Hi all, I'm in the middle of a project to seriously enhance my Ka and could do with some input, this looks to be a great place to find it. Have always loved the Ka ever since we got one to teach my son to drive, fun handling but er ..underpowered. So, I recently got another bog standard 2006 Ka 1.3 with a view to making an interesting car. Suspension/brake upgrade and engine swap involved, and I could do with some input regarding transmission and exhaust issues at the minute. We bought a 1.7 Zetec SE Puma engine for the power side of things, and overhaul of that is well underway, its had a nice head job and new Kent Cams, should give around 160 bhp or better when done. I've not tried to fit anything into the Ka yet, am just trying to spec the right parts at this stage. Right questions:

I have the original Puma transmission. Both cars use the IB5 gearbox. I'd like to use the Puma close ratios and final drive ratios (as far as I'm aware the Puma has a higher overall gearing, which will suit the more powerful car better). Is a Puma IB5 box exactly the same externally as the old Ka 1.3 one, ie can I just bolt Puma transmission into a Ka, or do I need to swap bits around? Any thoughts on best components to use in such a transmission, am open minded at present as long as costs arent in the multi K level. How worthwhile is adding a LSD in such a car?

The exhaust - gonna have to be custom as far as I can tell. I have a Piper 4 branch performance manifold, that's as far as we've got. Obviously any cat and silencer will have now have to be in the horizontal run downstream of the engine bay. The car needs to be MOT legal. Milltek seem to do nice sports cats, but advertise them as parts of specific systems, yet the car will be non-standard. Can a Milltek sports cat, or one from someone else, be fitted into such a system. If so I can get one and hand it to a fitter maybe. I see Demon to a track sports cat, officially not for road use, but wonder if it might work if the Milltek unit wont. Hoping there is room under there for all this, comments welcomed.

Thats my two big questions at the minute, thanks for any help!