Post by Peter on Apr 13, 2014 16:35:16 GMT
Prompted by a Stirling forum thread.
how fast does it go?
How fast can it go? As fast as you can afford.
An interesting thread and well worth a read but there is a serious side to this subject.
The VAST majority of kit cars that either never see the light of day let alone the light of a car coming the other way, are buggered up by over enthusiastic owners whose ideas far out strip their abilities and many of those ideas revolve around stuffing more powerful bigger engines into a VW chassis.
A bigger, more powerful unit in the back does NOT mean you will be able to go faster other than on a drag strip, (like we all do, yeah, right) or a desert highway through Arizona but given a twisty or urban road and a 60Hp and light engine will piss all over a bigger, heavier lump.
In most places there is a maximum speed limit and you exceed this at the peril of loosing your licence, is it really worth that? The chances that you will 'swap ends' are much higher and write the car off, ANY rear engine car will try and have the motor overtake the front if pushed to hard, even Porches. In the majority of countries we are stuck with a top 'legal' limit of say, 70 MPH (120 Kph), give or take 20 but how quickly you get there and get around corners is the fun bit. The practice of putting hundreds of horses in the rear of your car is both pointless and potentially lethal.
Stirling, Nova, Eagle Cimbria etc were designed for the VW chassis and motor NOT V6 or V8 high powered motors, they were and still are very much 'show', not 'go' cars. Plonking a body onto a chassis/engine that WAS designed to 'go' would be the way forward and might even stand half a chance of seeing some action outside the garage.
Although the 0 to 60 time is interesting (and fun), the 60 to 0 time is what is important, suspension and brakes are very often left as per donor when the reduction in weight alone calls for a rethink, increase performance and you are looking at some serious rethinking and as these things tend to increase spending pro-rota be prepared for a lot of your hard earned flying out of the bank.
A lighter front end in most cases means you need a softer set up or it will skit all over the place.
Brake balance will also have to be addressed as the lighter front end will lock up unless balance to the rear is increased, locking up the rear can have it swinging out which is controllable but locking the front means the front tyres are going sideways and that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Steering is so often left as standard and in most cases providing it is all in top condition will be OK but slap a pair of 225/60-15 tyres on 8" rims at the front and it gets a bit heavy so a rack and pinion conversion would be a good move. not difficult to do and the difference is amazing.
Chucking a set of big boots on the rear to 'handle' the power, (and look cool) will present even more problems, My Suzuki Vitara 'wide boy' was a sod for spinning in the wet. Keeping an eye on the AGE of the tyres is important too as they go 'off' with age and a set of ten year old boots are near enough useless in the wet, and even in the dry if pushed, as they go 'hard', I bought my BMW E30 from an elderly lady and the tyres were like new but 20 years old and the first time I came to a wet road I spun, at 20mph! new boots time. Although the tyres on Ukhozi have only done less than 2,000 miles they will have to be replaced, SOLID!
The best way to go forwards is to ask on the forums and get some advise from people who have been there, done that and got the overdraft to prove it, (preferably got the car on the road too), BEFORE you hack up a irreplaceable classic kit car . or kill it and possibly yourself, on the road.
how fast does it go?
How fast can it go? As fast as you can afford.
An interesting thread and well worth a read but there is a serious side to this subject.
The VAST majority of kit cars that either never see the light of day let alone the light of a car coming the other way, are buggered up by over enthusiastic owners whose ideas far out strip their abilities and many of those ideas revolve around stuffing more powerful bigger engines into a VW chassis.
A bigger, more powerful unit in the back does NOT mean you will be able to go faster other than on a drag strip, (like we all do, yeah, right) or a desert highway through Arizona but given a twisty or urban road and a 60Hp and light engine will piss all over a bigger, heavier lump.
In most places there is a maximum speed limit and you exceed this at the peril of loosing your licence, is it really worth that? The chances that you will 'swap ends' are much higher and write the car off, ANY rear engine car will try and have the motor overtake the front if pushed to hard, even Porches. In the majority of countries we are stuck with a top 'legal' limit of say, 70 MPH (120 Kph), give or take 20 but how quickly you get there and get around corners is the fun bit. The practice of putting hundreds of horses in the rear of your car is both pointless and potentially lethal.
Stirling, Nova, Eagle Cimbria etc were designed for the VW chassis and motor NOT V6 or V8 high powered motors, they were and still are very much 'show', not 'go' cars. Plonking a body onto a chassis/engine that WAS designed to 'go' would be the way forward and might even stand half a chance of seeing some action outside the garage.
Although the 0 to 60 time is interesting (and fun), the 60 to 0 time is what is important, suspension and brakes are very often left as per donor when the reduction in weight alone calls for a rethink, increase performance and you are looking at some serious rethinking and as these things tend to increase spending pro-rota be prepared for a lot of your hard earned flying out of the bank.
A lighter front end in most cases means you need a softer set up or it will skit all over the place.
Brake balance will also have to be addressed as the lighter front end will lock up unless balance to the rear is increased, locking up the rear can have it swinging out which is controllable but locking the front means the front tyres are going sideways and that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Steering is so often left as standard and in most cases providing it is all in top condition will be OK but slap a pair of 225/60-15 tyres on 8" rims at the front and it gets a bit heavy so a rack and pinion conversion would be a good move. not difficult to do and the difference is amazing.
Chucking a set of big boots on the rear to 'handle' the power, (and look cool) will present even more problems, My Suzuki Vitara 'wide boy' was a sod for spinning in the wet. Keeping an eye on the AGE of the tyres is important too as they go 'off' with age and a set of ten year old boots are near enough useless in the wet, and even in the dry if pushed, as they go 'hard', I bought my BMW E30 from an elderly lady and the tyres were like new but 20 years old and the first time I came to a wet road I spun, at 20mph! new boots time. Although the tyres on Ukhozi have only done less than 2,000 miles they will have to be replaced, SOLID!
The best way to go forwards is to ask on the forums and get some advise from people who have been there, done that and got the overdraft to prove it, (preferably got the car on the road too), BEFORE you hack up a irreplaceable classic kit car . or kill it and possibly yourself, on the road.