I had my first run out with the SKCC on Monday and it was excellent. Very well attended turn out - 9 cars at 06:45 a.m. for some great roads without the traffic. Hi to Matt, Steve, Rich, Graham and the others that I met. Looking forward to the next run
I'll see if I can make the Wednesday Windlesham meet.
Feedback & thoughts about the turbo CVH engine - it was by no means my first choice when I was looking for another Westfield. (My first one had a 2.0 Pinto, and I wanted something quicker and more modern than that). In fact, I was certainly NOT considering a CVH engine car. I had decided that I was looking for either a 16V Zetec/XE engined car (pref with throttle bodies rather than carbs) but then this car turned up at a VERY cheap price and the turbo conversion made it quite unusual. I have a soft spot for the turbo CVH, as I used to have a high power Escort RS turbo during my early 20's, but I didn't consider the engine to be well suited to a light weight kit car. I mean, small capacity motor with a relatively large turbo - it's never going to give linear power delivery or throttle response - characteristics that I would consider hugely beneficial to a car like this. I went to look at the car anyway, made the bloke a low offer and he accepted with no haggling. So I kinda ended up owning it without really trying.
The engine is running a T3 turbo from a Sierra Cosworth and EFI management with standard Fiesta RST ecu. It's charge cooled, with radiator for the c/cooler in front of the engine rad. Boost is 9/10 psi, which is the limit for the standard ecu chip. I guess that power is around 160 bhp/ 160 ft.lb.
Engine is noisy/rattlely though. Will rebuild over the winter, or fit ZVH or Zetec in it's place with adaptor plates to fit existing inlet/exhaust manifolds.
The engine is quite laggy/unresponsive at low revs, and it doesn't start to make boost until around 3000 rpm. Full boost is achieved until around 3500-4000 rpm. The induction noise is really great - it sucks better than Bangkok's finest and the compressor 'flutter / chatter' when you lift off/change gear always brings a smille to the face. (no dump valve, this is the noise of the air passing back thru the stalled compressor wheel blades when the throttle has been closed suddenly).
The large increase in torque as the boost come in, makes it quite exciting to drive, especially mid-corner on the 10+ year old rubber and with my newly fitted LSD.
So, all in all, it sounded like a bad combination to me - it'll never be the smoothest, most precise tool for fast track work - but it is fun! big grins! And that, at the end of the day, is the whole point!
