Never really liked the Ford Focus BUT ?

[highlandsflyer]

i love modified cars.

having a new M5 doesn't mean you know anything about cars, just money and I probably dont want to talk cars with you.

someone who owns a V8 Focus, now thats the sort of person I would like to talk cars with.

if this little clip here doesnt excite you, you are not a petrol head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwbFAimWxbM

Absolutely agree, but the only person I know who recently sold his 3 year old M5 was a professional driver.

It is very true that petrol heads tend to modify, but when you come into some money you also tend to buy something ready to rock and roll. When taking the family down to the South of France is part of your brief when it comes to looking at motors, perhaps you won't deprive yourself of a vehicle fit for the job. M5. Kind of guy who doesn't want a Bentley.

I have always loved messing around with motors, but my faster ones are motorbikes these days.

Not particularly modded, save for off the shelf exhaust swaps.

I am more into 4x4 and vans than fast cars nowadays.

Getting old I think it is called, or carrying shit around/going interesting places.

I have long ceased to be impressed by straight line speed on an airstrip. For me, car's forte is going round bends.

My first few bikes caused me to doubt how impressive cars were in a straight line.

My Hayabusa put paid to any idea of being impressed, and my Blackbird underlined it. (RIP both in other's hands...)

I am however, totally impressed by those that get that kind of bike performance out of cars intended to do a lot less speed.

Truly brave and ingenuous.

I was not at all excited seeing a quick Fiesta, but I would spend a happy hour reading about how they got it going quick. You get me?

Each to their own, just don't become an inverted snob.

Not everyone with money to spend is a tosser who has no soul.

 

[makster]

Many modern riders have the same mentality about us riding old "shit" bikes and splashing money on them. Why would we ride an old rigid bike with crap brakes when we could fly down that mountain much faster on something that was designed to go faster.

I'd say its more like spending a fortune in Ringle kit and bolting it onto an Apollo

 

[Dr S]

Why put a V8 in though?? Don't get me wrong- I love a big thumping V8 and all that lovely torque but its the wrong choice for that car (or a gartrac Escort).
Escorts have wonderful handling and sticking a very heavy lump of iron in the front will wreck that amazing deft handling. You will create a car that just understeers or oversteers violently. The balance will be gone. Braking will also be an issue with a heavy and quite high engine up front. Gartracs were bad enough with a cologne engine up front, fitting a 302 would be even worse.

My choice would be a Honda S2000 motor and six speed box. Why?

* Bombproof and reliable, 9,000miles between services.
* Lightweight and compact- shove it as far back and as low in the chassis as possible.
* 280bhp and plenty of torque
* Revs like fook and sounds mental
* Docile in traffic, starts in all weathers
* Reasonable fuel consumption
*lots of tuning options should the power be lacking.

There are lots of crashed S2000s out there and a decent low milage engine and box can be found for around £1200. Get it with all the ancils, wiring loom and ecu and all you have to do to get it running is conect 3 wires.
A friend put a S2000 in his Mk1 Rally car 2 seasons ago and after 30+ events its had nothing but regular oil changes. The BDA that he used to run had less power, cost £20,000 more and needed a rebuild twice a year at £6,000 a pop.

 

[Neil G]

Tuning options for the S2000 powerplant are quite expensive

Mugen airboxes are good but cost a fortune and the other obvious way to go is supercharging as there are a few bolt on options.

Another option is to but a good original RS

 

[highlandsflyer]

Many modern riders have the same mentality about us riding old "shit" bikes and splashing money on them. Why would we ride an old rigid bike with crap brakes when we could fly down that mountain much faster on something that was designed to go faster.

I'd say its more like spending a fortune in Ringle kit and bolting it onto an Apollo

I would rather talk bikes with a guy who gets excited seeing an Apollo covered in Ringle.

 

[kaiser]

'Never really like the Ford Focus BUT'


cheeky beggar, thats yer last lift so it is :twisted:

Ah, sorry K, i quite like silver ones with bike racks

You know what i mean, by not like i meant i would'nt normaly consider buying one, a 5.0 V8 kind of changes things though, stick a 5.0 V8 in a Trabant and i'll think it's awesome

I have a 5.0 V8 sticker

 

[Dr S]

It is very true that petrol heads tend to modify, but when you come into some money you also tend to buy something ready to rock and roll. When taking the family down to the South of France is part of your brief when it comes to looking at motors, perhaps you won't deprive yourself of a vehicle fit for the job. M5. Kind of guy who doesn't want a Bentley.

Oh and how the Gendarmes love an M5. You only have to go 10mph over the limit and they will march you off to the nearest cash machine for a on the spot fine. Such cars are useless in France.

You would be supprised how much they like older cars though. I was once absently minded enough to be driving well over the limit on one trip through France when a Gendarme pulled along side. He just smiled, stuck up his thumb and dropped behind for a few Kms. He then pulled alongside and jestured for me to go faster. His mate took pic on his camera phone too. Different attitude over there as long as you don't take the piss.

 

[legrandefromage]

I miss my 500 SEC AMG - a car built for purpose. The V8 was designed to run at high RPM for 100s of hours at a time.











And there was a supercharging kit for it

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

 

[jimihendrix]

Why put a V8 in though?? Don't get me wrong- I love a big thumping V8 and all that lovely torque but its the wrong choice for that car (or a gartrac Escort).
Escorts have wonderful handling and sticking a very heavy lump of iron in the front will wreck that amazing deft handling. You will create a car that just understeers or oversteers violently. The balance will be gone. Braking will also be an issue with a heavy and quite high engine up front. Gartracs were bad enough with a cologne engine up front, fitting a 302 would be even worse.

My choice would be a Honda S2000 motor and six speed box. Why?

* Bombproof and reliable, 9,000miles between services.
* Lightweight and compact- shove it as far back and as low in the chassis as possible.
* 280bhp and plenty of torque
* Revs like fook and sounds mental
* Docile in traffic, starts in all weathers
* Reasonable fuel consumption
*lots of tuning options should the power be lacking.

There are lots of crashed S2000s out there and a decent low milage engine and box can be found for around £1200. Get it with all the ancils, wiring loom and ecu and all you have to do to get it running is conect 3 wires.
A friend put a S2000 in his Mk1 Rally car 2 seasons ago and after 30+ events its had nothing but regular oil changes. The BDA that he used to run had less power, cost £20,000 more and needed a rebuild twice a year at £6,000 a pop.

My Gartrac ran a stout Rover V8 in it's day and was very successfull in tarmac rallies (though the Rover is a lot lighter than the Ford motor), was seeded 7th in it's last rally in Belgium.

Funny thing is, the guy i bought the shell from bought the car with an S2000 engine half fitted, he bought the car for the engine to use in his Darrian.
(sp ?)

TBH engine options for the Escort are still very open, still got tons of work and expense just to get it to the rolling stage, i did obtain a year 2000 Zetec motor but the expense of converting it to RWD and getting the thing running (with either Jenveys and an ECU or 45 Webers and Megajolt) is putting me off, especially when it'll only probably see around 160bhp

The S2000 motor sounds like a good idea, there is a guy local to me with a Volvo five pot motored Sunbeam i'm also keen to investigate