Puma 4x4 Cosworth

[McCloud 85]

Thanks for all the comments guys, it's always nice to hear your opinions on the progress!

Thought I'd try and answer a few of the queries raised..

If previous comments are to go by then it was because they never intended it to run this long and it was more of a 'look at us we can do this' statement.

I guess this this goes in hand with the fact it wasn't a customer car.

I think like mentioned before the purpose of this car was to make a name for the company, I don't think it was intended to even be sold on. So the way the car was built I guess had a different approach, nor do we know the circumstances i.e timescales or budgets.

It's an incredibly impressive job that's being done here. I'm amazed at the level of dedication it must require, particularly when one issue gets sorted and another three come to light, it must be so disheartening!!!

With regards Pumaspeed, I'm completely baffled. Surely the costs and time spent to do the job properly wouldn't have been vastly more than they were to do it badly? Also, I assume this car was sold by Pumaspeed at some point? (Please correct me if this is wrong). So why as a company would you want your name associated with this level of workmanship? Surely, you'd want to use this vehicle to showcase your engineering standards. As it is, (whatever their reasoning was at the time), having followed this thread, I wouldn't trust them to change a tyre!

Finally, just to echo what everyone else has already said.... Hats off to you for doing such a fantastic and thorough job in the face of extreme adversity. I hope you get an enormous amount of satisfaction and enjoyment from it for many years to come.

It's been challenging shall we say at times to keep getting back underneath the thing to fix the next problem, especially in the beginning when I could hardly drive it, even now I'm battling with a fuel tank issue (more on that soon) which is making driving the car a little irritating!

Yes the car was sold to Warren on here who had it for a number of years before I bought it around this time last year. I think at the time it was sold the company was established and for the owner was a way of gaining some money back for its build cost.

I also hope soon that I'll be able to enjoy it a lot more!

I guess they just got it working with whatever they had laying around, looks that way anyway... how can it not, with the 10mm socket used as a spacer and that earth cable lol. Maybe they intended to get it working then fix up the bodges later, but never got round to it. I can understand why, since if its fulfilling its purpose with the bodges, theres not much return for fixing them (not that I think thats the best way to do it, but I can see how it happens, seeing as time/money/staff aren't infinite!). But I gotta say its still unbelievable how it seems almost every little thing has got something dodgy about it, and some just seem so unnecessary Oo

Either way its nice to see it getting the TLC it deserves
Looking forward to when its finished, hope you'll get some vids for us to watch! :wink:

Strangely a lot of the parts on the car are actually the better end of the scale, which would have cost a fair bit. The engine itself would have cost a fair bit to build and seems to be well built. Just some other aspects were perhaps rushed... My aim as hopefully you can tell, is to work through the car and repair/replace whatever is required whilst keeping it on the road as much as possible.


Thanks again for all the comments, feel free to throw any queries/questions my way as much as you like.

Another update soon hopefully!

 

[McCloud 85]

So a quick update on bits done recently..

After having the car mapped a few minor issues were raised that needed to be addressed, the first was the air filter.. It had seen better days..



So this was replaced with a K&N filter.. Of which I didn't take a photo!

Another issue was the oil breather system. The vent pipe was a short bit of hose that was nicely misting oil down the side of the clean engine.. This is where some of the oil mess came from in the bay originally. I knew this needed changing so having had someone else also point it out I got it addressed.

This is the short pipe in the middle of the photo looking up from underneath the car



So all that needed doing was to get a longer hose and get it as close to the ground as a possible to get it out of the bay




So with those bits done I decided to get the dash surround changed. I prefer a more standard look inside the cabin with some modern upgrades (to follow at a later date) so the existing surround had to go. It was in pretty bad shape to so a new one was sourced and fitted.




I do now need to find a location for the boost gauge.. Along with others too but for now it's better out of the vent.

I then moved onto an issue which became apparent when I was staring at the car on the driveway.. The back axle of the car was (when measured) 55-60mm narrower than the front! Basically from what I understand about the cats history is that other wheels were fitted to it originally that had very different offsets front to back. The backs being very 'deep dished' and the fronts not so much. In order for the wheels to sit in the same place giving the same track, the front axle was made wider. This is what caused me all the trouble with the driveshafts back in the beginning. So there were several options.. Narrow the front track (a lot of work - probably not gaining much), fit different wheels with the correct offsets or make the current wheels have the right offset by using spacers. So the easiest option.. Buy spacers.. And big spacers they are...

The car had 25mm spacers all round fitted.. So the idea was to replace the rear 25mm spacers with new ones that's would correct the track..

This is what arrived..




And with the new spacer fitted on the drivers side, the wheel now fills the arch properly




Compared to the passenger side you can see the difference




So with that all done.. Ford Fair 2015 was around the corner and it was going to be the cars biggest test, the furthest I had driven it in one stint by a long way.

For those of you who were there may have seen it but it was one of the best journeys to date.. The car performed perfectly.. And even sat in hours of traffic on the way home without hiccup!



Nearly there now! There are some minor updates still to do but that is where I am with the car. I'll try and get the last bits up shortly but after this the updates will be a little slower as it's actually behaving itself for once!

Thanks for looking

 

[red]

Those spacers are massive! Will they put any strange load on bearings/hubs etc?

Glad it made it to Ford Fair!!

 

[Brian']

Coming along nicely! Keep it up!

 

[TGPlayer1]

I had a gander at those spacers at FordFair, and up until that point i thought my 30mm were fairly sizable haha.

 

[McCloud 85]

Those spacers are massive! Will they put any strange load on bearings/hubs etc?

Glad it made it to Ford Fair!!

Yes they are not small.. Lumps of aluminium really!! They shouldn't affect the bearings too much if at all. They are hub centric spacers so they use the locating spigot on both faces (against the hub and against the back of the wheel). In a way there is not much difference in my view with having a lump of ally bolted to the hub or a lump of ally welded or as part of the wheel giving you a wild offset.

Time will tell I guess!

 

[McCloud 85]

Coming along nicely! Keep it up!

Thanks very much! Still so much more to do!

 

[McCloud 85]

I had a gander at those spacers at FordFair, and up until that point i thought my 30mm were fairly sizable haha.

I know, I knew the size of them when I ordered them but it was still a surprise when I took the hen out of the box!

 

[russv]

I've had spacers of 40mm front and 50mm rear on a car for years and it never caused any problems. Wasn't a puma but goes to show its not always bad for wear and tear.

I tried widening my front track on my puma and it felt fine on the back (25mm) but pretty bad at the front (20mm), lost a lot of steering feel so I've taken them off, they did look nice though.

The rear of my puma is spaced out quite a way and its been fine for about 4 years, its got 20mm hub spacers, disc brakes, and the 25mm spacers, so don't think you have too much to worry about

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Guys, I'm assuming this car has a Sierra diff and drive shaft set up and the older Ford wheels had more offset so it should be ok with the spacers.
Barry

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Barry, you mean less offset making the tyres sticking out and the track being wider?
Escort wheels had 35 mm OE, whereas today Fords are using 45or even more OE values (making wheels going in). For instance, Mk1 focus has OE 52,5 mm IIRC

And of course, the car looks aces!

Officially as jealous as a dog and think have lost any inclination to update my JASSAP as anything I could do would look like a child playing with LEGO's

 

[McCloud 85]

I've had spacers of 40mm front and 50mm rear on a car for years and it never caused any problems. Wasn't a puma but goes to show its not always bad for wear and tear.

I tried widening my front track on my puma and it felt fine on the back (25mm) but pretty bad at the front (20mm), lost a lot of steering feel so I've taken them off, they did look nice though.

The rear of my puma is spaced out quite a way and its been fine for about 4 years, its got 20mm hub spacers, disc brakes, and the 25mm spacers, so don't think you have too much to worry about

That's good to hear about the rears. At the moment I haven't noticed anything on the front that I would put down to the spacers. Hopefully all ok!

 

[McCloud 85]

Hi Guys, I'm assuming this car has a Sierra diff and drive shaft set up and the older Ford wheels had more offset so it should be ok with the spacers.
Barry

Yes it's all standard Sierra/Escort at the back. The older ford wheels had an offset of ET30-40, the massive difference with this car is the arches. The S1600 kit is wide today the least and for the car to look right the wheels sit a far way out.

 

[McCloud 85]

Barry, you mean less offset making the tyres sticking out and the track being wider?
Escort wheels had 35 mm OE, whereas today Fords are using 45or even more OE values (making wheels going in). For instance, Mk1 focus has OE 52,5 mm IIRC

And of course, the car looks aces!

Officially as jealous as a dog and think have lost any inclination to update my JASSAP as anything I could do would look like a child playing with LEGO's

Did not know today's fords were increasing the offset, did have a thought to change to mk1 focus rs wheels but would have to re-think that!

I can guarantee you that the reality of owning this car is a massive headache! So do not feel jealous! It's costing a fortune and more in time, so unless you have an abundance of both those you don't want it! Still a long long way to go before it's faults are corrected and the cars smartened up!

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

TBH, I was reffering to the 'normal' focus. Not sure on RS as have just once had a chance to drive one for a very brief period of time and never actually could have a proper look at one as it was never sold here....

Regarding the car: once it is sorted (and I have no doubts it will) it will be one halluva car, and the only one of its kind...

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Guys unless I'm understanding it wrong the higher the ET no the less the wheels stick out so more inset hence why modern Westfields running ET38 wheels have to have 19mm spacers to fill the arches whereas on older cars with ET15 - ET23 wheels there was no need (This is assuming the same wheel width)
Older Fords particularly in Escort mk1 & 2 and less so in later Sierras tend to have offset so the inset wheels on the Sierra axle with spacers should work ok.
Barry

PS probably another reason why alloy wheels tend to bend more easily now as in previous time the spokes would be supporting the centre of the wheel whereas now the spokes of the wheel are on the outside edge leaving the inner rim unsupported and prone to buckling.

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Nope, Barry. The bigger ET value means the mounting axis is further out in comparison to the middle line of the wheel. If you want your wheels to stick out, you should go for lower OE values. Back in Abarth days there were so called the negative wheels. Their ET value was negative and the wheel would stick out big time....
Compare the peugeot and ford wheels. Same PCD, but different ET valueas (Peugeot tipically 25 mm, and Ford 45 mm) and Peugeot wheel would stick out more than the Ford one.... :wink:

edit. Having read your post again, maybe I need to clarify: when I say stick out, I am referring to widening the track of the car in question

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Sinisa
I think we are both saying the same thing. On the same car wheels with a lower ET no will stick out more than wheels with a higher no (assuming the wheel rims are the same width).
Barry
PS sos for thread hijacking

 

[YOG]

http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Wheel-Offset-Calculator#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[TGPlayer1]

It's simple. Higher ET the further in the wheel face will be.

Mk1 focus' have ET46 for most of the standard wheels.

Modern cars have higher offset because it makes the steering lighter because of the angle that the wheels turn. It also allows for bigger hubs, leading to the prevalence of inboard handbrakes where they have a drum brake within the rear disc.

Thread hijack over.