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Donors and chassis

tombrod - 28/2/04 at 02:48 PM

How do you know what you have to change in your chassis to fit the bits from your car into it?
Or is it just trial and error? it seems that cars as old as the ones in Champions book are almost impossible to find and so i would probably be looking at something like a sierra or an orion(escort), any tips?
cheers

madforfishing - 28/2/04 at 02:50 PM

Sack the Orion idea if you want to 'follow' the book as they are FWD.
Sierra's are a plenty in most scrapyards and engines are cheap.

tombrod - 3/3/04 at 10:47 AM

so for a sierra do you use the +4 chassis on the mcsorely website?anyone done it nad know of any problems that would be good to know about in advance? (prob lookin at a 1.8 pinto?) any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!
cheers tom broderick

Graceland - 3/3/04 at 11:17 AM

i've used sierra parts and am using a book chassis with no problems

86barettaguy - 7/3/04 at 08:30 PM

shouldn't we have some sort of database with all the possible donors listed along with the modifications that were needed to use the parts from them? I'm still sitting here with no project started partly because I'm really unsure about what donors can be used (the size of the engine and the width of the rear axle are the things that are bothering me). And with me being me, I want to start with the chassis before I get a donor...

this poo is starting to make me think about building a motorcycle, or maybe an aircraft (I already have a pilots certificate) instead of a car. seems a bit easier (with the motorcycle, space isn't as much of a problem and with an aircraft, there's no worrying about any rear axles or oversized engines and gearboxes)... maybe it isn't, but it sure seems that way...

JamJah - 7/3/04 at 09:05 PM

I agree that this would be a good idea. Even if not in a database form. anything would do.
It whats held me up slightly. Also means you cant build the chassis until you bought a donor.

James - 8/3/04 at 11:19 AM

quote:
Originally posted by tombrod
so for a sierra do you use the +4 chassis on the mcsorely website?anyone done it nad know of any problems that would be good to know about in advance? (prob lookin at a 1.8 pinto?) any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!
cheers tom broderick

You don't need a wider chassis to use Sierra donors at all. You will though, need longer front wishbones and you'll have to design and build an IRS or De Dion system for the back.
Darren George of DOZRacing sells all the bits you need including longer front wishbones.

Bear in mind that an IRS system will mean the car takes much longer to complete. Buying a DeDion is only about £150 and easy as Darren has designed it to fit a Book chassis.

As regards the 1.8Pinto- why bother? They're harder to find than a 2.0, less powerful for very similar weight, there's less tuning parts and people give the 2.0 away!

Barettaguy,

The two most common choices are Escort/Cortina/Capri (Live Axle) or Sierra (IRS). Anything else and you're getting into largely unknown territory so you won't be able to ask any advice!
This is fine if you're cool with all the aspects of your donor but would be less good for those of us who need to ask lots of questions!

HTH,

James

ned - 8/3/04 at 12:01 PM

I'm building a book chassis with a sierra rear end, I've bought darrens dedion kit and am currently leavinghte front track as per the bok as I already had the wishbones.

I don't see it causing any adverse handling characteristics, if it does i might try some wheel spacers on the front wheels or make wider wishbones...

Ned.

86barettaguy - 8/3/04 at 06:02 PM

James: the problem is that escorts/cortinas/capris are pretty rare around here. the few I've seen have been rally-prepped and I can't see why I should rape a car that´s already close to something I like (especially considering what it would cost me to buy one of them)... IRS is nice, but a bit more complicated and the sierra still isn't the most common car these days (can't understand why though)... the thing is, it would be nice to know my options.

[Edited on 8/3/04 by 86barettaguy]