Hello everyone!

I recently (well, it's been 4 months already) started building a kit-car. The chassis is based on an exo-skeleton kit but the fiberglass body will be of a two-seat coupe. I want it to be a daily use car for all weather and hopefully will come with some interesting things like servo-brake, charcoal canister, glass-cockpit but the most will be the ST170 engine that I sent to rebuild (where I spent a fortune ).

At the moment I havent got the chassis. The original chassis was designed for standard Zetec silver-top but ST170 has long exhaust manifold so the chassis was sent out to have the engine space tweaked. I expect to get the chassis back at end of this week.

Meanwhile I was doing wiring loom and electronics, buying parts here and there, getting loads of points on eBay and shouting around like "where is my chassis!!!??? ". I do have some photos from the poor donor (well, part of it) and some work progress that I want to post here in the next day or so. As soon as the chassis comes to my garage, I will try to keep posted my progress as much as I can, and of course, this is my first kind of project and I have never ever done anything with fiberglass, so I will need some help and advises during the build.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope to learn and exchange experiences with all you during my project.

Cheers,

Marcio.

Mid engine eh? Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Hi, good good good.

I am planing a midi and have an st170 but the engine plan is more of a hybrid with a turbo.

Are you keeping the dual mass flywheel ?

Look forward to the pics.

These are some photos I took while waiting for my chassis.


front nose just arrived
I got a front nose from a car breaker

ready to take the engine
Preparing to take the engine

engine is out
engine is off

here in very bad shape
engine and gearbox were all rusted so I sent to rebuild

after rebuilt
this is a photo after rebuilt - I haven't seem it in person!!

looks good!
but it does look good!

gear stick
meanwhile sorting out the gear stick

internal loom
under-the-dash loom

loom almost sorted
plus the engine bay loom

steering (obviously!)
and steering with quick-release

glass-cockpit 1
this is a mock-up of the instruments. it's an old photo, things progressed a lot!

I'm going to use the engine with everything standard. I took from the donor gearbox, radiator, everything that was not terribly rusted. I'm going to use the 6-speed gearbox - it will hurt a bit starting from the driveshafts...it's specific for the gearbox. That means I will use original flywheel, clutch, etc., original ECU, I'm even thinking of putting charcoal canister!

Together with the chassis, I sent the exhaust manifold so guys can tweak the engine mounts. It is one of those shiny stainless steal sold on eBay. I also got some exhaust parts from (obviously) Exhaust Parts UK. Oh I got new cat as well.

I've got loads of parts and a lot of work done and waiting for my chassis - I hope I will get it delivered this saturday.

Cheers,

Marcio.

Yep I am a fan of oem ecu's and my turbo will be driven by a Focus RS Ecu.

Here is an st170 that I've done before.

And that poor St donor of yours looks sorry for itself

http://youtu.be/Mvo3lazzSVo

hang on, I think I saw one of your videos...I remember seeing a ST170 running on the bench exactly in the same way but without exhaust...we could see the flames coming out from the engine! is that yours as well?

Could well be.

Good stuff, How have you made the instrument panel, is that all programmed yourself for the layout using the OBDII data?

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Originally posted by tims31
Good stuff, How have you made the instrument panel, is that all programmed yourself for the layout using the OBDII data?

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quote:

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Originally posted by scudderfish

quote:

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Originally posted by tims31
Good stuff, How have you made the instrument panel, is that all programmed yourself for the layout using the OBDII data?

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I was just about to ask exactly the same question

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Yeah, I'm planning to use OBD2 via ELM327 for RPM, speed, odometer and water temp. The board is right behind the lcd! I found in another forum how to read the odometer via OBD2 and apparently is valid only for Ford. Once I have the wiring done I will check if it works. As a plan B I've got a circuit with couple of hall sensors and op amps to replace OBD2.

I wrote myself the software to make the layout. I'm a little worried about the size of the LCD (10 inch) might be a bit too big to see by the steering wheel.

By the way, my chassis and engine finally arrived!! I'm copying photos from my phone!!!

I uploaded some photos, I will post more tomorrow.


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making the pedal block and save £250

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Finally I got my engine!

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and this is the chassis

Come on then lets have some progress

I totally forgot to post photos here!! Actually after I started the build I had very little time to come online...

While waiting for parts and the beginning of the month (to get the salary!), I was sorting out the loom. Before I got the chassis I planned to make the loom in one way, after I got the chassis I decided to do in a different way. Result: lots of headache. I can't say the loom is sorted now, still a few pending things.

I plugged ODB2 and everything seems to be all right. I didn't start the engine yet because radiator is not fitted. I'm waiting for some tubes to bolt onto the chassis. I hope I can get cooling pipes this month. (getting short in ££ because of disc brakes!!). So far I ran the engine in the starter to pump oil a couple of times, things looked good.

Nice and shiny Keskin wheels

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Seats bolted

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Recent photos, I took them today

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One of fuse box, ECU and fuel pump controller are behind the driver's seat. Fuel tank behind the passenger. I will use conduit to hide all wires. By the way, I still had to modify the chassis...there was no space for the exhaust manifold. I will also replace the bulkhead, I'm waiting for sheets to arrive.

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No, I'm not going to use this air filter!! It's in there just to keep the intake manifold clean. I'm also going to put a bar to hold the fuel line, loom and the EVAP canister purge. Yes, I have charcoal canister!

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Because I had the modify the rear part of the chassis, I rose the bar where the steering column is bolted. My knee was catching the steering column so I was afraid to get an IVA fail because of that. It's more comfortable though!
It's missing one wheel because I sent the upright to HiSpec. Trying to save money I got RD upright (Cortina geometry) but only accepts Wilwood callipers (expensive) and solid disc (not too good). HiSpec said they have vented discs with 27mm height and Cortina PCD and calliper with 129mm fitting (their calliper is 130mm, 129 is Wilwood) so I sent them the upright to make sure things will fit. Unfortunately discs are going to cost a lot...

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I will try to keep posted. It's a lot of work though, but I'm having a lot of fun!

Cheers,

Marcio.

What chassis is it?

Interested to know if the instruments work as I'm thinking I could produce something similar myself.

This chassis is a modified Sonic-7 from RTR, they are no longer in the market. My idea is to build a small coupe from it.
The instruments will use ODB, the only thing I'm not 100% sure is the odometer. In the worse case I will use a separate box to get speed and odometer

Yeah I noticed they were no longer around but thought other companies would pick up their cars. Guess that's the way of the kit car market currently but some of the MEV cars seemed reasonably priced and easy to assemble.

apparently another company took over some of their kits, but I have no details...or have a look at Exo Sports Cars or ring them to see if they have any Zetec based kit. Oh, just remembered: Riot kit car!! They might be a good alternative!

KkYeah I saw that a new company had taken over. Their website is really pants. TBH I've fancied a J15/vectors for a while but I have more time than money plus access to a decently equipped workshop. Considering a Midlana currently.

It's been a while I don't post any photos...
At the moment that's how the build looks like:


out 001

I had a hell of work with the loom. Some bits need to be sorted: tank, cooling pipe catching the far-side front wheel...then it's going to be the bodywork!

Cheers,

Marcio.