Tristan's "WallyKa", ex challenge car, with added everything

I did a couple of seasons with the 1300, and tidied it up best I could, ended up with a new clutch, new mounts, bushings etc, stripped out loads of redundant wiring, improved the brakes and rebuilt the dampers. I was getting the hang of it, got a class win on Tarmac, and in a forestry rally in the Midlands, we were on fire, I was absolutely pegging it around and was leading the class (against cars with up to 190bhp and dog boxes!), when on a very fast downhill section, into a left and uphill....I picked another gear...

and...

nothing.

A box of neutrals . I was gutted.

It was only a little linkage in the inside of the box , but not a thing I could do stranded on the roadside.
That spurred on the engine change idea...

sumpguard gets a hammering in the woods.. exhaust sometimes too.




typical forestry rally tire



Oh, remember my Project Transvestite thread?


Original 1300 powerhouse


some of the redundant wiring


one of several fupped engine mounts..

on the 8v, heres the bigger, homologated Throtte body compared to a stock one.



Bear in mind, when I fitted the 16v, it was like fitting a VW Tfsi engine to a mk1/2 Golf 5 years ago. Everyone reckoned it could be done, and there were a couple of threads online of one's done, but no real details and some of the work was rough enough, like the whole front panel chopped out, solid brackets for engine mounts, cut and shut driveshafts etc. None of which appealed to me, especially in the rough and tumble of competition.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained, so when a rally mate bought a Puma 1.4 to repair his Super1600 Puma rallycar shell, I took it for a good spin to see how it drove, then did a deal for the engine and box. I really wanted to use my own gearset and diff however.

So I hauled out the 1300 8v. The 1400 16v has a different bell housing, but the Puma and Ka use the same gearbox (IB5 is the Ford code), just with different Bell Housings, so I fitted the Puma BH to the Ka gearbox. That sorted 2 of the 3 engine mounts. Speaking of which , I beefed up the rear one and the LH one.




The RHS one, not in any way shape nor form similar. I didn't want to chop too much in case I wanted to return the car to 1300 guise... So I propped the engine in what measured to be the right place,



and made a bolt in Mount that would work. quite a snug fit, but it fit nonetheless!
Just some sheet steel that was lying around and a "bobbin" type rubber mount that is typically used as a buffer for tractor cabs!
I'll have to dig up some pics of it once I remember where I saved them.
it's hiding behind the funnel here!


I decided clearance around the PAS pump and alternator was too tight, so swapped them top to bottom when I took the engine out to finish the mounts etc. Nothing fancy, just a bit of steel lying around. Lot of careful measuring though to make sure the pulleys were exactly in line! I did a rally without PAS first, but with the faster PAS rack fitted ,but it was hard work, so I simply had to get the Pas pump installed. It's the original Ka one.
Puma Engine, Puma BH on KA gearbox.
I scored a slightly damaged Puma 1.7 sump on eBay, which is baffled as standard.





Anyhoo, engine in, and fitting well, there was other faffing around with moving the rad and squeezing it in, and a fan, mix and match of coolant pipes, joining the Ka and Puma engine looms etc. The exhaust was a Fiesta 4 branch I had to modify, to clear the rhs driveshaft, runs close, but worked OK. Didn't damage the CV boot when rallying!

Up to TrackDayPerformance woefully early one morning, and got it kinda mapped, there was a problem with the ECU, I'd inadvertently blown something in it by wrongly wiring up the throttle pot. But it ran clean enough to use... just as well, as I was entered in a rally in a few days! Another bloomin' night rally, at that!



That was my bestie JAckie "testing" it, obviously on a closed road, Officer.......


It's all a bit snug in there, but it all fits. PAS, Full size battery, screenwash tank, servo and brake linkages etc.
Individual filter socks aren't in any way ideal, but at that stage I was skint. and the lack of space wasn't helping.



so as mentioned in the paragraph above, I had another rally looming, rapidly. Bear n mind I work 6 days a week, 9am-7.30ish pm usually
A big bucket of MidNight oil , and fingers crossed, once again borrowed Keith's Cibie Oscars, and up on the trailer. The rally was in Carrick an Suir the same as my first ever one, and some stern opposition in the class. Another (professionally built in UK) 16v Ka, with 19o ish bhp , and a 1400cc Suzuki powered Escort Mk2, running around 200, with a serious pilot behind the wheel, chief amongst them . But tbh , I was just hoping for a clean run with nothing falling off my home-brewed special.



Anyways, through scrutiny and out into the woods. This rally started in daylight, and ran into the night, the opposite to the first one I did. Rallying at night is equal parts insane, amazing, terrifying, exhilarating and fantastic. Everyone should do it at least once!

Luckily , I had help from my friends in ETM rallying, ie Eoghan, Tom and Michael, plus my best friend Jackie.
random shot of car in service... cos I like it.


We were going ok, not setting records, but there or therabouts. I was rusty, and the lack of PAS wasn't helping (didn't refit it til after this rally), it was a lot heavier than I expected. Then, after what seemed like a "normal" pothole , or stone or similar, there came a sudden, loud, death clatter.....

DUGGA DUGGA DUGGA DUGGA, like a conrod making a break for freedom.

......My heart fell out through my boots! A quick look around, water temp fine, no warning lights.... I lifted off and coasted... noise stayed the same. Hmmmmm..... dipped the clutch, revved it.... noise again, stayed the same! At that stage I was happy it wasn't the engine, so I reckoned it had to be in the gearbox. I swerved around a bit, tried the brakes, all seemed ok, or as ok as anything can feel on a surface made of big stones!


so I said "fc0k it , she"ll go , or she"ll blow!" , so carried on til the end of the stage , albeit at way less than 100%. The noise seemed to ease too , which cheered us up somewhat.
While waiting to start the next stage , I noticed I'd a soft wheel on the front, and one going down on the back too! Fired on the spare . Only one spare naturally with me, so had to put it on the front.
Back in service.... holy Guacamole! the lads fired off the wheels....
rear wheel...




Pretty shocking as these are quite tough and the rally tire is a high profile, hard carcass tire.

But even more shocking was the front! same side.




see that groove wore into the front one? That's where it was rubbing the Track rod end......
That was my dug a dug a dug noise!

And the strangest , worrying thing , neither of us could recall hitting anything in particular!

Anyways, swapped tyres onto undamaged rims, luckily the tires were ok, forestry ones being immensely strong in the sidewall. We'd lost a share of time over the aforementioned issue... and were happy just to keep going to get to the finish. However.. one of the opposition faded away in the night stages... then Emmett in the mental mk2 Escort got a puncture too..... all of sudden things got interesting...

at the final reckoning , high on adrenaline and delighted to have it home just in one piece there was a pleasant reward for the debut with the cobbled together 16v Ka.

Good read so far, bookmarked, I want a ka again now, and I want to go rallying too!

Brilliant and informative. You've made me want to try out rallying now.

What George said.

I want one of these with good suspension and tyres as a b road weapon

*n

This isn't helping me not want to actually build a Ka for B road blasting. I did nearly buy (well swap for my old Passat TDI) a Ka with the 1.7 puma lump in it, but it wasn't the best looking conversion, and had a horrendous bodykit.

I'm surprised to hear how easy the hybrid gearbox is to make, it always sounded like a bit of a bodgy weak point so people went with cut and shut drive shafts instead. But looking at yours, it seems a simple and sensible route to go.

Yup, simple as that.
Even fitting the b/h is a doddle, the diff isn't shimmed "solid" like most boxes, instead it has a Belleville type washer as I recall to preload it. The IB5 box is in LOADS of Fiestas, Escorts, Kas of all ages so getting one I'd easy. I think even the Fiesta RST had an IB5, and that has an LSD.