Rear Engine Focus RS Build
Turbo Mini Forums

First of all

Sorry its not an a-series!
:$

Thought i'd post a few pics of my current mini build.

Hopefully you guys will be able to shove me in the right direction with a few things, and point out any errors im making!

I bought the car as a semi-stripped out 1275 that had been sitting on a friends driveway for 6 months

the car is going to be a rear mounted zetec turbo.
I wasnt too bothered about weight to begin with, but the more time i spend on this site the worse i get.

So it now has the interior completely stripped, carbon front end, bonnet, boot, a panels, bulkhead box, and lots of other little bits

here it is, before i stripped a load off of it, ready to fit the engine


the front end







And i'm in the middle of mocking up and building the engine cradle



Hoping to have it done for avon park next year.

Edited by steve w on 12th Sep, 2013.

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

That bulkhead box is sex! Bit of a waste on a rear engine car though, isn't it?

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

this is going to be some machine mate what sort of bhp you hoping for and is it all your own work.

Do it right the first time and make it mint!!!!!!

get rid of the seatbelt mounts and double skinning for the headlinig before you cant get to it with the engine cradle in place!

every little helps!

yes love the bulkhead box

yeah, bulkhead box was a bit of a waste, but the old one looked rubbish, so i'm putting the washer bottle there.

I'm leaving turbo stuff off, until i've shook the car down, and got it riding and running right.

Then im hoping for around the 350 bananas mark.
Although i think i'm gonna work my way up, as it might be a tad lairy.

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

I think the biggest problem you'll have is with the MTX75 transmission...
What made you jump on a zetec rather than the XE or duratec?

Why do you see a problem with the gearbox??

went for a zetec because of the cost

And i had a few bits lying around that were of use

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Don't get me wrong - the trans is a pretty strong unit - should be way better than the F20 vauxhall unit if the centre-distances and gear widths are anything to go by - but 250% over the designed rated torque (at a guess) and RWD will find the weakness!!!

However - they are very cheap, very available, and there are (i recall) three different FD ratio's - and must be pretty easy to install with the hydraulic slave and cable shifting.

I didn't mean to sound derogatory - I think it is a very good choice of transmission, and that power should be (relativly) easy to come by through that engine - so it shoudl be a good combination from the outset.

av you got anymore pics? looks interesting

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

Probably one of the coolest looking saloons ive seen, nice one!

Really? who's pictures were you looking at?!!!

Carl ive got loads more photos, what were you thinking

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Get some pics up of the rear subframe configuration!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

I'm doing the whole car on a bit of a budget. Most of , if not all you see is second had/reconditioned items that ive picked up here and there

basically its a z cars trailing arm setup,
but im building my own frame to hold the engine

the picture above shows roughly what im planning on doing

RobH has just lent me a tube notcher, so hopefully i'll be starting on the real frame this weekend

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Coool, looks well good, nice one.

Build Thread Click Here

Hows is the engine mounted??

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

similar to z cars

engine mounts from the focus, a frame built onto back of the cage.

Then some brackets/bracing made up to connect the two together

fairly straight forward, around 6.5m of rollcage tubing in total

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Looking good Steve. We need to see more Carbon getting involved though.

Si

I drill holes in everything..!

Excellent work, will follow this one closely!

//marcus

internationally known as "big" swede

si, theres loads mate, just well hidden !



you ready yet?
starting your bit in the next week or so.

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Good Lad. 8-)

I'll send you a PM with a pic and some dimensions for you to start your black magic.

Si

On 26th Nov, 2008 steve w said:
si, theres loads mate, just well hidden !



you ready yet?
starting your bit in the next week or so.

I drill holes in everything..!

How are you getting on with this? have you managed to do any work on the cage?

yeah, rear frame is fabricated, as are the coilover mounts, and the rh engine mount.

Just waiting for a kind man to come over and weld it all up!

Then i'm going to borrow a tube bender from said man, and make the lh engine mount.

Rob, that tube notcher is awesome, i'll send it back in a couple of weeks if that is ok? along with those a panels

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

well, progress. I'm currently trying to prove everyone, who sees it, wrong.

Nobody believes it'll be ready!



Lifted the car off of the engine, and frame. now its been tacked up, i can mounted the engine to it, out of the car, and fabricate the gearbox mount



makes me realise how much ive cut out!



Handbrake bracket welded on. Had to move it because of the gearlever being in the way.



Also discovered that if you flip a cosworth guage holder over, it fits the the switch panel hole quite well!

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.

Well there's been progress!

But I'll let the pictures do the talking!

This is FORD country, on a quiet day you can hear Vauxhalls rusting.