework. We can probably paint the steelwork at that point, get the engine back in, sort out the plumbing and the air feeds, mount the radiator, find a place for the intercooler, decide finally which way we cool the oil, run all the cables, build the instrument panel into the dash, and get the wiring loom installed.

Reminds me - need to change the insurance!

Saw this up at Joe's the other day and the work so far looks very, very good.
Takes me back to the days when we were throwing Fiat twin cams into Capris, Escorts etc, trial and error, head scratching and swearing all being part of the process.

The engine looks to be as far back behind the front wheels as room permits so the handling shouldn't have been spoiled too much, not sure what the weight difference is between the two drivetrains.

So long as the rest of the chassis will cope with the extra power over the original design, this will be a screamer.

You may find that an oil cooler might well be needed; although its not having to work as hard dragging a lighter body around, those extra horses will be generating that little bit more heat and you'll probably find that your right foot will be planted firmly on the floor more often as the accelleration addiction takes hold

Thanks!

Joe's just located a set of XR2i (=Fiesta MK3) hubs and shocks and driveshafts, so with that we should be able to get the new CVs sorted and drive shafts made.

Regarding cooling - we'll have to see. I find that the 20vt engine runs very cool on oil temperature anyway - I think it's thermostatically controlled, and it's possibly never getting up to cooling-required temperatures. I'll have the metering to be able to see what's going on.

The weight difference is sufficient that the springs are 30mm lower than they should be... now if only I knew what the spring rate on the standard springs was I could work out what I need to sort that!

Right, this one's starting to move again.

Just won a set of Focus Ghia wheels (the fifteen inch ten-spokes) complete with tyres which I will no doubt have to replace. They'll fit around the Mondeo V6 disks and callipers which will themselves fit on the XR2i struts and hubs and might give it some stopping power commensurate with the mass and potential speed of the thing.

Shopping list now:

Mondeo 280mm disks - £34.46
Mondeo pads - £21.03
Mondeo calipers - £126.38 or perhaps twenty quid of the Bay... possibly the first port of call anyway since I've found a pair there that include the necessary slide carriers - new calipers don't come with those!

Will also need a pair of front shocks - I'll start with standard, I think, and see how they bounce! - and some new springs fore and aft, which I can't order until I've done some measurements on the originals.

I'm over to Joe's for a day's fettling in a couple of weeks, and will let you know what happens then.

Neil when you go to Joe's give me a shout! i will come up with you and see uncle Joe!

You have pm.

Right, some bits on the way...

The wheels have arrived - tyres are rubbish but that was expected, not complaining at seventy quid for a decent set of alloys.

Just won an ebay auction for the calipers, mounts, and all the hardware (annoyingly, none of the caliper replacements include the mounts) so they'll be in the post soon.

Eyeballing KYB Ultra-SR shocks, plus rubbers, 280mm discs and brake pads from buypartsby - about a hundred thirty quid.

Then it just needs the odds and sods - bearings and CV joints and sorting the drive shafts. Should be a busy day next Friday...

Another couple of days work this week. The pedal box is now in place - with the exception of the clutch master, which might need a little frame making to mount it square and perhaps change the angle of the actuating arm.

Sorted out some proper bolts for the wheels; much more secure. But sadly, though we've finally located the correct MK2 Fiesta CV joints, the supplier didn't send the bearings <grrr> so the front wheels aren't back together.

So I've stuck some photos on the documentation thread.

this is a great project, keep it up Neil!!

It's all starting to come together, Rich. Now I'm waiting for Joe to get back from wherever, and we reckon another two or three hard days will see it driving (if unfinished!).

Hi Barnacle.

How is it going? I would not be worried about my project, a) its going to take a long time to finish and b) its completly different.

I am build a mid engined 'Locost' style car. Basically a lotus 7 or caterham style car, but with the engine in the back and i am building it entirly from scratch. I have designed the whole chassis my self basing my ideas around the 'haynes' book you can buy.

I am looking at a car weighing around 500kg - so rightly so sould be a fairly rapid machine.

I have nearly finished braking the car, so once thats out the way the next step is to actually build the chassis, i still have a lot of design work to do at the rear end of the car. So thats what i will be doing over the winter.

Rob

So you'll be using the front of the coupe as the back of the kit? Like the old mini kits used to work? In which case you'll need something like the frame we constructed for the front of the Q to hold it - let me know if you need any dimensions.

From memory, you can keep the top of the engine to 25" off the ground; should make quite a low car.

Will you start a projects thread?

Hey,

Yes I have requested access today. Probably start the tread at the weekend when I have more time.
I have designed the car my self and made the frame in wood, this mock up will be refinned before the serious metal work starts. Used a 2D CAD package to draw the frame.

The engine will be in the back and yes hope it will be low.

The coupe shell should be gone on Friday so that will be good. Still have to sort my garage out before the build begins.

By the way, how do you upload photos?

Cheers, Rob

For the photos, you need to host externally on e.g. photobucket - one of the hosts that doesn't need a password to view. Then you need to use the [ imgpop ] and [ /imgpop ] to frame the direct link.

It occurs to me that the coupe solves a lot of the issues with front-wheel drive moved to the middle... the rear tracking is obvious, but the hydraulic clutch and gearbox cables means you can probably avoid some of the vague gearbox problems, and the electric speedo and revs means your instruments work off the shelf. You need to solve the handbrake problem, of course, and the brake balance to the driven wheels, but that shouldn't be too difficult to sort.

Make sure you keep *all* the electrics - looms, lights, whatever. You can throw away later what you don't need.

My first kit car was originally intended to be a single-donor Triumph Dolomite source, but I used a separate chassis with timber and aluminium sheet, and ended up with a nissan engine and fuel tank, cortina front subframe and suspension, escort rear suspension and axle with panhard rod, datsun 240z steering and instruments... and spitfire seats. And I bought a double-decker bus - for a fiver - just to get the nice alloy fuel filler cap!

Barnacle,

Please see my project, not had time to start the write up...........

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Cheers Rob

Ok, I'm back on this one for a couple of days - let's see if we can get the thing moving under its own steam!

Steam? Now that is novel! Wonder if it'll catch on