January 2001
Wednesday 31st January 2001
The extra long wheel bolts arrived. Well, 15 out of the 16 I ordered anyway. One of them is from a Vauxhall or something similar, so I've sent it back.
The instruments from Greengauges.com have arrived. They look really nice, and I'll have to make a start on the dashboard now. I'll try to get some pictures of them on the site over the weekend.
Tim Brise says that they have an alternator pulley that should fit. I've posted the 3 groove one back today.
Monday PM 29th January 2001
Refitted the panhard rod. Adjusted the length, and the back axle is now central. The new alternator pulley fits, and aligns with the other two pulleys, however, theres not enough thread sticking out from the input shaft, for me to put a nut on. So I'll call Tim Brise to see if he can machine a 5mm step in the centre of the pulley, to allow the nut to attach to the shaft.
Monday 29th January 2001
Shortened the panhard rod, and welded a nut to the end of it. I've now attached the rod end bearing, so I can adjust the overall length of the bar. I'll spray the bar and fit it on Tuesday evening after the paint has dried.
Alternator pulley arrived today. I need to fit this tonight, and then I can get a 3 groove drive belt ordered from Fenner, once I've calculated the drive belt length.
Ordered 16 x 40mm long wheel studs. The problem with the alloys is that the hub is quite thick, and the wheel studs dont screw in to the hubs very far. And I'm having to run with spacers all round, as the inset of the alloys (ET35) isn't sufficient, and I can take advantage of the acres of room I've got with these Rally Arches. The studs are 99pence each (trade) from TAS.UK.COM, part number TAS0795.
Sunday 28th January 2001
The offside rear tyre catches on the inside of the rear wheel arch. Looking at the geometry of the rear axle/panhard rod, its obvious why. As the axle travels upwards, the panhard rod actually drives the rear axle to the left. As the ride height is so low, and the rear axle is so high up because I've reduced the ride height, the axle is sitting further to the left than usual. Which means I need to either source an adjustable panhard rod, so I can adjust the length of the rod in situ, or I slot the mounting hole on the chassis, so the panhard rod can be relocated, allowing the axle to return to the right. The quickest and cheapest fix is just to slot the mounting hole in the chassis, so I'll do this in the next few days.
Friday 26th January 2001
Went over to Geoff Fowkes wheels at Ibstock to get the tyres fitted to the rims. They specialise in alloys, and were the only people I could think of that would fit the tyres without wrecking the rims (I've had some bad experiences in the past). Anyway, when I got home I nervously fitted them to the car! Nervous because despite all the work fitting the MC Rallying wheel arch kit, and cutting away the front and rear steel arches, this was the first time I'd actually fitted 15" wheels. But I should have known better. They're almost perfect! The inset I requested doesn't seem to have been followed by Compomotive. The fronts catch on the shock absorber, and the steering lock aint good, as they tyres catch on the tie-bars. But not to worry. I've got some 5mm spacers which I'll fit tomorrow, and if they dont do the trick, I'll get some 15mm spacers. Theres plenty of room between the tyres and the arches, and it looks the dogs danglies.
Original steel 13x6J rim with 185/60R13 tyre weighs 17KG (37 lb)
Compomotive 15x7J with 205/50R15 tyre weighs 19KG (42 lb)
I was going to run Cossie Sierra 2WD front calipers and 280mm disks, but after reading the article on brakes in GRM magazine, I think I'll just use Mondeo disks and calipers, as my Mondeo stops on a sixpence, without ABS (unless its raining of course!)
The alternator appears to fit OK, using the special bracket supplied by Brise. They're now supplying a drive pulley, which has three grooves, which means I get to run a narrower drive belt. This means that if the alternator pulley doesn't line up exactly with the crank pulley, I can position the belt across any of the six grooves available on the crank/water pump pulleys. Useful.
I've now sourced air and water temperature sensors from www.intermotor.co.uk and Webcon are supplying them with the complete kit of remaining parts, hopefully next week. Thanks to Dave Fenton at Intermotor for sourcing them. Air sensor, Lucas part number is SNB801, Intermotor part number 55701. Water temp sensor, Lucas SNB802, Intermotor 55400
Thursday 25th January 2001
Jenvey Dynamics are the exclusive suppliers of throttle bodies for the British Touring Car Championships for 2001, 2002 and 2003. Well done Jenvey. Thats quite an endorsement for their products.
The alternator has arrived. It is smaller than the one I'd already bought, but the question is, will the bracket fit in the gap between the engine and the front cross member. I'll know for sure at the weekend when I get a chance to fit it on to the engine.
Tuesday 23rd January 2001
Tyres have arrived. They look very impressive. The tread pattern is pretty unusual, and the rubber is very soft, which is just what I need to get the power down.
The article in February's Kit-Car magazine is OK, but the Zetecinside.com web site doesn't even get a mention. My engine bay is shown in three of the five photo's. (and if you want to download them, they're over 200KB each, so they may take a few seconds)
The list of parts for the injection system is getting closer to completion. Webcon have sourced the Lambda sensor, and most of the other bits, but I just need to get Lucas air and water temperature sensors SNB801 and SNB802, and then I can start to plug everything in.
Ordered a smaller alternator, a dural mounting bracket and a 3" drive pulley from www.brise.co.uk. That finally resolves my last and trickiest challenge with the Zetec engine installation. Its a competition alternator, which means it won't disintegrate when I'm pulling 8500 RPM (hopefully!)
Monday 22nd January 2001
Ordered the 205/50R15 A032R tyres from Yokohama. Should be with me for the middle of the week. The picture below shows the tread pattern. They're wets, so the compound is very soft. When I've got another set of rims, I'll get some slicks too.
Theres a few shots of the Fiesta in this months Kit-Car magazine. Apparently no mention of the web site, which is a bit dissappointing.
British company www.greengauges.com are now supplying me with instruments for the dashboard. Check out their site, and have a go at selecting your own instrument design. Very good value for money, and some great choices of colours available.
Spoken with Tim Brise of www.brise.co.uk today. They manufacture competition alternators. The one I've got, from a Daihatsu Charade sounds like it's still not small enough. Brise sell a 90mm diameter alternator for £165, which should fit on the engine allowing adjustment of the pulley tension. I'm calling them back tomorrow with dimensions of my alternator, to make sure that their's is indeed smaller.
Saturday 20th January 2001
One of the bulkhead connectors arrived, so I can do some more work to the control box. Had my Sky Digital Satellite system installed today. I can watch the World Rally Championship at last!
Yokohama High Performance Tyres are now helping with the project. I'm getting a set of 205/50R15 A032R tyres next week. So at last, I'll be able to fit the Compomotive 15"x7" wheels.
Theres a very interesting article on brakes in this months Grass Roots Motorsport magazine. Bigger disks and calipers wont make you stop any quicker. Its all down to the amount of grip between the tyres and the road! Larger disks just help with cooling, but increase the rotating mass of the wheel, which hurts your acceleration, and deceleration!
Friday 19th January 2001
Just toying with some different html styles at the moment, to make the pages stand out a bit more. What do you think to this 'updated' latest news page? Better, worse? Last night I fitted the fuse box in to the black plastic control box. I had to cut out a 86mm x 27mm rectangle in the plastic box, so the fuse box can be mounted to the top. The new VWP injector connectors aren't that easy to remove. You need at least three hands, and two flat bladed screwdrivers, so I've asked Webcon to supply me with some quick-release connectors.
Thursday 18th January 2001
Parts arrived from VWP. I can start on the control box tonight, but I'm still awaiting the arrival of the bulkhead connectors.
Wednesday 17th January 2001
Ordered some connectors for the fuel injectors, a fuse box, and a few other bits and pieces, including some shielded twisted pair cable, used to connect the ECU to the engine's sensors. ie crank, lambda, air and water temperature.
Sunday 14th January 2001
The Racing Car show yesterday was very lucrative. I've struck a deal with Piper Cams, for some fast road cams for the engine. I need to update the site with their logo and links to their web site next week. And it looks as though two other companies are interested in helping with the project. More news to follow.
Found the tyres I want. I'm going for Yokohama A032-R, at 205/50R15S. Overall width is 8.1" (206mm) and diameter is 23.2" (590 mm)
Brought some Polyamide sleeving home from work. Its a dark green braid that you feed the wires through, and is flameproof. Its used in the defence industry, and is most often seen in tanks, planes, ships etc. I've protected all the lighting looms using the braid, and I've drilled and pop-riveted cable tie mounts to the chassis, and tie-wrapped the cables in place. I'm mounting a bulkhead connector on the front bulkhead, and the wiring loom inside the engine bay will have a connector on the end which will screw in to the bulkhead connector. This will allow me to easily remove the engine wiring loom for modifications, and I can carry a spare loom incase of damage to the wiring.
Bought some Pipercross foam filter elements yesterday, but it looks as though the air-horns on the throttle bodies are too large for the filters to fit over. I'll try later in the week. If they're no good, I'll have a go at making my own air-box with cold air-feed from the front of the engine bay. Here's some photos of the work on the wiring loom that I finished this afternoon.
Friday 12th January 2001
The DTA ECU has arrived. The black box is actually silver, and is pretty small. I've ordered some more bits from CPC, to allow me to start on the control box for the vehicle electrics. Most of the bits have arrived, but the order is missing some backshells and bulkhead connectors. I'm off to the Autosport show tomorrow, to see what other sponsorship I can drum up.
Sunday 7th January 2001
Wired in the front and rear lights. I've fitted the smoked rear lenses. I used the foam strip that you usually fit on doors/windows as a draught excluder, to make a water tight seal on the rear lights, where they mount on the body. (see photo). As far as the wiring goes, I'm keeping seperate earths for each corner light cluster, and bringing the wires for each corner back to the control box, mounted on the passenger floor. I'm going to build a control box, which will house the fuses and relays for all the circuits. I'll order the box next week, and make a start on the fuse box and switch gear wiring.
Friday 5th January 2001
Struck two new sponsorship deals this week.
DTA Competition Engine Management Systems are providing their E48-EXP engine management system, which should arrive next week.
Webcon(UK) are providing the remaining fuel system parts that I need, eg fuel pump, sensors etc.Ordered two smoked rear light units from Speedshack, for £54.95 + P&P. They arrived this morning, and come complete with coloured bulbs. I'll fit these over the weekend. Also the wire, fuses and relays I ordered has arrived from VWP.
Monday 1st January 2001
Well, this is it. The drive is on to get more sponsorship, and raise money through designing and updating web pages for other companies. www.dilysious.co.uk
I really want to get the Fiesta finished before April, so I can get plenty of testing and development in, and maybe a few events to test her competitiveness.