Ford Focus?

[FED 387]

Since no others are not listed can they still race them (LOL)???

[ss3011]

Originally Posted by ALMACK

I just got confirmation.

It is treated as a rear wheel drive so it's a E, F, or G stick car.

I would be curious how a racer will get around the SFI bellhousing rule with the transmission arrangement in that car

I think the rulebook allows some sort of shield if no one makes a bellhousing . You must have a SFI flywheel , so that might be a problem . It just takes a little perseverance .

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by ss3011

I think the rulebook allows some sort of shield if no one makes a bellhousing . You must have a SFI flywheel , so that might be a problem . It just takes a little perseverance .

I'm going to read the rulebook tomorrow.

That car uses the MMT6 Ford Transmission.

I saw some pics of that trans. That would be tough to make a SFI BH.
A SFI flywheel looks doable, but super expensive I would imagine.

Those cars are $ 35K + when new. That could turn out to be one expensive Stocker.

[Aaron Allison]

Quick Time does make a 2.3L Ford to Jerico bell, but not for all wheel drive.

https://www.holley.com/products/driv.../parts/RM-4058

I am sure Ross McCombs could make it happen if need be.

-Aaron

[rawhide]

Originally Posted by Aaron Allison

Quick Time does make a 2.3L Ford to Jerico bell, but not for all wheel drive.

https://www.holley.com/products/driv.../parts/RM-4058

I am sure Ross McCombs could make it happen if need be.

-Aaron

different 2.3 engine, that would be the 2.3 used in Pinto's

[goinbroke2]

I said this a couple of years ago, a rs focus or an awd Taurus with the twin turbo v6.
Finally they are putting new stuff in the guide besides mustangs!

[6130]

Originally Posted by ALMACK

I would be curious how a racer will get around the SFI bellhousing rule with the transmission arrangement in that car

I apologize for going a little off-topic here, but for anyone considering running a manual transmission race car without a clutch can, whether the rules require it or not, I submit the following. Please learn from my error(s) in judgement:

Back in the '80s, I ran an NHRA Pro ET normally-aspirated rotary Mazda door car twice a week at two local drag strips. There was no commercially-available SFI Spec 6.1 bellhousing. There was also no SFI Spec 1.1 flywheels or clutches available.

The set-up that worked the best for me, was a stock cast iron flywheel, with a stock pressure plate, and a fairly lightweight clutch disc with a solid (unsprung) hub and no marcel spring between the facings. I experimented with various metallic pucks on the disc.

The NHRA rule book at that time said that solid-lifter manual transmission cars had to have a clutch can, and since the rotary has no lifters, I was able to get through tech without one, even though I was launching, shifting, and going through the lights at about 9,000 rpm.

Then in 1990, a flywheel/clutch explosion at the top end nearly cut the car in half.

It was an un-necessarily exciting ride, for a car that only went 111 mph or so. It sounded like a bomb going off inside the car. In addition to the concussion, the wind was suddenly whistling through the car, which was full of smoke and what I initially thought was flames (but turned out to only be sparks from severed battery cables). It blew the latch off for the front-hinged hood and blew the hood up momentarily, until the wind made it flop back down. It blew the brake master cylinder right off the firewall, so I had no brakes. I also had no engine compression braking, since it vaporized everything between the engine's rear main seal and the transmission's front bearing. It oiled down my slicks, which made steering kind of exciting, as my right hand wouldn't work (it had been resting on the shifter when the explosion happened, which stunned my right arm up to the elbow). Thank God I had routed my fuel line outside the front sub-frame stampings (for this exact reason), or I would have been on fire with absolutely no way to stop, with nothing but a single-layer 3-2A/1 jacket to protect me. I was afraid to look at my feet, because I thought I had lost them. Fortunately, the rotary engine is so small, that the entire clutch and flywheel are located forward of the firewall, so my feet were never in line with the shrapnel.

I will never make a mistake like that again.

[Lew Silverman]

Thankfully you weren't hurt badly in the explosion, as you mentioned it could have been a whole lot worse!

Hasn't Ford been using the Focus and/or Fiesta in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Europe for many years? Those cars make upwards of 600 HP(!) and I'm sure there are WRC/Euro-spec safety equipment items being made available to those race-teams. Interesting to see that NHRA accepted the AWD platform for the Focus, after nixing it on the SUV/Trucks. I guess it's all how you address the situation!

[Jim Caughlin]

Even with SFI approved parts, my 4 cylinder exploded a flywheel at the finishline (9400 RPM) last year, quite the religious experience. The Quicktime bellhousing contained it but it was mess regardless. I broke the block, crank, starter broke off and took out the headers, among other damage. Obviously the flywheel, clutch and bell housing were destroyed also. If I didn't have a support cross member under the bellhousing, it would have been even worse. I would estimate I was out $4,000+ before I got everything back together.

Interestingly, the description in the NHRA rulebook specifying how to integrate an SFI approved bellhousing onto an engine where one is not commercially available for is based on my car, I actually wrote it up myself. At the time (1987), the rulebook said to wrap the stock cast bellhousing with 1/4" steel plate. I had made an adapter plate to mate a small block Ford Lakewood bellhousing to my 2.3 Ford motor which strangely was deemed illegal as it didn't conform to the rulebook. They did concede that what I did was considerably safer so asked me to write up the description so it could be included in the rulebook for future reference.


Jim Caughlin
6019 SS/ES

[ss3011]

This one probably has a transversely mounted engine and transmission , better make that shield sturdy . Flywheel probably lines up with the drivers body !