Fury as a road car - what's the catch?

[alolympic]

I've spent a bit of time looking into the Sylva/Fisher Fury cars after one had caught my eye.
Lightweight, good handling, quick, pretty and from what I can tell, very reasonable cost.
Umm....what's the catch?
Thinking as a dry weather weekend car, they seem to have a lot going for them. If they are such a good combo though, it seems odd that there aren't more?

[aww999]

I had a Fury with a 2l Zetec. It was pretty reliable overall and I had great fun using it on the road. The main issue I had was that tuned Zetec + sticky tyres + live (English) axle meant that a couple of spirited trackdays knackered the diff.

I'd advise going for IRS as I'm told it's stronger, but apart from that hiccup it was great. I'd love another one, maybe a bit more road-biased than my old Spyder, with a windscreen (oh, the luxury!) and a Rover V8. I know it wouldn't be the last word in handling or pace, but I think it would be a great 3/4-scale Cobra for cruising and making a fabulous noise in

Does anyone still make the kits? I'd want to know that spares were available before I bought one.

[Yazza54]

No catch as such they are lovely cars, obviously not practical but if that's not an issue then they are good fun. I found the diff mounts a bit weak on my old one so had to beef them up but no other issues I can remember.

[HughG]

I had a fireblade powered spyder, it was great, wouldn't recommend BEC as a daily though.

[Huff]

I've an R1-powered IRS Fury spyder, had it just over six years and it's terrific fun. Details in profile garage.

It's a bit of a raw experience, esp in winter; not an everyday car, but I have and do use it year-round. Sublime handling, totally engaging to drive, and a complete antidote to ... oh, whatever was on your mind when you set out.

[alolympic]

They do seem to be a bit of a secret gem.
I would not be thinking of a bike engined example, to keep the option of longer journeys open.
I think the practical problem is how to find any that are for sale!?

[jeffw]

aww999 said:

I had a Fury with a 2l Zetec. It was pretty reliable overall and I had great fun using it on the road. The main issue I had was that tuned Zetec + sticky tyres + live (English) axle meant that a couple of spirited trackdays knackered the diff.

I'd advise going for IRS as I'm told it's stronger, but apart from that hiccup it was great. I'd love another one, maybe a bit more road-biased than my old Spyder, with a windscreen (oh, the luxury!) and a Rover V8. I know it wouldn't be the last word in handling or pace, but I think it would be a great 3/4-scale Cobra for cruising and making a fabulous noise in

Does anyone still make the kits? I'd want to know that spares were available before I bought one.

I have a live axle in the back of my Sylva Phoenix which has 400BHP and don't have a problem with the Diff.

[JohnMcL]

Jeremy Phillips went on to refine the concept, the final version being the Stylus. Its even got a boot. Even more rare than a Fury however, although there is one on the bay at the moment. I'm sorely tempted to build a new one with V6 power.

[Yazza54]

I was looking at that, sounds like good fun with a rx7 wkshaft in it

Sounds like it made the thing pretty heavy though

[aww999]

jeffw said:

I have a live axle in the back of my Sylva Phoenix which has 400BHP and don't have a problem with the Diff.

Hi jeff, is that the common Escort "english" axle, or the rarer Atlas? I remember lookibg into axles quite a bit, there are parts available to make the english pretty strong, but doing some fabrication work to make an Atlas fit seemed like the best option.

[ruaricoles]

My old Cossie engined Fury had (/has) an Atlas axle and diff - it was the Spyder body so a little wider, but yes you can make them fit.

Furys do pop up here and on eBay from time to time (and Styluses as already suggested), clearly with huge variation in build tidiness, engine used and general aesthetic, as with most kits where it's not built to a fixed formula with a full set of parts. They're pretty simple though, and everything still available as far as I'm aware, so anything can be put right or changed to suit you. Keep an eye out!

[ugg10]

Here is my old fury, great little car. I looked at a load of kits and chose this because of the handling, factory support and looks. 2.0l zetec on bike carbs, 165hp with around 600kg to haul was pretty well spot on for me. I do not own it and it does not look like this but still on the road and being well used. Much more civilised than a seven (curved screen helps a lot) but similar (if not better) performance. As others have said stylus is even more civilised, Phoenix is more track orientated all three share a similar heritage and chassis design.

Tiger Gta is very similar (Avon seven with a furyesque body).

I have a build blog and pics etc. On here http://fisherfury.weebly.com, note this is an early its chassis, later ones had double wishbones.

[Huff]

Good idea - more pictures.

Here's mine, Christmas Day 2014 - took a jaunt down to the Jurassic coast while everyone else was lounging

[jeffw]

aww999 said:

Hi jeff, is that the common Escort "english" axle, or the rarer Atlas? I remember lookibg into axles quite a bit, there are parts available to make the english pretty strong, but doing some fabrication work to make an Atlas fit seemed like the best option.

English Axle with Quaife ATB diff and, currently, stock half-shafts with a stock Ford 3.54 CWP. Engine is a Supercharged Zetec, 400BHP/300 ft lb, Quaife 60G Sequential box, Geartronics pneumatic paddle=shift (Full throttle upshift). The half-shafts have been in there 10 years + and the current Crown Wheel & Pinion have been in for 4 seasons of sprinting. There are lots of sub standard CWP around and a lot of badly fitted/meshed English diffs which fail due to excessive wear/noise but done right it isn't an issue to run an English live-axle in a high power light kitcar. It is also a lot lighter than the Atlas and the IRS cars.

[jeffw]

JohnMcL said:

Jeremy Phillips went on to refine the concept, the final version being the Stylus. Its even got a boot. Even more rare than a Fury however, although there is one on the bay at the moment. I'm sorely tempted to build a new one with V6 power.

The Phoenix/Fury/Stylus where not really a series being refined as such. The Phoenix is a Striker with a body and was used extensively to go racing. The Fury was a different chassis than the Striker and used a lot of the body design from the early Mk4 clubman/Phoenix (not the later Phoenix body we all know now). The Fury was heavily developed by Mark Fisher and Fisher's where one of the first to run a Bike Engine in a kitcar. The Stylus was always the tourer and is a different chassis bodywork.

The interesting thing is they are all still available new (Raw, Fury Sportscars & SSC (Matt Downes)).

[cptsideways]

Have always liked these, though its all a bit confusing.


Which one is the pretty one, with doors?, would quite like one with a wizzy Honda engine

[ugg10]

Fury is available with and without doors, mine started with doors and I had them fibreglass end in. Stylus has doors only iirc and Phoenix came without.

As for Honda power, s2000 would be nice but it is a tall engine so may be a challenge to keep the bonnet stock. As for bonnets, the fury came with three styles iirc (excluding the race version with the air dam), standard, big bulge and Le Mans. Mine is a lemans,

So, from memory they came with -
Phoenix, no doors, more rounded rear end, Frenched in rear lights (was updated by cyana with mx5 running gear, no longer available)
Fury, doors standard, no doors spider, three bonnets, flat back end
Stylus, came with doors, two styles - stock and more racy updated RT with flip front

When I bought mine in 2000 there were over 600 fury sold so pretty successful.

The latest update to this style is the Sylva j15/vectis which has recently been sold on by Jeremy and is being updated and a fixed head version is in planning (see their Facebook page, sylvasportcars), this has similar lines but has rear transverse engine.

[CrutyRammers]

Lovely cars all. If I ever build another kit, it's likely to be one of these or something very similar.

[jeffw]

This is the later Phoenix body

[AdiT]

alolympic said:

I would not be thinking of a bike engined example, to keep the option of longer journeys open.

What do you define as "long"? This is my R1 Fury with MtVentoux in the background. We do a 2500-3000mile trip every year and the bike engined cars usually outnumber the car engined ones and we have no more engine related issues with the BEC's than the CEC's. If it's noise that worries you then I'd say 90% of it at speed is wind buffeting and you get that with either and good ear plugs are the answer.