October 2000

Thursday 26th October 2000
Fitted the new oil-hoses. They look sweeet. Off to the motorshow at the NEC on Saturday. I'll have to see if I can sneak a couple of ZetecInside stickers on to the Focus WRC on the Ford stand...
Tuesday 24th October 2000
Ordered two stainless steel overbraided flexible oil-hoses, with anodised fittings, from Earls Performance Products. I get a hefty discount, as part of their sponsorship, which is just as well, as the tubing is £22 per meter! The hoses will connect the remote oil filter to the sandwhich plate on the end of the oil pump. I'm running a remote filter as theres not much clearance on the back of the engine, and an oil filter on there would probably get knocked off when the engine moves. I'm not going to bother with an oil cooler for the time being, until I've got some temperature readings to prove that one is needed.
Saturday 21st October 2000
A freelance journalist came to visit today. He's writing an article on fitting Zetec's to Fiesta's, and the article should be appearing soon in Fast Ford magazine. Loads of pictures were taken, and he took detailed notes on the work involved. I gave him a CD-ROM with the contents of the web-site to help with his research. I asked to make sure that he mentions the website in the magazine. That should boost the ratings! Went to the Ford dealer yesterday to find a radiator the right size. No luck! I'll try the breakers yard down the road.
Sunday 15th October 2000
Will try to get a cooling radiator that fits, in to the car this week. The Mondeo rad is 73x43cm and I only have 65x33cm to play with, and the inlet/outlet pipes need to match those on the engine. I've been told that the Vauxhall Astra 2.0 radiator will fit, so I'll see if I can track one down. I'll measure the one on the Fiesta Zetec too to see what size that comes on at. I do like the way that the Fiesta Zetec hire car handles. Really slingable around roundabouts! Could do with a bit more BHP, as the 1250cc engine feels very underpowered.
Thursday 12th October 2000
Tim Sturla finished 3rd Overall on the Malaysia Rally. Well done Tim. Hopefully his new web site will be live soon, www.timsturla.com.