Hyper Gas Hemi T04

T04-equipped and running straight LP-gas, this six-pack Val's ready to unleash its tyre power of 280kW (375hp) down your street! But you'd never tell by just looking at it......
Colin Townsend is the man responsible for one of the most awarded modified vehicles in Australia - his immaculate black quad-Weber'd FJ Holden. So it's no great shock to see his family's second car is something also quite out of the ordinary. That wasn't the original idea though; Colin's a Holden man through-and-through and he thought that big gold Val in the driveway would never catch his creative attention. Oh well, we all make mistakes...
The 1970 VG Valiant you're seeing here was actually the first model to come to Australia factory-fitted with the famous Hemi engine. It is also the last of that body shape, which often fools people into thinking it's got the old 'slant' engine under the long bonnet. For our American audience, the car is based on the Dodge Dart of the same era with only minor differences dividing the two.

Recognising the Hemi six as a hugely underrated mill, Colin set off on a mechanical path completely different to the one he adopted for his famous Holden. Even so, the boosted LP-gas fed Hemi churns out an easy (very easy) 280kW (375hp) at the wheels! Looking at the dyno graph, his comments about a sticky wastegate are obvious; look at that spike! Despite this, the car is very progressive on the road - it's damn strong from around 2000rpm right up to the conservative 5000rpm limit. There's massive grunt absolutely everywhere!
Colin kicked it all off by purchasing a 265ci (4.3litre) engine someone else had built to 'turbo specifications'. This sheltered forged Venolia forged pistons that provide a static CR of 7.5:1, a linished/peened and cleaned up crankshaft, and a collection of 6-Pack conrods. ARP rod bolts, full-floating tapered gudgeon pins and a 6 Pack harmonic balancer were also fitted for increased engine longevity.
An early-model 245ci (4 litre) Hemi cylinder head was fitted to the block to bump the CR up a bit, since the high-octane LP gas would help cure any detonation problems. Then a Crow 'turbo' cam was inserted along with 360ci (5.9 litre) V8 valves and Crane HD valve springs. The head was also cleaned up and fastened to the block with the standard Chrysler head studs. Colin tested these prior to fitting the head and says they can be torqued-up quite a lot before waving the white flag. Copper cylinder head and intake manifold gaskets have been fabricated and fitted to endure boosted turbo conditions.
A single stage belt-driven oil pump drinks from a wet sump that contains three 'gates'- these are effectively baffles to prevent surge. A Mazda RX7 oil cooler is also mounted low at the front of the car, while extra water cooling capacity came in the form of an ex-360ci Chrysler radiator.

Capitalising on the strength of the Valiant's cast engine parts, Colin has left the standard exhaust manifold bolted to the head but has given it some minor modification to suit. This meant removing the factory 'hot box' and adding a flexible section of pipe to cope with temperature induced expansion. The result works just as well as any fabricated system but is much simpler in design (and is cheaper!).
In keeping with the car's street-driven theme, a relatively small T04 (P-Trim we think) turbo size has been chosen, enabling maximum boost to be reached by 2500rpm. However, its efficiency drops off at around 5500rpm. A clever boost switch on the gear stick enables boost to be increased from 14psi to a substantial 20psi as required. Colin stresses that 'low boost' is always selected for street use to help comply with local laws.

A 42mm Garrett external wastegate bypasses the turbo and merges into a 2½ inch collector pipe. The exhaust then branches out into twin 2¼ inch pipes with dual straight-though mufflers. Once again the car is perfectly suited to daily driving with its relative quietness. All of the turbo system and exhaust pipes have been HPC ceramic coated and while Colin admits the $A1,000 isn't cheap, he says that it's worth every cent. He swears there are dramatically reduced under bonnet temps and a definite power improvement.

The warm, compressed air from the turbo passes through mandrel plumbing into an ex-Mitsubishi air-to-air intercooler sitting in front of the radiator. It's here we saw a gadget that had us totally floored. The trick system uses a wastegate actuator, an arrangement of levers and some simple pneumatic components. The assembly is bolted to the front numberplate. Whenever the engine's on boost, the plate slides down about 8cm allowing air to pass freely through the intercooler core! But we were intrigued with the notion of making the plate disappear whenever the car came on boost......
Colin also took a different route when it comes to blow-off valves; he hasn't got one. Instead, there's a large diameter butterfly at the mouth of the compressor inlet that opens and closes as the engine throttle butterfly moves. Careful adjustment has enabled boost to rise instantly after gear changes.
Wanting something different, Colin installed a gas induction system that is ideally suited to the turbo application. Here in Oz, our fuel ratings are quite poor when compared to some countries, so he opted for LP gas which has a minimum octane rating of around 100RON no matter what the source.

Using a standard Holley 4-barrel flange pattern, an Impco 425 gas carb was fitted to the standard intake manifold - which required minor mods to convert it to 4-barrel configuration. Relatively minor alteration to some of the plumbing and passages inside the carb was performed to enable boost pressure to be tolerated. The Impco combines with a Model E converter. Because the car runs on LP gas 100% of the time, all the original fuel lines, filler and tank have been discarded to shed some weight.
Spark is delivered using a re-graphed dizzy which has 10 degrees centrifugal advance and 14 degrees initial advance (plus vacuum). The otherwise standard ignition also uses a Mallory high-energy coil for a guaranteed spark.
Ford's built-tuff Top Loader gearbox handles the elephant-like torque from the engine's steel flywheel and gets prodded by a quick-shifting Hurst shifter. A strong 1727kg (3800lb) clamping pressure plate nails the 5-paddle Kevlar clutch plate hard against the flywheel to prevent slip. A "nice and thick" 3½ inch diameter Chrysler by Chrysler ('C by C' is easier!) tailshaft now runs below the car after being shortened to suit.
The 'Unbelievable Reliability' award must go to the poor C by C diff out the back that has endured 20,000kays (12,430miles) of hard turbo driving. Sporting the standard 2.77:1 ratio, the car can still pull cleanly off the line with the engine's massive torque combining with the tall gears to really run rampant in the top-end. At present the diff centre is open but Colin's dead keen on getting an LSD soon.
Very similar in style to Chrysler-released optional wheels, the 14 inch polished Magnum rims wear Toyo tyres all 'round; 215/60s at the front and 235/60s at the rear.

Colin has added extra bracing to the front end as well as quite heavy gauge bracing from the front through to the rear suspension, effectively making a full chassis. Colin jokes that the rule that a stiff chassis improves handling probably doesn't apply to the Val; she's a bit old in the suspension area! Pacer front torsion-bar suspension is bolted under the nose with a tailored-to-fit CM model Chrysler swaybar also in place. The rear 'sproings' have had an extra leaf added and an aftermarket swaybar stops the rear from leaning over.
The vague original re-circulating-ball steering has been banished in favour of an early Commodore rack-and-pinion setup. While this conversion sounds like an impossible dream, Colin suggested it was fairly easy since the rack was about the right length. The steering mod is just another superb detail so easily overlooked in this car.
Slowing the 1560kg (3432lb) car are vented discs (about 11 inches in diameter) with matched single-pot calipers at the front and finned Pacer drums at the back. This system is good for about 2 heavy stops; after that, be careful.
The elderly body was respayed in what was supposed to be a match of the original colour, but no matter, the new shade actually looks better.... It was just before the respray that Colin noticed some fatigue lines (ie cracks!) appearing on the A-pillars - a result of the Hemi's stupendous torque!
Ahh, like we said before - there's just so much grunt...

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Posted in: Classic Cars

Ferrari 348 Spider

Ferraris have a reputation for speed. Pure, simple speed. But when Tony X pulls alongside you’d better be prepared to witness something totally dumbfounding. The speed of this prancing horse will challenge your grasp of physics!
You’re looking at a regularly street driven Ferrari that punches out 450kW at the back wheels and can howl down the quarter mile in 10.9 seconds - on street tyres!
Step aside McLaren F1!
Tony is no stranger to performance. He’s owned a Ferrari 348 Spider, various Porsches (including a low 11 second 944 Turbo) and he also owns a drag racer - a Camaro Top Door Slammer. His F355 Spider was purchased brand new back in 1996 and was the second to arrive in the country (it was originally flown in for the 1996 Brisbane Motor Show).

The F355 is powered by a 283kW (380hp) 3.5 litre V8 running 5-valve-per-cylinder heads, individual throttle bodies and lightweight titanium rods. It’s also one of the first models to bring full under-car aerodynamics into production. Tony says the F355 was a great machine back in the late ‘90s but he soon grew blasé about its standard performance. This was made worse by the fact that emerging performance cars (such as HSV LS1s) were offering performance scarily close to the mighty Ferrari.
Time to fix that situation!

Tony says he investigated turbo and supercharger kits from all over the world but the high cost - and the fact that the car would need to be shipped overseas - were major turn-offs. It was local tuning workshop – Nizpro - that got the job of breathing boost into the Italian Stallion.
Turbocharging a Ferrari was a project that Simon of Nizpro grabbed with both hands. We’re told that the conversion was pretty straight-forward - the only out-of-the-ordinary step was the requirement to fabricate a custom muffler to suit the available space.
Simon’s initial assessment of the project was “it’ll be a piece of piss.”

The 11.5:1 compression ratio engine was to remain intact which means mild boost pressure and careful engine mapping were essential. Simon used a pair of modified HKS 25/30 turbochargers that are mounted on custom manifolds. He chose to mount the turbochargers at the rear of the engine compartment about one metre away from the exhaust ports. This seems less than ideal from a turbo lag point of view but we’re assured the engine is very responsive. The exhaust manifolds use 1 ½ inch primaries leading into 1 3/4 inch pipes to the turbos. A single Turbosmart 48mm external wastegate is also integrated into the new manifold arrangement. An oil feed for the turbos was inserted into a distribution block that branches out to the factory oil cooler.
Due to limited space beneath the turbos, Nizpro fabricated a custom muffler which comprises inlets in the centre topside of the muffler body and outlets at each end on the bottom. It’s a straight-through design to give maximum gas flow.

Induction air is filtered by a pair of K&N filters mounted on the turbo compressor mouths while boosted air is flung through a pair of custom side-mount intercoolers. These intercoolers are fed cooling air from the F355’s side intakes while electric fans draw air through the cores to maintain cool charge-temps in traffic. Twin Bosch blow-off valves (ex Ford XR6 Turbo) route air back to the compressor inlets on gear changes.

Fuel delivery is provided by 60lb Siemens injectors, a stock Ferrari regulator and a Bosch Motorsport fuel pump. The upgraded injectors and pump are required to maintain a 12.8:1 air-fuel ratio at the engine’s current power output. Fuel and (standard) ignition are controlled by a top-line MoTeC M800 ECU. The M800 is also used to activate the intercooler fans above a preset intake air temperature and limits engine speed to 9500 rpm. It seems that the engine will happily keep making power beyond 10,000 rpm - but nobody wants to pick up the pieces when the mechanical limits are found...

With boost pressure set to 14 psi and tuned to run pump 98 RON fuel, the F355 TT has spat out 450kW at the wheels on Nizpro’s DynoLog chassis dyno. The top section of this dyno printout shows the power curve while the lower section shows the boost curve. As you can see, full boost is achieve at just over 5000 rpm and holds steady to beyond 8000 rpm. With the rev limit set to 9500 rpm there’s a healthy 4500 rpm operating range under full boost.

Despite the monumental increase in torque, Tony uses an original Ferrari clutch – it has done 8000km of service with the turbos (83,000km in total) and shows no sign of dying. Tony says retaining the original clutch puts less strain on the 6-speed manual gearbox - he’d much rather fit a new clutch than a new Ferrari ‘box...
Grip is enhanced with huge 295/35 Pirelli Corsa semi-track tyres fitted at the rear while the standard 225/40 Pirelli P-Zeros are used at the front. Tony says the previous Pirellis (which were three years old) were getting fried with the turbo grunt but, still, they helped him along to a best quarter mile time of 10.92 seconds at 132 mph. We’re told that the new Corsa tyres should improve times considerably.

Tony isn’t big on circuit racing but he has upgraded the brakes to 355mm drilled disc and 4-pot Brembo caliper kit from overseas. A powerful set of anchors is essential with the speed this horse can run to.
And how much speed are we talking?

Well, Simon has driven this twin-turbo beast off the clock - in Simon’s words, “the speedo needle was touching the horse’s arse...” And that, readers, is well beyond 320 km/h! It’s no wonder Tony has annihilated a Suzuki Hayabusa from a 100 km/h rolling start. Tony also points out that the car is deceptively fast and stable - at 280 km/h it feels like 170 km/h.
Except for the glorious engine noise...
Simon says the Ferrari engine is very well suited to forced induction. It doesn’t need a lot of ignition timing retard on boost (which is indicative of a very efficient combustion chamber) and no previously hidden weaknesses have been found. In fact, Simon is so happy with the final product he’s now offering a Ferrari twin-turbo kit using all the same parts as Tony’s car. Total cost for the kit is around AUD$40,000 depending on your required power output.

For now, Tony is more than happy to leave the car pretty well as is. However, he does plan to retune the engine for race fuel and bump up the boost for another quarter mile attack. He’d like to fit some bigger rear tyres but, unfortunately, the rear wheel arches don’t leave much extra space.
“Simon feels there’s 800hp (600kW) waiting there and it’d be nice to see if we can take it a bit faster,” says Tony.
Any chance this will become the world’s first Ferrari Door Slammer?!

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Posted in: Classic Cars

Electric Porsche

Electric Porsche’. It sounds like an oxymoron – until you realise that some of the very first vehicles that Dr Porsche developed were electric... But this 1977 911SC started life with the traditional flat six petrol engine - it was only after many years on the road that the car had its electric conversion.
A US-sourced AC Propulsion Gen 1 electric conversion kit was fitted, consisting of a 150kW induction motor (driving through the original Porsche gearbox), a dedicated controller and a lead-acid battery system.
That all took place years ago: fast forward to the present and the car’s just received a new gearbox, new throttle mechanism and a host of refinements. So what’s an electric Porsche like?

No 32 year old Porsche is going to be a paragon of civility – and since owner Dimitri Lajovic has stripped the car of carpet and sound insulation, that applies in spades. Forget the idea of all electric cars being quiet and refined – this one isn’t!

The batteries are distributed all over the car. There are 28 spiral-wound lead acid ‘absorbed glass mat’ designs (better known as Optima ‘yellow tops’), each with a nominal capacity of 55 amp-hours. However, GWG Creative Engineering (the Brisbane company responsible for the car in its latest version) suggest that when used for electric vehicles, the capacity of these batteries is actually closer to 25-30 amp-hours.
Three batteries are in the back under the engine cover, eight are in the front filling the boot, and 17 are where the back seat once was. Total mass of the car is around 1750kg.

The electric motor is a brushless, 4-pole induction design that uses a copper rotor rather than the more usual aluminium design. It has an output of 220Nm from 0 – 5000 rpm, and the 150kW output applies from 5000 – 12000 rpm.

The controller is now a quite old-fashioned analog design. Interestingly, it uses the motor as part of the on-board battery charging circuit (the motor windings act as an inductor in the voltage boost circuit). The controller is cooled by an electric fan while the motor uses two 12V cooling fans.

The new gearbox was fully developed in-house by GWG. It comprises a billet alloy housing containing a 10.8:1, two-stage reduction. The gearbox is dry-sumped, using electric suction and pressure pumps. The bearings and gears are force lubricated. Six thermocouples sense temperature and an oil pressure sensor is fitted. These sensors report to an electronics box developed by Tritium, a Brisbane company specialising in electric vehicle motor controllers and allied electronics. This diagnostic data is displayed on a lap-top.

The bespoke gearbox works into a Quaife LSD. This type of LSD was chosen as much for its low-backlash design as for its limited slip abilities. The gearbox and motor are housed in a custom carbon-fibre sub-frame.
The driveshafts and CV joints are standard Porsche.
So why the need for the new gearbox? Incredibly, the old Porsche gearbox survived being driven in first gear (and at up to 12,000 rpm) for no less than 60,000 kilometres! However, after that distance, its input drive splines were very worn, and the gearbox itself had lots of backlash and clunks.

Battery management is by Tritium-developed individual monitors – one fitted to each battery. These units equalise the battery charge, using resistor power shedding. Fans have been fitted to keep the resistors cool.

On the dash there are instruments from AC propulsion, including a plus/minus 40 amp ammeter, and another that scales plus/minus 400 amps. There are also read-outs for battery voltage, and motor and controller temps. Peak voltage is 420V, while 360V is normal in cruise, dropping to 320V at full load. An interface is also fitted that allows the user to adjust max charging current and other battery charging parameters.
Other recent electronic additions include the use of a current model Honda Civic electronic throttle, interfaced to the AC Propulsion controller, and a new interface for the speedo. Both electronic modules were produced by Tritium.
Brakes and suspension are standard ’77 Porsche 911.

So in terms of current individually-modified electric cars, the Porsche is an interesting mixture. It’s got a much better electric motor than is usually fitted to conversions (AC induction versus DC brushed), but has an old-fashioned analog controller and lead acid battery pack. But it also has a new built-for-this-application gearbox, some cutting edge electronic interfaces – and all wrapped in a stripped-out Porsche body!
So what’s it like on the road?
First-up, we must tell you that if you still wonder how good electric cars can be – they can be very good indeed. Off the line the Porsche doesn’t go hard, but in rolling acceleration, the instant torque makes ‘Italian lane changes’ (you just put your foot down and then swap lanes) a breeze. The car is deceptive, not in the way that a very refined, quiet car is deceptive in going faster than you thought it was, but deceptive in that the acceleration is so linear, so constant, that you end up at speeds far quicker than expected in the available time and space.

That said, and despite the power and torque characteristics of the electric motor, there still is only 150kW for around 1750kg. The 0-100 km/h time is quoted as being around 8 seconds - that feels about right. However, the in-gear (one gear!) acceleration and response is more like a large capacity V8 capable of 0-100 in the low sixes.
However, for us the best on-road aspect was not the acceleration – it was the regen braking. The throttle uses an interesting design. When you’re on the move, lifting the throttle results in regen braking (where the motor becomes a generator and puts juice back into the battery). In normal driving, the ‘zero point’ is about half-way through the accelerator pedal travel. But when you’re stopped, the accelerator behaviour reverts to a normal design, so there’s no dead travel to overcome when you drive off. Strange as it sounds, you don’t notice this change in behaviour – it feels quite natural.

The strength of available regen braking can be selected by a dash-mounted slider pot. At its strongest position, you simply never have to touch the hydraulic brakes. (And that’s a good thing – vacuum for the booster is provided by a noisy electric pump. Stay off the hydraulic brakes and the pump doesn’t operate.) We drove the car for probably 45 minutes in city traffic conditions, gradually winding-up the level of available regen. By the time the drive was nearly over, we were simply revelling in the ability to seamlessly go from very strong acceleration to very strong deceleration, all through the action of a single pedal. It makes driving an elastic, progressive and natural sensation.

The Porsche is full of rough edges – clearly, owner Dimitri cares little for luxury or low NVH! But even with the road noise, the suspension noise, the gearbox noise and the slight driveline vibration, the electric Porsche is a bewitching drive. Range is about 60 kilometres – fine for most people’s commute – and of course, each night you just plug it into the wall.
Would we have one? Nope, not at the ~$50,000 conversion cost and with poorer refinement than even the cheapest secondhand banger of the last 20 years.
But does it confirm that performance electric cars are (one) of the ways of the future for pure driving fun?
It sure does...

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Posted in: Classic Cars

Birkin PRB S3

Mark Fowler has built himself an electric sports car. The IT professional has done what many people dream about but few seldom achieve. The car’s based on an off-the-shelf kit Clubman, but Mark has added an electric motor, control gear and batteries.
And if the end result isn’t quite what he expected, well, the project’s not finished...

The Birkin PRB S3 Clubman uses an epoxy-coated steel frame fitted with aluminium panelling. The rear suspension comprises a solid axle located by four trailing links and a Panhard rod. Front suspension uses unequal length upper and lower wishbones, an anti-roll bar and coil-over dampers.
Brakes are discs front and rear, with four-spot front aluminium calipers. Steering is non-power rack and pinion, and the kit also includes an adjustable aluminium pedal box.
But of course it’s the non-standard parts that are the most interesting.

The underbonnet scenery comprises a clear plastic panel on which are mounted a throttle position potentiometer connected by cable to the accelerator pedal. The pot talks to a 1000 amp Zilla DC motor speed controller that works with an Advanced DC ‘9 inch’ electric motor, located beneath these components. Mark says the continuous output of the motor is 20kW but that short term, it’s good for something like 100kW.
The motor is bolted to a 5-speed gearbox that in turn drives a conventional tailshaft to the standard kit differential.

Near the speed controller you’ll find an 800 amp main fuse, and a mains-powered battery charger capable of outputting 20 amps at the full 144V battery voltage. A DC/DC converter keeps a tiny 12V SLA battery charged – this is primarily for safety in powering lights and instruments should the main battery pack need to be shut down.
All fine and good so far – so what’s this about the project not turning out as expected? Batteries... ah batteries...

Batteries are located in the nose of the car, under the boot and (when fitted), either side of the pictured electric motor. Unlike the other electric cars we’ve covered in AutoSpeed, Mark’s car uses lithium ion batteries. But in this case, it looks very much as if going to the new technology has not been the expected success. Lithium ion batteries are far lighter than lead acid batteries of the same capacity. They also have better performance characteristics in terms of being able to continuously supply high current.

But the lithium ion batteries in Mark’s car have proved to be a complete flop. The first generation ThunderSky lithium cobalt designs have turned out to have an instantaneous current rating far lower than claimed. In fact, Mark told us that while the original data suggested that the batteries would be able to generate 300 amps in short bursts, the actual figure is more like 30 amps! The battery voltage also sags hugely (and stays low), the two aspects resulting in a massive shortfall in car performance.
To a degree, Mark is philosophical about the battery disaster. While recently in North America he attended electric drag racers and saw what real high performance lithium ion batteries are capable of. ThunderSky also now has a new range of lithium ion batteries, and these are apparently a much better proposition. However, having already spent around $11,000 on batteries, Mark is not looking at using the same supplier. Instead, he’s considering spending $40,000 on state of the art batteries that would give the car phenomenal performance.
But, as he wryly says, “I don’t have forty thousand dollars lying around - I’d have to sell one of my kids!”

After spending around $50,000 all-up, the frustration of having a car with everything but the expected performance must be great. We went for a ride in the car and it felt taut, well suspended and was eerily quiet. The quality of build finish is excellent, with the carbon fibre dash panel featuring gauges for 80 – 160 battery volts, motor amps, motor rpm and vehicle speed. But as soon as Mark put his foot down, the needle on the battery voltage gauge sagged off the lower end... (Although it must be said that Mark has currently only 86V of batteries installed.)
In addition to new batteries, Mark would also like to give the gearbox the flick (he uses only 4th and reverse gears, and reverse is easily catered for by changing the polarity of the DC motor feed) and perhaps upgrade the DC motor and controller for something more powerful. But the latter’s another unknown – because even with the current motor/controller, decent batteries should give the 640kg car great performance.

It all really depends on where you’re coming from. A high performance petrol engine with programmable engine management and perhaps a turbo, new fuel tank and fuel pumps, and a new custom radiator could easily tip the balance of fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. An engine with a lot of power could go much higher in cost. In this context, shelling out, say, $20,000 for a battery pack that would make the car go hard is reasonable.
An all-up cost of about $70,000 for a unique car with strong performance, very good handling – and running costs of only cents a day – could even be warranted.
And Mark’s struggling with just that justification...

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Posted in: Classic Cars

Bad BDA

Andrew Cavelli of Adelaide's Quickco Motorsport has been a Ford fan from way back. He's also had a heap of experience in modifying and race-preparing Escorts for both himself and his customers. Around mid-1998, Andrew bought a 1970 Escort 2-door with the intention of replicating a BDA racecar and competing in 'Classic Rally' style tarmac events.
Those unfamiliar with the mechanical pedigree of the all-conquering Escorts of the '70s might be asking - so what's a BDA Escort, anyway? Fast-rewind back to the early Sixties. Ford in the UK wanted more power from their Cortina engine and decided to use a Lotus-designed twin cam, 8-valve head on the Ford four. The Lotus Cortina was the result - a fast little car that performed well on both the road and the track. When the Escort replaced the Cortina, the engine made the jump into the new body. But while the Lotus twin cam was a huge success, by this time its power output limit had been reached. Enter Cosworth with another head for the 1600 Ford block - this time a 4 valves per cylinder jobbie christened the BDA.

The initials were in reference to the hi-po car's engine twin cams being belt driven ('BD'), while the 'A' simply identified it as the Series A. The engine used solid skirt flat top pistons to give a high compression ratio of 10.0:1 and the Cosworth-designed aluminium head featured valves that sat at 45 degree incline, forming a semi-hemispherical combustion chamber. The intake manifold was cast integrally and was designed to accept a choice of either dual Weber 40DCOE/48 carbs or Dellorto 40 DHLA/Es.
After Cosworth finished integrating the package, it gave an impressive 115hp at 6500rpm and a torque peak of 112ft-lb at 4000. It could sprint the 'Type 49' Escort to 60mph in around 8.5 seconds. But what was most relevant was its tuning potential in motorsport. By enlarging valve sizes, changing the cams and slightly raising the compression ratio, a lot more power was released. All right then, the BDA was a pretty potent piece of machinery...

The engine fitted to the car that you see here is the Cosworth-Ford BDA twin-cam, but the displacement in this beast has grown from 1600 to 1800cc. Assembled by both Andrew and his co-driver Mike Dale, the bottom-end now uses the latest and greatest billet steel crank that delivers a stroke of 82mm. The bores are 83.5mm in diameter and in these slide forged Omega pistons that push the compression ratio up to 12.5:1. Steel Carillo-style 'H-beam' conrods are bolted together with ARP items. Vandervel rings and bearings are used throughout the engine.
A Formula Ford dry sump system ensures the are no oil surge problems inside the engine, and also relieves a few more ponies due to the lack of crankshaft windage. Also on the topic of engine safety, a custom one-off aluminium radiator keeps a lid on the twin-cam's fever. The work-of-art Cosworth head got treated to a pair of Kent billet cams that deliver a total of 400 thou lift and definitely give the car a purposeful idle. While the head was off, it underwent some mandatory porting and polishing (enough to flow 265hp) and was treated to moderately larger valves - an effective modification as proven in the 1970's rally scene.

Equally competition-oriented is the raunchy induction system which uses twin 45mm Webers mounted on the standard RS intake manifold. A pair of Carter pumps located in the boot provide a 6psi fuel supply to the carburettors. To achieve the best results, the carbs have been thoroughly tuned and re-jetted while the car was strapped down on a chassis dyno. The ignition side of things is taken care of by a high energy ignition with a magnetic pick-up, plus Top Gun leads and NGK '7' spark plugs inside the combustion chamber. On the exhaust side of the head, there's a custom set of hand made tuned-length extractors that use 1¾ -inch primaries flowing into a mandrel bent 2½ -inch system with a single muffler.

So how much power has been pulled from this little Pommy Ford four pot? Andrew has had the car dyno'd at Turbo Tune and seen 125kW (167.5hp) at the wheels - which has been translated by the guys to around 164kW (220hp) at the flywheel! Mike says the engine was built more for torque than outright power, but 220hp sure isn't anything to be sneezed at in a 900-odd kg (1980lb) car!
Backing the strong four is a twin-plate AP racing clutch and pressure plate, plus a Quickco steel flywheel which transfers torque to a 5-speed Quaife gearbox containing straight-cut close-ratio gears. The standard RS1600 hydraulic clutch actuation has been fitted. Such an elaborate Quaife gearbox set-up is unlikely to ever give problems!

Putting the 1800's mumbo to the tarmac is a competition-style full floating ZF LSD (commonly dubbed the 'baby atlas') spinning a 4.6:1 ratio. To the centre of the diff connect billet Romac axles which reach outward to a special Quickco rear brake conversion kit. This comprises 280mm solid discs and single piston calipers, while at the front are the reputable AP 4 pot calipers biting massive 300mm vented discs. A racing set of carbon/metallic pads gives the braking system the desired stopping abilities.
No brake booster is used, as there is a Quickco adjustable pedal box along with a brake balance bar control located inside the cabin. A brake booster is not as effective in this type of car, as at any one time there can be minimal engine vacuum available to assist the pedal. But to aid tight corner manoeuvres, a hydraulic handbrake helps Andrew to tuck the nose in and step the back end out.
Designed for tarmac use, the suspension setting is usually very low, but in the photos shown here the car has been raised about 2 inches. It uses adjustable Koni shocks front and rear, a front Quickco adjustable short-stroke coil-over arrangement plus an alloy anti-dive kit also at the front. At the front, around 2-2½ degrees of negative camber is dialed in along with about 1mm of toe-in and 3½ degrees positive castor. Atop each strut tower rests a spherical bearing to replace the original rubbers, which don't offer the same amount of driver control.
The rear end is made up of a Quickco fabricated system that includes single leaf springs, two top radius arms and an adjustable Panhard rod to maintain the correct geometry. The rear shock towers have also been turreted to achieve the correct shocker angle. The car rides on a set of Performance 14x7 alloy wheels wearing 205/60 Falken GRBs for maximum possible traction.

On-board is a typical example of a purebred racecar - nothing that's unnecessary has been spared the flick! The standard "double bubble" dashboard remains in place and contains a comprehensive array of gauges, while fronting the front seat passenger is a Terratrip rally computer, Halda rally Tripmaster and various switches. Andrew and co-driver Mike sit in a pair of carbon fibre/Kevlar Velo GP200 race seats and communicate on the Terraphone intercom system while being safely strapped in by 6-point OMP harnesses.

There's also that serious looking Safety Devices steel roll cage installed with extra strengthening added. In addition, there's a fire extinguisher system installed to the car, with two nozzles inside the cabin and another two under the bonnet - intended to save the Cosworth gem in the event of a fire. To keep the feel of the era when the original cars stood in the spotlight, the car has been sprayed in BDA Escort period colours: they came in either white, white or white! Within the boot resides the battery (as it could no longer be fitted in BDA Escort engine bay), along with a 60-litre fuel tank containing 100 octane and the dry sump system components.

After the exhaustive transformation of what was originally a stock-standard Escort (remember?), had been completed, it was booted straight out into the rough-and-tough of competition. Realistically aiming to manage only a Top 10 placing, Andrew and co-driver Mike Dale were only too pleased to learn they had what it took to convincingly maul the opposition in the annual Adelaide Classic Rally. Against Ferrari V12s, a V8 Iso Rivolta, Falcon GTs and other classic performance cars, the Escort just wiped them!
Then it was off to the Mallala circuit where we photographed the car in action. Even though the car had never been raced there before, it was soon reeling off low 1.21/1.22s, a time comparable to some of the vastly experienced club racers that make it out there at every meeting...
Huh? Isn't a car supposed to gradually work its way to the top?!

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Posted in: Classic Cars

How to Fix Tire Cupping

There is little that's more uncomfortable than your car shaking down the road as you drive. A big part of a comfortable ride is based on your tires' wear pattern. Tire cupping is an uneven wear pattern that looks like little dips all the way around the tread area. The cause of tire cupping can vary, but if it's not too severe it can be fixed.

Instructions :

1. Park your car on a level surface and set the emergency brake.

2. Examine your tires one by one to see which tires are cupped.

3. Push down on the vehicle fender area next to each cupped tire. If the vehicle continues to bounce up and down more than once after you release it, it is likely that shocks are the reason for the cupping.

4. Take the vehicle to the auto repair shop and have them change the shocks. Then have the shop put the cupped tires on the rear of the car until they wear smooth again. If the cupping is too severe, the tire shop may be able to use a tire-shaving machine to even them out.

5. Look for cupping on the front tires. If the cupping is on the inside or outside of the tread, mis-alignment of the front end is the likely cause. Take the vehicle to the auto repair shop and have them rotate the tires to put the best on the front and perform an alignment.

6. Ask the auto repair shop to balance the tires. Many times cupping can be caused by tires being out of balance.

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Posted in: Safety Drive

Activities to Promote Safe Driving

Traffic accidents kill young drivers and their passengers more than any other age group, partly because kids don't have the experience that older drivers have and also because kids do mindless things when they drive, sometimes due to peer pressure or just lack of awareness. Distractions such as cell phones, eating, grooming, talking, texting and fiddling with the radio can cause automobile crashes. Wearing seat belts can save lives in accidents. Driver education and practice make safe drivers. To promote safe driving at your high school or transportation business, plan safe-driving activities that call attention to these facts.

1. Pledges

   • According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), distracted-driving accidents killed 5,474 people and injured approximately 448,000 more in 2009. Encourage your employees or students to pledge that they won't drive while distracted. This means no text-messaging, talking on the phone, eating, grooming, watching videos or fiddling with maps, radios or friends while driving. You can focus your group's pledge around just one of these distractions, such as texting. Dedicate a wall or display case to your pledge, and personalize the pledges, giving urgency to those who make the pledge. When a new person takes the pledge, put her picture up in the case. Or have her sign her name to a car-shaped piece of paper and post it on a wall.

   Demolished Vehicle

   • Park a demolished vehicle in the parking lot of your business or school campus. Allow employees and students to see the dire consequences of unsafe driving behaviors such as drinking and driving, not paying attention to the road or driving at extreme speeds. To make sure drivers truly get the message about unsafe driving, invite a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to give a speech in front of the totaled vehicle about the importance of good decision-making and safe driving practices.

   Golf Cart Driving Course

   • Create a golf-cart driving course in a parking lot or on a campus using orange cones and handmade traffic signs. Workers or students can drive through the course, ensuring they observe all the traffic signs they encounter. To make the course more difficult, call or text the driver's cell phone. Pair them with partners who talk to them nonstop. Instruct them to read a map and drive at the same time. As drivers try to concentrate on the course -- and perhaps run over a few cones -- they will realize how dangerous these types of distractions are.

   Traffic Sign Game

   • Safe drivers know the meanings of and proper responses to all traffic signs that they encounter. Test drivers' knowledge with a traffic sign game. Construct a variety of homemade traffic signs, or blow up pictures of real road signs. Include simple signs such as stop, yield, one-way, railroad crossing, deer crossing and winding road. Hold up the sign and have people yell out the answer. Or, divide the drivers into two teams: One member of a team competes against a member of the other team to see who can identify each sign first.

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Posted in: Safety Drive