Saturday 26th February 2000
An interesting day. Jacked the back of the Fiesta up, and removed the rear wheels. I'm now working on clearing the rust from underneath the rear chassis rails. Its quite bad, but just surface rust. Its a sod to get to, but at least there's no fuel tank in the way.
Ordered a new drivers side front wing from Hex Holdings. The Hadrian ones I bought last year, just dont fit. Hex say that their wings a better quality than Hadrian, and are used by main dealers. Only £16, and it'll be ready for collection on Tuesday. I heard recently that wings that were originally spot welded on, can only be replaced by spot welded wings, otherwise Mr MOT man will fail the car. I was going to bolt mine on, but if I decide to register Beccy for the road, I'll have to fasten them more securely!
Wednesday 23rd February 2000
Work is just mad at the moment. Trying to catch up on learning Windows 2000 and Mandrake Linux (Linux sucks!), and I'm developing a new tool for deploying service packs & upgrades within my NT network. Not touched the car, but I'm saving up for the respray, which at this rate will be in March some time, and anyway the overtime is coming in handy. I'll try to get some work done this weekend.
Tuesday 8th February 2000
So, the dual-fuel Focus is a bit sluggish, cos its a 1600 Zetec-S. Not an 1800 Zetec. That explains the lack of grunt. The Zetec-S is an alloy blocked Yamaha-Ford engine. Still, that chassis puts a huge smile on yer face. I want one. When I get rid of the Mondeo, the 2000cc Focus is definitely high up on my shopping list. Theres a Turbocharged version out in the UK, called the T-One90. Producing 190 BHP, its been designed by engine builder Mountune, in conjunction with GSE. This sounds quite low powered for a turbo charged car, but I suspect that the gearbox and driveshafts are the weak points, so for reliability 190 BHP is probably adequate.
Finished the second of the rear wheel arches. Rubbed down with 600 grit Wet'n'Dry and primed with Halfords plastic primer. I've had second thoughts about lowering the steering wheel. Sitting in the car (and making brum brum noises) the wheel seems to be at the right height already. I'll brace it with steel tubing though, as the standard bracket allows quite a lot of side to side movement in the steering wheel. And theres going to be quite a lot of resistance to me turning the wheel when I'm giving it some welly...
Friday 4th February 2000
Fitted the seat. I'm going to adjust the height of the steering wheel today, and then brace it with some steel tubing welded to the bodywork. Added more filler to the near side rear arch, ready for rubbing down. I've got an 1800 Dual-Fuel Focus sitting on the driveway at the moment. At present she's still running in, with only 1800 miles on the clock. Next week, the LPG containers are delivered to work, and then the fleet of Focus's will be running on either gasoline or LPG. Theres a switch on the dashboard that allows you to flick between fuels. She does feel (on Unleaded fuel) very, reluctant at the moment. I think the ignition timing is adjusted, so that it'll run on LPG without detonating. Downside is that performance on Unleaded is nothing like as good as my 1800 Mondeo. I can give the Mondeo full throttle in any gear, and she instantly picks up, with bags of torque. But the Focus just doesn't seem to have any oomph. Maybe I'll recommend we fit some KKM air filters... www.kustomz.com
Wednesday 2nd February 2000
Rubbed down, and sprayed the offside rear wheel arch last night, using Plastic Primer spray from Halfords. The paint smells terrible, but the end result is worth it.