October 2004


Sunday 31st October 2004
The Fiesta will be taken off the trailer this week, so I can then take the Michelins off and bag them up for the winter. Also the new engine build has been put on hold after I discovered the cost of the new steel crank, which is around £1300, which together with the rods and pistons, brings the total to approx £2400. Thats too much to spend on an engine. So I'll be looking at keeping the costs down to more a sensible level, and showing how to build a reliable higher revving Zetec with around 200 BHP.

My Audi A6 is in at the dealership on Wednesday for her new front suspension. There was a recall notice two months ago from Audi, and both the bottom arms have both been identified as needing replacement due to wear in the bottom ball joints. Two anti-roll bar drop links are also going to be replaced, to try to eliminate a clonking sound that I hear when travelling over rough ground. I'm looking forwards to driving the car once the works been done, just to see if the noises have all gone.
Friday 15th October 2004
Removed the head from the 2.0 block this afternoon. It then became apparent why the crank wouldn't turn. Its because the middle two cylinders have rusted, quite badly, due to contamination with water I'd say. The head looks OK though. And the pistons don't have markings on them to indicate that they've been replaced with over bored items. So I'll continue to strip the block down, remove the crank, rods and pistons, and I'll take it to a friend for a closer inspection. If they deem the block to be scrap, I'll have to start over looking for my new engine.

Race Technology have released version five of their datalogger software. The new version allows you to place overlays on video footage, showing any of the data captured on the logger. I'm going to have a play to see if I can use this on the race footage I took during the year. www.race-technology.co.uk

I watched John Beardmore demolish my PB at Curborough last Sunday. John recorded a 36.69s run, beating my best from April 2004 of 37.29s easily. I'm going to have my work cut out next year to catch up with his Morris Minor. He's in this months Grass Roots Motorsports magazine too, in the Internet.Hot.Rod.Of.The.Month section. Well done John.

The Midland Speed Championship has declared the provisional results for the end of the 2004 season, and this year I moved up to 31st overall, and finished Runner Up in the Sports Libre class. A disappointing end to the season really. I should have scored points at Loton, and I'd have moved up to 25th overall. So congrats to Bernard on winning the Sports Libre title this year (he finished 18th overall). Next years target is to continue to improve the Fiesta, and to repeat this years feat of recording new PBs at all tracks I visit.
HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004 HSA Sprint at Curborough, October 9th 2004
2.0 Zetec engine, October 9th 2004 2.0 Zetec engine, October 9th 2004 2.0 Zetec engine, October 9th 2004
Saturday 9th October 2004
Collected the 2nd hand engine. Looks like it may be a scrapper though unfortunately, as all the plugs have come out rusty, and I can't turn the crankshaft through 360 degrees. Not to worry. I may be able to salvage the cylinder head and a few other parts. I'll take the head off in the next few days, and we'll see what the damage is. I suspect a foreign body in one of the cylinders, or maybe theres a valve stuck open, or even the timing belt has slipped or broken. Not to worry, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I am researching the 2.3L Duratec engine at the moment. Its a much lighter unit than the Zetec, and although presently they are expensive to buy, they Duratec would make a great engine conversion for the Fiesta.

Here's the video from Loton Park in September. It was the first practice run in the morning, when the car suddenly developed the vibration from the front wheels at full throttle. I coasted across the line because of the problem, and I still set a new Personal Best. Just imagine how much quicker she'll be next year with even more horsepower.
Loton Park video clip 1st practice run, New PB, 65.25s (3.0MB)
Monday 3rd October 2004
Survived the classic trial on Saturday. We had a good event, but failed to climb three hills in afternoon, which was a shame. Beaten by the weather really, as the roads were very slippery from all the overnight rain. I videod all the hills, by fitting the camera and recorder from the Fiesta on to the roll cage in the Liege car. The footage is great, but the sound quality again leaves a lot to be desired, as I used the microphone supplied with the camera.

I'm hopefully collecting the new 2.0 Zetec engine on Saturday. This will form the basis of the 2.1 that I'm building for next season. The 2.0 out of the Fiesta will be shrink wrapped and stored in the workshop as a spare. I need to start sourcing the engine components for the 2.1, which I'll be buying from the USA, as the exchange rate is so good at the moment its cheaper to buy the bits on-line, and ship them over to the UK than it is to source them over here.

When I get the engine and gearbox out of the Fiesta, I'll take the box down to Quaife for a rebuild, and to have the final drive ratio raised to the next ratio. She's a little under geared (110mph maximum) and I'd like her to run at around 130MPH flat out in fifth gear, which is more suitable for the faster tracks like Aintree and MIRA). And I'd like to go to Goodwood and Croft next year, which are also high speed circuits, better than the go kart tracks like 3 Sisters.