November 2015

24Nov

Peeled all the orange tape off the front suspension cover. As you can see, it needs respraying, as the centre is matte compared to the shiny areas exposed by the removal of the orange tape.


22Nov

I've replaced the alternator drive belt. It wasnt that difficult. But I had to slide it over the driveshaft, which meant undoing two bolts that held the rear hub to the top rear wishbone, and then the six bolts that secure the outer CV to the rear hub. With those removed, the hub can be tilted away from the gearbox, allowing the new belt to be slid over the end of the shaft, and then the CV is bolted back to the hub, and the two wishbone bolts are replaced. Very easy, and the belt I removed was perished, so well worth swapping for a new belt.




The nose is looking in better shape, now I've added more filler and sanded it down for a second time. There are three other areas on the nose that need repairing, and I'll start on those this week. I also peeled all of the orange tape off, which took probably over an hour to do. Even with a heat source to soften the tape, its not very easy to get the vinyl off, and I've three more pieces of body work to start on when this is finished. The plan is to respray the bodywork in black, then get some decals made up.

12Nov

I came across this great video, made by Chris Harris, which really gives a great introduction to the 1.0 EcoBoost. I have the same car, albeit not road legal and I have the 1600T engine, not the 1.0T

Mountune have sent me the dyno plot from my engine, when the engine was first built in July 2013. Looks pretty healthy to me. If it were running 102RON fuel then it would be producing 30BHP more. I asked Mountune for the power output, and they said that the power was determined by the calibration map issued by Life. I asked Life and they said that it was the engine builders who knew the power output. Turns out no one knows, or really cares. They've all had their slice of the pie, and are more interested in new customers, not old.
Dyno graph