Hi,
I can't believe the day is soon to arrive! In a team effort with my brother and dad we decided to order an MNR VortX! We hope to have the car ordered in March-April time. We need to finalise the specification and double check legislation in Hungary to make sure nothing goes wrong, but up to now we are GO!

Here is the initial specification below. I would like to ask you knowledgeable lot to help and point out areas where I should stick to lower specification to save costs or go to higher specs because I will simply regret not doing it later.
The guideline for the car is: Light and quick road and track car, but locost. We don't want to spend on anything that doesn't make the car quicker or better handling (maybe one or two exceptions of course...), but also don't want to spend a fortune to make it just a couple of kgs lighter.
So here are the specs:

- MNR VortX RT Inboard kit
- Yamaha R1 fuel injected engine (2005-2007? not sure yet, depends on price, the higher bhp the better... - recommendations?
- 3.38 or 3.62 diff - I have to see what is available in Hungary... costs are low here, a diff costs around 25-30 GBP
- Racelada front end (uprights, hubs, discs, brakes - the whole lot) - can someone confirm they are worth it when compared to the std Cortina setup?
- Paddle shift kit
- Quick rack
- Momo Mod.26 steering wheel
- MNR composite seats
- Sabelt 4 pt. quick release seatbelts
- R1 instruments with additional switches and lights if required, but bare minimum to pass SVA
- 13" alloy wheels - if they fit the Racelada front and Sierra rear discbrakes... any ideas here? What wheels are recommended? We would like black or anthracite.
- Toyo R888 tyres

This is the main spec, the rest (lights, mirrors, etc, etc is not very important in the sense that those don't matter too much in the performance of the car.
What do you reckon? Any ideas, suggestions welcome! What would you change / do differently, include for sure or drop from the list?
Thanks guys!!
Gergely

The R1 will be a good choice especially as it allows you to use a standard MNR exhaust. You might also consider the ZX12r as they have the exhausts advertised and it gives a bit more power (but maybe not worth the extra cost once you sort out the sump)

One thing i'd definately go for is a 4-2-1 exhaust.

As for wheels - Compomotive CXR or Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's??

Compomotive CXR's in 13"s...
I'm not sure whether I would go for the Raceleda front end if you could easily get hold of Cortina stuff? I would use the Cortina Uprights and just replace the hubs with some nice Ali ones...

ATB
Steve

This is just my opinion so take it or leave it please.

I reckon the Raceleda uprights are just a bit bling.
I couldn't see any advance over my Sierra donor uprights. OK they are lighter but any better for a road car? Probably better for a race car, but better than Cortina uprights with light alloy hubs?? IMO not worth the extra cash.

Quick rack is included in the kt when you submit a donor part for modification.

Quick release seatbelts may be a problem for SVA... I'm using clubman road legal harnesses.

Wheel size is surely a personal point. I have 15" TD Pro race 2 on mine which are supposedly very light. I also have the original 14" Ford alloys off the donor. Not a good choice but hey, they came free with the Sierra!

Good choice of kit anyway hope you enjoy the experience! good luck

Thanks guys!

quote:

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One thing i'd definately go for is a 4-2-1 exhaust.

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What sort of use are you planning for it? If its the track stick with the raceleda front end. If its for the road the standard MNR fabricated cortina uprights with aluminium hubs and wilwood calipers are still pretty light and are a lot cheaper. If you dont like wiring MNR can supply a loom which might save some hassel. If you need it you'll also have to spec reverse i think another £700.

You can use old ford wheels but once youve got new tyres and cleaned them up whats the point. The TD wheels are cheap and light but every other car has them fitted over here. I've gone for black TD 15's a good compromise for looks and handling but 13's might be more suited for the track. As for the engine buy older versions for simplicity or new ones for more power. I think the commonly used diff for R1's is the 3.38 but might be worth considering an lsd variant. Other than that its a great kit so go for it.
Adam


[Edited on 26/2/08 by bassett]

It will be more for the road with 3-4 trackdays per year. I think I am confused... Which is the MNR fabricated upright kit? I thought it was original Cortina or Racelada... have I missed something?

The loom is probably worth it... will discuss with the team... I have not done any wiring before...
As for reverse, the idea is to skip it for a start, see if we can't live without, in which case we'll try to fit a self-made electric reverse.
I don't care how many cars have which wheels fitted, I will have the first MNR in Hungary as far as I know...
I think 13" for handling would be preferred to 15", but only if they fit for sure over the calipers... can someone confirm 13" wheels are OK? Or let me know which ones are OK, which not...

Thanks!

Any other pointers? Ideas? Suggestions? Keep them coming!

[Edited on 26/2/08 by Gergely]

I have to say that you have made an excellent choice with MNR as they have continued to exceed my ecpectations.

Going by what I have read on this site your choice of wheels, diff and engine are inter related as the wrong choice can make driving less than satisying in low gears.

Somewhere on this site there is a gear calculator (someone will probably be along shortly with the link !!!) in XLS format.
Once you have this try different settings
for wheel size, diff and engine to see what impact these have on gears and speed

I went for the 13" CXRs with Toyo R888s they look the dogs and MNR can supply. I also went for the Raceleda front end. If you are going to save weight go for unsprung weight first as it will pay dividends in handling.

With the uprights i dont think MNR use the original cortina stuff. You have the basic cortina uprights design which i think are steel fabricated then powder coated with the large ally hubs(not on the site) like the originals or their super light weight ones which are coloured red and gold on their site.

With regard to engine choice.

The 06 R1 engine has slightly better gearing than the 05. The 07 is quite a lot taller because of the airbox so you will need a bonnet scoop. An 06 will fit under the standard bonnet ok with a foam filter with a slight mod to the base.

What colour and what style nose are you thinking of?

Cheers
Sonja

Raceleda uprights, hubs and brakes are a very resonable cost considering what you actually get and the spec of them also if you try holding one cortina upright and hub in 2 hands then try holding 2 raceleda ones with discs you will understand the differance!

uprights, hubs, bearings, callipers, disks, pads and fixings for arouns £600-£700 is cheap i recon

markyb - yes, I have the calculator, that's a great tool, thanks. I was just wondering what other people thought to get as much info as possible and adjust accordingly.

bassett - Thanks for the info, I will check the uprights question with Marc then to clear things up.

Sonja - Thanks. It seems '06 engine is a good choice then. Although one question: would I lose any power by using the foam filter as opposed to the airbox as used by the bikes originally? If yes, I probably need the scoop anyway, correct?
What is the slight mod to the base of the '06 engine you mention?
As for colour I am not sure yet... we need to fight over that I guess. I like the usual suspects: orange and red personnally, but we will have to vote or something...
I am thinking it will have the new nose. It just looks more complete to me. And more "tough", also a little less kitcarish...

Krismc - This is exactly the reason I thought about them in the first place. If I need to have all that is in the kit, preferably new or in a great condition, I would not be too far from the Racelada kit I reckon... I will discuss this with Marc.

Thanks all! Any more ideas, suggestions, experiences to help with my specification?
Exhaust end cans for example: should I buy a fabricated one from MNR or get the corresponding Yamaha one?

Gergely

Gergely,

I'd be looking at the earlier engine (2003-2004) 5PW

The gear ratios are more usable in a car setup.