fiestaturbo.com

[Rodge]

Right, this whole project started when i was offered a mk3.5 fiesta for the pricely sum of £40 (bit steep i know).

I originally planned to do a if i dare say straight forward zetec turbo fiesta, but i have a lot friends who are into classic cars and believe that front wheel drive cars are the worst thing to happen to cars. So with only a little bit of persuasion they got me thinking of making it rear wheel drive, which lead to me asking a few questions of what gearbox could i use to mate upto the zetec, what rear axel could i use? Up until now i didn't know a great deal about rear wheel drive so its all pretty new to me too.

Appologies for the lack of photos from the beginning of the project but i didn't originally plan to post this up.

With the fiesta stripped i started measuring up for the tunnel, so that i could get cutting the floor and bulkhead out. At first i was going to fabricate my own tunnel but a mate was scrapping a mk5 cortina so i decided to use the tunnel from that.


Once we had measured up it was time to get cutting


In that picture you'll notice that the chassis rails bend in towards the centre of the car which obviously will be in the way for the propshaft and possibly gearbox. Once i got those cut away it was time for the rest of the floor.


Then it was a case of positioning the tunnel into place and welding it in place.

The tunnel will be welded from both inside and outside of the car.

[Sphinx]

What are you going to do now you've chopped the chassis legs out?

[Rodge]

I have some already made up and waiting to go back onto the car
Instead of coming in towards the middle of the car there going run straight down either side of the tunnel

[rauri]

jesus fair play mate ,a guy up this bit of the world did a similar thing with a sierra cossie and an xr2 last year,turned out a right beast

good luck

[Sphinx]

Cool

What gearbox did you decide on in the end? i've been looking into this and seems any capri gearbox will bolt up to a zetec, but idealy i'd like something newer than that.

[Rodge]

I'll be using a sierra MT75 gearbox and an escort mk2 RS2000 rear axel

[Captain Tightpants]

Wicked mate, glad to see you have got this post up and running! Try and keep the updates coming in mate won't you!

Looks like you have made a good start thats for sure, keep it up!

Sphinx, not all capri gearboxes have the same bellhousing bolt pattern. The Cologne has a different one for instance.

Steve

[demolition_man]

looking good mate, how much power can you put through the rs2000 axle? I'm right in thinking the rs2000 had an english?

[Rodge]

looking good mate, how much power can you put through the rs2000 axle? I'm right in thinking the rs2000 had an english?

Not quite sure how much power you can run through them mate. A mate has a mk1 escort track car with a rs2000 rear axle with around 210bhp and he says its never given him any trouble.

Update

Not much of an update as today it was mostly welding the tunnel in, have most of the inside welded just need to put the cross section back into place then the inside should be done. Then its onto the underneath of the car where i also have to replace the chassis rails that had to be cut out.

Spent half an hour or so cleaning up the rear axle as well today, i was originally going to strip it all down and send it off to be sand blasted but it ain't in to bad a condition, so we'll how it looks after some more cleaning.

Should hopefully be starting to get it mounted over the weekend, which is the job i am most worried about on the whole project, not quite sure why, must just be me being a tart

[Rodge]

Also removed the battery tray and top engine mount on the drivers side suspension strut top ready for the mock up engine to be lifted into place to make engine and gearbox mounts.

[AndyRS1800]

Good Lad...

[Cloud Strife]

Really interested in this one, would love to have ago at it myself but certain circumstances won't allow it. Keep the updates comming

[mmorgan88]

this is looking like its going to turn out to be a mad motor i fully respect the people on this forum capable of carrying out such things!

[Rodge]

Cheers guys

Huge change of plan

Was starting to mount the rear axle today but something was telling me not to use the mk2 escort axle as its roughly 3 inch narrower than the fiesta rear beam.

I'll still be going along the same lines i am now and still involves the zetec, but i don't want to say too much just yet, incase things don't work out right.

I'll post some pictures up as soon as i have sourced some parts

I may be asking Scort for a bit of advice too

[dogz]

when your done with your car how does a 1month all expenses paid trip to ireland sound...... so u can do mine

[MotorcyclesFish]

Get a capri axle, they're wider than escy ones, think the capri atlas is 52" end to end.

1.6 has 3.77:1
2.0 has 3.44:1
2.8 has 3.09:1, Special has LSD.

Cheapest ones are 2.0 and 2.8 non LSD. They're all the same strength.

[Captain Tightpants]

Looking ace so far matey!

New plans sound interesting!

Steve

[Rodge]

Picked up a new part today



Its a complete back axle from a sierra

Didn't have much time to sit into place properly but it looks like it'll go into place a LOT easier than i first thought

[Rodge]

when your done with your car how does a 1month all expenses paid trip to ireland sound...... so u can do mine

1 month??

If you find anyone that can do it all in a month pass on their contact details

[jdfiesta]

excellent! would love to do this one day, was only talking about it the other day to a friend. i'll be building a zetec turbo engine next year so who knows what that mihgt go in
JJ

[MotorcyclesFish]

when your done with your car how does a 1month all expenses paid trip to ireland sound...... so u can do mine

1 month??

If you find anyone that can do it all in a month pass on their contact details

Scort on Red Bull.

[Rodge]

Need a 2ltr 4x4 sierra sump to see if i can modify it to make the zetec 4WD if anyone has one layin round. Must be the 2ltr one

[Captain Tightpants]

A change for the better mate, independant rear suspension is a definate advantage over the old school solid rear axle. The sierra one was a little bit bulky/heavy for what I want to use. Looks like an XR4x4 one to me! LSD! Whoohooo!

The only sump I could help you with is the old 2.8 style. I have one of those sat about. But no doubt you have checked your mates sump, when you were removing the axle!

The only thing I will say, is try and get that lump a bit smaller on the drivers side floorpan. In a 4x4 sierra it's a nightmare, so it will undoubtably be ten fold in the fiesta.

Good work mate,

Steve

[heeman10]

So what gearbox will you be using on the Zetec that gives a prop output? Dammit, you people have got my mind whirring now too!! Glad to see this is turning into something extremely special rather than just unique

[Rodge]

Scort - This rear axle cost me nothing so i may just use it to make my mounts and get it all fitted. Might wait and see if a LSD one turns up and possibly use that.
Would you do me a kind favour and take a couple of pics of that 2.8 sump and measure it for me. Couldn't check the one on my mates as it had already gone before i changed my mind to 4wd.

Heeman - I'll be using the sierra gearbox too, has the same bolt pattern as the zetec

[Captain Tightpants]

No worries mate, will try and grab some for you on the morrow.

You know the V6 sierra has a different bolt pattern?

Steve

[Rodge]

Yes i'm going to chop the sumps in half then weld the zetec bolt pattern onto the 4WD sump hopefully. *fingers crossed*

This is why i didn't want to say too much early on incase it didn't work and i looked stoopid , but i'm pretty sure it will

[Rodge]

Or did you mean gearbox? If so i'm after the 2ltr 4x4 'box

[heeman10]

Oooh didn't know that! Get cracking, get pics, and get it finished!

[RS_Rawli]

rear beam is deffo off a xr4x4,

whever its off a mk1 2.8/2.9 or a mk2 2.9/2.0 i dont know,

but the mk1s had LSD

[Rodge]

You have me confused now

Is that one in the pic an LSD one? The person i got it from said it wasn't

[RS_Rawli]

if its an xr4x4 beam then should be lsd yea

[Captain Tightpants]

Yeah, thats an LSD rear beam. From an XR4x4.

Rear disks are half a giveaway, but the bolt on driveshafts are the dead giveaway!

Ahh, good idea, not many 2.0 XR4x4's made, but the gearbox bolt pattern of the zetec is the same as the I4 twin cam engine, so thats cool!

Steve

[supersport_red]

http://forum.fordsierraclub.co.uk/index.php

that might help for sierra bits

[Rodge]

Yeah, thats an LSD rear beam. From an XR4x4.

Rear disks are half a giveaway, but the bolt on driveshafts are the dead giveaway!

Looks like a good move then getting this one, if not i'm sure it would have cost me a few pennies

I may come across as stupid but i am learning alot as i go along with regards to 4WD, before i set out to do all this a didn't know much about them