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I thought I'd throw up a thread on my Starlet, it has an interesting history and I also wanted to showcase some of the excellent service several specialists still offer. First up, the history:
EEL 231Y was the mythical low mileage old lady's car, and was bought in 2009 by a Starlet enthusiast, probably for an absolute steal! He was the guy who paid for the Cosworth installation, which has actually been done before a fair few times - most people already probably know this but Starlets have a great history in oval circuit racing (Hot Rods), rubbing doors with Escorts, Anglias etc. and to be fair most of them ended up bashed up and scrapped. They take RWD Escort running gear quite easily, including Pinto engines... so it was a natural evolution that one day someone would swap out a Pinto for a YB.
Anyhow the guy had a proper job done, the engine and box were from a 57,000 Sierra, the intercooler and rad were custom made and everyone who's seen the car comments on how well the fabrication and installation was done, but from what I understand he couldn't get on with the car and sold it to a guy called Mick from Nottingham.
At this point the car had been built using a 50" "Narrow" Atlas axle (Mk1 3-litre Capri), a Capri front crossmember/rack etc, sat on 6x13" rims and I think had a 270bhp Stage 1 setup and 3.09:1 final drive. Mick wanted to make the car his own, so set about making a few changes.
These included the axle being swapped out for a 48" "Baby" Atlas axle casing with 2-piece 18-spline Squires halfshafts. The front crossmember and rack were modified and combined with an anti-dive kit to bring the front track into Escort dimensions... this was mainly because Mick wanted to run the typical "South London look" 7x13" deep dish Minilites with rubber band 175/50 profile tyres!
Mick also changed the head gasket to a Group A gasket, swapped the turbo for a T34 .55, and got an MSD Siemens 55 / 380bhp chip setup. During April 2011, she made 350 BHP @ 6100 rpm & 349 lb/ft of torque @ 5020 rpm on the rollers. This was with a peak boost of 28psi and holding 24psi. Mick regulated the car down to these figures for reliability/drivability.
And that is pretty much how the car came into my ownership - I missed out on another Starlet Cosworth in 2007 as didn't have the funds, so when Mick put this up for sale in late 2011 I went for it - I actually picked the car up in April 2012, running the spec as described and looking like this:
Interior was standard shopping Starlet cloth, mint with just a different steering wheel, horrible gearknob and gaiter and a boost gauge and air/fuel ratio meter bodged in!
Yes when I first drove it home I was buzzing, it's so light (Mick reckoned about 850kg giving it a power/weight of circa 410 bhp/tonne, but I will get it weighed soon), that it just "goes", there's literally just no inertia and for the first few months it was MORE than enough for me! But... quelle surprise I actually got used to it!
Being honest, the car was very very solid but wasn't mint... the engine bay was tired, untidy and dirty, and the paintwork was the same including scratches and badly executed paint touch-ups so as the summer of 2012 came to an end I took it off the road with the aim of totally redoing it, properly.
First up was the engine and I hatched a plan to take it to it's limit of tractability - even with 350bhp the car put it down so well, the properly set up live axle along with four link / anti tramp and sticky 175/50 Yokohama A048R's really did impress me... I thought it could take another 50bhp though.
So, I did a bit of research on here, talked to a few old contacts and came up with three main aims:
- Taking the car to the very edge of its limit of tractability keeping 175 tyres, standard arches.
- Not breaking open the engine.
- Having reliable and consistent boost / power / torque as a result of a proper setup.
And therefore came up with the following spec:
- Standard 2wd engine with Group A head gasket (already fitted)
- 4x4 exhaust manifold
- Turbo Technics T36 turbo with .55 exhaust housing (supplied by Tony at Turbosystems)
- Dash 31 actuator
- Alloy turbo pre oil filter
- Pipercross cone air filter
- 4x4 inlet plenum and throttle body, PF09 TPS
- RS500 style alloy intercooler and rad (already fitted)
- Siemens 55 injectors (already fitted)
- 044 fuel pump
- 2wd Cossie fuel pump as lift pump
- PTFE lined fuel hoses
- Weber fuel pressure regulator
- Billet fuel rail
- AB07 inlet cam (supplied by Tony at Turbosystems)
- Quaife peg vernier pulleys
- L8 ECU (supplied by Harvey at SCS)
- Air injector boost control
I thought long and hard about who I wanted to carry out the work, and given that the car drove so well with the MSD 380 setup, plus the fact that I knew Stu and James at MSD would take care of my pride and joy, I decided to take it all the way to Blackpool! My mate Keith helped me tow it on an epic one day road trip, and the brief to James was -
"Make it go just like your 380 conversion... but just with more of everything throughout the rev range!"... "oh, and make it look tidy please".
As many people who know me will confirm, I am an absolute OCD perfectionist freak, but I have to say that James turned out to be even more of one! He had the car for a couple of months, and I just cannot over-egg what a fantastic job he did.
He fitted everything, whilst at the same time I had some bits tarted up such as:
Rocker cover machined flat and painted crackle black to look more like a factory retro engine, plenum cover painted to match
PTFE fuel lines as the car stank of fuel inside, previously it was just using rubber hoses
Fuel pumps fitted in proper cradle, they were a bit bodged in before and the car was using an awful FSE ticker pump as a lift pump
Exhaust manifold and turbo exhaust housing Zircotec coated black
New air filter as the old K&N was beaten up to fit into the space!
All alloy parts (rad, intercooler, Baileys oil breather, water header tank etc) sent off for a full repolish
I had also bought a Cossie 2wd braided loom from Burtons, but speaking with James we agreed that a custom made loom that he could build on the car would be much nicer in terms of fit. So he burnt the midnight oil and built one, and all I can say is that it's stunning - unfortunately you can't see much of it from the pics as I wanted the engine bay to be as "clean" and uncluttered as possible. Still, check out Performance Is Looming website and you won't be disappointed.
With all the work done, James then set to work live mapping the car on their wicked dyno... we had a side bet on and unfortunately James won!
The car made 415 bhp and nearly 420lb/ft, and the difference is just night and day!! I can't put into words how brutal it is now, but James mapped it well and to my brief of balancing ridiculous grunt with actually making the car faster - as long as you're pointing it in a straight line it has instant forward shove that just keeps on shoving - you can feel the tyres working harder and aaallllmost beyond their limit but it's just about as far as I can go, I think... the car is so much quicker though it's a joke and it is a bit scary actually!
I think the engine bay looks so much better too, much cleaner and more purposeful.
I should also say, that at the same time I actually had the axle sent up to Fostek Engineering. The LSD was pretty much standard Capri ZF, which was safe but about as exciting as watching paint dry in terms of sideways banter!
So I got them to put more plates in for a more aggressive lock up, and also swap the 3.44:1 CW&P over to a 3.75:1 whilst they were at it.
My reasoning for the final drive swap was that I felt the car looked a bit undertyred on the 175/50 profile rubber (the gaps in the arches just don't look right in my opinion), and my experience and the experience of my mates running Mk2 Escorts on 175/50's who then swap to 60 profile is that the cars also drive a lot better.
So, going over to 175/60's would make the car look better, but also make the car more leggy... so in my head, by fitting the 3.75:1 CW&P I would offset that increase in rolling radius and essentially keep the "gearing" as it was.
Next instalment will be bodywork including a full bare metal respray! Thanks for reading : )
James and Stu do a great job as every chip and other stuff they have done for me has been spot on.
Bay looks really nice and attention to detail is nice. Good power and very good torque and at a guess it could still have more to come. Anyone who knows me, knows I like different and this certainly is.
Surprised your using a std pump for a lift tho. I used a Holley blue on my Cortina. Oh I see those connectors lol
Absolutely stunning fair play I bet that's a rocket! Remember seeing this for sale a few years back. Similar spec and same gearing as my Capri. Have u tried it on the 1/4 mile yet?
Paul - yes James said it could do more, but it's diminishing returns and I was happy just to break the 400 mark to be honest. Thanks again for those connectors, top man and good spot!! ; )
Lee - the previous owner took it to the Pod and ran a 12.2, I can't remember if that was on the 350 spec and with a 3.09 or 270 spec with a 3.44 or whatever. Either way, the car is a TOTALLY different animal to drive now, it's just so much quicker I'd be very surprised and disappointed with anything less than a sub-11.5sec / 120mph+ pass.
Steve - thank you : )
Adam - there are videos on Youtube (Starlet Cosworth) that the previous owner posted, but as I said it's pretty much a totally different car now. I will be getting out and about to this years shows and meets, and posting a few vids of it misbehaving I'm sure! ; )
Jon - right place right time right finances = I was lucky, especially as there's not many Starlets left at all... rest of the cars spec as it is today, below:
Modified Capri front cross-member & rack etc.
World cup engine mounts.
Group 4 Bilstein front legs with coil-overs.
Escort Mk2 Doublewidth /Antidive kit.
Rose jointed in situ adjustable TCA's.
AVO adjustable rear coil-overs.
Baby Atlas axle with 3.75 final drive & Fostek plate LSD.
Squires18 tooth, 2 piece Group1 half-shafts.
Hi-spec 4-pot front calipers with 278mm discs.
Sierra Cosworth rear discs & calipers.
Line lock for burnout fun.
7x13 Minilite alloy wheels with 175/50-13 A048 Yokohamas.
Hi Ben, I tried to send you a pm recently as me and a friend having been converting his starlet to cossie power also, your inbox wouldn't accept it though mate.....
Your car is awesome! Can't wait to see it go with the new engine mods mate!
01-01-2015, 01:24 PM
Toyota Starlet Cosworth
