fiestaturbo.com

[heeman10]

Update

It is now MOT'd once again!

Am absolutely thrilled and really want some beer now The only problem was the number plate, which I'd put on the dash as I need to buy some velcro pads to correspond to the ones on the back of the plate (removed them when I did the bumper and they don't stick anymore). So I had to zip tie it on for the MOT (only 5 miles from me)...yet I had to drive away with it still tied on, for his sake...and in that distance it rubbed enough to bring off a tiny flake of paint I'll try to spray over it...it's hidden when the plate's on, and only tiny, but I can't leave it like that. When he saw the plate in the windscreen he said "We can't have there, you'll have to just put some self-tappers in the bumper". I laughed till he walked away

The most satisfying part was the brakes: 50% efficiency required to pass, it hit 90% with hardly any imbalance between the left and right hand sides. He was impressed by it all, which just made me more proud of the car really So...that's it for another year, and it's back better than ever! :D:D

DaveRom - Thanks Yeah, I did it with aerosols. Still need some polishing and probably some flatting after Ford Fair (in case I get it wrong ) but it's certainly presentable

mike - It probably was about half an hour! Just kept wiping it on my forearm, the grease stops the bleeding Yeah the bumper did look alright in pics, but certainly not close-up in person, I'm glad I did it. See you there

The Rest - Thanks for the compliments/head slagging

[heeman10]

P.S. Short clip of it on the road with the rev limiter will be posted later Sounds like anti-tank fire!

[ianFRST]

Update

It is not MOT'd once again!

i presume you mean now

[Adam_R]

Well done James, finish on the bumper looks spot on from the pics, dunno how you get so many problems yet always seem to over come them just in time!

Well done mate, you should be proud.

[heeman10]

Update

It is not MOT'd once again!

i presume you mean now

I can't believe the FT king of spelling fcukups has pointed out such an error But yes, it was meant to be "now". I was jumping around a bit much and mistyped

Adam_R - Thanks, I am proud of lots of parts of it now...though there are still things I want to address. It's just not the same having a good, modern, reliable and economical runaround while you work on the fun car. I need another quick car, and to strip EVERYTHING off the ZT and get the chassis brought up to absolutely mint brand new, resprayed, do all sorts of little things to it all then screw everything back on. Ho hum!

[Max M4X WW]

Smooth! Want to repair mine?

[garyhurn77]

congrats!!!

all ya hard work paid off, enjoy it for anohter year!

i expect more of the same around this time next year

[heeman10]

Max - It would take a lot of money/parts to make me want to do that all over again, particularly when not even for myself I'm going to have to do the rear bumper at some point, but need some time away from all that

gawy - Yup, I'm quite well-known for my last-minute rushes

Random pics:

The rev limiter control box, mounted in the tray in front of the passanger. I fixed it using velcro, thinking it would look neater than screwing it in using the two metal tabs on the body of the unit, but it doesn't look particularly neat. I wanted it accessible for easy adjustment, and still want it there, but will have to tidy it up a bit at some point:



Took the car outside about an hour and a half before the MOT to remove all wheels and thoroughly degrease it all. Got completely soaked in a monsoon that started the second I stepped out!



And a shot during the MOT:



And here's the clip I took of the rev limiter in action on my phone. It didn't play properly for me from Photobucket



edit: Uploaded it to yousendit.com too, it's in 3gp format:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... AB4B9DD2B0

[paradox]

Bumper looks good mate and congrats on the mot pass

[rich_frst]

nice vid mate and congrats on passing MOT

[Andi]

Well done mate.

Obviously the Master of the Universe title doesn't have any weight with MOT Testers, bloody jobsworths

[festa-1.3]

Pretty tidy job on that bumper mate! Congrats on MOT pass, mine is coming up in a month or so!

[mike_wall15]

That's a credit to yourself for it passing the MOT, not easy on old cars now, and shows you keep your eyes open when working around the car

I didn't think it'd fail mechanically, but was a bit worried they'd be a spot of rust you'd missed, or a fussy MOT man with the lower arm bushes...

I'm amazed you've turned it round, top stuff! Was half thinking you may not get it ready in time! Lovely video but don't know what I'm trying to listen for!

[DaveRom]

James - Thats quality. Might give mine a go with spray cans. See how it turns out. Going for the same look without the filled in swage line though

[Captain Tightpants]

Whoah!

Check you out!

Mate, you've made some quality progress in the last few days. Will be good to see it at FF. I've missed the old girl!

You can cast your eye over my old girl too!

Steve

[xrsi]

glad to hear that it has pased the mot mate!

didnt doubt anything that you had done would fail, just the dreaded tin worm (i thought mine might have had some after having to weld bits the last 2 years! but luckly it didnt) that is ripe on fiesta's of the age

which car will you be in at ford fair scort? will have to catch up with you and discuss the inlet as i aint had chance to do proper drawings etc and really still would like one.

[heeman10]

Andi - Clearly. Maybe I need a badge making up so they're know who they're talking to

festa-1.3 - Thanks, good luck with yours!

Mr Wall - No lower arm bushes these days, just metal rose joints It was certainly looking a bit grim in terms of finishing everything in time for an MOT and the show, am very relieved it all came together In the video you will hear two pops as it hits the limiter, it hardly comes across on the phone but is deafening in the car I need to go and get it taxed today so may take a video with my camcorder and put that up, that'll capture the Israeli-invasion-type sounds

DaveRom - Yeah go for it, just make sure the prep's spot on. As I say, I'm going to flat mine down after the show, as I know it'll come up better, just don't want to risk mucking it up before the show. The colour match isn't perfect, but it's close enough for it still to look better than it was

Scort - You've returned! It'll be good to check your old girl out too - maybe see how the XR2's looking too! Have you got a camcorder of your own? You can put mine in your car if you like, unless you'd rather I take footage from the outside? We can talk about it on Sunday anyhoo

xrsi - I'm quite lucky with my car as it's largely very solid. The last three years have certainly brought some orangeness to parts of the car which is a real shame, it used to be a real gem! Scort's taking the white XR2 to the show to put on track.

[heeman10]

Random pic of the engine bay before Ford Fair, showing a few things actually; Escort master cylinder/servo, enlarged outlet on the breather pot and the silicone hose I had made to replace the Sprite can My new bumper, which you can see isn't as smooth as the rest of the bodywork (yet), oil hoses on the left hand side going down to the oil cooler. That's about it!



Off down to Shropshire tomorrow morning, see y'all at Silverstone!

[doggpk]

[rich_frst]

looks phat matey!!!

wish i was going, defo next year

[heeman10]

Update

As I've said before, I've never really made an effort to make my car look good when I take it to shows, but have made a bit of an effort this year, doing things like repairing/smoothing/respraying the front bumper, and generally trying to make it look more like a show car than a neglected track car!

As it's Trax this weekend, probably the last major outing for the car this year, I've decided to clear up a few more areas of the car that have been bugging me for a long long time.

First up, the headlight adjustor brackets that ALWAYS leap out at me on my car and others. They rust and look manky:



So I took both off, sanded them, primed them, and sprayed Moondust Silver:



Here's a random shot of my oil cooler as I never did put clear pics up:



Next up was the bonnet bar/latch/latch mounting panel. The paint on the panel cracked and rust started just over a year ago. The latch was swapped for Excursion's when we did the TDI swap, and was looking pretty rank. The bonnet bar needed grinding for me to get a few precious last millimetres' clearance to get the fans in, and didn't get painted at the time:



After some sanding, de-greasing, priming etc followed by colour:



The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I've replaced the latch with a low-mileage (almost new) latch I bought from Ford a while ago, with the secondary latch in place



The photo above was taken about a week ago, and although I wish it represented my efforts to turn the ZT into an American street racing car...it's actually because I was removing the major culprit in my engine bay messyness (pic taken after initial de-greasing):



I bought this bonnet from lockesRSparts in about June 2004, and was happy with its external looks, and have bought parts from him since with no problems. However, it had been resprayed (not by him), and the job done on the underside was poor. Also, it looked as though the battery had had a major meltdown and exploded boiling battery acid all under the nearside section:



As with the bumper, the main aim here was to get the bonnet looking better than it was, I'm not looking for a perfect finish.

Step 1: All the rankness sanded back, everything else keyed, and some anti-rust primer applied to a few areas where the acid seemed to have burnt quite a bit of paint back:



Step 2: Bonnet masked up and primed:



Step 3: Primer rubbed down a bit (didn't take much care as I was spraying it horizontally with cans etc...no point in hours of prep work!) and sprayed red:



It just needs to dry, then I'll polish it up as well as it'll come up and fit it back on the car. I'm also painting the hinges, which were sprayed with no primer onto the metal - by Ford I can only assume I've also removed my pneumatic bonnet lifters and sprayed them Moondust Silver after rubbing back the small areas of surface corrosion.

Another area is the rev limiter/flat shift/launch control system I bought off Ade a couple of months ago. I wired in and fitted the limiter itself a while ago, and was about to fit the launch control switch and flat shift switch before realising there was no way to switch all the systems off if I didn't want them working all the time. That would make for a police-magnet of a car on the road with all the noises it would make changing gear etc, so I decided to make the rev limiter control box (controls all systems) switchable, then have the launch control and flat shift on separate switches. I've had one or two incidents where I've hit the limiter overtaking cars on the narrow roads here at home, and it terrifies people, understandably, so if it were to do that every time I changed gear, I'd have trouble on my hands!

Template to mount all switches in the centre of the dash:



Switches are rev limiter system, flat shift, launch control, high/low boost, and the blue launch control activation switch.

I aim to mount all the switches here:





I don't have time to make up the mounting panel, so that will have to come another time. Hopefully I'll have the launch control in and working for Trax anyway, will see what I have time for

[mike_wall15]

It's interesting the things you notice. I've never really looked at those lights adjusters before, but when you point them out then you're right, they look a mess!
And from now on I'll probably be looking at that area on everyone's car!

Good idea with the bonnet too, and ashame you're not closer to me and I'd have given the outside a quick going over to get some shine back!

Nice update amigo

[sleeky]

Someones been a busy boy Looking good mate, unfortuantly I won't be at Trax this year otherwise I would have have a closer look.

Launch control will be interesting, id be temtped to do a 0-60 run with it switched on and then see if you can beat it yourself, man vs machine, the final battle

Lee.

[Excursion]

Nice work mate, it's all in the details isn't it

[heeman10]

Mike - It's weird, but yeah, the headlight adjustors are one of the first things that leap out at me in the Mk3 Fiesta's bay - they're almost ALWAYS corroded, even on a lot of "concours" cars! I would've loved to see the results you could get on the bodywork, save it for when it's been sprayed, if that ever flipping happens!!

Lee - I still haven't met you, clearly avoidance tactics on your behalf In terms of the man vs machine battle...it's not quite that simple. What the launch control system will allow me to do it hold the throttle flat down in neutral without over-revving. I will programme it (sounds more complex than it is) so that with the button held and my foot flat, it will keep cutting the ignition to maintain the engine speed at around 4,000-4,500rpm. The main gain is that I can have the throttle wide open, allowing the turbo to get up to speed before lifting the clutch and leaving the line. Without launch control it's impossible* to get the turbo to produce anywhere near half boost before setting off.

*With very fine timing and foot control I could hold the brakes on hard, give throttle and lift the clutch a touch a split second before leaving the line. That would give resistance to the engine (via the clutch dragging) to stop it over-revving; stop me creeping forwards, setting the timing equipment off, and allow the boost to grow before releasing the clutch and brake pedals at the same time whilst keeping the throttle floored. Clearly a bit tricky!! Holding the throttle against the brakes on the road is a good way to reduce lag for those "pop out" overtaking manoeuvres, but hard to do off the line.

Reg - Yes, if only I had the inclination and equipment to do it all properly. That day will come Must pop down to see the new wheels, Dave you and me should try and do something one convenient afternoon.

[knuckles]

Can u spray the underneath of my bonnet ?
Mine was sprayed without any primer as well

Yours Looks lovely

[heeman10]

Don't bother paying me to paint your bonnet As I found with a set of alloys I "refurbed" a while ago, just having everything the same colour (instead of having the odd dent here with grot settled in it, and a patch of surface rust there that's discoloured) makes a big big difference. Just do what I did, it doesn't take too long to get a reasonable finish It's only when prepping surfaces for a high quality finish that you have to put the long hours in. I rubbed this down for no more than two hours before priming it, then took about 15 minutes to flat the primer off before the colour

[Excursion]

Reg - Yes, if only I had the inclination and equipment to do it all properly. That day will come Must pop down to see the new wheels, Dave you and me should try and do something one convenient afternoon.

Tents, BBQ's, one weekend real soon...something like that?

[heeman10]

Ron - YGPM

[purple_fiesta]

Looks very smart, ill pop through one day when i get my car back if you want and you can give me a ride , I dont think im that far away

[heeman10]

Sounds good, where abouts is Redcar? Are you anywhere near Tebay? If so, right on, sounds good to me. Would love a go out in the ERST, never been in one

[garyhurn77]

looking good james be good to see it in the flesh finally on sunday .. look out for my nova doing the 0-60 lol

bonnet looks much better,

[mike_wall15]

Mike - It's weird, but yeah, the headlight adjustors are one of the first things that leap out at me in the Mk3 Fiesta's bay - they're almost ALWAYS corroded, even on a lot of "concours" cars! I would've loved to see the results you could get on the bodywork, save it for when it's been sprayed, if that ever flipping happens!!

I know what you're saying, but at least if I'd have buggered up this paintwork then it wouldn't be the end of the world!

If you got a respray then it'd be very easy to keep it looking perfect

[purple_fiesta]

Sounds good, where abouts is Redcar? Are you anywhere near Tebay? If so, right on, sounds good to me. Would love a go out in the ERST, never been in one

Not as far as I know , I dont think your that far away, probs 1 or 1:30 or something, redcars near middlesbrough I need to test it to see if its going to make it to ford fair ect next year anyways Since getting it ive also got break down assistance

[TomRS1800]

Sounds good, where abouts is Redcar? Are you anywhere near Tebay? If so, right on, sounds good to me. Would love a go out in the ERST, never been in one

You could have asked @ FiTP you numpty