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PumaThunder

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2016
Messages
40
Hi Everyone,

A friend and I have got together to have a bit of fun on Track Days, After quite a lot of searching on the classifieds we've found ourselves with a 2001 Puma Thunder 1.7. We bought it back in March with these upgrades/changes:

AP Coilovers
Stripped + Rear cage
TSW 19" Alloys
Cherry Bomb back box :roll:
Race seats and 4 point Harnesses
It also has racing stripes and a rear wing for optimum downforce(!)

The drive home from Hull to Oxford was going to be a good test, and it managed with no problems at all. Over the last couple of months we've just given it a good tidy up and changed a few aesthetic features before spending too much , then looked into booking our first track day!

After picking a date and location not to far away, we ended up at Bedford Autodrome GT yesterday (20th June), the weather couldn't have been wetter but the car was healthy and we were raring to go. Our only concern was noise - Bedford seem to have a reputation for being strict, and it's one strike and you're out. Our static test was 99.3 db, a whole 1.7 under the limit, on we go...

Sighting laps were a good chance to get to grips (or lack of grip as it were) with the 3.8 mile circuit. My first tuition was at 09.35 with Mark from Javelin who was great, but 2 laps in and a "Noise!" board appeared so we had to go into the pit area to have a chat. One of the mics picked us up just 0.3 db below being sent home, they advised we should see if a local exhaust shop had something to help us out. We thought we could get it sorted and be back out after lunch at least, that was until we gained a misfire on the way to the garage. The day was not looking like it would be our day! Our priority then was to make sure it was fit to just get home and admit defeat, back to the track to say goodbye before heading home very disappointed.

Luckily Javelin allowed us to swap the Puma for my Clio Trophy and we used that in the afternoon, so not everything was wasted.

Next for us is a quieter exhaust (Any recommendations?!) and new ignition system bits, then back to the track!
 
I just have a cheapy Klauris on mine, ECP special, noisy exhausts are stupid on a trackday as gains are minimal, makes car less pleasant to drive and just risks failing sound test.

at 99dB you are gonna end up with agro on drive past, or have to start avoiding going WOT which is pointless on a track as 90% of time you are either foot hard on the loud pedal or hard on the stop pedal and continually flicking between 3rd and 4th and occasionally 2nd and/or 5th depending on track.

Coil packs tend to be a weakish point - I buy cheapish and keep spare along with a set of plugs and a bit of oil.

They are however a hoot to drive on track as you can throw into corners like a go cart.

What tyres are you running?

PS3's which I run defy the laws of physics in the wet on track, obviously nothing like wet slicks but seriously impressive

Rear wing is always an interesting one as car is more lacking in straight line speed which a rear wing will make worse, rather that need for down force in corners.
 
ArtfulHussy said:
[post]353567[/post] 19" wheels!? :pinkeye:

Hadn't even seen that :? that's less than 2" of side wall, gonna ride seriously rough, and with coil overs and stripped, does it skip around a bit?

Also just had a thought about miss fire - wet air filter?
 
Lord B said:
[post]353570[/post]
ArtfulHussy said:
[post]353567[/post] 19" wheels!? :pinkeye:

Hadn't even seen that :? that's less than 2" of side wall, gonna ride seriously rough, and with coil overs and stripped, does it skip around a bit?

Also just had a thought about miss fire - wet air filter?

That's a typo, they're 17 not 19, woops!

I can't remember brand off the top of my head, but they aren't anything I'd heard of before. We'll probably use them until they're worn out and look at getting something more reputable ideally attached to a 15" wheel as that'll save us hundreds in the long run. I've got PS3's on my Clio though and with the track drying out in the afternoon, there was certainly a lot of grip!

Interesting with the misfire, we've picked up coil pack, leads, plugs to swap over. There seemed to be a bit of oil in the well so I've ordered a new rocker cover gasket as well. Just need to put it all in there and see what happens. We had just re-oiled the air filter a couple of days before (one of the Pipercross panel filters), perhaps it hadn't dried enough.
 
Never oiled my Panel filter once in 7 years on my Volvo, just keep it clean, oiling does mean that it catches fine dust particles, however (and this is purely my personal opinion) the dust that is stopped by the oil Vs what would get through an unoiled filter is very unlikely to cause any issue with the engine, oiling however risks oil getting sucked through and onto MAF element which will cause issues.

Rightly or wrongly I just used to give my filter a good blast with an air line and occasion blast with brake cleaner then left for it to dry.

Oil in plug wells is unlikely to cause any issue unless full and plug lead isn't a good seal.

Even 17's are fairly hardcore for a puma, I just hoon mine on 15's at about 28-30PSI tyre pressures.
 
Just fitted a new coil pack, replaced the spark plugs and changed the rocker cover gasket this weekend, gave it a bit of a clean while we were at it. Wanted to change the leads too but we bought the clip-on type, rather than the pop-on type.

It started up and ran fine but needs a bit of a road test really. We also need to clear the engine management light that came on the dash.

What's the best way of getting that cleared? I'm assuming an OBD, or a cable to go to a laptop with some software?
 
ODB Bluetooth Adapter for Android or ODB Wifi Adapter for iOS. Download Forscan Lite which will read the ECU codes, tell you the possible causes for the codes and solutions and enables you to clear the codes.

Once you get used to your track car, the ST150 brake upgrade is freakin awesome. :wink:
 
Milkie said:
[post]353740[/post] ODB Bluetooth Adapter for Android or ODB Wifi Adapter for iOS. Download Forscan Lite which will read the ECU codes, tell you the possible causes for the codes and solutions and enables you to clear the codes.

Once you get used to your track car, the ST150 brake upgrade is freakin awesome. :wink:

Ah thanks very much, I'll have a look into those!

It has had some kind of big brake upgrade, pretty sure from an ST170. The pedal doesn't do anything for the first inch or two, but it does bite eventually :lol:
 
PumaThunder said:
[post]353739[/post] We also need to clear the engine management light that came on the dash.

What's the best way of getting that cleared?
To just clear the codes then simply disconnect the battery for 1 - 2 hours (I do 2 hours to be sure, but officially it's 1)

For anything else, like reading OBDII codes then, er, use a OBDII code reader.
 
Need help identifying a part...

Seen lots of stripped Puma's without the little box that's in front of the gear stick / Under the dashboard cigarette lighter bit, before we pull it out, can anyone tell us what it is?
 
PumaThunder said:
[post]355721[/post] Need help identifying a part...

Seen lots of stripped Puma's without the little box that's in front of the gear stick / Under the dashboard cigarette lighter bit, before we pull it out, can anyone tell us what it is?

Could be the airbag module.
 
Will have to see if I can get a picture over the weekend.

Haven't been puma'ing much recently with new job etc, but we're back at Bedford on Monday (with a quieter exhaust :grin: ). Will try and update afterwards!
 
Success! The new back box made us much quieter and we didn't get any noise warnings all day!

We had another friend join us so the car was passed around a lot. We think we did over 60 laps during the day, which is well over 200 miles at bedford. We did feel a little bit slow and under powered on the long straights but in the corners the Puma did great and we're able to brake way later than the fatter cars there. The balance of the car was great, especially noticable in the wet where it's much easier to get to the limit although it was very understeery. Probably the non-track tyres...

There were 3 other puma's there yesterday, so I think it was the most popular car! Good variety of things there, favorite being the almost brand new Cayman GT4, oh and the Clio Trophy :p

Can't wait to book the next one now, MOT at the end of the month :?
 
Track tyres wouldn't of helped yesterday, the track surface was far too greasy and slippery.

I assume yours in the orange Puma which was at Bedford yesterday?
 
Bentleya said:
[post]358202[/post] Track tyres wouldn't of helped yesterday, the track surface was far too greasy and slippery.

I assume yours in the orange Puma which was at Bedford yesterday?
Yes that was us, were you there in a Puma? Which one?
 
I`d seriously look at finding a set of 15" wheels.
Track rubber isn`t the cheapeat and they wear out fast.
Look at the price difference of tyres!!

Also, The 17" wheel and tyre is a noticeably bigger and heavier than the 15 option.
Which makes the car accelerate slower and not corner so well...
15"s for track ;-)
 
PumaThunder said:
[post]358667[/post]
Yes that was us, were you there in a Puma? Which one?

I'm afraid the days of me doing a trackday in a Puma are gone for now.
I was there in the Mountune'd blue mk6 Fiesta.

I went out for a couple of laps on Dunlop Direzza DG03's and I was really struggling to somestain any kind of grip. So I ended up changing over to the Uniroyal Rainsport 3's and the grip level was superb for the condition's.
 

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