clubstylus

A few pics,

my rather large cousin jumping in it and taking it for a drive after the MOT





You can see the ducting which divides the air going to the rad and the i/c. I have to cut some sides on it now to make sure all the air going in the big square hole in the clam goes through the i/c and not around it.








I need to make the inner arches for the front, I have ordered some CDS tube for the roll cage,

I'm going to put a few braces accross the chassis in the engine bay and reinforce the fron rocker arms. Then the part i dont like the body work. I have managed to convince my local garage to sponser the car and they will paint it but i have to do most of the prep.

Well i have done a bit of driving and took the her around a few of the activity day i did on friday. I'm still running the engine in so couldnt rev it too high and i'm only only 5psi of boost.

The airfield that holds the activity day has an uneven surface which isnt the best for shaking down a car but i gave me some pointers.

The car understears a bit but i still think the back needs to go higher (or the front lower) so that may help but it was easy to make over steer with power so drifting was very very easy.

One thing thet was strange and i couldnt notice but everyone was keen to point out was the front inside wheel was lifting off the ground. a few people said i needed to stiffen up the rear which i did and watchers said it got better. what would cause the front inside to lift so obviously?

I havent got an antiroll bar yet and i still need to do some more chassis bracing so i think all that will help.

All in all i was happy with how the car performed, the only thing that broke was speed sensor that i think got too close to the prop which was my fault the brakes are bedding in nicely and the bias is pretty good. I still have lots to do.

Stylussprinter, are you happy sprinting yours with just a rollover bar? have you thought about a car of somekind, i felt quite vulnerable driving mine i must say.

Antnicuk wrote:Well i have done a bit of driving and took the her around a few of the activity day i did on friday. I'm still running the engine in so couldnt rev it too high and i'm only only 5psi of boost.

The airfield that holds the activity day has an uneven surface which isnt the best for shaking down a car but i gave me some pointers.

The car understears a bit but i still think the back needs to go higher (or the front lower) so that may help but it was easy to make over steer with power so drifting was very very easy.

One thing thet was strange and i couldnt notice but everyone was keen to point out was the front inside wheel was lifting off the ground. a few people said i needed to stiffen up the rear which i did and watchers said it got better. what would cause the front inside to lift so obviously?

I havent got an antiroll bar yet and i still need to do some more chassis bracing so i think all that will help.

All in all i was happy with how the car performed, the only thing that broke was speed sensor that i think got too close to the prop which was my fault the brakes are bedding in nicely and the bias is pretty good. I still have lots to do.

Stylussprinter, are you happy sprinting yours with just a rollover bar? have you thought about a car of somekind, i felt quite vulnerable driving mine i must say.

Not sure what you mean really , a misspelling perhaps If the bar is 50mm minimum higher than you head with a helmet on or 100mmm like mine ------- no problem , you have harnesses I presume , I certainly wouldn't track mine with a lap belt Been competing for 8 years without worrying .
Regarding inside wheel lift --- so does mine but only under extreme provocation/competing. Maybe you have a combination of short shocks and soft springs
Really hard to say unless I have all the facts

stylussprinter wrote:

Antnicuk wrote:
Stylussprinter, are you happy sprinting yours with just a rollover bar? have you thought about a car of somekind, i felt quite vulnerable driving mine i must say.

Not sure what you mean really , a misspelling perhaps If the bar is 50mm minimum higher than you head with a helmet on or 100mmm like mine ------- no problem , you have harnesses I presume , I certainly wouldn't track mine with a lap belt Been competing for 8 years without worrying .
Regarding inside wheel lift --- so does mine but only under extreme provocation/competing. Maybe you have a combination of short shocks and soft springs
Really hard to say unless I have all the facts

I know what you mean, just bought a mk2 Striker and bloody hell is it small, a lot narrower then the stylus, so i just fit in. But the feeling is like a canned fish and without any side impact protection it's quite uncomfortable, safety wise that is. So I'm going to get a full cage on it with side impact bars.

sorry, yes miss spelling, meant cage.

I am going to raise my rear roll bar as it is too low. i will also put a bar around the windscreen and two link bars over head in the middle so i can still get in. it feels like its going to be damn quick in a straight line but i think i need wide wheels on the back or very sticky tyres


I'm not sure if the springs are too short although i have the minimum shock travel so i think the shock is probably long enough but i dont know about the spring. Is there a way to tell. if i jack it up at the front so the wheel is hanging, i assume the spring needs to stay tight, but it doesnt although there isnt a lot of slack.

I think i'm going to try and move the front shock mounting point either down on the chassis (quite difficult) or higher at the rocker arm, that will give more option to lower the front more. If it still does it after i have sorted an anti roll bar, then i will look at longer springs.

This suspension set if goig to be a steep learning curve......

Don't muck about welding new mounting points , I'll send you a photo of a bracket that will do the job. You can then alter it or remove it if you want.

that would be very helpful, my email address is antnicuk@ntlworld.com

This bracket stood the test of time from 2000 to 2004 until I could afford to get some superior shocks to lower the car yet again and revert to the original mounting points. The holes used were 60mm towards the centre from each mount point centre . Shocks were 12 - 8.5's with 8 inch springs . Just in case anybody else is looking for a low cost lowering method

Antnicuk wrote:sorry, yes miss spelling, meant cage.

I am going to raise my rear roll bar as it is too low. i will also put a bar around the windscreen and two link bars over head in the middle so i can still get in. it feels like its going to be damn quick in a straight line but i think i need wide wheels on the back or very sticky tyres


I'm not sure if the springs are too short although i have the minimum shock travel so i think the shock is probably long enough but i dont know about the spring. Is there a way to tell. if i jack it up at the front so the wheel is hanging, i assume the spring needs to stay tight, but it doesnt although there isnt a lot of slack.

I think i'm going to try and move the front shock mounting point either down on the chassis (quite difficult) or higher at the rocker arm, that will give more option to lower the front more. If it still does it after i have sorted an anti roll bar, then i will look at longer springs.

This suspension set if goig to be a steep learning curve......

Hi mate. You need to pick the tyres quite carefully as the light weight means some road rubber just won't get up to temp especially on a colder day.

I think you will be amazed at the grip on decent rubber once it has some temp in them. I had more spin in the rex in second and third than I ever did in the Stylus. On road rubber (T1's etc.) it would be loose for a while on the road but you could feel the grip building as the journey went on.

If you are going to do those action day type events then you will need proper soft rubber because no tin can road rubber will get any heat in them queuing up for 30 mins and then one 1 minutish run.

I used Avon CR500 on the road not long before it came off and they were the shizzle - loads of grip right from the off (195,45,15). Think they might get too hot on track after a few laps but that's guess work.

Good luck with the suspension stuff but it never came across anything quicker through the bends as it was and it always had masses of feedback, so within no time at all I was craving more power.

EDIT - just read your post. Don't recall the front wheel ever lifting but I was going to try a harder springs in the rear as it felt a little mismached (in my very amatueur opinion) after the last front spring change. Was not in a rush though as it was performing so well as it was. I set the car up from my 'ass feel' and bits of string and pretty sure I ended up with the rear lower than the front. I know this goes against the grain but so was sticking a cossie in the front of it. I suppose having a low rear could have been compensating for something else but like I said it rocked.

I now have my new fuel tank finished, nearly finished fitting it. Just got to bolt the straps on. Its quite a bit bigger than the stock one and well baffled inside. Its also lighter than the old one.



The little square box on top is going inside the tank around the pump, it will also stick out the bottom a little so it will always have fuel in it.



These are the 2 baffles that will go inside



Finished, the oval bit in the top is the stock mazda pump assembly and the small round bit is the tank vent system. I thought if iused all the original parts then it should work as original.

You could make some money out of making alloy tanks for Stylusses, like the tank of MattD.

i made mine a bit wider so that it could no longer bolt to the 2 pieces of angle that the old tank bolted to, this is because i wanted it as big as possible and its not really wise to suspend ali as it could just rip through so I have made 2 stainless teel strapes that go around the tank and bolt to the angle. This is how mazda do it so i assume it will be ok. I fitted and plumbed/wired it tonight. Not tested yet as I still have lots of ther bits to do.

I started trying to sort the dash wiring a little as its a bit messy. I am making another dash and have repositioned the little digi dash to the top of steering column. I will hopefully get the dash sorted and then cover it and finsh sorting the wiring.

I am on the look out for an old roll cage that i can butcher or some roll cage material to make a roll cage. Hopefully this will stiffen up the chassis as i had to take out one of the diagnal chassis bars from the engine bay. I am going to replace it aswell.

I've only ever had one diagonal bar from bulkhead to lower chassis , on the drivers side . Tim put a second one in when he took the business over.

thats what i had/removed so i will put it back and try and fit one to the other side...... I like symmetry

Tank fitted and working Dashboard Mk 2 made and fitted with Oil temp, pressure, boost gauges and low pressure warning light. Shift light with digital revcounter in the middle of it, fitted. Sorted my roll cage design, just waiting for the CDS tube to be delivered. Took her out for a spin and it seems the few tweaks i have made so far are making a difference. There is no (that i could tell) understeer anymore which is nice but i now have another issue. I think my prop is touching my tunnel just behind the drivers seat. I have about 5 mm between the drivers side tube upright and the prop but on a roundabout its touching.

I still have to align the rear axle by adjusting the p/hard rod but i dont think its too far out. Is it worth using rose joints on the panhard road to stop the little bit of movement the rubber bushes will be giving?

I'm going to book in my mapping soon, i havent done as many miles as i'd hoped but with weather we have been having i'm just not getting a chance. It will be nice to be able to rev it properly once its mapped