fiestaturbo.com

[muz]

Not a huge update but it's my first day of leave, so just sorting out a few small jobs.

Made up a vacuum line from the inlet to the FPR with nice, shiny fittings.



Got round to picking up my pipe work for the rad and cooler.



Now, all Lars had to work from was a few bad sketches and some half hearted measurements from me so we weren't sure if we'd get it right first time around as the top boost pipe is quite complex, having to come from the intercooler, down the chassis leg, up toward the throttle body at an angle so it avoids hitting the gearbox and hydraulic clutch arm, bending at the top missing the dizzy one side and brake cylinder with enough room to remove the cap to top up fluids the other and coming toward the throttle body itself at an angle that a silicon house would fit it.
I must admit, when I picked them up, I looked at it and thought "f**k, that looks wrong, it's never going to fit...



Like a glove! Credit to Lars, he's done a cracking job.

I was going to paint them black, but decided the bays looking a bit dark these days so broke it up with some Radiant Red and some AH decals













Tomorrow will probably be a small bit of welding which I've been putting off and modifying the seat rails for the bucket seats.

[FRSJON]

looks great

[mikeymikeyp]

I must admit the pipes look good in red

[muz]

Got a few more bits done.

Finally got round to welding up the section of roll cage which needed finishing. The sleeve fell into the cage and I couldn't pull it back up. Tired magnets, series of small holes and screwdrivers etc to push it up and nothing worked. So I just turned up the wire speed and just welded it.

Pulled the bar into place with a ratchet strap so it lined up square.



Ground it off and gave it a quick skim of filler.



Then a shot of primer.



While I had the welder out I decided to modify my fuel filter bracket. It originally looked like this. Perfect shape and size, but slightly too long.



So I cut 15mm out of it and welded it back up.





Perfect







A set of nice, new headlights fitted.





And fitted the oil cooler to the inner wing.

Drilled some 75mm holes to let the air pass through.







I had to find a way to join the AN10 outlets to the 1/2 BSP lines. Luckily while looking through my spares I found some adapters and they just so happened to be 1/2BSP TO AN10.





Having an air duct made which fits on top of the cooler and directs air in through the hole on the inner wing at the moment which should finish it off nice.

[Smo]

Amazing attention to detail. Love reading the updates in this thread

Sod losing a sleeve in the cage, though, that'd have bugged me big time!!!

[muz]

Amazing attention to detail. Love reading the updates in this thread

Sod losing a sleeve in the cage, though, that'd have bugged me big time!!!

Hopefully it won't rattle around when the cars moving

[muz]

Amazing attention to detail. Love reading the updates in this thread

Sod losing a sleeve in the cage, though, that'd have bugged me big time!!!

Hopefully it won't rattle around when the cars moving

[Excursion]

Looking good Muz. Do you think it will be finished this year?

[muz]

I'd certainly like it to be, Mark! It's been too long now. I'm away overseas from June to August so will miss show season, really, but I'd like it at least running and good to go.

[muz]

Not much as I've been busy with work, overseas for a month, but in my absence a few bits turned up.

New dashboard. It's Tony Turbos old dash and the flock is quality. Mine was a little tatty and I needed more gauge space rather than having them just chucked on the side, so this was perfect. I'll use it in conjunction with my flocked centre section.





I've also stumbled on a rare RS1600i Motorsport Series X rare ARB



The bar itself seems slightly thinner than the one used on the touring cars including the Datapost and Brooklyn.





I intend to replicate the touring car set up with rose jointed drop links. Probably by getting the actual roll bar re-made in a thicker material using this as a template.

The rose joints for the rest of the rear end have arrived and I'm just waiting on a quote for the CDS steel tube.



I also wanted to just how different, or similar, the shapes of the Lancia bonnet is to the Escort and found it's not far off. I think I'm going to try use the whole power bulge rather than just the vents alone on a a base spec bonnet.







I've got next week off work so I'm hoping to get the rear 6 link kit built in this time then start stripping out the interior for a re spray.

[mikeymikeyp]

that bonnet looks quality

[Smo]

Looks like you could get lucky with that bonnet!

[muz]

So I got the bar on, eventually. I over looked a few things when I thought about fitting one. These being the RS1600i appears to have,
* A different/smaller fuel tank
* A different exhaust
* Higher exhaust mount
* Lower tie bar mounting holes

All of these combined made things a little difficult!

So I lowered the bar as far as I could so it avoided the fuel tank, exhaust and cleared the MK4 Tie bar mounting holes, which bearing in mind it is shaped to fit the chassis and I didn't want to modify it, being a rare part, limited me to what I could do.
The exhaust also needed re hanging to it ran higher at this point to avoid the bar, without interfering with the chassis. Space is tight on these! A thicker ARB is ruled out unless a side exit/cleverly designed exhaust is made and there is no way it's fitting with a standard system.

Mk3 rear end



MK4 with fresh holes



Mounted up







Re routed exhaust









And just avoids the fuel tank

[Excursion]

That is a sweet addition! Never seen one before, but would now be top of my list if I had one of these.

[muz]

They aren't exactly common, Mark! Lol. I didn't know they existed until I saw it on eBay. Looks like a good addition. I was dubious about the bar only being 18/19mm but it's actually surprisingly rigid. I want to run rose jointed drop links, though, so the bar will need modifying. Shortening and inserts welding on. Unsure whether to do it to this bar or get another made.

[muz]

Cheers, lads.

Had a play with my compression struts today, converting them to run a hard joint, rather then a poly bush. I knocked up the adaptor from an old bolt and some 8mm plate.









Seems to have turned out alright. Only got the one side done, though.

[muz]

Right, time to get the multi link done.



Parallel bars made up with seamless tube. I plug welded and seamed them.





The welds were perfectly fine, but I decided to give them a tickle with the grit disc as it was set up





Rear tie bars



The rear tie bar rose joints won't fit in the cone links, so I made some 9mm spacers out of some 20x4mm CDS to fit in the gap. These will be welded in when I get some more gas.









Oversized front tie bars. Still need to finish these as the gas ran out.



I might sleeve the tops where the inserts are just for peice of mind.



Put M12 threaded inserts in the front ARB



With the rear ARB, I'm not sure which direction to take. Either,

Mount the drop links off to the sides on some sliding clamps,



Or shorten the turnbuckles and mount them on the tie arm rose joint itself right at the rear,







But that's all I could because of the welder.



Also bought a new set of chassis rails while I had the spare cash. Won't fit these for a while though.

[Excursion]

Looking good mate! Are you using T45?

[muz]

No, Mark, this is just regular CDS. T45 would have been half as expensive again and it was hard enough finding CDS in the sizes and thickness I wanted in such small quantities.

[Excursion]

No, Mark, this is just regular CDS. T45 would have been half as expensive again and it was hard enough finding CDS in the sizes and thickness I wanted in such small quantities.

The exact problems I'm facing at the moment...I want to make a front subframe but have begun to look at alternative materials.

[muz]

Had a day on the lathe and got the spacer reducers turned out.

Box of bits



The TCA cone links were too big to fit in the TCA's so these were first on the list. The three jaw chuck made things interesting! Good job we could clock them.





And done





I then had to extend the rear ARB by 75mm to work with my set up. I decided to do it following way incase I want to return the bar to standard.

Turned down some 20mm bar to 18mm to match the ARB.



Machined in some welding grooves.



Welded on and ground out







Test fit, make sure everything fits and works.










You can see here how I have attached the rear ARB. It appears to be working just as it should but obviously needs to get out on the road to see for sure.

Everything fits and works as it should. Full travel etc without anything blinding.

I've also sorted out the seat rails.



I've also got my hands on some bigger front brakes courtesy of a mate who's crashed his Evo, so will be running a bigger Brembo calliper and a two piece front disc to match the rears.


Jobs for Friday are to get the rear set up in paint and weld in the seat rails.

[FRSJON]

great work mate wish i had your welding/machining skills and somewhere to do it lol

[muz]

I just like giving things a go, Jon. Learning as I go.

[QUOTE=jonfoc;6449929]Yeah the chassis at the rear mounting points. Mine weren't threaded, they were solid alloy and very bulky, I'm sure yours will be fine.[/QUOTE]

It's all a work in progress so I can always change things as I go and continue developing the car. They won't be dangerous, anyway.

Managed to get it all in paint. Took ages to decide on a colour. Black too boring, silver too safe, but a lairy colour might be too much. I went for a semi gloss grey on the bars and green on the roll bars to give it some colour. I also wanted the roll bar to stand out as it's not a common thing. The spacers etc I did in hammered silver.






And I know it's much of the same, but more pics of it fitted. It's only loose fit as the new bolts haven't arrived, yet.

[muz]

Had a bit of a think about the car. I go overseas with work for 2-3 months in June so will miss all this years shows and the good weather. I then get a month of leave at the end so have plenty of time to finish the car.

There are a few things bugging me about it, though. I've always fancied putting some gussets on the cage as without they look a bit lost. I also wanted to paint the inside as the paints a bit thin and has scratched from working on it and the rear chassis rails also need doing. I'm also recessing the fuel system into the floor so I took the plunge and got the grinder out and crack on with it. No excuses now.

Few gussets on the cage. Door bars.





A and B pillar





I'm also going to gusset the rear X but I'll make my own.

Decided I'm going to have a flat boot floor as I don't need the wheel well for the fuel pumps anymore and the floor needs some big patches, anyway. Old boot floor chopped out. No going back now..



Old rails off. They were in s**t state! I'm surprised how bad the rails and surrounding floor were considering the rest of the shell is so clean. To be fair, I've been lucky with this shell, so it's about time I had a bit of bad luck.





This spring mount was so rotten that when I tried to knock the rail off with a hammer the spring cup broke clean off! It's previously been repaired, as well!






New rails in.









Next job is to cut the boot floor from some steel sheet I have and give it to a mate of mine to put some beads in then get it all welded together.

[Excursion]

Brilliant work, mate. Following with interest.

[muz]

While routing around the workshop I found some 3M Scotchkote 165. It's a polyurethane industrial tank and pipe coating which is used for lining water and chemical tanks so I thought I'd use it on the insides of the rails. It's pretty serious stuff so should work well. I have 4 tins of it so am going to under-seal the car with it then overpaint it. The welding melts it away immediately at the weld, but it's non-flammable so doesn't burn off in the surrounding areas.




Cut myself a boot floor out of 1.2mm mild. Made some cardboard templates and turned out spot-on.







Then took it down to my mate so he could swage some beads into it.



Tacked and spotted in.





While I was there I picked up my new fuel cell and oil cooler duct.
I'm cuffed to bits with the duct. Another nice little bespoke touch.

[Turboboy67]

Is this thing not finished yet

Good to see you're sticking with it mate, some lovely touches

[mikeymikeyp]

Great work as always ,lookin forward to seeing how the bonnet turns out and the flat floor will be much better for the diffuser you fitted on the bumper

[muz]

Cheers, lads. It's starting to come together...slowly.

With regards to the diffuser, I'm not sure it will find it's way back on. Ford made 909 under-trays in ally for Group A which I might look at replicating. I did see one on eBay a while back but I was skint with a wedding fast approaching and it went for more money than I had.

Floors fully in now, seamed, spotted and stitched where needed.



Offside arch



Near side arch



Made up these new pieces to link the chassis legs and the wishbone brace.



Underside







Also got my new tank in paint. Decided to go for Matt Grey for the tank and also repainted the swirl pot to match.



With flash



And the cooler duct in Matt black

[muz]

nice job on the boot floor Muz. that's my next properly big job once the car is up at my new house.

Cheers, Tom. It has slightly warped which is a shame, but it's a track car, not a show car, so I'm not fussed.

My flights been delayed so I was sent home for a few days. Today, I decided to finish the floor.

Now, I'll hold my hands up and admit it. When I cut the floor to put the new chassis rails in, I ballsed up. I cut too much of the floor out thinking "it's ok, I'm making a recess for the fuel cell" without actually thinking how much work and time making a recess would be following the lines of the chassis rails so it looked neat and tidy, as the way I'd cut the floor, a simple box would mean re-building the factory floor somewhat as I'd cut too much away.

I think I've done ok, though, with what I've done so far.

I phoned a place for some sheet steel to make the fuel cell box and they wanted £35+ VAT and as it's short notice I can't get it from my brother so instead, I borrowed the roof off his Justy :shock:





Back side. Can see my new fillets welded in above the chassis rails.



Front side



Check everything fits





Sides on










The over-lap/lip still needs trimming level before welding.



It just needs the side plates seaming then actually welding into the car.

[Excursion]

Top work mate.

[mikeymikeyp]

You call that an update

[mikeymikeyp]

OOOPPPS Im kiddin muz the quality in the car is on par with the best of the track cars on here and much more

[muz]

Haha, I'm trying, mate.

More cutting today. Needed to make a recess for the side exit exhaust. Always fancied one, and now with the tank recess and rear ARB, a conventional exhaust won't fit.





This time, I used the roof off an Impreza and formed an exhaust recess.











An old Powerflow backbox to check clearance. I might even use this backbox and see how I get on with it. Just needs the end cutting off and a square oval/letterbox style tip welding on.







The rest of the floor is starting to take shape, also.

[mikeymikeyp]

wicked mate if you aint using the back bumper can i get a shout for it ,,, its for a mate but I dont really want to do it and your bumper looks good

LOVE YOUR WORK