Hello all,

I am new to this whole kit car, forum life.

I have an MK Indy

Iva'd on a 2011 plate with 4K on the clock.

Its running a 2.0 blacktop with Jenvey throttle bodies and a mega squirt RR at 167bhp.

I am currently halfway through having the car rewired and a carbon dash and digi dash 2 fitted.

I believe I have an open diff (I did the spin the back wheels while the car was jacked), standard drums on the back and what looks like single piston sierra calipers on the front with drilled discs.

After completing my first track day on the 2nd May @ Blyton Park there are a few things I would like to upgrade.

1. Brakes/Brake Feel
I know that the brakes I had are spec'd to stop a car twice as heavy that had servo assist but...... I would like a little more bite with a little less effort. Now from what I have read my understanding is, if I move up to xr4 calipers up front, (double piston??) this will help I've seen a set on flee bay for 100 notes and a pair of ebc yellow stuff pads and new 260mm vented turbo discs.
Thoughts??

Also had read something about a brake mod that I can do, inserting a 10mm piece of alu pipe with a hole drilled between the master cylinder and the bulk head and fit some longer bolts. and changing the pivot point on my pedal.... I am unsure how to do both mods.


2. LSD.....

We spent too much time facing the wrong way twice applying the gas too early leaving a bend and once under engine braking turning in on the bend at the end of the home straight.

Now I have seen a few on here for sale with different ratio's I have no idea what ratio I have now, or what I need. I know I have push fit driveshafts though.

I also know the ford LSD's on the whole use bolt in shafts if I bought and LSD with the bolt in shafts included, would these fit my current hubs if not what are my options?

3. Tyres.......

Currently running 15 inch Prada's 195/50/15 front and back. They don't look right cracking on the front after 60 laps on the track so when it comes time to replace what are the best options, bearing in mind I don't want to be having to buy a new set after every trackday and they must work on the roads too.


Sorry for all the questions.... I am sure they all obvious answers and opinions.

Another little point...before the MK I had never picked up a spanner in anger but so far have installed some new wing mirrors and completed my first oil change... (although I did end up dropping all my nice new oil over the track after I crack the sump plug on a raised kerb)

have pictures but can't work out how to attach

I've got a push in shaft LSD for sale if that helps ?
It's a ZF plated LSZ complete - ready to bolt straight into your car.

What sort of money are you after?

Also as I forgot to post my original question regarding noise I have a standard silencer on at the moment which in my opinion is very quiet just wondering what option I have to by a second silencer with bit more noise, bike possibly?

quote:

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Originally posted by jimmy20282
What sort of money are you after?

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Be careful wishing for more noise as some of the track days have a strict noise limit that is imposed (sometimes randomly by all accounts) with a "go home" order.

@Barkalaa thanks but too much for me thanks... might have to go down the Cossie different route with bolt one.

@Ugg10 I would keep my track friendly can for track days if needed.


So what do I have do moving to bolt in shafts ???

Change pads first to change feel and bite - its the cheaper option than a new braking system.

LSD is a nice to have but your 2 spins were not caused by a lack of LSD

Get some seat time, get some tuition, get the suspension geometry set up properly for your weight.

All these things will make a bigger difference than bolting on bits.

If you do want an LSD (And you will eventually) the one Barkalar is selling is perfect, I`m just gutted it wasn't available 3 months ago when I was looking....

Hope that helps

ok cool... If I upgrade the pads now.... would they be transferable to the new calipers if I got them later on.

I would love that LSD but just don't have 900 sheets.

My old saving grace is the two spins that happened out of the bend I wasn't driving..

So any idea on bike end cans?

On the brake front you need to look first at the master cylinder. It sounds like you have a standard 22mm Sierra MC which will give a very firm pedal but little feel.

An alternative from a non-servo assisted car will work a lot better. Many people use an early Fiesta one which IIRC is 19mm.

I used a Fiat 124 non servo MC and it made a huge difference to the brakes.

The good thing is it is a cheap and easy swap. My Fiat MC was about £20.

Stu

Change the brake pads to mintex 1144 brilliant on my striker ,get some Nankang ns2r tyres you may find you won't need a lsd, both of these mods are fairly cheap .and get the car corner weighted and four wheel alignment checked .im sure this will transform your car .

^^^ As above - pads and master cylinder first, plenty of people have done this before you and been happy with the results

if its still not enough then there are still lots of options for caliper and disc upgrades too




XR4 calipers are just a bigger single piston caliper - the XR4, XR4x4, Granada's and some RS turbo's all use the same one along with any other sierra with ABS

Cossie 4x4's (and Granada cossies) used even bigger versions, still single pot - the 2wd cossie's used 4 pots, but they are iron and weigh a ton!

each caliper uses a different pad size too

however the XR4 / 4x4 calipers do fit the bigger 260mm discs - the extra diameter will make a big difference on its own, but remember bigger discs means more unsprung mass (and these discs aren't exactly light weight)

dax used to sell a kit to use the standard sierra caliper on the cossie discs (ie the caliper for a 240mm disc on a 278mm disc) - not sure if the new owners would have any of these brackets left ?

[Edited on 10/5/2016 by mcerd1]

ok so next question on brakes....

how do I convert to a fiesta or fiat 124 cylinder, what do I need to do and what tools? also what does IIRC stand for?

again sorry for the amount of questions I'm sure is easy

Having just converted my MK to LSD here's a run down of my costs. (Probably not the cheapest route)

Diff £200 (used)
Diff refurb £250
Driveshafts £50 (used)
Driveshaft boots £40
Hubs £50 (used)
Bearings £60
New MK uprights for discs £120
Calipers and discs £150 (used)

Totalling £920

A straight bolt in diff for £900 doesn't look that expensive now.

see I did not see all that....

So I take it I would have to buy new hubs and do the disc conversion...

I couldn't just swap the diff and drive shafts.

Are there no such adapters to turn a bolt in lsd to a pushfit?

You can make hybrid shafts if your push-in ones have the right number of splines on them
Basically you fit a bolt on CV to the inner ends...

I've got a spare pair of bolt on CVs if you want to give it a try


The mismatch on CV joints does mean that they won't last as long (not that many of our cars do enough mileage for that to be a problem really)
Besides the rear disc setup is heavier anyway


Or you could just get a Quaife ATB and keep the current setup if the budget allows

basically..

I have been looking at turbo'ing my zetec and have a basic understanding on costs and part, lsd and rear disc upgrade, plus other bits and bats....

becoming apparent I might as well keep my mk indy this year do a few cheap upgrades, pads, m/c etc then sell up and buy something with all the big jobs done.

but then again where is the fun in that.

Well turbo conversion is never going to be the cheap option (have you looked into superchargers, rotex or similar? )


but the rest might not be as bad as you think...


The as above the ford lsd can't use your driveshafts (its actually due to the unequal lengths of the stubs that stick into it - open diffs are equal, so shortening one side might not be to hard for a good machine shop, but the other side needs to be longer and making new longer ones would be very expensive)

So if you found a complete rear axle from a sierra (most likely an XR4x4) then you'd have all the big bits in one go (assuming its in usable condition) its bound to be a bit cheaper than getting everything separately and you'll know you've got all the right bits too (so no nasty surprises half way through the project)

But if you keep your existing setup and make hybrid shafts then your only going to need the diff and CV's.
If you really want rear discs too then there are plenty of conversation kits that work with your existing hubs.
I'd still change the pads and MC first though!

Any instructions on how to swap the mc