1978 Fisher Fury - whoosh!

[mylittletony]

Just a placemarker at the moment really, as this got delivered at 10pm last night and I've not even turned the key!



One thing I did check, for the benefit of Darkspeed - AVO coilovers



Slightly better update to follow later today...

[Phil2600s]

I love Fury's, had a couple in the past. Best one was Black with a Yellow stripe with a YB Turbo fitted. Lovely cars, can't wait to see this progress.

[mylittletony]

Soooo.....

A little backstory.
I had been yearning for something sporty to drive since selling my turbo Volvo 240, which went to fund my big American car dreams. I missed riding a motorbike, but due to family life have made the decision not to ride one in the UK.
This train of thought lead to kit cars as being the logical choice; light, open top, back to basics - almost a 4 wheeled bike.

I had grand plans of having one as well as the Fairlane, but driveway/garage logistics would mean constant shuffling and one of them living outdoors.

Recently I had come to the realisation that I was simply not enjoying the Fairlane enough for one reason or another, and from that point on my route was clear. Sell up and buy something fun.

I've been having conversations with Darkspeed for years about the merits and pitfalls of different kit cars and his Gemini thread has been a great inspiration. So has the café racer thread and these have helped me focus in on what I'd really like:

Good performance - no wheezy 1300 xflow
Classic looks - not keen on a traditional 7
No frills

Selling the Fairlane gave me enough budget to not be shopping at the very bottom of the market and I'd seen a few cars come and go in the past couple of weeks; a Ginetta G27, a different Fury and a Sylva Stylus.

Then this one cropped up and I decided to just go for it. So what have I bought?

It's a Fisher Fury with an 1800 MX5 drivetrain and a turbo!
These have a great chassis, with inboard dampers, a 5-linked escort axle and are generally very well regarded. Plus the nice 60s style swooping bodywork, combined with road use friendly full height screen and mini-doors to aid access.

The drivetrain should keep me entertained for plenty of time to come and still have more potential if I get bored

Here's some pics
















I've not driven it yet, but I did sit in it last night and it's a good fit.

I have a few things I'd like to do, roughly in order/priority:

- Some form of weather protection (tonneau, soft top, hard top)
- Cold air intake, current filter is right next to the wheel.
- Change mirrors
- Different wheels to get that café racer style
- Smaller rear lights and front indicators
- Change gauges

This list may well change once I've driven it, although I'm assured it drives well

It's speeduino controlled, which could end up being a steep learning curve

Please let me know if you've got any wide retro 13s!

[Darkspeed]

Oct 27, 2023 7:34:06 GMT mylittletony said:

One thing I did check, for the benefit of Darkspeed - AVO coilovers

Not a bad guess from the photo just showing a top collar - Cannot recall how many clicks on the AVO's - Be interesting (for a complete saddo) to find out if those have been set to something sensible.

And Whoosh! indeed


Nice choice.

[PhilA]

That looks like it would never reach full boost, you'd have to be changing gears so fast because it's so light!

Looks like a proper hoot to drive.

[sebastiaan]

Cool little car that. Hope you enjoy it.

What I've learnt from playing with kitcars over a decade:

A full hood is a blessing. I know others wont agree, but my seven was really cosy with the hood up, and having one made it much, much more useful as a car.

But, hood = heater and demisters. You need one for sure. And want one as well to aid usefulness. See previous point....

Make sure you have a good look at the sidepod where the exhaust lives and ensure it's properly fireproofed. But i guess you know that already.

Drive it like you stole it ;-)

[Darkspeed]

Looking forward to the reading about the first driving impressions.

[mylittletony]

Oct 27, 2023 16:33:04 GMT Darkspeed said:

Looking forward to the reading about the first driving impressions.

Might be a while, the weather for the next week is absolutely filthy... And I'm away with work 6-11th

I did fire it up in the garage this evening, I don't think it's too loud, so that's one concern gone. The cold start is sh*t though, so that will need some attention.

As to be expected, I've already started buying some bits

I managed to snag an mg midget tonneau which I think is about 2-3" too wide and too long, but I'm hoping I can adapt it.

I've also got some pipe and a 180° joiner to try and get the intake up to the cowl area.
As you might imagine, everything's a bit snug under the bonnet, especially towards the front!

[Phil2600s]

Oct 27, 2023 16:33:04 GMT Darkspeed said:

Looking forward to the reading about the first driving impressions.

You can see my old yellow and black one in the top video you posted!

[mylittletony]

I had a few deliveries yesterday so popped into the garage for an hour last night.

I tried and failed to find the engine number, seems to have worn off... a bit of google interrogation appears to confirm it's a non-VVT mk2 engine.









The reason being is that I think I need a new lambda sensor, it's unplugged and the seller mentioned he thinks it's dead.

I think my air filter relocation idea is going to work. I've now ordered a new filter, and will need to fashion a support when that arrives. I stupidly forgot to take any photos though

The tonneau looks to be a good size, I'll obviously need to trim around the roll hoop, so again no photos of that!!

I did take a picture of the visible turbo markings, nothing but the finest kwalitee parts here!



Google returns no info, so I'm not sure what it is. It's not very big, my guess is some TD04 variant...

I've done a bit of nosing around at the air delivery side of things, there's no boost control other than the wastegate actuator. I have no idea what boost level it's running, as I've STILL not driven it. I've had a recommendation to remove the blow off valve, so will try that too.

I did grab a pic inside the sill where the silencer is



You can make out some vent holes along the length and there are more at both ends too.

What I keep putting off is getting myself set up with Tunerstudio so I can plug it in and look at the cold start, as well as a running issue the seller described as turbo lag around 1500rpm.
I suspect this is more likely a fuelling issue (also see lambda comment above), as the dyno plot shows an AFR peak at similar engine speed.

Have I mentioned I've STILL not driven it??

FUN!!

[HARDCORE]

This is GREAT! I wanna go

[Darkspeed]

I went to rather more effort in the way of protection of the bodywork panels from the exhaust heat than the builder of yours. Not least because a cat in silencer runs a little warmer than a stock silencer. The sill panel was also fully lined











Still, if you splash out a nice new stainless one in the future you can always chop some more plastic away to show it off.


I think on the OMEX fitted to the above Fury the Lambda (narrow band) was only used to maintain closed loop under 1500rpm to control fuelling at idle - and even then, it was only for the IVA test - after that it was all open loop and post IVA the control was dropped to 850 I think.

As the Fury will probably have visible smoke only - or you will get told it does not need an MOT - Idle area fuelling is something that can pretty much be ignored.

Just search the web for Pops, Bangs and (huge)flames maps because that's all you need really


A nice wideband and controller is the way to go - especially if the software allows autotune for the mapping.

[mylittletony]

Yes I think a proper wideband is the way to go, from some brief reading the ECU can/does use a 0-5V AFR output to adjust fuelling.

What I want is for it to start like a factory car and have good manners throughout the rev range. Not being able to touch the throttle until it's up to temp, or it being stumbly below 2k then kicking off is going to annoy me very quickly!

I had a bit of a play just now while the missus is collecting kids from her parents.

Here's a couple of pics of the ECU, mainly for my reference.





I've disconnected the boost reference which was T'd off the gauge. Both ECU and pipe now reinstated.

I also laid out the tonneau for a pic



I basically need to grow a pair and start drilling holes for the poppers. Not yet though.

Took some wheel fitment pics. Here's before/current







And new wheels







The existing are 6.5x15, et35 with a 5mm spacer (at the back at least). Fitted with 185/55/15

'New' are 7x13, et5. I need to check willtheyfit.com but quickmath reckons on 31mm more pokey outey. I suspect I'll have to go for 185/60/13 to avoid unwanted rubbing, especially as I want to go lower (obv)

And finally, here's a few pics of the inlet idea.








Wheels are on full lock here and there's clearance. I need to cut the bead off the end where the air filter will go, which is on order.

It's close to the downpipe and turbine housing, but I think I can combine a mounting bracket with a heat shield, attaching to the hex bolt heads. Most importantly it clears the bonnet!

That's probably it for updates for a bit. I've got some proper wheel nuts coming, need to sort tyres and need to sort out a tuning setup. But I'm away next week and at a wedding this weekend.

If the stars align I might get a quick blast on Sunday, depending on how badly hungover I'll be... (bad)

[mylittletony]

Pleased I can still work this stuff out in my head

[mylittletony]

I dug out the old laptop. I revived this once several years ago so I could use Volvo diagnostic software
After some time finding the charger, it actually started right up...



Tunerstudio is downloaded, now I need a serial cable and I can plug the car in - which will be a first for me, I'm quite excited tbh

[Darkspeed]

Oh - The slot mags - Big win from me on those.


Making a bodywork comparison it looks like they made the rear arches wider on the Spyder. Not something I had really noticed before.

How much poke do you have at the from because it looks like they may be well beyond "cheeky"





The fronts on the Blue Gem are at the extremis of cheeky but still not quite taking the....



Looks like its time to update the signature

[mylittletony]

Nov 3, 2023 10:53:33 GMT Darkspeed said:

How much poke do you have at the from because it looks like they may be well beyond "cheeky"



Looks like its time to update the signature

ermmm, I've not checked, but I'm 99% there's no spacer to remove so I'm probably in trouble! TBH they were cheap enough for 4 that I can use 2 and find some less 'cheeky' ones combined with a narrower tyre up front - I do like that image!

You're right about the signature and I should probably update the Fairlane thread too

[mylittletony]

Hmmm I don't think the fronts are going to fit.





I reckon there's about 10mm from the outside of the arch to the outside of the current rim. And no spacer fitted. Hmmm.

My new rear lights arrived too

[HARDCORE]

Touch of camber?

[mylittletony]

Nov 6, 2023 12:33:08 GMT HARDCORE said:

Touch of camber?

There is adjustment but it's winding the bottom ball joint out, rather than top one in.

Going lower may bring the top in too. I need to try one on the front really and see the magnitude of cheekiness...

One not-so-bad side to this is that 5.5" and 6" wide Wolfrace are £50 a pair and if I find 4, I'll have a full spare set to resell. Ideal scenario is a chap on FB selling a set made up of 2x 5.5" and 2x 6" so I can try all 3 sizes. Except he's gone radio silent...

Current status is frustration with the ECU - I'm struggling to get my laptop to communicate with it