Saturday 30th September 2000
During October, I'm concentrating on the cooling and lubrication systems. If I can afford it, I'll get some tyres for the new wheels.
STOP PRESS: Car club member, and my old co-driver Tim Sturla, is co-driving on the Malaysia Rally, in a Group N Subaru STi. Good luck Tim!! Follow his progress at http://www.saladinrallying.com. He flies out to Malaysia this morning.
Thursday 28rd September 2000
Took some more pictures tonight. Fitted the exhaust manifold last night.
Sunday 24th September 2000
She's back on her wheels again. Sprayed the inside of the wheelarches with black stone chip paint, to cover the red overspray from the bodyshop. I've reconnected the drive shafts, gear linkage, steering-rack to tie-rod ends etc. I packed the tri-lobe joints with Moly grease before I refitted them. It's well over a year since she's been on her wheels with the engine/gearbox in. I keep forgetting how low she is! So low, in fact, that I cant get the trolley jack out from underneath the chassis rails. Calls for some assistance from wifey when trying to remove the trolley jack. Bought a can of Mobil1 oil, ready to fill her up this week. I need to get a couple of oil-pipes made up, to go from the oil pump to the remote oil filter, then I can spin her over to check the oil pressure. I've got a sponsorship deal with Earls, so I'll give them a call to get some pipes made. Fitted the exhaust manifold this morning. I'll wrap it with exhaust bandage to keep the under bonnet temperature down. Oil dipstick tube and dipstick are on order from the Ford garage, collecting them on Monday lunch time. Bought Colin McRae Rally 2 for the Playstation on Saturday! What a brilliant game.
Thursday 21st September 2000
Front suspension is now back on, and the driveshafts are ready to go back in. I need to get some molybdenum disulphide grease to pack the tri-lobe joints before the shafts go back in. I'm getting an exhaust gasket too, so I can refit the manifold and system and the gear change mechanism this weekend. The Workshop Cam is now working, with some great images last night. I'll try to make sure it's hooked up every time I'm outside. (I'm the one wearing the glasses!)
Monday 18th September 2000
Engines now back in the car, all bolted back in place. Next job is to bolt the front suspension back on, and reconnect the driveshafts.
Sunday 17th September 2000
The standard Mk1 XR2 gearbox mounting doesn't really fit that well on the Mk4 gearbox. So, I've drilled the gearbox, and tapped the hole with the M8x1.25mm tap, & fitted the gearbox mounting bracket with an extra M8 bolt. [See picture]
Fitted the gearbox to the engine, then took it off again, as I couldn't remember if I'd previously torqued the flywheel and clutch plate bolts. I checked them, and it turned out that I had already torqued them up. So I fitted the gear box again, and put the engine cradle back on. The engine and box are now sitting in the engine bay, waiting to be lifted up in to position.
Saturday 16th September 2000
Managed to get a full tank of petrol. 44 litres for £35 ! Ridiculous.
Finished the engine. She's all torqued up, ready to go on the gearbox. I need to get a different dipstick tube, as the new oil-seperator on the front of the block now sits in the path of the standard 2.0 tube! I'm going to modify the gearbox casing tomorrow, to allow the Mk1 gearbox bracket to fix on the Mk4 box. I just need to drill a hole and tap it M8x1.25. This is not mentioned in the Fiesta Centre 5 speed fitting-kit instructions. Photo's to follow.
Re-fitted the brake servo transfer bar and mounting brackets to the front bulkhead.
Friday 15th September 2000
Collected my wheels this afternoon. Man, do they look sweeet? I've no tyres yet, but just fitting the rim on to the car and she looks amazing. The rims just catch the front strut, but I've not got the right disks (rotors) on yet, just using the spare Mondeo disks (280mm) and they're a different thickness. I'll get the brakes/tyres sorted next month. Still hardly any petrol in Leicester. Theres some on the A50, near Glenfield, but the police were controlling queues, so I had to drive on by. I'll get some tomorrow. Fitted the oil pump to the engine. That was easy, but fitting the £5.61 oil seal was quite difficult. Raceline recommend countersinking the bearing caps on the rods, and torquing the ARP rod bolts to 31 ft/lb. I'm awaiting a fax with more detailed instructions.
Wednesday 13th September 2000
The fuel blockades seem to be working, and this afternoon there are demonstrations on the Motorways, and the M1's been closed since 14:00 hrs...
Monday 11th September 2000
Collected more parts from Faircharm tonight. They're powder coated in black again. Also collected a new oil seal for the oil-pump.
There's a protest against petrol prices going on in the UK at the moment. Refinerys are being picketed, and lorry drivers are unable to deliver fuel to filling stations. Last night, there were huge queues at filling stations all across Leicester, as people panic'd and bought petrol. And its the same situation all across the UK. I've a half tank (200 miles) left, and if I run out, I'll get the bike out. We've got to make a stand. Petrol is far too expensive. It costs nearly 90 pence for a litre of Premium Unleaded. Equivalent price in US dollars is $1.35. And something like 85 percent of that is TAX, which the government wastes on carbuncles like the Millenium Dome.
Saturday 9th September 2000
Drained the oil, removed the sump, and changed the rod bolts. The leaflet that comes with the bolts says to torque them to 26 ft/lb, loosen, and re-torque three times, which is what I've done, using plenty of Moly grease on the threads. The Haynes manual says tighten to 13 ft/lb and then turn another 90 degrees. I guess thats the right procedure for the Ford rod bolts. I'll check with Raceline on Monday. The crank bearing surfaces looked pretty good, though the shells had a few strange marks on them. Small pits in the surface. Doesn't look like its been run dry, so I've just reassembled everything. It has done 49000 miles, which is a guesstimate of around 100 million revolutions, so its not that bad for the mileage. This engine is just to be used for getting her running, and putting some mileage on the car. Next year I'll buy another 2.0 lump, and spend some money on a rebore etc.
You MUST change the rod bolts if you're going to give the engine any serious revs. I can now safely take it over 7000 RPM because I've used ARP bolts. Standard bolts have been know to shear over 7000 RPM.
I forgot to get a crankshaft oil seal, which sits in the end of the oil pump. I cant put the engine back in until I've fitted this. I'll have to try and get one on Monday. D'oh!
Ran the cable for the camera from the garage in to the house. Had to cut the connector off the cable to get it through the hole in the wall, so I just need to solder it back on and then I can bring pictures from the workshop direct to the site..
Still not sure what to do with the crankshaft damper. Unorthodox Racing in the USA sell alloy crank pulleys, but I'm not sure if they still act as vibration dampers. At high revs, harmonics build up in the crankshaft, causing it to try to shake itself to pieces, and the OE steel crankshaft damper eliminates these harmonics. The OE damper is made up from two pieces of steel, which are bonded together using a synthetic rubber. As far as I can see from the website, the alloy pulleys are one piece items, and are smaller diameter than the original, as they 'underdrive' the ancilliaries in an attempt to save horsepower. I've Emailed UnorthodoxRacing to see what they say.
Here are some pictures from the engine strip down today.
Friday 8th September 2000
Car cover arrived from METEX, looks really good in black, and now keeps the car dust free. Headlamps are now fitted, using stainless self tappers and the powder coated surrounds/metal work. Just need to find a way of mounting the front grill, as I've lost the plastic bits that push in to the front of the car, which the grill then screws in to. The ARP rod bolts require a special socket to fit them. A 12 point 3/8" socket is required. I'm finding that Chris at Raceline is very helpful. Everytime I call them, the phone is always answered after a few rings, and they're very willing to talk. If you need Zetec bits, then I recommend them.
Bought new gaskets ready for the engine rebuild this weekend. I just need to drain the oil, push the engine over on to its side, whip off the sump, change the rod bolts and oil pump, and then put her back together again. Then refill with Mobil1, reconnect the starter motor and crank her over. Not sure what oil pressure to expect. Maybe 60 PSI? If I get oil pressure and no nasty knocking noises, the engine and box are going back in. Been sent an Email with the KAKWorm virus in it. Good job I was running Sophos Sweep. That stopped it in its tracks.
There was a Puma "Racing" in the Ford dealers. WoW! What a cool looking car. I want the Alcon four pot calipers off it! They can keep the rest, because there is a £23K price tag!
Tuesday 5th September 2000
The heavy duty ARP rod bolts (made in the USA!) arrived from Raceline, together with the oil pump (2.0) and the breather/oil seperator box for the front of the engine. Collected the bits from the powder coaters last night, the cam cover and headlamp surrounds. They look fantastic. Reassembled the surrounds last night, which took some figuring out! I've left a whole load of bits for coating, including servo transfer bar, brackets, mounting plates etc.
Ordered a pair of new round H4 headlamps and XR2 mk2 rear lights from The Fiesta Center today. The mk2 rears have built in reversing lamps, and look better than the central rear reversing lamp on the original Mk1. Off down to Microsoft tomorrow, for a day at their Reading campus. Its all about Exchange 2000, which should be entertaining. I even get a free lunch (if there is such a thing!)
And to add insult to injury, Halfords called this morning to say the OZ SuperT's are ready for collection at the local store. I politely told them that the order was cancelled last Friday!
Monday 4th September 2000
EJ10 was superb yesterday. HHF smashed the lap record with the current F1 car. The concert was great too, until West Life came on stage, at which point we headed off home. Not everyones cup of tea.
Here's the Hi Res pictures of the Fiesta from when she was delivered the other week. Enjoy.
Friday 1st September 2000
Cancelled the order with Ripspeed for the OZ SuperT's. They called on Thursday to say that the wheels were being dispatched, then called back ten minutes later to apologise, and say that there had been a slight mixup, and the wheels still weren't in stock, and I wouldn't get them for another 6-7 weeks. So I dropped in to Graham Goodes this afternoon, and bought a set of white Compomotive MO's in 7x15", ET35.
Delivery is expected in ten days time... The clock ticks... I'm confident that they can supply what I've ordered in the time frame they've set. You get the feeling that as they're a smallish company, they're more concerned about their reputation than Ripspeed/Halfords.Ordered rod bolts, oil pump and breather box from Raceline. Delivery expected Monday. When these are fitted, and I change the water pump back to the 1800 pump with standard drive pulley, I can lift the engine and gearbox back in and re-connect the drive shafts, gear linkage and exhaust back up.
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