papak

Anyone have any experience with the Corbeau A4? It seems to fit the car and the pricing is reasonable.

If you go the Duratec route, I have a complete Caterham exhaust system for it (header to hangar). Not sure of your chassis but if it's a Birkin, Tom Carlin, the distributor in Vail, has specific motor mounts for it as well as the appropriate bell housing and other bits unique to the Duratec installation.. If you go this route and decide not to use the Laminova, PM me. I might be in the market for one.

Although the Birkin XS is wider in the cockpit, the width for the seat base is still 18" at the floor. When raised up by sitting on a slider or fixed mount, there is probably 18.5-18.75" clearance. I am looking for decent, somewhat comfortable seats that might fit this chassis. I have looked at the Sparco Sprint and the OMP TRS, the two narrowest I can find. The Sparco dimensions show 19.3" at the front and 16.15" at the rear. The OMP shows 18.9". Anyone have experience with another option? The Birkin seats are a fiberglass shell with upholstered pads installed. OK but not my first choice. Kirkey has some that would fit but that's a little more "track commitment" than I am interested in. TIA

I picked up my XS kit at Tom's shop in Vail. Great guy and the shop is full of interesting stuff. He has been nothing but gracious and accommodating in fielding all of my dumb questions. The construction manual is pretty thin so I have certainly had my fair share. The only items that I have upgraded are some of the hardware. I am building mine with a mild 2.3l Duratec and a Subaru R160 LSD diff. As to the weight issue, I have a Caterham exhaust in the shop and I guess it weighs maybe 20 lbs. more than the Birkin setup, mainly due to the heavier gauge tubing and larger muffler.

I am about 50% through the build on my XS. Tom has been a pleasure to deal with. Having own/built/restored race cars for 40 years, I have to say that the build quality is very good. Well thought out engineering. I am pushing to get mine on the road this fall. Once done, I should have time to go through all the construction photos and reconstruct the build process. The clutch is due to arrive today and the gearbox in about three weeks. Actually starting to look like a car now!

Sold!

Fits the 2.0l, not the 2.3l that I have. Cleaned and the exterior painted with satin aluminum engine enamel. $40.00

Make me an offer. I need to move it out of the shop.

My Ford shop manual doesn't address the tightening of the crankshaft dampener bolt. Is the side alignment bolt sufficient to hold it against the torque application? I have heard both sides of the argument but figure there is an "experience-based" solution out there. Just trying to exercise caution on this one. TIA

I have a factory stainless steel exhaust system from Caterham for a Duratec (either 2.0 or 2.3) It is used but in fine serviceable condition. I would have used it but it won't work with my Birkin chassis. It comes in three sections, header, collector and muffler. I am located in LA (near LAX). $750/OBO

I swear I searched EBay yesterday morning but I was searching for it as a "Duratec" part. Great investigative work! Thanks, it's on the way to me now. All of the basic components of the Mazda 3 2.3l are compatible. I should have the pistons installed tomorrow and the head on this weekend.

When the machine shop disassembled my 2.3l Duratec, they lost the lower O/P chain guide (the fixed one). Any help in locating a replacement would be greatly appreciated. No, Ford doesn't sell it; you would need to purchase a short block to get one.

I have a used but very functional and complete Caterham factory exhaust system for sale. This will fit all Duratec 2.0/2.3l engines. I will get pictures posted when I return home this weekend. Header, collector and muffler, all stainless steel. $750.00 Located in Los Angeles.

I raced a normally aspirated 944 for 5 years or so. I got the car with 120k on the motor and the only failure I ever had was a pinion gear on a replacement LSD diff. I ran an air-oil separator, external cooler and a large Acusump with the stock oil pump. I probably had 10 qts in the system. It ran flawlessly. I have an early Raceline wetsump that fits with the stock oil pump on the 2.3. I plan on adding an external cooler and a small Acusump after the break in. I'm rebuilding the engine with fresh bearings so I should be fine. I plan on keeping the redline at 7000 until I get bored and rebuild it from 200hp to 250-260 or so. Then I will add the dry sump etc.

In what was the engine originally installed? The balance shaft was only stalled in the cars, not the trucks.

In order to remove the bolt holding the pulley and timing ring to the crankshaft, is it sufficient to just install a long enough 10x1.5 bolt in the alignment pin hole on the side of the block to hold the crank or is it still necessary to use the bar across the pulley as well?

Duratec. Damned auto-correct!

As I go about building my first Duratec (2.3l), I am trying to find out what differences exist between the standard pump and the "high output" one. Does anyone have any factual information regarding the differences? is there any external dimensional change? TIA

The balance shaft assembly weighs 18 lbs or so.

All of the necessary info was on the focus fanatics site. Not a big deal. The Cosworth BS delete kit is about $40 and simply seals the oil supply port once the BS are removed.

Thanks. I'll search over there.

I understand that the Duratec has a balance shaft. Is this removed in the course of a rebuild for our purposes? Ramifications? Sorry but the search function isn't working.

I would imagine that I could achieve the same clearance with a few (?) carbide disks if I wasn't concerned about esthetics. Hmmmm. Sawzall?

So you had to shave the right side and bottom of the case? Was this a 5 speed or 6 speed?

Bernie, Thanks for the explanation. I guess a concentric slave cylinder would help the clearance issue to some extent. I really prefer the Birkin chassis to the Westfield but building a Duratec is a pricey exercise relative to the Miata motor. The only reasonable part is the Suby diff. Kevin