Hello!
Here's a story of our Puma Rally / Racing / Rallycross project back here in cold, dark Finland
From this post you'll find a bit of background for this project, and also the image link which will be updated frequently. We will surely have some questions for you, as the Puma is not very common car in Finland and totally newcomer for us.
Story behind the project:
I've driven go-karts, rallysprints (sort of hill climb events) and rally events since i was five and after those been quite a lot as co-driver. Two years ago we started wondering with a friend if we should build a car to have fun with, sort of a budget car which would be competitive in it's own class at rally events. We also wanted something different compared to others, and then we spotted a Puma, perfect choice it seemed. After one day we found a cheap one with clutch problems, went there and bought it.
The project has taken only small steps, but now we're onto it and the car will be ready April 2016.
Competition class:
About 10 years ago in Finland there was a need for a cheap step-in-class in both rallying and track racing as the expenses went up and up all the time. That need produced a new racing class, V1600 (V=Vakio=Standard). Safety regulations etc. are all according to FIA, but the technical rules were kept very simple, some basics:
- Base car year model 2000 or newer.
- Engine max 1600cc completely STD. ECU and Exhaust (after manifold) free.
- STD Brakes. Pads, regulators and brake lines free.
- Dampers free but must fit original fittings and max. one adjustment
- STD Gearbox, no LSD allowed, clutch free (clutch type and plate amount original)
- Minimum weight is calculated from formula: 525kg + 6,8kg for every kw of STD engine. With this formula the minimum weight for Puma is 1041,8kg.
The class got a bit slow start ten years ago, but for past few years it has been a very popular especially on track events and is actually the most popular class on Finnish Championship on track. Also on rally events the popularity has gone up, mainly because it's very cheap way to enjoy this hobby. At the moment there are a bit over 200 cars build to this class in total. 2016 the class will also be introduced to Finnish Rallycross Championship.
Project at the moment:
The car was stripped already two years ago, and we started going through technics and left the body for later. The car we started with was a 1.7, the outcome will be a 1.6 and we need to build it to match a 1.6 completely.
We already had 1.6 engine at the beginning, at the time the engine has gone through complete renovation and is only waiting for final assembly now. The gearbox is also ready and waiting, still need to upgrade the clutch.
For the suspension we still have some work to do. All the axles and wishbones are sandblasted and waiting for powder-coating now, also full set of Powerflex bushings are ready for assembly. But for the dampers we still have a lot of question marks. We have some good left over dampers from previous cars and projects, but all of these are three-way-adjustable so won't meet the regulations. For the dampers we're willing to take suggestions.
The body was stripped down and was in a lot better shape then expected. Not a single rust repair on bottom side, just the rear arches needed some work. All noise protections etc. were stripped out from interior, but decided to leave the bottom side as it is for this car as there was no work that needed to be done and the weight shouldn't be an issue. We began to make the roll cage couple of weeks ago, going to finish it in the coming weekend. After that just the seat brackets must be mounted and after that the body will be painted.
Next up:
After finishing the roll cage and painting we will start the assembly work. Basically we have everything ready for the assembly apart from the dampers and springs. But we might just leave those to last to give us some time thinking about the dampers...
One of the biggest worries at the moment are the looms and electrics in whole. We have complete working 1.7 loom, but i believe swapping to 1.6 won't go so easily. The biggest problem actually is that there was never imported a single 1.6 Puma to Finland, so we have absolutely zero reference. But this is in the future, lets not worry about that yet...
Future:
The car will be raced in V1600 class for a while for sure, but if the hunger grows (as it usually does, been there done that) there are good possibilities to change to different classes with more free technical regulations. For 1.6 there are several good classes, so we will see... It won't be in the near future anyway, because the main idea is to build a car to have fun with and in most cases it is best to keep it in lower classes for that
IMAGE LINK
Note that at the moment there are very few photos and basically just the bodyshell as I just took what I happened to have in phone memory. But it'll be updated frequently from now on as well as this thread. Next up is finishing the roll cage in the upcoming weekend if I can get the plates needed from laser cutting before Friday.
Here's a story of our Puma Rally / Racing / Rallycross project back here in cold, dark Finland
From this post you'll find a bit of background for this project, and also the image link which will be updated frequently. We will surely have some questions for you, as the Puma is not very common car in Finland and totally newcomer for us.Story behind the project:
I've driven go-karts, rallysprints (sort of hill climb events) and rally events since i was five and after those been quite a lot as co-driver. Two years ago we started wondering with a friend if we should build a car to have fun with, sort of a budget car which would be competitive in it's own class at rally events. We also wanted something different compared to others, and then we spotted a Puma, perfect choice it seemed. After one day we found a cheap one with clutch problems, went there and bought it.
The project has taken only small steps, but now we're onto it and the car will be ready April 2016.
Competition class:
About 10 years ago in Finland there was a need for a cheap step-in-class in both rallying and track racing as the expenses went up and up all the time. That need produced a new racing class, V1600 (V=Vakio=Standard). Safety regulations etc. are all according to FIA, but the technical rules were kept very simple, some basics:
- Base car year model 2000 or newer.
- Engine max 1600cc completely STD. ECU and Exhaust (after manifold) free.
- STD Brakes. Pads, regulators and brake lines free.
- Dampers free but must fit original fittings and max. one adjustment
- STD Gearbox, no LSD allowed, clutch free (clutch type and plate amount original)
- Minimum weight is calculated from formula: 525kg + 6,8kg for every kw of STD engine. With this formula the minimum weight for Puma is 1041,8kg.
The class got a bit slow start ten years ago, but for past few years it has been a very popular especially on track events and is actually the most popular class on Finnish Championship on track. Also on rally events the popularity has gone up, mainly because it's very cheap way to enjoy this hobby. At the moment there are a bit over 200 cars build to this class in total. 2016 the class will also be introduced to Finnish Rallycross Championship.
Project at the moment:
The car was stripped already two years ago, and we started going through technics and left the body for later. The car we started with was a 1.7, the outcome will be a 1.6 and we need to build it to match a 1.6 completely.
We already had 1.6 engine at the beginning, at the time the engine has gone through complete renovation and is only waiting for final assembly now. The gearbox is also ready and waiting, still need to upgrade the clutch.
For the suspension we still have some work to do. All the axles and wishbones are sandblasted and waiting for powder-coating now, also full set of Powerflex bushings are ready for assembly. But for the dampers we still have a lot of question marks. We have some good left over dampers from previous cars and projects, but all of these are three-way-adjustable so won't meet the regulations. For the dampers we're willing to take suggestions.
The body was stripped down and was in a lot better shape then expected. Not a single rust repair on bottom side, just the rear arches needed some work. All noise protections etc. were stripped out from interior, but decided to leave the bottom side as it is for this car as there was no work that needed to be done and the weight shouldn't be an issue. We began to make the roll cage couple of weeks ago, going to finish it in the coming weekend. After that just the seat brackets must be mounted and after that the body will be painted.
Next up:
After finishing the roll cage and painting we will start the assembly work. Basically we have everything ready for the assembly apart from the dampers and springs. But we might just leave those to last to give us some time thinking about the dampers...
One of the biggest worries at the moment are the looms and electrics in whole. We have complete working 1.7 loom, but i believe swapping to 1.6 won't go so easily. The biggest problem actually is that there was never imported a single 1.6 Puma to Finland, so we have absolutely zero reference. But this is in the future, lets not worry about that yet...
Future:
The car will be raced in V1600 class for a while for sure, but if the hunger grows (as it usually does, been there done that) there are good possibilities to change to different classes with more free technical regulations. For 1.6 there are several good classes, so we will see... It won't be in the near future anyway, because the main idea is to build a car to have fun with and in most cases it is best to keep it in lower classes for that
IMAGE LINK
Note that at the moment there are very few photos and basically just the bodyshell as I just took what I happened to have in phone memory. But it'll be updated frequently from now on as well as this thread. Next up is finishing the roll cage in the upcoming weekend if I can get the plates needed from laser cutting before Friday.
