"Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stuffed a Subaru WRX motor into something that's mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, and weighs less than 2,000 lbs.? Because that's the next Factory Five car - a two-seater built around inexpensive and indestructible Subaru running gear. The styling isn't finalized, but I'm imaging something that looks like Lancia Stratos. And if you don't break into a creepy serial-killer smile every time you imagine an affordable, WRX-based Stratos, then you are some kind of weirdo. The car's new wheelbase is locked in at 95" which is a little longer then an Exige."
And the design is a public competition (similar to Local Motors)
quote
Body Design Competition Starts March 1st The base dimensions, running gear, and chassis/suspensions work has been determined. The body shape of this two-seater, mid-engined roadster is not finalized and we have decided, in conjunction with Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, to sponsor a body design competition open to the public and hosted by Grassroots Motorsports Magazine. Full details on this competition will be released shortly and submissions dates begin March 1st.
[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 02-18-2011).]
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11:44 PM
PFF
System Bot
Finally_Mine_86_GT Member
Posts: 4809 From: Hyde Park, New York Registered: Sep 2006
Fiero wheelbase: 2373 mm (93.4 in) Length 4072 mm (160.3 in) original 70's Lancia Stratos wheelbase: 2180 mm (85.8 in) Length 3708 mm (145.9 in) New '11 Lancia Stratos wheelbase: 2423 mm (95.4 in) Length 4203 mm (165.6 in) Ferrari F-355 wheelbase: 2451 mm (96.5 in) Length 4249 mm (167.3 in) Factory Five car wheelbase: 2413 mm (95 in) Length ????
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11:58 PM
Feb 19th, 2011
fierobear Member
Posts: 27098 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
Article quoted in OP says engine from WRX. I didn't know that this was the hands down best engine available for the money and from what I've heard from a few FORMER WRX owners they are by no means indestructible.
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02:53 AM
Feb 22nd, 2011
Austrian Import Member
Posts: 3919 From: Monterey, CA Registered: Feb 2007
Article quoted in OP says engine from WRX. I didn't know that this was the hands down best engine available for the money and from what I've heard from a few FORMER WRX owners they are by no means indestructible.
Could you please elaborate on that? I know very little about these engines. I have a few friends that have 0 issues with them, but they also don't push their cars very hard. Where is the weakpoint of them? How expensive is maintenance?
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04:12 PM
Isolde Member
Posts: 2504 From: North Logan, Utah, USA Registered: May 2008
Gotta hate Factory Five, can't save any of their pics, thus can't enlarge. They had a good idea turning a 5.0 Mustang into a fake Cobra, but the cost was insane. You can do it yourself for half what they asked, if you have any skills. Plus what you save on the shipping of their frame.
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04:31 PM
TommyRocker Member
Posts: 2808 From: Woodstock, IL Registered: Dec 2009
The WRX is, but it is longitudinal with the engine in front of the front axle. You can remove the rear output and make it put 100% power to the front, giving you a lightweight, compact, potent longitudinal, mid-engined power train. This only works with the 5 speeds though. The later model 6MT hasn't been reworked. This is extrmely easy to do and the kit is already on the market. I was looking into doing this in a fiero because as far as I can gather, this would fit in a stock wheelbase Fiero. The Boxer 4 is only 2 cylinders deep, and the fron axle output is very close to the bellhousing, so from axle centerline to the very front of the engine accessories is right around 30 inches or something. I have the CAD files on my home computer somewhere.
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04:51 PM
Finally_Mine_86_GT Member
Posts: 4809 From: Hyde Park, New York Registered: Sep 2006
Gotta hate Factory Five, can't save any of their pics, thus can't enlarge. They had a good idea turning a 5.0 Mustang into a fake Cobra, but the cost was insane. You can do it yourself for half what they asked, if you have any skills. Plus what you save on the shipping of their frame.
When you see it on your screen hit and hold Ctrl then hit PrtSc. Then open up MS Paint and hit Ctrl+V. Save it and do what you will with the pic.
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05:33 PM
PFF
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Scottzilla79 Member
Posts: 2573 From: Chicago, IL Registered: Oct 2009
Could you please elaborate on that? I know very little about these engines. I have a few friends that have 0 issues with them, but they also don't push their cars very hard. Where is the weakpoint of them? How expensive is maintenance?
Well it was hard to get details out of them because they were such fanboys. My friend bought one and it apparently had no compression in one of the cylinders he sold it after a couple months. Other guy was a classmate and same situation wouldn't give details why he had to sell it because he couldn't afford to fix the engine-- would rather talk about what an awesome car it was ??? Quick search came up with head gasket problems on the 2.5.
I think one of the reasons Factory Five chose this engine is because there is enough aftermarket support behind those engines to make tuning easy(ish). The VW community has done the swap for years and it's well documented. I did just a quick topical search in my other PFF thread to show the depth of information out there.
The other reasons is that the engine is low and wide. And it's very short, so that the wheelbase can be kept very short.
This may explain it better:
[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 02-24-2011).]
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12:15 PM
Apr 29th, 2011
bnevets27 Member
Posts: 264 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: Oct 2007
Article quoted in OP says engine from WRX. I didn't know that this was the hands down best engine available for the money and from what I've heard from a few FORMER WRX owners they are by no means indestructible.
I worked at an engine re-manufacturing plant for a little while at one point. One of the engines we did was the 2.5 Subaru engine. Every one of them had the exact same problem, overheating. The pistons are very large on a subaru and the water jacket around the pistons have a lot of surface area to cool. Also there isn't much surface area for the head/gasket to seal against. So there is a little bit of a flaw with them to some degree. But knowing that its basically just a cooling problem makes it easy to fix. This is just my observations. From what I read the older closed deck blocks can hold up to a lot of boost.
One reason I'm sure they picked it was the large aftermarket support. And it has a very low profile to help keep a low center of gravity.
I worked at an engine re-manufacturing plant for a little while at one point. One of the engines we did was the 2.5 Subaru engine. Every one of them had the exact same problem, overheating. The pistons are very large on a subaru and the water jacket around the pistons have a lot of surface area to cool. Also there isn't much surface area for the head/gasket to seal against. So there is a little bit of a flaw with them to some degree. But knowing that its basically just a cooling problem makes it easy to fix. This is just my observations. From what I read the older closed deck blocks can hold up to a lot of boost.
One reason I'm sure they picked it was the large aftermarket support. And it has a very low profile to help keep a low center of gravity.
Also really crappy head gasket design. Supposedly there's a new design out now that works a lot better. Still have to change out the old head gaskets and timing belt/waterpump/pulleys/etc. at 100,000 miles, but it should hold up a bit better.
) I'm curious how the final design will look. Especially since it's not set in stone yet.
