fiestaturbo.com

[Smo]

Didn't know you were a cake person, Henry... we should talk.

[Rhinopower]

I like it. Come fit mine

[Excursion]

Goiod job. I have updated my article to say "all Mk3.5"

WRT the s Beam - I ran the flexible hoses straight into the rear of the wheel cylinders. I can't remember now if I used Mk4 or Mk3 hoses - one is longer than the other and you need the longer one.

You didn't say what you thought of the driving experience

[Minstral]

when i read the title i was like 'What!', finally fitted it will feel so much better. will text/ring u later ask you something

[Smo]

Ryan - If you were closer I'd gladly come and help you, not that you'd need it But sod doing that on my own again - I was dead this morning, never has working on a car killed me so much!

Mark - The MK3 hoses are the longer of the two, and the MK3 ABS model is slightly longer, but only by about 6mm or something pointless! They did fit, but I just wasn't content that there was enough give, especially when the car is jacked up. Max said he used some braided fronts to do it, which I think would work fine, but I'm going to go through our hoses catalogue at work and find one that has something like a 90 degree hard bend at the end with a pipe nut so that I can do any work on it more conveniently. Failing that, one of our customers can make just about any sort of hose I require, so I may just get him to do a couple of custom jobs for me Oh, and I've only been out for a brief drive and didn't really get to test it out, but I'll take it for a good spin at the weekend! It definitely feels more positive and I think(!) there was less roll, but I really couldn't push it hard enough to find out at the time.

Toby - Okie dokie. If it's about cake, you can't have any.

[hb69]

Didn't know you were a cake person, Henry... we should talk.

Yeah its my second passion, after laughing at spelling mistakes on internet forums

[Smo]

Didn't know you were a cake person, Henry... we should talk.

Yeah its my second passion, after laughing at spelling mistakes on internet forums

Like Shaboygan?

[Smo]

Oh, and I'm pretty certain I've killed this iB5 box...

[Rhinopower]

How????????

[Smo]

Right...

Last night, I took it for a drive, got some fuel, went down a back road and gave it a quick blat - gears were fine. Further along in my drive, I missed a gear at some point, and just put it down to me not being used to the new linkage. After a gentle drive further down the road and then on to another country lane, I tried to change gear quickly while giving it another little blat and it was quite notchy. If I change gear just normally and leisurely, it's OK(ish), but if I try to change gear quickly (not even properly hammering it like you would on a strip) it basically just makes it a two-step motion with a big notchy feel half-way, if you get me? It forces me to change gear at its own pace, so out of gear, and then if I put light pressure on the lever, it'll then slot into gear.

If I'm sat still, say at a junction, it's fine, I can change gear quickly, but if moving, it's super notchy. But the gears don't crunch at all...

I'm guessing I've either fried the oil, or killed the synchros, but I can't believe I'd have killed them in every gear in one go? It is very possible that it's slightly better in and out of 5th, but it's hard to say.

The only other thing that I haven't had a chance to check yet is that some how I've managed to dump some fluid and it's got low, but there's no whining or anything. If the weather is better tomorrow I'll check the level.

Bloody boxes.

[hb69]

How do you use so many gearboxes?

[Smo]

How do you use so many cars?

I don't know... I'm pretty sick of it now. My original 1.8 Orion box lasted the longest, and if I think about it, I don't think that one actually did go notchy, it just got a tiny bit noisy. I wish I'd left it in now! But all my others have gone super notchy and just generally crap to use. I really can't see how anything I've done would cause it to do what it's done. I can't see it being the new linkage?

Do iB5s have plungers or a similar mechanism like the older boxes? I know if they do, they're definitely different because there's no long studs hanging out of the boxes!

[dontpannic]

How do you use so many cars?

BURN

[knuckles]

Oh, and I'm pretty certain I've killed this iB5 box...

[boeb]

sure the linkage bushes etc are all ok

[Smo]

Yeah, they're really spot on. The gearchange is pretty much OK when not moving, nice and positive, just feels like a MK5 Zetec S does!

[hb69]

put the old linkage on, see what happens

[Smo]

It won't make any difference. The Zetec S linkage is smooth and free-moving, and like I say, it's fine when the car is at a standstill. If it was just the linkage, logic suggests it would be causing problems when the car isn't moving. It's definitely in the box, whatever the issue is.

[knuckles]

put the old linkage on, see what happens

+1

wats the worst that can happen

[Smo]

Hopefully found a new box already... Will know in the morning!

[russ-RST]

Thanks for the info on that mate
Just read the title and after almost having a heart attack I realised you have FINALLY fitted that ZS beam you have had for many moons great progress mate looks ace, shame about the gearbox dilemma maybe you should try pressing the clutch down before you change gear oj, if ya need a hand with anything you have my number give me a text
Ps. I like the zorst suits the subtle sleeper look of it IMO

[Smo]

Haha, the exhaust is the thing I hate most! It stands out way too much. But I've got something else I've wanted to fit for ages now, it's just finding the enthusiasm to do it. I need a lot more power too, it's just boring me (even though I can't make a box last 1000 miles yet ), so I don't know what I'm doing yet. Everything else is getting sorted around it though, so whatever happens, it should handle well and stop well

Still don't know what's happening with this gearbox yet, I'm still waiting for the guy to get back to me with the mileage... I really don't want the hassle of trying to fit an MTX box, but I feel like I'm losing patience with iB5 boxes

[Excursion]

Not sure why you're killing gearboxes so often. Do you use the genuine Ford oil? (synthetic).

I've seen a few quarter mile videos from mk3 Fiestas and the way some people change (ham fisted) will kill Synchros for for sure, not saying your doing that but its something to be aware of

[Rhinopower]

If your not blowing one up every 6 months simply not trying hard enough!

[Smo]

Right, my first box with the 1.8 was a 16v Orion box, which I filled with semi 75w90 GL-5. Now I actually have no idea why I used that but I wouldn't have done so without looking it up or being advised. Now that box actually lasted a long time, and never died properly, it just got a tiny bit noisy, so only replaced it just to be on the safe side.

(I then looked up the gearbox oil and found it should be EP80w90 GL-4, so from this point on, I used that oil.)

So to replace the Orion box, I fitted an XR2i 16v box which lasted 3 days before it jammed into 2nd gear.

My next box was another XR2i 16v box which lasted may be a year tops, before it got noisy, jerky and notchy.

I replaced that with an XR3i box which I fitted before doing the Performance Ford feature and after only 2 laps of Bruntingthorpe, it started to struggle going into 4th gear. That also became noisy, jerky and notchy before I even got to Ford Fair and try and kill it on the 0-60

This was then replaced with the iB5 I've got now. I filled this box with 75w90 semi synthetic GL-4, knowing it should be fully, but hoping I would get away with it for the time being purely because of the horrendous cost of the fully synth GL-4 spec stuff! This box was absolutely fine until the night last week where it was fine leaving the petrol station and then after a brief blat and the point where I missed the gear, all gears suddenly became notchy. In all honesty, I didn't hammer it like I've hammered the previous boxes, just a few swift changes with the Zetec S linkage I thought 5th was slightly better, but that's actually just as notchy too. Yet it's fine when not moving. I can't believe in that one moment that all the synchros have knackered up without some prior warning signs? And I'm not sure I believe it's caused by running the semi synth oil... I do wish I'd kept the original Ford oil in there now, but at the point I drained it I hadn't realised it was a special oil.

I'm picking up this GTi box in about a week's time, and it's still got all the original oil in it, however I have managed to source some proper Ford correct spec oil, so either way I should be good now! No way am I hammering this one at all though, it needs to last at least one track day in the near future, and I'm going to be so gentle with the gear changes!

[Rhinopower]

What clutch are you using and what sort of milage? Sounds like maybe its not disengaging completely.

[Excursion]

Got it - is it the way you've mounted your linkage? At stand still did you make sure that the mounting bar/isolator is sitting half way along the shaft that's attached to the actual linkage? It sounds like the linkage is out of travel, binding on the car, and putting pressure on the selector rod.

The requirement for 'float' in the gear linkage is much greater in the Mk3 than the ZS, as the Mk3 engine mounting configuration allows much more fore-aft movement of the powertrain.

[Excursion]

P.S. the change is smoother with the Ford oil, and there's less transmission loss!

It's worth changing it on the new box, FPO have 20% discount on the WSD-M2C200-C oil at the moment:

http://www.fordonlineparts.co.uk/produc ... 45737-2756

[Smo]

Got it - it's the way you've mounted your linkage. At stand still did you make sure that the mounting bar/isolator is sitting half way along the shaft that's attached to the actual linkage? It sounds like the linkage is out of travel, binding on the car, and putting pressure on the selector rod.

The requirement for 'float' is in the gear linkage is much greater in the Mk3 than the ZS, as the Mk3 mounting system allows much more fore-aft movement of the powertrain.

Hmmm... I never even thought about that. The problem is, it's near-on impossible to mount it any other way than the way I've done it with the MK3 floor pan. So may be I actually needed to move the whole lot even further forward by shortening everything slightly more and actually cut away some of the front section of the selector opening in order to allow for more movement/travel through the isolator? I made a poor assumption that the small amount of movement I'd allowed for would be enough! But given that it was fine when moving the night previous to this, I'm guessing even if I altered the linkage now or refitted the old linkage, that I've pretty much permanently damaged the box now... I bet if I'd left both Vibratechnics mounts on the box I'd never have done this to it!

Ryan, I'm using a 220mm Escort iB5 clutch - I'm fairly sure it's not the clutch, not just from the pretty good potential reason above, but it just doesn't feel like the clutch. I know what you mean though, it is that same sort of feel through the gearbox like when the clutch isn't working right. This one is brand new, only done about 650 miles as the first one I fitted when I put the 2.0 and the iB5 box in had a problem, so replaced it under warranty about 250 miles into my running-in.

Mark - Yeah, knuckles is sorting me out anyway I just wish I'd never dumped the stuff that came out of the box!!! Just didn't even think about it.

[Excursion]

Hmmm... I never even thought about that. The problem is, it's near-on impossible to mount it any other way than the way I've done it with the MK3 floor pan. So may be I actually needed to move the whole lot even further forward by shortening everything slightly more and actually cut away some of the front section of the selector opening in order to allow for more movement/travel through the isolator? I made a poor assumption that the small amount of movement I'd allowed for would be enough! But given that it was fine when moving the night previous to this, I'm guessing even if I altered the linkage now or refitted the old linkage, that I've pretty much permanently damaged the box now... I bet if I'd left both Vibratechnics mounts on the box I'd never have done this to it!

I wouldn't give up on it just yet. How well does it change when you're driving at a constant speed in one direction? i.e. you're not putting any load on the engine mounts. You may find it's something silly like the linkage has been wedged against the shell. I think you'd be doing well to damage the box by putting force on the selector shaft, but we shall see..

[Smo]

I can take all load off it, basically coast, and it's still be notchy while rolling along at any speed, between each and every gear. It's only when I come to a complete standstill that the notch isn't apparent, or at least it's very unnoticeable! The linkage is completely clear from everything...

It goes into each gear, it's just got a 'notchy point' slowing me down, and so if I go from say 3rd into 4th, I can do it gently, and it'll still have the notchy pause between gears, and with light pressure still on the lever, within a split second, it'll drop straight in, it's not like I have to force it, but obviously if I try to change quickly, the restriction, for want of a better word, is very much still there. I can force it and it'll go in, but it just feels like it'll damage things more.

Does that make any sense?

There's no crunch or anything, just notchy!

I will swap the linkage over at some point over the weekend, but I can't see it helping, this really feels like I've done some damage

[Excursion]

I can take all load off it, basically coast, and it's still be notchy while rolling along at any speed, between each and every gear. It's only when I come to a complete standstill that the notch isn't apparent, or at least it's very unnoticeable! The linkage is completely clear from everything...

It goes into each gear, it's just got a 'notchy point' slowing me down, and so if I go from say 3rd into 4th, I can do it gently, and it'll still have the notchy pause between gears, and with light pressure still on the lever, within a split second, it'll drop straight in, it's not like I have to force it, but obviously if I try to change quickly, the restriction, for want of a better word, is very much still there. I can force it and it'll go in, but it just feels like it'll damage things more.

Does that make any sense?

There's no crunch or anything, just notchy!

I will swap the linkage over at some point over the weekend, but I can't see it helping, this really feels like I've done some damage

Hmm not good, but on the plus side these boxes are very easy to strip and rebuild.

[Smo]

Sorry Mr. Excursion, I'm terrible replying sometimes... I've got another box I'm picking up on Sunday from an Escort GTi - hopefully it's all good. For now, I'm going to go back to the standard linkage, just to be safe! I'll look at the Zetec S linkage again in the new year. I just want some use out of it now! I'll probably take the old box apart when I get a spare hour somewhen and have a look at it, but it never had the most ideal of ratios anyway being the 1.6 box.

Well today I finished bleeding my brakes with the help of Mr. Minstral (Toby), who just so happens to have an excellent foot for pushing brake pedals. He also has an almost obsessive love for fine footwear, so he was an obvious choice for the job.

A couple of weeks or so ago, I fitted a MK2 Mondeo M/C and servo, again with the help of Toby, but couldn't get a good pedal. However, at the time we were losing light bad and it was just a nightmare trying to bleed the system up properly, so decided to get it done today. The pedal is a little lower than with the old original M/C and servo, obviously due to the length of the rod into the servo, so had to adjust the brake light switch to stop the brake lights from being permanently on!

Anyway, one photo:



Toby pointing out the nasty temporary bung for the hydraulic clutch, but never mind, it does the job for now. I've got to put a jubilee clip on it, but it's well and truly wedged in there, so it won't go anywhere

Definitely a better pedal, but haven't tried it out properly yet!

[Excursion]

I see you got the non ABS version, is that 23 or 25mm bore?

[Smo]

As far as I'm aware, they're all 25.4mm. But this also has 25.40 stamped on the side if I remember rightly! But yeah, I wanted a non-ABS version, although I think I could probably have cleared the airbox better and more neatly had I used an ABS version! Oh if only for hindsight...