LS2 engine fits Firenza. Working on fitting out the interior

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LS2 engine fits Firenza. Working on fitting out the interior

Postby martin-reyland » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:03 pm

Thought I would start a thread about the modification of my Firenza, I will be fitting a 6 litre Chevy LS2 engine and box but while I wait for a sump from the states to clear customs I have decided it needs bigger front brakes.

I had originally fitted 278x24mm brakes from a Sierra Cosworth 4x4 but I noticed that my wheels could accommodate bigger but how much bigger was the question! After a few trial fits the biggest I can get in are 330x28mm AP 4 pots, I have drawn up the brake bells and will get the alloy bells made this week, then I have to make alloy calliper brakets..

The original Cosworth conversion:

Image

A few candidates:

Image

The chosen disc and caliper next to the Cosworth ones:

Image
Last edited by martin-reyland on Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:43 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Postby pbottomley » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:30 pm

What do you want to stop for? I thought this was all about go !!! :wink: :wink:

Seriously technical details are always welcome by us unwashed sorts :D
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Postby hbpeter » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:52 pm

Who are you calling unwashed!!! :x I had a bath last week, and I didnt need it!! :shock: Next one due about xmas. :?

Those are really big discs, mind you with that engine you will probably need them. Keep the info and pics coming.

Peter
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Postby martin-reyland » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:11 pm

pbottomley wrote:What do you want to stop for? I thought this was all about go !!! :wink: :wink:



An old saying springs to mind... Power is nothing without control :wink:

My car will have upwards of 500hp (maybe double if I can package 2x turbo's :twisted: ) but the chassis will be made to handle it.
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Postby hbpeter » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:07 pm

Let me get this straight, if you can fit the turbos, your looking at 1000bhp, in a Firenza?? Now your talking!!!!

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New brakes for my Firenza

Postby pbottomley » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:12 pm

The shell will be anything other than straight!!!

I hope you are doing lots of chassis strengthening, last year at the retro rides show a Nissan 200 powered Firenza was twisting the body shell off the line at Santa pod and that was 270bhp!

Will be great to see it once its going and running.....

Top kudos to this thread!
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Re: New brakes for my Firenza

Postby martin-reyland » Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:25 pm

HBPeter wrote:Let me get this straight, if you can fit the turbos, your looking at 1000bhp, in a Firenza?? Now your talking!!!!

Peter


That sort of power is pretty easy to achieve with turbo'd LS engines.


pbottomley wrote:The shell will be anything other than straight!!!

I hope you are doing lots of chassis strengthening, last year at the retro rides show a Nissan 200 powered Firenza was twisting the body shell off the line at Santa pod and that was 270bhp!

Will be great to see it once its going and running.....

Top kudos to this thread!


What condition was that Firenza really in though? Mine is almost as new , it has zero rust and has never even been re-sprayed. The plan anyway was always to have it chemically dipped, stitch weld the shell, fit chassis frame connectors and whatever other bracing seems needed. Then it will be electrophoretic primed.

I have owned this car for nearly 18 years so an extra couple of months work wont hurt me, I do want it on the road for when the weather gets better next year though.
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Postby lambaj » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:02 am

Hi

Like what your planning (snigger!)

Just a thought, and I expect I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but unless your using this potential monster to go circuit racing, I wonder why your going to the extent of such big brakes ? (apart from they look cool, you can, they will stop a tank) You motor should, even with the V8, still weigh in less than a cossy sierra, and they could regularly stop from 150mph. Your going to probably increase your unsprung weights, and the sort of tires you will need to actually tranfer all that braking power into more than just rubber smoke will probably not be road legal ! Also you will have to beef up the suspension to keep the hubs on the car I suspect!

Please don't think I'm having a dig, I'm just interested in your reasons for doing it.

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Postby Spence » Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:00 am

all that power? brakes would be near last on the list :wink:

you don't need to stop if your gonna struggle to get off the line in the first place :lol:

what are you doing about traction?? no 195 - 245 width tyre is going to cope with that little weight over it :wink:

iam going to try and retain the traction control from the omega on mine, your going to have your work cut out Martin, going to be very interested to see how you overcome this 8)
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Postby martin-reyland » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:01 am

lambaj wrote:Hi

Like what your planning (snigger!)

Just a thought, and I expect I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but unless your using this potential monster to go circuit racing, I wonder why your going to the extent of such big brakes ? (apart from they look cool, you can, they will stop a tank) You motor should, even with the V8, still weigh in less than a cossy sierra, and they could regularly stop from 150mph. Your going to probably increase your unsprung weights, and the sort of tires you will need to actually tranfer all that braking power into more than just rubber smoke will probably not be road legal ! Also you will have to beef up the suspension to keep the hubs on the car I suspect!

Please don't think I'm having a dig, I'm just interested in your reasons for doing it.

Cheers
Tony (HA21)


Hi Tony,

I'm not taking it as a dig at all :D

You are quite right, I could use smaller brakes but your reasoning why I shouldn't use the larger ones doesn't stack up in my mind. Here's my thoughts and reasoning, see what you think...

Firstly, yes they will look cool and yes I can :lol:

They will actually decrease unsprung weight, the calipers are half the weight of the std 4x4 Cosworth one's I have fitted right now. The discs are about the same weight as they use an alloy centre.

Have you ever tried slowing a Cosworth from 150mph quickly on std brakes? I have and they dont inspire confidence!

225 width tyres will easily handle the braking power, I have used narrower tyres with the same sized brakes on a similer weight car and not had any issues. We sell lots of 362mm 6 pot kits for 2wd Cossies and they run 215 width front tyres.


Spence wrote:all that power? brakes would be near last on the list :wink:

you don't need to stop if your gonna struggle to get off the line in the first place :lol:

what are you doing about traction?? no 195 - 245 width tyre is going to cope with that little weight over it :wink:

iam going to try and retain the traction control from the omega on mine, your going to have your work cut out Martin, going to be very interested to see how you overcome this 8)


I actually don't see this as a problem, the car at the moment has 245 rear tyres but I could get wider on if needed.

I can give an example of light car/big power .. My mate has a Westfield fitted with a 450hp Cosworth YB turbo, it has 235 rear tyres and it recorded (on proper timing gear) a 0-60 at Bruntingthorpe of 3.5 secs, thats a barmy light car that gained traction.

I was also told that our 340hp Audi powered front wheel drive MG ZR would have no hope of putting the power down on 215 width tyres, that has not been the case.
Last edited by martin-reyland on Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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