fiestaturbo.com

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

Please note: This is only a guide and I am not held responsible if you use this guide and it goes horribly wrong. I am not a mechanic; I have produced this as there wasn’t one when I needed it, so hopefully this may be of some use to others.

Fitting Guide for ‘Avo’ Coilovers & Escort Cosworth Brakes to a Mk3 XR2i 8v.

Reference – Haynes manual, Ford Fiesta (Petrol) Feb 89- 91. Chapter 10.

Time taken – for me (non-mechanic, in my garage, decent tools) = just under 2 hrs for coilovers and about an hour for the brakes (not inc bleeding them).

Ease of fitting – Coilovers; Moderate, depending on how rusted the nuts and bolts are. Brakes; pretty simple. get a friend to help with bleeding though.

Parts required:

Set of ‘Avo’ coilovers to suit model.

Escort Cosworth Callipers (c/w braided hoses). <Note, you will need min 15” alloys to allow clearance>
Pair of 278 mm dia Discs to suit Escort Cosworth
Set of Pads to suit Escort Cosworth callipers

Avos - £350 second hand
Brakes complete - £200 second hand

Tools required:

Trolley Jack
4 axle stands (or 2 minimum)

A decent socket set with at least the following sizes: 13, 17 & 19 mm
A decent spanner set with at least the following sizes: 8, 10, 15, 17 & 19 mm
6 mm Allen key
7 mm Allen key
Torque wrench
Hammer or mallet
Flat pointed screwdriver
Mole grips
Set of spring clamps
Brake bleeding kit

Plenty of WD40
Copper grease
1ltr DOT 5.1
Some wooden planks - will become apparant later

Coilovers

Preparation:

1. Loosen all wheel nuts and jack the car up onto 4 axle stands (if you have 4, otherwise do the front and back pairs one at a time). Make sure that they positioned on the chassis and not anything that moves with the suspension.

2. Remove all wheels.



Rear:

3. Support the twist beam rear axle with jack and remove the 19 mm bolt from the bottom of the suspension where it meets the axle arm. This was a bit stiff due to its age; therefore I used my torque wrench to get it undone. Like with everything, use plenty of WD40.



4. Remove the 2 x 13 mm nuts on top of the rear struts.



5. With a bit of manoeuvring about remove the old unit.



6. Undo the nut and bolt on the suspension strut cap (17 mm) and remove from old strut. Fit to new coilover. Note, i didn't but YOU may need spring clamps to do this.





7. Position coilover (hard/soft adjust knob at bottom facing inwards) and re-fit the 2 x 13mm nuts to the struts and tighten to 20-30 ft lb.



8. As you can see, due to the size difference in the dampers there is now a massive gap between the bottom of the coilover and the axle arm. Therefore, repeat the process for the other side.





11. Jack up on the twist beam rear axle until you can fit the 19 mm bolts back in. Tighten to 75-100 ft lb. Lower & remove the jack once each side is done.



12. Adjust the bottom adjusting nut washer thing on the coilover so that each side is about the same. Fine adjustment will be covered later.



13. If you’ve got 4 axle stands pat yourself on the back and have a brew before moving on to the front.

Front:

14. Using a 17 mm socket, undo the brake line nut and the drop link nut. The drop link nut is a sod because it spins, so using mole grips clamp the shank behind and remove the nut.



15. Remove the 19 mm bolt at the bottom of the damper where it meets the Spindle carrier.



16. This is where it depends on how long it’s been since your dampers were changed. Mine were well and truly wedged, so……..

17. Remove the brake calliper (2 x 7 mm hex bolts & 2 x 17 mm bolts), put/hang it to one side and remove the disc (I had to do this anyway as I was fitting Escort Cosworth brakes after). Using a hammer or mallet repeatedly hit the spindle carrier downwards until the damper is free.





18. Once its free, remove the plastic cap undo the nut (19 mm spanner and 6 mm Allen key) on the strut. Remove old unit.

19. This is where i went wrong first time round and had to part strip it out. On the old front suspension unit is a shiney cup thingy secured with a 19 mm nut. I would strongly adivse using a set of spring clamps at this stage. With the spring compressed, remove the 19 mm nut and take off the cup.



19a. Turn the cup over and inside you will see a disc/bearing. I determined through trial and error that i didint need this, as you can see.



with (i would not be able to adjust the firmness of the coilover)



without (seems right)



19b. On top of the coilover there is a thread with a 19 mm nut on it. Remove this and fit the shiney cup as per the reversal of para 19. Tighten the 19 mm nut to 38 - 48 lb ft. *Note: you will not need the spring clamps. Unfortunately, due to my mis-hap, i don't have any pics.

19c. Fit the coilover into position so that the threaded bit protrudes through the top strut hole, slide the top strut cup over the thread and refit top strut nut (19 mm). Tighten.



20. Using a jack under the spindle carrier refit the bottom of the damper. Again, this was a sod and with some copper grease and about 50 million light taps it went in. Re-fit the 19 mm bolt and tighten to 59-66 ft lb.



21. Re-tighten the top strut nut 30-38 lb ft.

22. Re-fit the drop link nut (17 mm) using mole grips again.



23. Repeat process for other side

24. As per the rears, adjust the bottom adjusting nut washer on the coilover so that each side is about the same. Again, fine adjustment will be covered later.

This is as far as I have got, as at this stage I had to go collect the Escort Cosworth brakes. I will continue again once I’ve fitted the brakes and have done the final adjustments on the coilovers.

As a taster – here are the brakes waiting to go on:




Hope this helps, feel free to comment/add tips/correct me

Chris

[XR_Craig]

Good guide matey. Very detailed.

[dave_si]

Top guide mate

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

cheers guys

Fitted my cossie brakes today. However, due to the lack of light i had to finish early.

Anyway, continuing on.......

Brakes:

25. Wack a bit of copper grease on the face of the hub and fit the disc, this just slides on. Make sure they are on the right side. if they are new they should be marked.



26. With the Cossie caliper you need to add some spacers, as you can see



27. Fortunately, mine came with the washers supplied. I thinks its 5mm but i will measure the gap later and edit this post. Anyway, fit the 2 x 17 mm bolts (again mine came with them, i think you will need slightly longer than the standard ones) and tighten so they are FT (FT=Fooking tight). Note that the pads are already in. mine came like that so i was lucky to put the straight on.



28. Once thats done it should look something like this



29. As some of you may have noticed, i havn't mentioned removing the brake lines from the other calipers. Well here we go...



30. My calipers came with braided hoses so i undid the hose here using a 15 & 17 mm spanner (if your not replacing your hoses then undo it at the caliper).



31. Repeat the process for the other side.

32. I decided to use Dot 5.1 as it will only be used on track. therefore i had to flush the system of the Dot 4. After that i connected the braided hoses. As you can see i have also re-fitted the brake hose clips to the coilovers.



33. Using a brake bleeding kit, re-bleed the system. I got one from halfords which is supposed to be a one man kit. I found this to be bolox and after chatting with my old man (old school Ford mechanic ) i need to re-do them with some help. *Note: because i drained all the fluid i have to now bleed the whole system. The sequence that i will be using is as follows:

a. Start from the furthest away, ie rear drivers side, then rear passenger side, front driver, then front passenger.
b. Attach the bleed kit to bleed nipple. With a 10 mm spanner undo the bleed valve half a turn.
c. Get partner to press down and hold the brake pedal to the floor. Fluid will flush through. Close bleed nipple.
d. Get partner to release brake pedal.
e. Repeat para b & c until no absolutely no air bubbles are seen in the bleed kit hose.

*remember to top up the resevoir as you go*

34. Re-fit wheels. Raise car with jack and clear the stands. Lower car under control.

*Top Tips*

As i found out, stick some wood under the wheels first. Because i have just fitted coilovers, when i lowered the jack i couldn't get the fooking thing out lol .

Also, check the balance weights on your wheels, i've had to pull mine off for now becasue they were fouling the calipers. There is now just about enough room to squeeze a mosquitos bo1ock in the gap between the caliper and my rim.

I still have to adjust the height all around, re-bleed the brakes and get the front wheels re-balanced.

Shyte quality i know (cos it was dark), but here is a sneek preview of how it currently sits.



More to come later.
Chris

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

...continuing on.

I only realised today that i missed out a vital part of fitting the front coilovers. It was a simple mistake and once i rectify this (hopefully tomorrow) i'll edit the first post to suit.

here are a few pics of the car back on the ground.

Std shocks and springs



With Coilovers (*note - final height not set yet)



Escort Cosworth brakes.

[SimonT]

Class mate! Very very impressed

Ill be doing the same to mine very soon

Where did you get your cage? is it a full cage and how muchw as it?

ta

ST

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

The cage was built for me by a friend of the family who builds rally cars (his son drives in the WRC)

The cage is a 6 point & fully welded in. The cage itself cost about 500 quid. It was then modified because of the sunroof. also i has some cross bracing put in across the floor so i could fit the seat mounts for the cobra imolas. all in all inc the labour it cost me just over 900 quid.



chris

[SimonT]

Im actually going for a 6 point bolt in cage - should only be about 300 quid

As for front brakes im going for the Fiesta ST150 ones Less modifications needed to fit APPARENTLY.

As for your rotors mate, they look good but you have a reduction in surface area on the disc so you might not get as good a stopping power as you might have had with standard for discs

I dont think I can aford AVO's so I reckon I'd be going Spax.

Id gladly go head to heaa round a track with ya

"FT.com - track car showdown!"

[heeman10]

I think the idea is that the surface is big enough for the pad, and the radial protrusions are extra material, as opposed to the material being removed to sit inside the pad's contact region, but I'm not sure on that. Would scuff the tops of your pads otherwise, which really would be a waste!

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

the whole pad would still get an even wear

have a think about it and you'll agree

[heeman10]

It wouldn't get even wear over the whole pad. Leaving and meeting the brake disc surface while under pressure would rub away at the top edge of the pad.

[Max Frst]

Nice brakes
What size wheels do you have on it ??

Thanks Mario

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

max - 15"

heeman - only way to tell is wait and see.

[heeman10]

Yep They look fairly funky, and I'm sure they'll do a good job of stopping you! You've done a good job all round, good learning experience too no doubt

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

good learning experience too no doubt

that was my plan mate. i could have bought a Mk2 RS200 rally car from my uncle (and probably saved about 2 grand), but i fancied a challenge. pity i didnt take any pics of the car when i first got it though, i've done an awful lot in 6 months.

[heeman10]

That bugs me too Obviously I've had mine longer than you (man, 3 and a half years now!!! ) and there are hardly any original parts on it now, and I don't have ANY photo's of it as I got it Have learned for the future I guess

[Luke_Si]

Do they work ok m8 doing mine the weekend I cant wait.

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

handles like its on rails, stops on a two pence coin

so, yes.

[Luke_Si]

Hi All,
Got the stuff for my escort cossie capilers and mounts did u use the cossie mounts for the capiler or the fiesta ones as the bolts the fiesta ones uses is two small to fit in the cossie mounts and if u uses the big bolts the cossie uses they wont go in to the hub.

Any help would be thankfull.

Luke

[~Tony~]

did you ever get a width for the spacers???

[russ-RST]

just for anyone that reads this, wether or not you flush the system or not when ever you bleed brakes you MUST bleed the whole system as any air gets into the system (which it will) it will not just stay in your front brake lines it will go all the way around so you must bleed the back's aswell as the front even if you only change the front brakes, (not many people are aware of this/ can be bothered)

apart from that very nice guide buddy :)

[Rs Adz]

seen as your cosworth brakes have been on a while have you found them on the road and track

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

Spot on. No need for anything else tbh.

Std discs and EBC yellows.

[Rs Adz]

cool tar for the reply

[Rs Adz]

cool tar for the reply

[rsturbodaddy]

Hi mate did you have any trouble with steering leaving the strut top bearings out?

[Project_XR2i_Trackcar]

Late post. No, I didn't leave them out.