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Eddy 6th May 2012 11:00 PM

Introduction and progress so far
 
Hey guys,

Having been registered on the site for quite some time doing a lot of reading, I thought it was about time to introduce myself.

I'm Eddy, 25, I live in East Kent and I'm building a Sierra based Roadster.

I had spent a bit of time looking for the right donor – I wanted a CVH to be able to easily change to a zetec at a later date.

Last March I picked up this little beauty for £220 - it even had tax and MOT!



I drove it just under 80 miles home and other than a bit of blue smoke on the over run, and some wheel wobble at 60+ mph it performed quite well.



It sat on the driveway for a month or so whilst I read up on stripping the donor and arranged a few tools needed for the job.



The bank holiday weekend came and I recruited a couple of mates to help with the job. We managed to turn it into a bare shell pretty quickly



I’ve made an album on photobucket which has all the pics (limited to four on here) for the project so far for those that are interested:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...a/Donor%20Car/

After completing the strip, I paid my helpers with a well earned BBQ and a couple of beers.

Arranged for the local scrappy to come and get rid of the shell – initially they wanted to charge £50 to take it away, due to it having no ID but managed to persuade them to make the 5 mile trip for free.

Managed to sell a few bits from the donor that I didn’t need to help pay for it – Easily made back the cost of the donor by putting a breaking advert on ebay, and still have a few bits left in the garage to sell.

The plan is to use the CVH on bike carbs to get through IVA and swap to zetec afterwards. I want to keep the initial build quite basic which will allow me to carry out upgrades in the future. I will be buying a pre-welded rolling chassis kit once I’ve got my chartership exams out of the way at work, so hopefully after that things will progress a bit quicker.

Spent a bit of time taking the CVH apart - Given the bargain price of a HG kit and bolts, and that the engine would be easy to work on whilst on the engine stand, I took the head off to investigate. I found the combustion chambers and piston crowns to be pretty coked up, and the HG not to be too far from failing. I cleaned up the piston crowns with oven cleaner and have soaked the valves in gunk. Hopefully it should be alright with new gaskets / oil seals, oil / oil filter, and cam belt.

I had heard that the 1600 head can be used, so picked one up locally for £20. I’m not sure how true it is as there doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of information available other than a bit on the fiesta forums about people using the 1800 bottom end on their xr2s. It looks like it might lead to problems with the compression ratio given that the combustion chamber on the fiesta head is huge compared to the sierra one. Might need different pistons or skimming. If anyone has any info on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Since stripping the donor I have managed to collect a few parts - I managed to get a set of ZX6R carbs complete with airbox for £23 delivered, an exhaust manifold for £50 delivered and a set of escort gti wheels and tyres for £80.
Other than that I have cleaned and painted the gearbox, and had a go at setting up an electrolysis bath to de-rust the parts that need it, which seemed to work pretty well.

Slow progress I know, but I’m in no real rush. Although a track day a Castle Combe the other weekend has made me want to get it finished!

K4KEV 7th May 2012 12:55 AM

welcome to the forum Eddy....it looks like you are already well on your way, I think the main thing is to enjoy every aspect of the build and don't be afraid to ask questions on here, do search's as well and lots of pictures ...all on here love em, so good luck and keep stuck in;) .

will_08 7th May 2012 08:27 PM

You've made a good start there mate, keep it up:cool:

Will

shh120m 7th May 2012 08:44 PM

youve definatly got your priorities right with the green box of tools in the corner:p

Johno 7th May 2012 09:28 PM

Hiya,
Good luck with the build and keep us informed with loads of piccy's and post's...:cool:

Johno

HandyAndy 9th May 2012 01:51 PM

Hi,
As others have said, best wishes for your build, looks like you have made a great start, keep the build pics coming :)

cheers
andy

Eddy 6th November 2012 09:57 PM

Hey guys,

I've not posted for quite a while, but have been steadily collecting parts in the background. Today's part deserved a post though:



I took Phil @ Talon up on his xmas package offer and he was kind enough to deliver it in person. Top bloke - Could've spent hours chatting, but he wanted to get home for some grub!

Hopefully the build can gather some momentum now

ayjay 6th November 2012 11:19 PM

Top job --Well done .:)

Not sure about the bike carbs though.It could complicate things pre IVA. I got some with the same intention but stuck with the pierburg for now --it gets it running for now and I can fiddle about after IVA:)

Eddy 7th November 2012 01:11 PM

Its a bit late for that - I sold the pierburg!

mark 7th November 2012 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddy (Post 80046)
Its a bit late for that - I sold the pierburg!

Its dead easy anyway, i did the same using megajolt ignition

It sailed through iva with the carbs left untouched from the bike

It was running lean though up in the revs but idle was spot on, I could'nt drive it about pre iva so didnt bother re-jetting until afterwards, then 170 jets seemed about right on the rollers

Mind you depending on what you want from the car the cvh probably wont be there for long anyway! mine lasted one summer before replacing it for more grunt

Eddy 8th November 2012 09:36 AM

I know who to come to when I need advice then Mark!

Eddy 12th November 2012 10:40 AM

Painted!
 
Spent a few hours yesterday getting a coat of etch primer on the bare steel:









I used Tractol 729 industrial etch primer in grey - It went on quite well by brush and dried very quickly despite the ~10 degree temperature.

Have a few bits to touch up that I missed, but reasonably happy with it as a layer to stop the thing rusting.

AshG 12th November 2012 12:18 PM

Where in Kent are you eddy? I'm over in rochester and there is a really good local club called southern kitcar club (skcc). If you need a hand with anything let me know. My roadster has been on the road for a few years now so I have ironed out most of the floors

K4KEV 12th November 2012 12:59 PM

must be a helluva iron Ash:D :D

flyerncle 12th November 2012 01:41 PM

Industrial me thinks.... My floor is 1.6mm thick.:)

Eddy 12th November 2012 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AshG (Post 80175)
Where in Kent are you eddy? I'm over in rochester and there is a really good local club called southern kitcar club (skcc). If you need a hand with anything let me know. My roadster has been on the road for a few years now so I have ironed out most of the floors

I based in Birchington, near Margate. I work just down the a228 from you in West Malling though.

I'll check out the SKCC website, thanks.

Thanks for the offer of help - Much appreciated

AshG 12th November 2012 10:41 PM

Ben Copeland is down in margate also.

twinturbo 12th November 2012 10:49 PM

I spent a year in Rochester, Lived on Kings Avenu...

Sat on the castle lawn for my 21st....

Eddy 17th November 2012 06:38 PM

Few bits arrived from Phil during the week - He is sending bits through as they're ready:



Got a coat of anti rust primer on the drums:



Followed by the first top coat:



Then I started looking at the manifold I need to make for the bike carbs:



Not sure if I should re-space the carbs or just go with tubes at an angle - Any opinions?

The tubes in the pic are from some scrap I had lying around - They match the ID of the carb outlet perfectly, but are thin so there is a bit of a gap between the silicone tube. Will this be ok (or even helpful in getting the angles to work) or do I need some thicker tube?

Cheers

Eddy 30th January 2013 10:35 PM

Been doing a bit more painting:








Eddy 23rd March 2013 08:00 PM

Half rolling
 
Managed to get a bit of assembly done today, enough to get the back end rolling and the chassis out of the garage to allow for a well needed clean up.

Pics:








rpjg1975 23rd March 2013 10:03 PM

Coming along well. Are they mondeo/escort gti wheels? I have a set of them on my focus but will probably be going on my roadster :D

K4KEV 23rd March 2013 10:33 PM

yep thats damn good progress.....I'm nearly 3 yrs in and have never had it on wheels so well done that man

Eddy 23rd March 2013 11:19 PM

Yeah, the wheels are escort gti 15s. I've seen them on a locost before and think they suit quite well

will_08 23rd March 2013 11:19 PM

Well done Eddy, i'm hoping to be at this stage in the next week or so with some luck!

rpjg1975 24th March 2013 12:11 PM

Definitely work well. Mine are 16's so should fill arches pretty well :D

mark 24th March 2013 12:51 PM

Your front upper wishbones look upside down I think (can't see them that clear though so could be wrong), i did the same when I first rolled it out of the garage! Nice feeling isn't it :)

Eddy 25th March 2013 09:26 AM

You may well be right Mark, I chucked them on in a rush because I needed the shelf space!

robo 26th March 2013 10:56 AM

Not meaning to piss on your fireworks eddy but there is still a fair bit of fabbing to do and putting all the running gear on at this stage is going to make hard work of welding up all the missing bits unless you are handy at positional welding.

Just thoughts

Bob

Eddy 26th March 2013 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robo (Post 89270)
Not meaning to piss on your fireworks eddy but there is still a fair bit of fabbing to do and putting all the running gear on at this stage is going to make hard work of welding up all the missing bits unless you are handy at positional welding.

Just thoughts

Bob

I appreciate the comment Bob, and its something I put a bit of thought into before starting to assemble the running gear.

The garage I'm working in doesn't have a lot of space, so being able to wheel the car out will give me more space to work with.

The next things I want to get sorted are engine/gearbox location and steering column, which I can do with it on wheels.

The chassis will need to be stripped bare for top coat at some point anyway, so I will be able to manouvre it into positions to weld up anything I can't manage whilst its on wheels.

Assembling the running gear this early has also meant I can identify any problems with the chassis as soon as possible, rather than once I've added all the little bits - I posted recently about my rack not fitting and it turns out the mounts aren't wide enough apart, something that may have gone unnoticed for quite a while if I were doing things differently.

I don't think anyone's build will be in exactly the same order, this way just seemed to suit me best.

Eddy 14th July 2013 01:47 PM

All four wheels and some steering
 
Afternoon all,

I managed to get a bit of time to spend on the car this weekend. I got the steering column support frame in place, as well as CP16 and the uprated bearing. I've bolted the bearing straight to CP16 and the column feels rock solid. I also got the front assembled with dummy shocks to help me move it around.

I then turned my efforts to the engine, and sorted out the mounts. I have them in the zetec positions on the cvh because I plan to swap it over post test. This also means I can use the manifold I have that would occupy the same space as the usual cvh mount.

Few pics:








Eddy 21st July 2013 08:54 PM

Dropped the engine in today to mark up where the engine mount plates and gearbox mount plates need to go:







What distance should I leave between the gearstick and the chassis? I'll be modifying the chassis top rail that contacts the fwd cvh thermostat

Oscar 21st July 2013 09:47 PM

Very nice, looks like you're a little ahead of me. Might be watching this thread a little more closely ;)

Eddy 22nd July 2013 08:42 AM

Thanks Oscar, I'm sure you'll overtake me - I live 50 miles away from my build!

TheArf 22nd July 2013 11:15 AM

Looking well tidy there.

Arfon

Eddy 3rd December 2013 10:02 AM

Just an update with a bit of progress.

Having got the chassis rolling and trial fitted the engine/’box to get their positioning sorted, I’ve stripped it all back down (surprising how quickly it can be done!) and finished off most of the welding.

In particular, before top coat, I’d like your thoughts on the adjusted top rail (for the thermostat), and adjusted passenger side engine bay diagonal (for the westy exhaust). Will they be ok, or is there something else I should do?

The bits I still need to do:

Seat support rails (now that I have seats and runners!)
Brake tabs
Rad mounts
Roll bar rear stay mounts

Is there anything I should add in addition to these?

Some pics (sorry about the quality, used my mobile):










Cheers

Eddy

SeriesLandy 3rd December 2013 09:01 PM

Hi Eddy. I've ended up taking the paint back off in quite a few places to stick some more metal to the chassis. Vin number is something you will have to weld in. Can't think of anymore at the mo.

voucht 3rd December 2013 10:32 PM

Hi Eddy,
I think you should weld caps on the ends of the few tubes which are open like FF1, FF4, and there are a few others on the chassis (total of 12 iirw). Otherwise moist can enter the tubes which will be likely to get rusty from the inside.

There is a quite easy way to do it using small pieces of 19/20mm square section tubes you used for the transmission tunnel.


IMG_2140_1 par Voucht71, sur Flickr

Even though I haven't use this technique myself on my chassis, I have tried it and it is soooo easy (I got it from a member on this forum, but after I did mine with small square plates I had to cut one by one... I actually regretted I hadn't discovered this good idea myself or known it before :( ),

I've made a thread on my blog about that, perhaps it can give you some inspiration...
http://vouchtroadster.blogspot.se/20...-end-caps.html

Good luck :)

Very nice looking chassis BTW, very tidy :cool:

Eddy 4th December 2013 02:03 PM

Steve - I hadn't thought about that at all, I'd better get a letter off to the DVLA!

Sylvain - I was planning to use waxoil and plastic end caps, but welding them seems like a much more robust solution. I've got some tube left so its free too!

Thanks guys

flyerncle 4th December 2013 04:49 PM

You would be surprised how little rust there will be on the inside of the chassis tubes even after a good few years as I found out after making my chassis 35mm overall too long :rolleyes:


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