Getting there now!

So it has been a very long time since I last posted. Progress on my car has been virtually non existent. However it is a new year and I have a renewed desire to get the car finished!

An update from the last time I posted was that I pulled the head off, got it skimmed, changed the head gasket, replaced the valve stem seals, put a new timing kit on it and lapped the valves in. I also sent my carbs away for rebuild, as they had a suspected air leak. I also redesigned my inlet manifold so that my bike carbs use the standard rubbers which now bolt to the manifold. The standard rubbers also have vacuum take off points on them so it is a much better solution.

I have had my wishbones powder coated and I have revised them as I wasn't happy with the original bushes I took out.

I am now reassembling the suspension onto the car and the plan is to buy a cheap car transporter trailer and take the car for a rolling road session and get it on at least one track day this year just to use the car! Once I am happy with that then I will finish off the bits I need for IVA and get my test done over the winter.

One thing I have also noticed when fitting the new suspension is that my fuel hose looks to have perished again, I haven't checked to see if the main run down the tunnel has or if it is just the section to my fuel filter. If it is everything then I will be ripping all of the fuel line out, converting all of the connections to JIC -6 and running Brown and Miller Racing Solutions consulted PTFE hose with their progold fittings. It will meaning changing my fuel filter and fuel pump but I feel it will be worth it in the long run!

I have many new years resolutions to keep up with...

One is doing stuff for "ME" , so that includes hopefully getting a look at the car again..

I sold my sierra after 25 years and that freed up a stack of cash so rather than just pay off more of the mortgage I have spent a little on myself...

I think it's a Decade since I started!


My plan also is to try and get the car to a state that I can stick it on my trailer which I bought 18 months ago.. and get at least some use out of it. I have some private trading estate land that we can shake it down..

Ideally I want my eldest to have a go and use it to learn more driving skills before he turns 17 in 2021...


My fuel lines are all copper front to back, or they will be.


I did by a Speeduino Clone in November, so when I look at doing Injection I should be in a reasonable position..

TT

There I was thinking I must the only one that's not touched there car in a long time.
I past the 10 year mark back in September last year.
Like Tatey and twinturbo, I'm going to make the effort and get my car finished.

It's been about 12 months since I've taken the cover off it, the list of jobs is quite small.
Clean the fuel tank and lines.
Re fit a panel to the side prop tunnel.
Send away my shocks away for a rebuild as they now have bad rust areas on them.
Replace an oil seal on the gear box.
Then its just a few bit rubber trim around sharp edges.

Hopefully by June I will have enough money saved up to get IVA done.

Good to see you back Simon! I honestly thought we'd lost you forever :p

You'll see that unfortunately, this forum is not what it used to be, no more car being built, new members having the worst trouble to register, so it is not very active. But like TT and TKPM, I have a look at it almost everyday to see if there is something new.

Regarding your fuel lines, if you go for dash-6 stainless steel braided PTFE hose, buy the one with carbon charged PTFE which has a black colour (not the usual clear colour like the brake hoses). It is not rubber (Nitrile or NBR), it is PTFE (Teflon), but black.

It is very important for fuel lines, as carbon charged PTFE hose is anti-static. When you run a fuel injection, fuel is passing at a high speed in the PTFE tube, and because of that, the PTFE get charged with static electricity. A bit like rubbing a plastic ruler on a synthetic cloth sweater. You know what happen when you do that, you get sparkles. And sparkles + fuel anywhere else than in a combustion chamber is not good. That is reason why they make carbon charged PTFE hose, so the static electricity is permanently conducted out of the fuel hose through the carbon particles and the stainless steel braid, so no spark can occur. It is a very important thing to think about, really.

Hope that will help :)

Good luck for finishing your build... and please, post some pictures!

I too am getting at my car as well Auto Electrician coming on Tuesday to finish off my attempt at wiring, just a few bits of wiring on the steering column and relays and I can start the car. I started the build in October 09 a lot of distractions on the way

I too am adamant that I will finish this year! Like others I have had various changes since I bought a rolling, but only part finished, chassis in summer 2012... I spent yesterday getting the side panels properly cut for the front suspension, and my car now sits on 4 coilovers for the first time ever.

I'm in the 10 year club too.....must be longer, had Ron Champions escort based book for a few years before I started this :o

Will start my build thread soon, good luck with yours :cool:

So a quick update. The car is now ready for the track. I have all of the powder coated suspension back together. The fuel line was replaced.

I previously got my carbs refurbished and after getting them back the car wouldn't start, this was over 2 years ago. Since replacing the fuel line I tried to get the car started with no luck. It was definitely pumping fuel, but it turned out I had no spark. Cue taking off the scuttle and pulling out the dash and dismantling my loom to find a loose connection to my EDIS 4 module from a crimp connection. This was soon fixed and the car fired straight up on the button.

I have since been edge trimming things and tidying other stuff up, some of my aluminium panels had gone slightly furry in the time it has been in the garage so this has been cleaned up.

I am now trying to source a transporter trailer that will fit the Haynes on and fit in my single garage. It looks like the Brian James C4 Blue and the Minno Max are the only trailers on the market wide enough to makes the Haynes but narrow enough to fit through my 2134mm wide garage door opening.

Great to hear, shows there is hope for us all! I just looked back to see some pics for inspiration and see the curse of Photobucket has wiped everything out, would be great to see some pics of it as it stands!

I still have all of the photos so I will upload them to a photo service and post the link.

I have a couple of things to do to the car this week including fixing my immobiliser LED which broken when I was removing the dash. I also need to bond on some cable tie mounts so I can secure the rear of the rear tub cover. I'm then going to get it out for a wash so I'll take some pictures of it in its current state.

May was definitely a long time ago! But with a temporary 10% paycut made permanent due to COVID put a stop to my trailer buying plans.

That paycut has thankfully now been reversed. The past few months have also shown how rare a C4 Blue or Minno Max trailers are or how well they hold onto their value. So I have today just ordered a brand new C4 Blue so that I can finally get the car out on track!

My trailer is due to turn up at the end of October so I am trying to get a rolling road session booked for early November with Bogg Bros to get my carbs/ignition map setup for the track.

The plan is to do Blyton Park at the end of November if everything goes well.

I have since fixed my immobiliser light and redone the electrical connections for my fog light switch. I have acquired some oil to refill my diff and I'm checking fluid levels for my gearbox this weekend as it was 6 years ago when I filled it up and I want to double check it!

I kept looking at transporters on ebay. some real rough stuff made stupid money back in late 2018... and they were all a long way off.

Then one poped up, it looked old but solid and was only 20 miles away.

It said offers, so I offerd £400 and we settled at £480.. I did not know what to expect.

When I got there the guy had a brand new low loading indespension transporter, that was for his MK1 RS2000 rally car. He also had a Focus RS in his sizeable home garage....

so his old trailer, he had designed and built himself. the main bed sections had been folded by a local engineering firm ~20 years previously. The whole thing looked PRO and in some ways better than contemporary Brian james or Similar units.

It's been used a handful of times to recover purchases or move cars that are not MOT'd..

It's rock solid and would easily take most cars although it's probably only capable of 1500KG max..

When the Haynes is finished I may sign up as a memer at Kames for some track sessions.

So things are progressing nicely.

I have now filled the diff with oil, flushed the cooling system and I'm about to refill it with coolant.

I have secured the rear tub top panel to the car using some bond on cable tie bases and cable ties for the rear most edge. The front most edge and the fuel filler cap area are bolted into position so it's really just to stop it flapping.

http://www.silverstonefactors.com/sh...ase-tc105-bulk

The cable tie bases are a very useful things and are used extensively on race cars. Matched with some Loctite F246 structural adhesive you can mount them most places.

I have secured the access hatch into the rear boot to stop it dropping inwards.

I have also bought a winch for my trailer and a strap type tow loop which I have mounted to the top front wishbone mount. It will allow me to winch the car onto the trailer and the trailer into the garage (nose first) without needing assistance. I do need to see how much diagonal pull there is when the trailer arrives, with a straight pull the strap clears the nose cone, if there is a significant angle on the tow rope then it will start to contact the nose cone so that may require a rethink.



My trailer collection date is set at 31st October and I have a rolling road session booked at Bogg Brothers for 7th November. I am hoping to attend Blyton park on 28th November but I think I will wait to book that once I've had my session at the rolling road in case there are any problems.

Left on the list is to apply the sealant to my sausage filter backing plate, glue on edge trim, check all bolts and fasteners are tight. Check the gearbox oil. Setup the ride height and set the tracking.

remember to get photos of the trailer arrival,

I'll definitely get a picture of the trailers arrival.

I have since decided to replace the cambelt, tensioners and water pump. On firing up the engine last week when changing the coolant I noticed a squeak coming from the cambelt area which had me concerned.

With the standard silvertop water pump with the smooth pulley I am also spinning the pump backwards. So I have now ordered an escort water pump from Retro Ford to replace this with as this spins clockwise. They sell a kit which includes a new lightweight ribbed pulley as the original escort pulleys are like hen's teeth now.

The cambelt/water pump on the engine is of complete unknown age. I have had the engine at least 10 years and the engine is now 30 years old so to be safe and avoid the engine going pop I feel it would be best to replace it. I previously decided against it as the engine only cost me £40 and the cambelt kit is £60 so didn't seem worth it, I have since come to my senses!

So changing the water pump/cambelt was a good idea as the cambelt idler pulley bearings weren't in a good way. The new water pump is on, I am just waiting for a new coolant hose to arrive as the water pump outlet on the escort pumps is a straight fitting rather than pointing backwards.

The trailer was due to be collected today but the dealership decided to close this weekend so they are instead going to deliver it to me this week. It doesn't sound like I'll be able to go to my rolling road session next week given the soon to be announced lockdown.

Let's hope they can still deliver..

I should really look at the cam belt on my Escort Cabrio. I am so use to things having chains that I forgot they were a thing ;) . But in the last 18 months I have gone from having no cars with camblets, to all 3 cars ( that could be in play ) now having them.. :mad:

Was it easy enough on the Silvertop?

The silvertop was easy to do with the timing kit (a bar to lock the cams, a pin to lock the crank and a home made tool to lock the cam pulleys.

You need a few big torx bits for the cam pulleys/cam tensioner pulleys, T50 and T55 I believe.

If you are doing the belt for the first time you'll need a new tensioner spring/spring post (very cheap) and a tensioner pulley post, they sometimes come in the kit but sometimes don't (mine didn't).

The Haynes obviously has a ample room and good clearance around everything so it may have been very easy.

I can send you the Haynes manual for the zetec engine which has the step by step if you'd like it?

The trailer has arrived! It is a squeeze to get it in the garage but luckily all of my measurements were correct and it all fits. I need to get a proper winch plate laser cut for it and get a motor mover to help move it on my own as with the car on and my drive being on a slight slope it wants to run away with you.

Out of interest - how did you cover the steering column underneath the brake reservoir? I was thinking to position it like this - but leaning towards putting it offset to towards the middle...

I fabricated an angled cover over the top of it which is then rivetted in place. It was quite a complex folded piece which it does a good job of covering the column. It then seemed like a sensible place to put the brake fluid reservoir.

A quick update. I now have a rolling road booked for 9th January and I'm planning to take the car to Blyton Park on 31st January if everything goes well on the rolling road.

My neighbour mentioned to me that there is actually a rolling road 1.5 miles from my house so I have now booked in here. It saves me the 2 and a half hour drive up to Bogg Bros. It is a lot more expensive but I think the hassle saving will be worth it.

Trailer looks a good fit in all respects.

Well the day was finally here!

After the dyno breaking a few weeks ago meaning I had to rearrange my rolling road session again it was finally time! And what a day for it as it was absolutely chucking it down. I do need to drill some holes in my seat and floor to drain the water out!

I really just wanted the day to shake the car down, make sure there were no major issues with it and make sure the fueling was safe.

The day turned into more of a mammoth session that I had hoped as for some reason the engine was running massively rich. Trying smaller jets, different needles and different diaphragm springs got it nearly dialed in, however it is still fuelling a bit rich but it is in a safe running condition now. I will go back again in the future with some 2.0l cams and a full selection of main jets.

Other things I found out from the day were that I have wired up the rad fan the wrong way as it is spinning the wrong way. I need to put a 2x offset in for my rpm gauge and change some settings on my dash to get my temp gauge linked to the right input. It is now also reading the correct road speed.

It was fantastic, although nerve wracking see the car that has taken 12 years to get here finally being run through its paces.

I have my IVA test booked for 28th May so here is hoping that all goes well. I still have a few jobs to complete to get it ready but hopefully there won't be too many things to correct.

Good progress and fingers crossed for the IVA :)

Looking very good.

Fingers crossed for that IVA..

There's few cars getting finished these days which is a shame but at least some are still making it over the line.

TT

So the IVA test at Derby went pretty well yesterday. The only fail points were on emissions, fog light marking and headlight alignment.

My carbs are still massively over fuelling which seemed to get worse during the day, so I need to have another rolling road sessions at someone more familiar with carbs. I am going to get booked in at Bogg Bros. I will buy another set of carbs, buy a full main jet kit and take along an extra bike fuel pump to try and get to the bottom of it.

My fog light is E marked but it needs to have an F or a B on it. I bought my fog light before the new rules came in. So I have ordered a new lens assembly to sort this.

Finally I had done up my headlight nuts too tight so he couldn't adjust my headlights during the test. I just need to loosen these for my retest.

A couple of other things that I need to tweak is to remove the dB killer from the exhaust as with it fitted it is very good on noise but you can't get an emissions probe down the exhaust.

I also need to make a heatshield for my exhaust manifold as it is getting my bonnet very hot.

Not a bad fail - well done! To reduce heat I wrapped the exhaust manifiold and cat completely in exhaust wrap about 50mm wide, worked a treat and simple to do. I got some stainless steel ties to keep it in place, don't think plastic would have worked.

yeah i would be happy with that, I think my fogs is correct. Fuelling is always a bugger .

Will you get it back there in time for the restest?

So my new fog light is here and just needs fitting. I have ordered a set of carbs which should be arriving soon. I am booked in at Bogg Bros on 12th June and I'm hoping to get another IVA test at the start of July but I will ring up to book this next week. So hopefully I will be on the road later this summer.

Fingers crossed, been a long haul ;)

But if the weather is like this ( assuming you have the baking sun) summer could be fun

Good luck with IVA retest.
Car looks real nice.

So I had a very successful day at Bogg Bros today. I changed my fuel pump for a brand new pump I had in stock. My pump was behaving weirdly after the IVA test where it was running constantly at times when it shouldn't have been. The new pump seems to have resolved my issues.

One getting the Bogg Bros the car was running very lean, after trying a few different jets, balancing the carbs and adjusting the floats it was all nicely dialed in. The car is now making 120bhp and weighs in at 630kg so it should be pretty pokey to get started with!

I have fitted my new fog light but I need to order a new electrical connector as the new fog has a different connector annoyingly.

I will be booking my IVA retest this week so I will keep you posted on when the new test is.

So good news! I had my IVA retest today and it was a pass!

It only took 20 minutes to check the fog light, set the headlights up and check emissions. There was a lot of discussion about emissions as he had tested me on the stricter 0.5% CO limit and said I had failed until I pointed out I should be tested on the 3.5% as my engine is 1993.

I need to wait for a cheque book to arrive before I submit my registration paperwork as the DVSA only accept payment through either cheque, postal order or shillings :D.

I have Blyton park booked for Saturday 14th August so I just need to fit a new gearbox output oil seal, refit my proper steering wheel and refit my dB killer this weekend.

Thank you so much everyone for your support over the past 12 years. I really couldn't have done it without you and this forum.

Congratulations! Well done! Passing IVA is an achievement - but now the fun starts :)

Well the car has now been hooned around Blyton Park! There were no issues with it at all, it was absolutely fantastic to drive. The track was lovely and dry, it was quite busy at times but it was a really good day. I did around 25 laps to give it a good run in.

I'm planning to go back to Blyton Park in October for another day out.

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Blyton is a really great track. I've been round in a 2.0l Zetec powered GBS Zero and thought it brilliant but then went round driven by a professional race driver in a Honda S2000 engined Westfield. So much quicker. I struggled to figure out how he was getting the car through the sequential bends just before the last right hander that takes you back to where you join the track. Thoroughly recomended to all :)

great news, enjoy it ;)

A bit slow on the uptake - but congratulations! I've started reading your build thread back over again, for more inspiration, but it's already been a great source/inspiration - along with all the others of completed cars. It looks great, well done.