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.....produces 90bhp at 5500rpm.
It's quite likely that an enterprising tuner could get hold of a 1600 without too much difficulty, but we wouldn't recommend it on the grounds that it didn't really convince us that it is worth the money - not after sampling Janspeed's far more modest breathing on an 1100 (for that, read Graham Jones' "Fiesta 3" section.) In any case, Ford's new CVH sohc engine (1100, 1300 and 1600cc) will make its appearance with the new Escort, and it is sure to be a retro-fit to certain Fiestas in future times.
While we couldn't justify £800 on the engine, the £376 total charge for suspension seemed very worthwhile, although it must be borne in mind that the £274 charge for five 6 x 13" RS alloy wheels should really be lumped together with the suspension modifications . . . and there again, the Pirelli P6 tyres of the test car should be taken into account.
Springs, struts and dampers all play an effective part, but the item listed "suspension kit - £120" is what makes the transformation complete. It involves stronger tie bars with a castor adjustment facility and a specially manufactured anti-roll bar. The front struts are, of course, adjustable for camber by means of cam nuts.
The braking system had received front discs increased in diameter by one inch, (the standard car uses 12" wheels), with standard calipers relocated by adaptors.
That's about it apart from the cosmetic addition of spoilers (of some benefit) and unobtrusive wheel arches. Interestingly, the transmission, including driveshafts, is quite standard, and it uses the same gear ratios and final drive (3.84:1) as the entire UK Fiesta range. Ample indication that the transmission, when it appears in the new Escort, has probably been designed since inception to handle an everyday 100bhp whilst retaining acceptable reliability.
Quite obviously this specification was never meant to be savoured by driving around town or along a motorway (where the directness of feel coupled with a slight deadness around straight-ahead leads to a tiresome business of fiddly corrections). We took it to rural Wales, but before that we took it to the test track. In both these types of conditions, the car excelled. Straightline performance was brisk rather than startling, with about 10.5 seconds elapsed to 60mph, and neither was the engine particularly inspiring in the way it worked: noisy, rather grumpy and complete with a flat spot. A lusty slogger rather than an inspiration just about sums it up. It could easily have handled a higher final drive, but in fairness, it was never designed for lapping a test track at high speed. The engine redeemed itself whilst we put it through the handling section, suffering, without detriment, a wide variety of revolutions and pulling strongly enough to cause the Pirellis to just begin breaking traction in dry thircf gear corners.
Here the firm springing, tight damping and competition-bred response from the slightly negative camber front wheels, running with less castor effect on lock, truly put the little car in its element. It just never stopped answering the helm.
The ideal comparison would have been with a 1600 engined Escort road car with a similarly adjustable front end (though an equivalent Escort is, obviously, not nearly as sensitive, responsive, or in need of such fine adjustment when considered for the road).
We didn't have such an Escort for comparison, but having said that, (and, I hope, aware of the inherent dangers of making such a comparison largely 'in the mind'), I'm personally convinced (sticking my neck on the block once more) that the X Pack Fiesta was more fun and faster, in the right circumstances.
Those circumstances, in real life, are not those of the test track. During our brief sojourn to Wales that Fiesta exemplified itself as a thoroughly safe but swift means of transport. The almost Blydenstein-style large-engine-in-a-small-car modus operandi really worked; especially with front wheel drive. For ordinary A to B main road work (Brecon to Builth, or equivalent) it could be left in top gear for all but the twistiest sections, times when the inherent, safe, driving qualities of a good and responsive f.w.d. format can perhaps be used to greatest effect. There is a massive reserve of road holding, and enough handling, instantly on tap, to shame its rear wheel drive equivalents.
Driven with just a modicum of forethought there need never be any drama and no time wasting crossed-up manoeuvres; for a front wheel drive car with this level of response and traction can track through the twists and turns in a way which a rear wheel drive car, pushing its undriven steering wheels, never can.
On the test track the 1600 X Pack Fiesta is another animal. It can be braked very late from the straight into a slow corner, the imbalance of braking (and this Fiesta, with its near-neutral front wheel geometry and fat, square shouldered P6 tyres, is superbly alive with feedback under heavy not-quite-locked-up braking) being a positive benefit to 'throwing' the car for scrubbing off the remaining speed and setting its attitude all at once, while it has enough power, positively applied, to quickly move the fulcrum point further to the rear which pulls the Fiesta through the corner with a delightfully progressive transition from a restrained form of roll pversteer entry into a gentle 'unwinding' straightening-out, or, if it is a long corner, an easy aiming point, well short of the apex, which will allow speed-generated drift and positive-steer 'tug' to pull the car tidily through.
Faster corners can be played off against the car's natural tendency to tighten its line with a slight lift-off of the throttle coupled with a subdued but deliberate flick. Our car was collected from Ford with 24psi in the front tyres, and at that pressure its handling was distinctly less sporting, but more forgiving. We moved nearer the maximum rating, to 33psi, during our time with the car, and found that to be a highly effective tweak. But if we'd had more time, maybe we'd have started fiddling around with the camber and castor. . . . Yes, this car really gives one an idea of what can be achieved with Fiesta. IS
Fiesta 1.6 Series-X - The parts bill
Engine
1.6 engine assembly - £647
four-branch exhaust - 79
exhaust resonator - 23
oil cooler kit - 50
Suspension
Bilstein front struts - 132
Bilstein rear dampers - 81
suspension kit - 122
front springs - 38
cam nuts - 8
Brakes
Increased dia, disc kit - 46
Wheels
6+13 RS alloy sheets (5) - 250
wheel bolts - 19
centre emblems - 5
Body
wheel arches & front spoiler - 114
rear spoiler - 24
steering wheel (inc kit) - 41
Total £1674
A junior... A great little package: Janspeed's budget-tuned 1100 Fiesta really works. We found the right sort of roads for this little ball of fire to show us its best.
The car I am now going to discuss may look like a Fiesta Sandpiper (it isl), but the secret held within the bounds of this 1.1 litre engine is that it is a Janspeed modified version. The eventual specification that was arrived at, in view of the fact that it was never intended to be more than a tractable, mildly go-faster shopping car (it is actually owned by Geoff Mabbs, and run by his wife), consists of a DGV Weber carburettor mounted on a Weber inlet manifold, a Stage One cylinder head and a four-two-one exhaust manifold mated to a "free flow" exhaust system. The heart of the conversion, according to sales manager Andrew Shanks, is the cylinder head, which allows the short-stroke motor to breathe much more effectively, thus producing more power.
The Janspeed Stage One designation means that standard valves are retained, although the valve seats are opened out to optimise valve head diameter. In addition, combustion chambers are cleaned up, polished and equalised, while the inlet and exhaust ports are polished as well as carefully machined to match the gasket size. The head thus modified is effectively as a manufacturer would turn out if the machine tolerances of mass production did not prevent it.
Once the engine is breathing more efficiently, the downdraught Weber and Janspeed exhaust manifold can then be used to good advantage. The exhaust system does not really add that much to the overall effectiveness of the conversion, other than perhaps psychologically, by helping to create that impressive exhaust note.
The price of the parts necessary to bring your Fiesta up to this stage of tune is, in the light of the car's transformed performance, a reasonable £240.79. That sum breaks down as follows:
Weber DGV carburettor mounted on inlet manifold with linkage and filter £68.79; Stage One head £70 (exchange); exhaust manifold £52, and exhaust system £50. The total cost of the kit, fitted by Janspeed, works out at approximately £300, including VAT.
What sort of performance do you get for this money? Unfortunately the answer to that.....
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