As big col says the cossie was originaly designed for racing and then detuned for public use.
The first one released by cosworth had around 320bhp but ford asked them to detune it and so they did down to 280bhp. Ford then asked them to detune it again as they beleived joe public would have killed themseleves in it. Bear in mind this was over 10 years ago and for a car with 320bhp and rear wheel drive to be available to anyone with a half decent job was a scary thought.

Only the RS500 was really 'easily' tuned to 500bhp, as it had stonger internals, bigger turbo and 8 injectors as std, four of which were not active. The first wave of sapphire engines were stong but if you are looking at big BHP then try to pick a 4x4 or an escort as they had vastly strengthend block.

One the down side they were not the most reliable cars, certainly in terms of jap reliablility, and there are few really good examples but they are pricey. Still you gets what you pays for. There not the smoothest of engines but they do have a nice exhaust note if you get a decent exhaust. As a cooper once told me before he booked for doing 97mph, 'it sounded gorgeous as you came past us' [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] ****!

Ali


[Edited by AliWrx - 8/5/2002 10:56:29 PM]

 

so, how come the cossie engine is so tuneable? i know a lot of the members of this bbs have owned cossies in the past, and ive always had a soft spot for the sapphire cosworth (may get one to keep my evo company one day)

you gotta hand it to these cars! old, but still gave everything a run for their money at the ten of the best day.

so, 500bhp in a sapphire cosworth. how is it possible, and how reliable?
4wd, or rwd? what sort of money for a good 'un? is the cosworth engine one of the best there is (along with the rb26 engine)

thanks for any info

 

They come de-tuned and the block's very strong.

 

why did they come detuned, and what is the max you should take one of these engines to?

 

I guess so they could be tuned - hence their popularity. 500+bhp is fairly easy to get. Still fall to pieces after a while like most fords though.

 

AFAIK the Cosworth engine was primarily designed to go touring car racing with and was therefore designed to take 500+bhp. The rules said that the racer must be based on a road car. Ford detuned the engine to around 200bhp and put it in the Sierra Cosworth.

 

NO NO NO and again NO!!!

You've only just finished your EVO and your 'harmless enquiry' about Cossies isn't fooling anyone! At least wait until I've had the chance for a good nose before you get rid of it for one of Daganham's finest.

Take it easy
(and stop tuning cars!)

Dave

 

IIRC, Ford had trouble getting the engine DOWN to 200bhp. The reason they did it was for insurance purposes.
astraboy.

 

What power's yours running astra?

 

285, stage 1 chip. Work was done for the previous owner, at Interpro IIRC...
astraboy.

 

Also, Cossie tuning is still based around lower compression, bigger turbo, more boost, more fuel method.

You'll not see many cossie boys running electronic boost controllers and the like.....

 

dave, dont worry mate, the evo's going nowhere, and thats the truth but i may want a sapphire in addition one day
stop tuning cars? i cant help myself

 

It's the old classic approach to homologating a race car.
You can either:

1) Take an existing road car and make a racer out of it
2) Take a race car and build enough of them in road trim to meet homologation specs.

It's why Yamaha dominated club and GP bike racing during the 70s. American racing rules demanded that the race bikes "be based on a machine with a production run of at least 300". So where companies like Suzuki went to huge trouble to adapt their GT750 "Kettle" for racing, Yamaha just built 300+ race bikes and sold them ...

 

The engine wasn't designed for 500bhp+ it is basically the old pinto engine from the RS2000 Escort with a turbo and a 16v head on it!

it was like the skyline- a cast iron block the was strong as hell and people discovered it could handle that power- Surely the basis of all tuning is tune it till it pops- then reduce it a bit untill it doesn't

hence why the block can take big grunt- just bolt it down tighter get a bigger turbo and fire in loads more fuel- hey presto