Sylva Star - Project, some help needed

[bobob]

Good evening all!

So, I have bought myself an old Star that has been sat for quite some time, the last MOT expired 2008!

It needs a lot of love, a lot..... so far I’ve taken the fibreglass panels off and they are being prepped for new paint, in the meantime I’ve been trying to free up the brakes which are seized solid. I would like to upgrade the brake system to a dual circuit, currently it has a single circuit Girling .75, has anyone upgraded their own star and if so, what to?

I would also like to upgrade the wheels as they sit too far inside the wheel arches, I’ve seen a few when googling with revolutions or alley cats, any silva star owners have photos to share for inspiration including wheel size/pcd/tyre size etc!

There will be more questions as I go along!

Thanks in advance all!

[bobob]

A few more photos!

It’s fitted with a pretty well tuned crossflow with twin Weber 40’s, I sat tuned, I haven’t actually heard it running yet but there’s a receipt for a pretty interesting engine rebuild.

[RedStar]

Hi Toby, nice to see you got here!

you'll be more likely to get info/help here than Facebook.....

My Star also has a single circuit Girling 0.75 master cylinder - but Lockheed brakes all round. Best check what you have as I got my car with Girling pads fitted up front!

The gelcoat on my Leader body (I have a Leader body on a Star chassis) is quite good and I'm planning to give it a mop and polish at some point, I'm sure I read somewhere that Star's gelcoat isn't quite as good.

Agree with the changing of wheels on your car, even the old pictures online (when it was in better shape) something doesn't look right.....like the offset is wrong. With the Star using Viva as a donor you'll have to find some wheels with a 4" (101.6mm) PCD - don't use 100mm PCD wheels!

[bobob]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Karl!

I have Lockheed calipers up front too, although you can barely tell they are fairly rusty (see photo!). I haven’t driven it yet but the previous owner mentioned it was quite ‘bitey’ at the rear and was looking to install a dual circuit to balance it better, maybe I should just give the existing setup a whirl first and see how I feel, it’s just the master cylinder is kaput so have to buy a new one anyway, so was toying with a dual circuit solution instead. Will give it some more thought!

Wheel wise, yes, completely the wrong offset, need inspiration!

Just read your build thread, you weren’t kidding about it taking longer than you think

[RedStar]

for front to rear brake balance I was considering using one of these (not sure if to just use one or try the brakes "as is" first):

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/wilwood-brake-adjuster-knob-type-m-ba-wil

plumb it into the rear brake line and you can dial down the pressure that gets to the rear brakes. there are some with several set positions and some totally adjustable.

From the Wilwood website:

Proportioning valves are normally installed in the rear fluid line to prevent the rear wheels from locking before the front wheels, or to give a driver the ability to make fine adjustments in front to rear bias percentage

[motivforz]

Try to get the brakes set up without the use of a proportioning valve, it'll be much better.

A proportioning valve moves the braking balance forwards with increasing brake pressure. This means at light braking you can have 50/50 but then during a heavy braking event you can get 60/40 for example. This difference makes the brakes more difficult to tune correctly in the first place.

Secondly these valves have a lot of friction in them, so at the same brake pressure (say 50 bar - medium braking) you can get a different brake bias depending on whether the driver is increasing pressure or decreasing pressure. This can vary by more than 5% so really makes the balance of the car under braking inconsistent.

For the reasons above I wouldn't consider using one for the road myself.

Bear in mind this valve works by reducing caliper pressure for the same driver effort, so you may wish to go down a master cylinder size to avoid losing braking 'power' or 'gain'.

I hope that helps explain, happy to have another stab if I haven't done a very good job!

[RedStar]

Just seen your old Wolfrace wheels for sale on eBay, have you got any to take their place yet?

[bobob]

Well spotted! I have, although am not totally convinced they are what I want yet.... they were the right size and only £100 with good tyres.

They look a little undersized though, see photos.

13” 6J with 190/65... or maybe it was 70.... will check. They certainly have the right offset as sit flush with the body panels but don’t fill the arches at all.... larger tyres perhaps...

[bobob]

This photo demonstrates the lack of arch filling a little better.

[RedStar]

the front end looks good to me but the arse end appears too high.....is the body level to the ground or does it get higher at the back?

tyre size on mine are 185/70 R13

are you sticking with green car and yellow wheels as the colour scheme?

I think this Star has the same style wheels as you....