Tail Lights

whiterabbit · Post by **whiterabbit** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:32 pm

Just a note to any current or planned builders out there. Ive just offered up my tail lights and realize that I will have to cut away most of the glass fibre I put on to join the boot space sides to the rear of the car.

So, when you are fitting the outer body to the inner body, glass the horizontal boot floor edge and the top edges of the boot sides to the underside of the arches but don't bother with the vertical edges of the boot sides until you sort out your tail light arrangement. Unless of course you want nasty ugly surface mounted lights.....

Steve.

PS can't think why this hasn't been mentioned before.

Post by **MattD** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:59 pm

You think surface mount lights look naff ?
I've been quite happy with mine for 5yrs, looks a bit retro !

Quite agree about the vertical parts of the boot though !, I've now chopped out the RHS to fit the swirl pot & fuel pumps into that area.
Not so good in a rear impact, but nicely out of the way.

Matt

Post by **hearbear** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:40 pm

Matt

I noticed you have your silencer under the fuel tank I am also doing this have you wrapped yours or is it ok unwrapped, Thinking about the heat issue?

George

Post by **MattD** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 11:38 pm

Hi George

Bit of an old photo, I've now gone into the sill for the new engine.

Main differences...

In the sill is definitely louder, now a wailing banshee at hi revs, pussycat otherwise.
Underneath was quieter, & perfectly Ok heat/fuel tank wise.

Reason for swapping was ground clearance, too many speed bumps, etc in my neck of the woods.
Also found that the crown of the road on country lanes was a problem.
I managed to flatten/grind off a 2" stainless pipe within 6 months of SVA !

I've also now moved to stiffer rear spings, which would have helped (130 to 180lb) & if you run a taller ride height you may be OK.

Cheers

Matt

Hope the photos give some idea..

Post by **hearbear** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:14 pm

Thanks for the pics

I have made my pipe come under the axle right beside the wheel on the ns so hope the speed bumps are not an issue. The two down pipes from the front are clearing the floor by about an inch and come together infront of the ns wheel, giving about 3 inch clearance below the pipe. Will try this for SVA and see how long it lasts before needing renewed. The only problem is the car now sounds like the range rover that coughed up the engine

George

Post by **MattD** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:11 am

Hi George

Route sounds good, as does the engine I expect !

The downpipe join on mine was around an 1" off the deck to start with, that was the first part to get flattened off.
Welded on a strip of 1/4" across the gap, lasted a little longer, but I was never really happy with it.

The other thing that comes to mind, is I've now got 15" wheels (from 13") & that definitely helps !!!

Cheers

Matt

Post by **Werner Van Loock** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:42 pm

Hey Matt,

Talking about wheels, what sizes do you use? Is your car the stock Escort mk2 suspention?

Post by **MattD** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:13 pm

I followed Rob's lead

15 x 6" Compomotive MLs.. quite a heavy rim.
Can't remember the offset ET13 rings a bell, but I'd need to confirm.

Tyres are Yoko 539s, 195/50/15 Front, 205/50/15 Rear. Bit Hard, need the supersoft.
Plenty of people on Toyo's & Avon's now.

Rgds

Matt

Post by **Werner Van Loock** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:37 pm

Thanks, but the ET value is the most important of all. Rob? Do you have an answer, at least for the rear as the front is different on your car.

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:18 pm

Werner Van Loock wrote:Thanks, but the ET value is the most important of all. Rob? Do you have an answer, at least for the rear as the front is different on your car.

You will have to wait a couple of days for Rob to answer, he's away until the weekend i think

.

Phil

Post by **MattD** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:16 pm

Hi Werner

Yes, Rob's in the frozen north with the missus, picked the right week too, for some serious rain !!

I'll take a wheel off & check the ET of mine, its stamped into the mating face.
A point to note on both mine & Rob's cars is that the tyre sits outside the classic body profile.
I tried to be a little clever with mine & chose a slightly different offset to Rob, same front & rear, but didn't go far enough.

Rob's has wheel arch extensions, mine needs them to fully comply with race/road regs.
I got away with it at scrutineering, but will have to do something about it. Winter project !

Of course the other thing.. suspension components. Rob's has a totally bespoke front end, new rockers, wishbones, lowered, wider track etc. Mine is pure SSC classic (not RT) & did have the usual tyre/wheelarch/headlight bowl contact until I chopped it out.

On 13x5.5" rims previously, no problems at all, & faster accelerating !

The RT body is ready for the wider rims, that was after all the whole purpose of developing the RT for wider track, full width exle, etc
But you may need a different offset again, or the wheels may be recessed further into the arches.
Check all of it with Tim, he's the man with the knowledge.

Cheers

Matt

stylussprinter · Post by **stylussprinter** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:21 pm

Hello guys , back home again and found 138 emails waiting !!!

Anyway - offsets ! Mine are ET 15 on a COMPOMOTIVE ML 15x7 wheel , shod with TOYO R888's 205x50x15 . That requires some arch cutting/flaring. Also you need to consider the clearance between inner tyre and shockabsorber. Only a 14x6 wheel/tyre will clear the arch on compression if you have the CLASSIC Stylus ---- RT no prob's. I wanted to lower my car big time so arches had to be cut 35mm at the top , down to nothing at the bottom. Plus extentions made to cover the tyres --- about the same ? The 15mm off set is the minimum to clear the shocks with my spec'. If I went to 225 tyres the off set would need to be 5mm ---- that would leave 20 extra mm to be split each side of the wheel to clear the shocks(10mm each side wider) Hope all this makes sense.
Basically , if your wheels can't reccess under the arch then you have to cut/flair especially if lowering !
RIGHT -- now I'm going to make a pot of tea chaps !

Rob.

Post by **Werner Van Loock** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:27 pm

Hi,

I'm back, bloody laptop got crashed and had a very hard time recovering (took all weekend)

Matt, thanks for looking. When I was at Rob's place I loved the flared arches up front and definite want that too.

Looks like 15" is the way to go, but it'll need some lowering looking at the following picture

Looks more like a buggy this way.

Post by **MattD** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:48 pm

Werner Van Loock wrote: Looks like 15" is the way to go, but it'll need some lowering looking at the following picture

Looks more like a buggy this way.

Werner,

You're not wrong. The ride height & lack of setup was the product of too many late nights beforehand.
Plus I was really bothered about wheel/arch contact when cornering, especially at the back.

I wanted to have some bodywork left when I put it back on the trailer.
That's why it look's like a lunar lander.

I needs the arch flares done before I can lower it, then I'll be looking at castor/camber/etc.
I've had some good advice from Tim & Rob on where to start.

Then we'll see how we go next year... In the dry please !!

Cheers

Matt

Post by **Werner Van Loock** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:38 pm

You know your ET value already?

Werner

clubstylus

Tail Lights

Tail Lights

off-sets ?