Building a track car after christmas. Pics to follow.

Right, Im buying my mums puma off her after the new year for the grand sum of £120 (scrap value)

Hopefully going to get some track days in next year at Oulton Park as I live about half hour away.

T reg in blue. Will get some pics up before work starts.

Plans are,

Sort the rear axle bushes out as they are shot!! Fix the leak that's flooding the passenger foot well. Rust proof underneath.

Strip what I can out, bar the dash! Want to keep it road worthy-ish

Maybe fit some sort of cage. Not sure what insurance is like with a cage fitted

Escort gti alloys for the track, escort cosworth alloys off my rs2k for road use.

30mm drop, front rear and front lower strut brace.

12.5mm spacers on the rear

A decent exhaust system with de cat

Replace ALL the bushes most have seen better days

Decent air filter and cold air feed

Possibly a brake upgrade, heard the fiesta ST is a good one to do?

That will be about it. Cant spend too much as most goes on my rs2k

Any advice on mods or track days would be appreciated!!!

Also if anyone has any parts for sale in the new year id be interested.

Which neck of the woods are you from pal? I'm about 30 mins from Oulton too.

P.S. Welcome to the forum.

I'm in Ellesmere.

Cheers!

Ah the opposite direction. Anyway it's northern enough k:

These are the wheels ill be pinching off my rs for the puma. As said it'll have escort gti wheels on for the occasional track day.

Hello mate, welcome to the forum.
Oulton is my local track too, there are a few of us going 21st Feb next year. Cracking track

A word of advice on your choice of wheels.
The offset on escort wheels is different to the Puma (et40 compared to the Pumas et34)
This means the wheels will sit 6mm further inside the arches, which will badly affect the handling.
Stick with OE wheels or aftermarket ones with the correct offset.

Hope to see you on track sometime, Stu..

^That's the GTi wheels, the EsCos ones are ET25 and they fill the arches nicely. But as for track you want to keep the offset as close to standard as possible to keep the handling in line. If you have to change its better to go a bit lower than higher. At the same time just get some 5mm spacers and you'll be all good.

Hi matey.

Is the track day just going to be pumas? Would love to be able to get it sorted for then.

Yes escos wheels arnt best for handling but I love the look. As said they wont be used on the track though

Best of luck with the project, be careful though it is very addictive and steals your money faster than women

Haha I know this already being an RS owner! :-(

Ive limited myself to £1000 for bits so should have a half decent car buy the end of it with me doing 80% of the work

That will get you coilovers, polybushes, 4 branch and exhaust, buckets, harness and some decent tyres easily

Yes that's what I was thinking, although I wasn't going to get coilovers. Are they worth it? It is only a cheap track car. If I opted just for springs and maybe some shocks I have abit more to spend elsewhere!?

For a grand ive roughly worked out I can get

Rear spacers
All 3 strut braces
35mm springs
Exhaust system and manifold
Pipercross
A set of seats used looking at around £100-150
Bluefin chip

Hi,
If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

forget the bluefin, you wont notice the pityful difference for the cost. Go for an ebay special 4-2-1 manifold, a Hoffman race tube and a performance back box.around £200 in total..with the money you will save you can afford a set of coilovers instead of just lowering springs. The car will handle so much better.

Set of Toyo T1R's will set you back £140

Polybush set £80

2 seats with harness's £150

Coilovers £300

Strut braces £140

Total £1010

I did wonder about the Bluefin as not many people have it so I read.

Also been told only the lower front brace is really worth having as the others arnt that goo.

For what id save on the braces I could get ST callipers and discs.

Also read that the rear axle bushes are best off being standard as the rides too harsh...?

Ill look into the manifold

My car had had a 'superchip' tune before I aquired it.
As I have a standard DIVE ecu, I guess its just the buefin flash.

There is an improvement in acceleration, but its only a modest difference over standard ecu.
I wouldn't shell out hundreds for this mod, but if its available free/cheaply then go for it.

The best ecu tune up, with a standard-ish engine, is to get a TAPE ecu and reprogramme with the FRP map.
(TAPE suits cars with digital dash, I think it's the MUFF you'd need for the older dash)

Ahh right okay. The one im getting is the older type not digital.

just get out there and enjoy it, always best to do decent basic service, coils, plugs, coil pack, filters (don't forget fuel filter) oil

if you can get a cheap trackday booked first, see how car performs, and take it from there, on track far more can be had from improving handling and braking, more than speed, its better to be able to come out of a corner at 60 and accelerate slower, than coming out at 45 and having more power.

you will find the fun in a puma is the the throwing around the corners, and just accepting that its not going to go chase an M3 up the straight.