New ultralight owner

[Rashid_seyadi]

Hi, i currently own this a FW Westfield with a fully built duratec engine and have just recently bought an Ultralight. Having no experience with the Ultralights and being a one of a kind in the country id say the forum has memebers that have experts in such cars. The car has been stored for more than 10 years. Is there something that i have to keep in mind or maybe consider servicing other than the usual oils, etc or upgrading stuff in the chassis that were discovered to be as weak spots over time.

 

[Croc]

 

Welcome to USA7s! 

 

That is quite a find - a WCM Ultralite in Bahrain.  How did you come across the car?  This story is going to be very interesting.

 

At least the Ultralite was in a location with low humidity so hopefully no serious rust issues from storage.  But still you have to assume that you will have many perished rubber suspension bushings and rubber hoses in addition to the need to do all the usual servicing items - engine oil, coolant, gearbox oil, diff oil, lube joints, physical inspection for chassis/suspension cracks/wear.  Knowing the back story of why it was stored will help here.

 

To start your journey, here is the link to the Maintenance and Upgrade manual kindly written by @Bruce K as a very knowledgeable former owner of an Ultralite and experienced historic racer.

https://usa7s.net/ips/files/category/32-build-user-guides/

 

Three other prominent Ultralite owners here which should chime in are:

@nc7s4 and @charles5448 who both recently acquired UIltralites and are going through a similar learning curve to what you are about to embark on. 

and

@RGTorque who is a long time owner of a beautifully prepared Ultralite and knows these cars very well. 

 

 

 

 

[nc7s4]

Welcome to the family!  The car looks to be pretty great. Could you post some more pictures? 

 

One thing I can recommend after getting it all cleaned up is identifying what you have before getting into tuning it up.  These cars vary widely in components and setup.

 

Things to check

 

Spring rates, damper tuning 

Wheel size and tires sizes

State of the ECU/tuning

What differential does it have?  Probably an r160 but check it out

Brakes - wilwood rotors at back?  Take some pics

Does it have the standard s2000 engine and transmission?

 

Post this stuff so we can discuss what is / is not needed.

[Rashid_seyadi]

3 hours ago, Croc said:

 

Welcome to USA7s! 

 

That is quite a find - a WCM Ultralite in Bahrain.  How did you come across the car?  This story is going to be very interesting.

 

At least the Ultralite was in a location with low humidity so hopefully no serious rust issues from storage.  But still you have to assume that you will have many perished rubber suspension bushings and rubber hoses in addition to the need to do all the usual servicing items - engine oil, coolant, gearbox oil, diff oil, lube joints, physical inspection for chassis/suspension cracks/wear.  Knowing the back story of why it was stored will help here.

 

To start your journey, here is the link to the Maintenance and Upgrade manual kindly written by @Bruce K as a very knowledgeable former owner of an Ultralite and experienced historic racer.

https://usa7s.net/ips/files/category/32-build-user-guides/

 

Three other prominent Ultralite owners here which should chime in are:

@nc7s4 and @charles5448 who both recently acquired UIltralites and are going through a similar learning curve to what you are about to embark on. 

and

@RGTorque who is a long time owner of a beautifully prepared Ultralite and knows these cars very well. 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the warm welcoming. Actually kit cars in general are really rare in Bahrain so far we have 5 cars only mixed between caterhams, westfields and an Ultralite as they are illegal to be driven on roads. Therefore paying this much for a car to drive for few months in winter on track since its extremely hot out here is pretty much unworthy.

Story starts when the car wasnt brought to the country in 2011 from UAE and the owner used it specifically for autocross for like 2 years and was the winner of the championship. Then stored in a closed warehouse from 2013 till last week where he decided to sell all his cars and leave the country. Being one of the owners of the few kit cars in Bahrain luckily he came first to me and i couldnt resist buying it. (Kit cars addict).

 

The car wasnt in good shape at all it needs alot of love shouldnt be a problem i guess. leaks all over the place from every single item that has oil. Surprisingly rust is considerably fine considering its age. The westfield had approximately the same story which turned out really well id say.

 

ill keep you guys posted. With the updates or shall i start a new build thread?

[Rashid_seyadi]

3 hours ago, nc7s4 said:

Welcome to the family!  The car looks to be pretty great. Could you post some more pictures? 

 

One thing I can recommend after getting it all cleaned up is identifying what you have before getting into tuning it up.  These cars vary widely in components and setup.

 

Things to check

 

Spring rates, damper tuning 

Wheel size and tires sizes

State of the ECU/tuning

What differential does it have?  Probably an r160 but check it out

Brakes - wilwood rotors at back?  Take some pics

Does it have the standard s2000 engine and transmission?

 

Post this stuff so we can discuss what is / is not needed.

Thanks alot for the welcoming 🙏

 

The car is yet to be delivered should be at home by Tuesday/Wednesday. Those pictures where taken in the warehouse. 
 

i do have few info about the car the engine is a f22c with its gearbox unmodified the diff is from a subara sti with lsd and uprated driveshaft hand brake is hydraulic and electronic steering wheel rest should be as is from WCM i did see that the master cylinders are willwood and the brake system is also willwood wheel size is 15inch 

 

the car runs fine drove it around the warehouse. Ill take more pics for the specific things mentioned and more.

 

thanks alot for the help honestly this forum is amazing im also a member in westfield's forum and honestly i had to learn it the hard way with my westfield didnt expect such welcoming from all. Ill post the pictures once i get the car should be clearer.

 

thanks alot 🙏🙏🙏

[JohnCh]

48 minutes ago, Rashid_seyadi said:

ill keep you guys posted. With the updates or shall i start a new build thread?

 

As others have said, welcome and sounds like a fun project.  Definitely start a build thread in that forum so everyone can follow along and help out.  It also makes it easier for people doing research in the future to find the thread and learn from what you did.  https://usa7s.net/ips/forum/41-build-threads/

 

[charles5448]

19 hours ago, Rashid_seyadi said:

Hi, i currently own this a FW Westfield with a fully built duratec engine and have just recently bought an Ultralight. Having no experience with the Ultralights and being a one of a kind in the country id say the forum has memebers that have experts in such cars. The car has been stored for more than 10 years. Is there something that i have to keep in mind or maybe consider servicing other than the usual oils, etc or upgrading stuff in the chassis that were discovered to be as weak spots over time.

 

Nice find, looks solid!! Feel free to run any questions past us. I've had my hands on just about every part of mine. Not sure about the mileage of the car but just make sure the timing chain isn't rattling. Easy enough to source a timing chain tensioner here in the US, but not sure what it would be like for you. Also NGK spark plugs are a must for these engines. I chased a misfire for weeks in mine and it end up being a combination of corrosion on the plug for the ECU and someone using Autolite spark plugs.

[nc7s4]

2 hours ago, Rashid_seyadi said:

Thanks alot for the welcoming 🙏

 

The car is yet to be delivered should be at home by Tuesday/Wednesday. Those pictures where taken in the warehouse. 
 

i do have few info about the car the engine is a f22c with its gearbox unmodified the diff is from a subara sti with lsd and uprated driveshaft hand brake is hydraulic and electronic steering wheel rest should be as is from WCM i did see that the master cylinders are willwood and the brake system is also willwood wheel size is 15inch 

 

the car runs fine drove it around the warehouse. Ill take more pics for the specific things mentioned and more.

 

thanks alot for the help honestly this forum is amazing im also a member in westfield's forum and honestly i had to learn it the hard way with my westfield didnt expect such welcoming from all. Ill post the pictures once i get the car should be clearer.

 

thanks alot 🙏🙏🙏

If you do have the STI upgrade that is most excellent.  I broke the WRX differential (R160) this year and others have experienced the same. The STI upgrade gives a much stronger rear end (axles, hubs, rights and the R180 LSD)  - at the cost of being heavier.  But it seems to be necessary for running on a track with slicks.  There are many different R180 diff's out there - different LSD's and ratios.  It would be of interest to confirm the model year STI and particular details about your diff.

 

Normal setup for rotors are cross drilled 12 inch wilwoods all 4 corners.  If you have 15's that would be of interest to see for sure.  But considering you are running 15" wheels - i doubt your rotors are 15" because that would not fit.  My car had WRX OEM (solid steel) rotors in the rear before I did the "STI rear end upgrade".  Then it got the 12 inch wilwoods same as the front - how it should be IMO.  But then there are other tweaks that need to be done to the brake bias.  Such as swapping the rear MC with a 7/8 bore to achieve less braking force in the rear.  The balance bar is apparently not going to generate enough bias with both 3/4 MC's

 

For wheels the race setup was 15x10 inch steel wheels with 9.5 inch hoosiers.  I run 245x15 Toyo R on the 15x10's.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce K]

7 hours ago, Croc said:

 

Welcome to USA7s! 

 

That is quite a find - a WCM Ultralite in Bahrain.  How did you come across the car?  This story is going to be very interesting.

 

At least the Ultralite was in a location with low humidity so hopefully no serious rust issues from storage.  But still you have to assume that you will have many perished rubber suspension bushings and rubber hoses in addition to the need to do all the usual servicing items - engine oil, coolant, gearbox oil, diff oil, lube joints, physical inspection for chassis/suspension cracks/wear.  Knowing the back story of why it was stored will help here.

 

To start your journey, here is the link to the Maintenance and Upgrade manual kindly written by @Bruce K as a very knowledgeable former owner of an Ultralite and experienced historic racer.

https://usa7s.net/ips/files/category/32-build-user-guides/

 

Three other prominent Ultralite owners here which should chime in are:

@nc7s4 and @charles5448 who both recently acquired UIltralites and are going through a similar learning curve to what you are about to embark on. 

and

@RGTorque who is a long time owner of a beautifully prepared Ultralite and knows these cars very well. 

 

 

 

 

I  met another recent WCM owner in the Detroit area, who already has his car doing 1:14's at Waterford Hills - that's really quick around Waterford.  He's made a number of sensible modifications and might be another good person to converse with.  Nathan Crosty, nathancrosty@gmail.com.

[nc7s4]

41 minutes ago, Bruce K said:

I  met another recent WCM owner in the Detroit area, who already has his car doing 1:14's at Waterford Hills - that's really quick around Waterford.  He's made a number of sensible modifications and might be another good person to converse with.  Nathan Crosty, nathancrosty@gmail.com.

Bruce that's me!! 

[Bruce K]

2 hours ago, nc7s4 said:

Bruce that's me!! 

Hilarious!  I didn't have that email for you.  Hey, if he contacts you twice, will you give him twice as much information?

[Rashid_seyadi]

Hi all,

 

i have started a new thread in the build forum to continue the rebuild. New pics have been added hopefully they show everything requested above. Your assistance is appreciated🙏🙏🙏

[JohnCh]

Thanks @Rashid_seyadi, Here is a link to the new thread: