SR2 Daily Project
 

Hey Guys,

Been lurking around here for a while so I figured it was time for a build thread. Would also love some opinions on my plans from the guys on here that have a hell of a lot more knowledge than me haha! Car is a 2001 Ford Laser SR2 with close to 250k on the clock. Been driving it for 2 years and it still runs like new, smooth as and doesn't drink a drop of oil. Gearbox is nice and tight too, it was obviously treated very well before I ended up with it. Done a few things so far;

- SP20 front strut brace - not sure if it was just removed from my car or it never came on the SR2's?
- XXR 522's, 16x7 +25 wrapped in 205/50 R16 Bridgestone Potenza RE002s.
- AutoExe Shocks with King Spring Low's (Less than ideal, will be sorted soon as below!)
- Rear guards rolled.
- Whiteline camber bolts in the rear.
- Injen cold air intake.
- Alloy coolant tank.
- Perry rear muffler.
- Oil Pressure and Water Temp gauges and associated senders ect.. - not really needed on a stock motor but it's nice to keep an eye on things considering the k's the car has done!
- Momo shift knob and boot.
- Sony double din touch screen head unit.
- Sparco pedal pads, makes heel toe shifting that much easier.
- HID's and led parkers.

http://i.imgur.com/P3EQo0S.jpg

So, as for future plans..
First thing on the list is a set of Yellowspeed Coilovers, the king springs are soft as butter and they're alright around town, but as soon as you get out on some bumpy hills roads the scrubbing is unbearable! It's trashing my guards and tyres so it needs to be sorted asap.

After that, the plan is to buy another fs-de and start building it up out of the car! I'm torn between building an indestructible N/A motor or going turbo. I'm leaning towards staying N/A because I like reliability and this car will be staying as my daily driver. I want everything to stay within stock specs, so stock compression and the ability to run the stock ecu until I go aftermarket engine management if I decide to go down that path. I'll be using all forged internals - I've heard that the FS-DE already has a forged crank so it would be great if someone could confirm that for me!

This is going to be my first rebuild and it will be happening pretty slowly because of money and time constraints. I'll be buying a second engine so I can take my time and make sure I do it right! I want this engine to last as long as possible without me having to worry about things breaking, that's the ultimate aim. It would be great to hear from people who have experience with the motor who can point me in the right direction!

If rebuilding and keeping n/a I'd increase the bore and compression. Most people build at 11:1 ratio.

Would increasing compression not require an aftermarket ecu? The main concern I have with going turbo is breaking a gearbox..

Been a bit slack recently! I've done a few things and I've finally come up with a plan for the new engine. Since the last post I've put in a header back corksport exhaust, TWM short shifter and Autoexe coilovers. Also put in a Sparco Sprint V fixed back and a sparco wheel on a quick release. Much nicer to drive now! Tyres were getting a bit tired so I've also gone with Toyo R888's all round. I'm not driving the car heaps these days, mostly just for a hills run or when it's too wet to ride the pushy! Wouldn't want to drive the R888's every day but they're working for me at the moment.

I've got an aftermarket ecu waiting to come out of a turbo SP20 on the forum, so when that's all sorted I'll have that in my hot little hands. Plan is to import a low kilometre FS-ZE from the motherland early next year probably and then tune it properly rather than using the AUS spec ecu which seems less than ideal. Should net some decent power with any luck!

Which quick release have you used? The sparco one? Pics of the wheel and boss?

Nah, quick release is a NRG Gen 2.5. I'm not actually a massive fan of the quick release because it brings the wheel too close, but I have short legs and can't get out of the seat without it..
It's no major, driving position is pretty much ideal for the track but it can be a bit annoying on the street. This photo doesn't show the quick release that well but you get the idea.
http://i.imgur.com/djAGuqyl.jpg

Swap yer', my 314mm mazdaspeed wheel for that sparco wheel?;) . Thats a wicked steerer.

Haha I don't think I could part with it! The suede is a bit of a pain to keep clean though

That wheel looks the business mate!

Thanks man!

Nice application of shift lights behind the steering wheel on the column cover.

Thanks dude. The progressive ones are so so much better than just the single shift light.

Oh I just noticed the shift lights... very nice! If only I could convince the better half that I 'need' these for my commute to and from work O_o

Haha! They're the bomb. Make your shifts heaps more consistent and they're actually pretty handy on the track to help you judge your entry speeds by the number of lights that are active. Can set the rpm range to whatever you want too!

https://ecliptech.com.au/shift-i/

Long time no post! Quite a bit has happened recently.. I ended up buying a BMW X3 as a daily/tow car. So I'm finally doing what I always wanted and keeping this car as a track weapon!

I've got a few updates; I chucked on a full corksport exhaust without a cat.. crazy loud. Too loud for street but perfecto for the track! Also put in a TWM short shifter with a nice heavy knob. Also stripped out all the seats minus the drivers obviously, and a lot of the interior, radio ect. Really just been working on reliability at the moment, new brake pads, rotors, all fluids (Oil + filter every track day), braided brake lines.

Next track day is July 11th so I'll be sure to post up something after that!

Pulled the power steering/air con belt off last night after removing most of the skin off my knuckles.. Going to pull out the rest of the power steering system out tonight hopefully. Air con will come out aswell as soon as I can get the gas removed by an air con guy. Slowly making gains!

Power steering system is out and I've depowered the rack! Holy heavy steering batman.. it should be alright on the track at higher speed though. I'm running a heap of caster and about 3 degrees negative camber at the front so it's always going to be heavy, and with a small wheel and a quick rack she's a fair challenge. So much feedback though!

Did you pull the rack down to properly de-power it or just loop the lines?

Just drained most of the fluid and looped the lines at this point. In a bit of a rush with a track day on the 11th, but I'll see how it feels and if it's too heavy I'll pull the rack down and do it properly.

Track day on Saturday and it's looking like a wet one! Changed my brake fluid the other night, same old React SRF racing. Done a few track days and boiled it once so it needed it.

Also going to get some different tyres swapped on tonight, my normal R888's are getting a bit worn so I'll be better off with some sticky road rubber with deeper tread in the wet. Looking forward to it, it's going to be light fwd hatchback weather!