How would you do it for cheap? You can change the engine to anything you want, turbocharged, whatever.
How would you do it for cheap? You can change the engine to anything you want, turbocharged, whatever.
Considering the space requirements & weight balance, I'd suggest turbo 4-cyl. 500hp would be crazy money, though.
What are you planning to use for traction?
If you can sacrifice driveability, there are any number of Japanese 4 cylinder motors that have made 500+ HP.
And for only Neurotic money, not Crazy money ;)
If you mounted it North/South, what could you use for a transmission?
Might have to keep the transverse layout, makes the transmission issue moot.
ISTR a Land Speed Hayabusa that made way more than 500 HP.
I don't know how, but I like where your desire is at!
F20C + boost? alternately, keeping it all Ford (but ratcheting the cost up pretty quickly): well built/boosted-out-the-ass Cosworth YBT out of a wrecked Sierra Cossie (just shipping/customs fees would probably nix that one, even before the cost of the engine/go-fast bits...) or a 2.3L Pinto engine + a big fat check to Esslinger (the "big fat check" and "Esslinger" might make that a bit of a no-go also...) or maybe a BP8 out of a Miata/Escort GT/Mercury somethingoranother/Kia Sephia GS and talk to Keith? 500RWHP might be a bit much to ask of a Miata engine, especially on the stock bottom end, but I think I've heard 400+hp talked about a few times on well built engines with turbos big enough to sleep in. FE/FT + more pressure in the turbo than in all 4 tires combined? that last one might just make it and not require you to part company with a lot of money, although finding something to bolt it up to that could handle 500hp/ludicrous torque and track usage on big sticky slicks might be a problem... of course, it would be for everything if you want to keep the engine longitudinal.
you can get around 500 whp from the srt4 engine on stock block
same with the 4g63 (of course)
f20c+around 20-25psi on a good tune=500hp stock block with no problems
sr20 can get there
you can get a ca18 there too and it will sound all kinds of bad. lol
most factory turbo 4 cyls from the last 10-15 years will do it relatively easily.
but I say 500 hp from a tdi, which is to say something like 1000 torques =]
I think a boosted sport bike engine making only 250-300 hp would be lots of fun and lots cheaper. You could just buy a f1000 and add boost. You'd get some wings and possibly a better chassis. Lots of fun to be had. Why 500hp? Where would you use it?
In reply to mw:
500 hp was an arbitrary number. 400 hp works just as well, I guess, but I was stretching. I like the idea of a turbo Hayabusa but I figured somebody would know of an automotive 4 cyl engine to which the application of turbo would crank out 400hp+.
Now, who wants to set up a series with such a car?
stroker wrote: In reply to mw: 500 hp was an arbitrary number. 400 hp works just as well, I guess, but I was stretching. I like the idea of a turbo Hayabusa but I figured somebody would know of an automotive 4 cyl engine to which the application of turbo would crank out 400hp+. Now, who wants to set up a series with such a car?
I doubt you'll find many takers when you have to build a goddamn $6k motor for what is basically considered an entry-level platform. Star Mazda just makes more sense...
1200lbs, no aero, skinny slicks and tiny brakes and you want to go from 100hp to 4-500hp?
So, basically it would be an early 60's F1 car? The ones that killed so many drivers? That sounds like an excellent idea! Where do I sign up?
400 is an atainable number from a VAG 1.8t. Combined with a inline trans from a B5, fitting it into a formula style chassis shouldn't be too difficult. This has been a dream project of mine for some time, although I'd lean more towards some sort of streetable sports racer style car. The idea of building a formula car without focusing on any set of rules is questionable to me.
That's basically the definition of old F5000 if they didn't have history that makes them such high cost. Could do a modern locost-style steel middie chassis with circle-track spec motors and small wings, but what manufacturer or OEM would pay contingency for that class???
grpb wrote: but what manufacturer or OEM would pay contingency for that class???
I'm thinking the NFD&MA or Batesville casket company may step up to sponser.
Man, oh man.
At Summit Point last season THIS CAR made an appearance running in the "Wings and Things" group classed as formula S. It was designed and built by the owner driver, and while it probably pencils out as the fastest car in the world, it's continually beset with problems and appeared to be very hard to drive.
My Radical Prosport has maybe 160hp at the rear wheels, scales at 1260# w/ driver, has aero, and is on Hoosier slicks. Yesterday I backed it into a tire wall while qualifying, cause not yet determined from watching the video. It's possible I made a mistake while setting corner weights, I'd realigned it w/ a little less rear negative camber and also flipped the tires, so it's possible I'd lessened the contact patches.
In any case - just showing up in a formula Ford that can run competitive times, then doing them is a big effort. Does the original poster have a lot of open-wheel seat time? What venue is this car to be used in?
F5000 was my first thought as well. It's been done, just duplicate it 
turboswede wrote: 1200lbs, no aero, skinny slicks and tiny brakes and you want to go from 100hp to 4-500hp? So, basically it would be an early 60's F1 car? The ones that killed so many drivers? That sounds like an excellent idea! Where do I sign up?
Also now with the added peaky power of turbo lag.
But wait there is more.
wearymicrobe wrote:turboswede wrote: 1200lbs, no aero, skinny slicks and tiny brakes and you want to go from 100hp to 4-500hp? So, basically it would be an early 60's F1 car? The ones that killed so many drivers? That sounds like an excellent idea! Where do I sign up?Also now with the added peaky power of turbo lag. But wait there is more.
My leather helmet and white scarf was just picked up from the cleaners. Lets do this!
Youare missing the ultimate answer , use the hartley or radical v8. Really small and high winding power.
So, basically one of the Palatov cars.
Dpcars.net
stroker wrote: In reply to mw: 500 hp was an arbitrary number. 400 hp works just as well, I guess, but I was stretching. I like the idea of a turbo Hayabusa but I figured somebody would know of an automotive 4 cyl engine to which the application of turbo would crank out 400hp+.
I know nothing of engines, so this is just me repeating what I've read, but ecotecs that start at 140 hp can be tuned all the way up to 1000 hp if you don't mind a) blowing it up constantly, and b) throwing factory-race-team amounts of money around.
4-500 hp FF... upgrade wheels, tires, halfshafts, Hewland, strengthen chassis
prolly hafta dabble w/ coilovers and swaybars too
D Sport guys converted the FF chassis back in the 90's, 200 hp MC engines would be kinda fun, just can't see 4-500 hp tho 
what others said, start w/ a F5000
And for a lot less money, you can get 500 HP from an Ecotec.
I don't really see the point of starting with a Formula Ford. But I did alot of looking into something like a Formula Continental or Formula Atlantic with a turbocharged Ford 2.3 Lima powerplant.
The old 2.3 can be built to almost 500hp using junkyard parts. If you go with Esslinger parts or a mix of the two you can easily see 700hp.
The problem is you'll overpower the chassis well before you reach your intended power goals. Even a Formula Atlantic chassis will exceed its grip capability before you get to 400hp. And unless you're willing to re-engineer the chassis and wheel/tire combinations you're unlikely to solve that issue.
If you wish to build a high horspower formula car you need to start with a chassis designed to handle such power with a wheel/tire combination that matches the chassis. That said I've seen old Indy cars re-powered with various 4-cylinders and even supercharged Mazda rotaries that are putting out a range of 400 to 700 hp.
The problem will be finding an old Indy car or CART chassis, but with the open wheel series now running new cars that make the old cars totally unusable, there are relative bargains starting to pop up.
Good luck if you wish to pursue the idea.
Hyabusa + turbo can get there but... have you ever driven an FF (or even looked at it closely)? That chassis cannot handle that. The brakes cannot handle that. You may as well just buy an old F5000 chassis and stick a turbo buick in it or something. (like everyone already said).
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