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FIESTA BRAVO! - Project Fiesta part two: extracting more urge from the engine
Report: Steve Bennett
Photography: Tony Butler, Geoff Altham
Welcome to the second part of CCC's Project Fiesta. First, apologies to those expecting to find part two in our January issue; it was missing because the engine work took a little longer than expected. And for those who missed part one (naughty, naughty, slapped wrist), I shall recap.
Project Fiesta came about mainly because some readers felt we were concentrating too much on the more upmarket end of the tuning world, and would like to see CCC returning to basics. Enter the CCC Project Fiesta; cheap, widely available and very open to modifications. Just to be different, we decided to modify the Fiesta 1300, in this case a 1300S. The planned changes are extensive, yet affordable and will take in bodywork, interior, suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres, and of course, this month the all-important engine.
The aim of the engine modifications is to squeeze as much power from the engine as practicably possible, while retaining a good degree of engine flexibility. The kind of power expected was somewhere in the region of 95 to 10Obhp at the flywheel; basically enough power to give XR2s something to think about. Obviously, we are going the whole hog with this engine but you can add items as time and funds permit. The engine build was carried out by Geoff Altham of Go-Jo in Barrowford, Nelson, Lancashire, and the only constraint to his brief was that a single twin-choke carburettor should be used as opposed to pricey gas guzzling multiple set-ups.
The biggest restriction with the Fiesta, and with many standard engines is in the breathing department. The design of the cylinder head, exhaust manifold and camshaft can be improved to produce more effective combustion.
Go-Jo decided that for real grunt an increase in cubic capacity was called for also. We at CCC believe firmly in the old adage that there ain't no substitute for cubic inches. Overboring, while not totally ignored in the tuning world, is certainly somewhat neglected. Which is surprising; many engines which have suffered the wear of many miles have to be rebored before any performance components can be used safely.
Go-Jo is a leading big bore engine builder and there must be many cars running one of its Ford.....
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