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JesperXT-
Well, tbf I imagine the oil may have been topped up, but the filter was original fomoco, the class Ford stupid size sump plug had no signs of being undone, which they nearly always do, and who changes the oil without the filter? Plus the state of the oil was utter filth, but we did put through a sieve, and despite some lumps there was no metal.
Tldr: got no evidence oil had never been changed, but pretty sure it had never been drained and filter still original.
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What nikasil bore issues? Other than not being able to increase, they've stood up incredibly well over time, or at least that seems to be the consensus of project puma, puma people etc... When we bought our track puma we found it had never had oil, filter or plugs changed, and was 20 years old and 164k on the clock. With the fomoco stuff off and out, it turned out it was in amazing nick, and that's not uncommon. As far as the gear box, not they are different, and one of the first scavengers to a puma being broken are fiesta owners wanting to either drop it on to the 1.6 or they'll take the block as well, it's that well regarded, despite there being limited available parts compared. Almost all nikasil issues that have shown up have been found to be lpg related (for this specific engine). The frp has this engine, with different cams, 421 exhaust and fancy manifold (plus map to accommodate cams and exhaust).
Re:track, no it's not. The frp is totally different track wise, although the spacing at the rear is easily replicated using the frp behind hub spacers, and at front you may be able to swap frp wishbones onto the sport ka? Google says no, but who knows what you could jam in, although I doubt there is space in the arches. We just got hubcentric spacers for now to throw it out, far from the best solution from a suspension design point of view, but it cost 200 quid, so what you going to do?
The puma has an even more illustrious racing pedigree, having had numerous manufacturer supported series in its heyday, and even now the puma Cup is one of the most popular accessible series in the UK.
Out of interest which number frp's have you driven? We may know the same people although, I'm jealous you've been able to have a go, the owners tend to be very precious with them!