Puma 1.7 Autosolo Build

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neil19815

New member
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Messages
22
I have started this thread to go through my Autosolo Puma project.

If you would like to know what a Autosolo is please read here. They are a fun way to spend your Sundays.....
http://www.farnboroughdmc.org.uk/autosolos.php

With this post I want to explain what I have done, problems I have faced and how I over came them. Where possible I have added images and links to any posts / web sites I have used.

I would like to thank every contributor to this site that has helped me over the past 8 months. However this is going to be a long road until I can get the car as I want it.

Any advice or questions greatly welcomed. :)
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I got a "new" 51 plate Puma 1.7 (Without Air Con) in August 2014.

All was well with the world until I went to my first Solo at the end of August. It was a bright sunny day..
Over the course of the morning runs the car started to overheat and then finaly the Heat Control Valve broke, with the hoses breaking of the barb connections and spilling the contents of the coolant system over the engine and screen.
Here is the aftermath...
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After the event I looked to replace the Thermostat and the Heat Control Valve (HCV)
The HCV was a simple switch but I needed help with the thermostat replacement and so I found this great guide from a poster on this site called jacko and here is the link to the guide. Its very simple and easy to follow (Thank you jacko)
http://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=2974

Please Note: I replaced the old Thermostat with one recommended on the Euro Car Parts website. This worked fine on the road but was not good for any heavy activities as the car overheated. This has been resolved now and I will explain more later.
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Winter 2014/15
I then attended another Solo later in 2014 and the over heating problems persisted.
Having recently replaced the Thermostat and the HCV my thoughts went to the radiator and the water pump. I decided to replace both and again I found some very useful guides this time from ScubaSteve. His guide shows how to replace the pump without removing the cambelt.
http://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=16797
As the system was drained I also added a nice new shiny radiator to the car also.

This was also around the time when my MOT was due and as expected it failed :evil:
I had rust issues around the rear suspension mounts so this needed welding up. After being quoted by several garages more than the car was worth I found a friend of a friend that helped.
Here are some pictures...
While it was there and they were under the car I also got fitted a new set of AVO UK Performance Suspension. This has dropped the car and made a big impact on how the car handles.
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March 2015
After all this work, expense and with a MOT the car was back and running well! I booked in on my first Solo of the year and joined the BRTDA Autosolo Championship.

In preperation for the event I fitted several parts that i collected over the winter including OMP strut braces, OMP steering wheel with D1 Spec Quick Release and a races seat with harneses.

Unfortunately the seat fitting did not go to plan as the OMP Subframe did not fit exactly and when tested with the seat gave a very high seating position. I am a short guy and my head was rubbing the roof liner.... I will need to weld this in at a later date.
The Left Rear Mount was about 15mm too high and did not line up with the original bolting points.

I also looked for a new set of front tyres and went with the Toyo Proxes as I had seen that they are openly recomended on this site.
:thumbs:

Then it was time to race again.

--More to come--
 

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