Quick reality check...I know alot of folks are making BECs for the track, but are there folks out there living with these cars as street machines? Do they work out for commuting to work on occasion?

Sure, but it's sort of like driving a race car on the street. The main problem in areas with lots of traffic is that the car is so low that people tend to not remember it's there. I have an antenna on mine with a bright read streamer on the top end.

I have no plans to take this car on the track, so am I making any kind of mistake going with an R1 engine over a regular car engine? Are there things I should be aware of that aren't obvious?

I have a "Driving impressions of Locouki" article on my website you might want to read.

Several things that I would do differently if I were to build another BEC;
1. Get the clutch pedal to have more movement (9:1 ratio isn't quite enough).
2. Make the throttle response progressive so that it takes approximately 3/4" of pedal motion to get the engine off idle.
3. Make sure and use a LSD rear end with ~3.1:1 ratio. I have the LSD but the wrong ratio.
These are all on my "things to do list".

Other than those things, a BEC is just a high revving, way to much power to weight ratio, every day run of the mill race car.

Ok I'll bite...



1) Are you using a cabled clutch or a hydraulic one? Did you go with heavier clutch springs to help the feel or kep the stock ones?

I'm using a hydraulic clutch system from a Mazda. The master and slave are both 5/8" diameter. So I have 1:1 ratio there. The original owner put Barnett clutch springs in it. But I'm not sure that the feel would be noticeable to my foot though. The main problem is that it takes so little pedal motion to engage the clutch that you need a pretty low pedal ratio to give you more movement to modulate the release point. Once you're moving everything is fine.

After ripping up a bunch of '40 Ford xmissions etc I finally figured out that if I took off easy and THEN floor it that parts last longer.

3) What ratio are you using now? I've got a 4.11 and I think I need to find a new ring and pinion combination to get something workable.

My stock ratio is 3.933:1 (1983 GSL). I've been looking at the info on various rear ends (ratio, LSD yes/no, and width) for some time and right now I think a '79-'93 stick shift, 4 cylinder Mustang (7-1/2") might work. They had two optional gear ratios (3.08 & 3.27) that would be OK. Of course finding a car with those gears is something else. Most of them came with autos (3.73). I haven't been able to measure the WMS distance yet as the car in the junk yard that I'm interested in looking at has another car sitting on top of it!

Thanks,
Mike

I'm using an S2000 diff. The ring and pinions are supposed to be interchangable with Miata stuff.

Unless you're in it too deep at this point, consider switching to the Thunderbird diff, it's lighter, easy to package and pretty cheap, you'll most likely come ahead if you sell your S2k parts.

Moti

right now I think a '79-'93 stick shift, 4 cylinder Mustang (7-1/2") might work. They had two optional gear ratios (3.08 & 3.27) that would be OK. Of course finding a car with those gears is something else. Most of them came with autos (3.73). I haven't been able to measure the WMS distance yet as the car in the junk yard that I'm interested in looking at has another car sitting on top of it!

Olrowdy_01,

What size wheel and tire package are you using?