fiestaturbo.com

[Simon84uk]

Right first thing I need to point out is OMFG! I got lots to go on about

I'll tell it with pictures (might add some text after I get done), after all a pictures worth 1000 words so this must be a good size novel by now

Will do it over several posts as if it crashes mid post I will and probably go on a rampage

ZVH Engine Build
Engine before I got too far stripping and forget to take pic


Block dismantled


ZVH water pump conversion plate and tensioner holes tapped


Quick lick of paint and turbo oil return


ARP rod bolts, don't leave home without them


Top of block showing top of pistons and the blocking for CVH head


New head gasket on


Head in pieces - added uprated springs and cam and a damn good clean


Head bolted up


Oil take-off for turbo & crank case breather


Tubby on


Change of plan last minute, put a thick orange mix on then a blow over with VW Orange (same as I used on my 2i 16v mondeo engine years ago)

[Simon84uk]

A Pillar
Pillar section welded in to be fillered


Engine Bay
A good lick of white paint


Block off top heater hole


Block off lower heater hole


Bare bay before engine in time


Engine In
Going in


Loadsa space


Had to take engine back out, slap the box on and take up from underneath in the end


Rad in place


Cut out section where FMIC sits in


Starting to lay the wiring out


A bit of an out of time picture but shows rough layout big air intake

[Simon84uk]

Some Body Pics
More hidden treasure






Delocking




Bumper modifications








Front end mock up (recent-ish)

[Simon84uk]

Dash
Dash in first evolution


Dash now
?????????????????????? can't find pic yet

Megasquirt & Injectors
ECU Mounted


Pic of new injector (there's 4 ofc)


Oops'
Remote oil filter leaking like a well used paper johnny (I changed it to 1.8 oil pump and only afterwards I realised I was sealing it wrong so could go back on later)



Normal Oil spray (blocked)


My problem child oil spray, bolt snapped, drilled out, snapped drill bit in there, then tried a seried of various drills, swearing and crying until I gave up and drilled & tapped another hole just off to the left.


Bought a out of tank cossie pump by mistake (yes I am that dumb!)



Toys
Nitrous
- Bottle


- Where to mount?


- Mounted (sorry it was dark )


- Spray & solenoids

[Simon84uk]

Right final post hopefully for tonight

Getting ready to tow to mates for welding
Rear discs fitted


Car ready to roll






At mates place
Just arrived (14th Feb, his and my mrs were not happy )


The evening after



Back at mine


You will probably notice the wheels changing between 2 sets throughout, the GTi 5 spokes and the RS2k ones. Turns out neither clear the cossie calipers now so having to use my 2i wheels which are really ugly and I need to think about this again!

Not got any since then... that was about 3 weeks ago now. Gonna do some more to get the Megasquirt working tomorrow so will try and remember to take some up to date pics.


If you got this far without skipping, you have far too much time on your hands

Simon

[EUFez]

Awesome progress. This will be awesome!

[Simon84uk]

Thanks, I can't believe I didn't add pics as I was going along.

Really want her to be ready for RS Central Day in about 4 weeks. But I have problems with getting her to fire on the new ECU, got a few things to try tomorrow then i'll be a very happy boy


Simon

[stembo21]

looking good mate

[Dave G fsi]

Brilliant project you've got going there mate!

Good luck finishing it off

[Matt_fez]

Good work so far mate - keep at it!!

[Simon84uk]

Thanks for the comments, didn't get a chance at weekend after all was too busy (again). Should get a chance this week though

Shouldn't take too long to change maps but whether it works or not is yet to be seen


Simon

[jonyb4]

what happend to this then mate?

[Simon84uk]

Hi all, it's been a while so thought might post update as not done so in 18 months now :S.

Progress has been slow, I go through patches of giving up with it. I refuse to sell/break it though and bit by bit it's coming together again. Mainly because my mate has become interested and started helping me, so cheers buddy.

She's pretty much there now (finally), got a few minor things to put right and still need to finish setting it up.

Since last posts the general idea of what's gone on is a lot of tidying and re-doing parts I (my mate, lol) wasn't happy with.

We had her running again maybe mid last year with alloy stock size radiator and T3 but seemed to heat up very quick so we decided to go for a bigger one.

While we were going about fitting bigger radiator (just so didn't have to re-position it a few months later) we decied to fit my T34. Wasn't too bad a job, couple of cuts and welds to the downpipe and a little *cough* modification to the front beam.

Radiator was a bit more tricky to get in as decided on one that would literally just fit. Had to remove the slam panel and some material round the headlights and front skirt. In hind sight could have possibly left the slam panel in place and maybe taken the lip off. Ah well, replaced it with an aluminium unequal angle bar and provided me some nice mounting points.

Made a nice shroud and fan mount for it and seems a lot better now, not so much heat soak from turbo/downpipe now. Also mounted the intercooler more securely with some steel brackets and a top one which I had to feed over top of radiator. Not to happy with the top one but will do for the time being.

Got the master cylinder fitted, not too hard a job but bleeding after was a massive pain, 2 of the lines wouldn't go using the brake pedal + shouting technique so ended up using positive pressure (tried vacuum one but didn't work to well) on them which then seemed alright.

Anyway took some pictures of it's semi-current state (before master cylinder got sorted)....

Few of the outside










Inside




Centre console and odd speedo




Few with the bonnet on (Forgot to mention, have taken the frame off the bonnet as it hit on the crossover pipe, little rickety, but if get's too annoying will go for a carbon/fibreglass one.)






A few other small things needing finishing:
- Fuel guage (Thinking about re-using stock one, with a bit of butchering)
- Buy water temp gauge and sender (has it on the Megasquirt software but can't have laptop out on track!)
- Oil temp and pressure gauges aswell
- Finish wiring the heated screen

Hopefully will remember to keep this thread alive as I get bits done on it


Si.

[Simon84uk]

After seeing the dj_yd belgian rebuild thread, it has inspired me to get on and do some more on mine.

Sooo... a mini update:

It's 3rd birthday has been and gone now, can't believe how little motivation I've had recently lol.

Anyway been doing little bits off and on, most recent of which is I ditched the electronic speedo thing and have replaced it with 2 80mm racetech gauges. I also purchased at same time Oil pressure, Oil temp and Water temp gauges and sensers. I have fitted them all now but still need to do the wiring.

I cut out a nice carbon fibre surround for the 2 main gauges, need to mount that to the car somehow.

I've set myself a target of getting it on the road by my birthday! (Mid Aug) I have phoned M-Tech maybe a few weeks ago about getting it set up, as I don't have the drive to map it anymore. Just want it working now so I can start improving bits and just having fun with it.

Shame I missed FITP this year, maybe make the next one


Si

[dj_yd]

i just read through yours, some good things going one here it whould be a shame not finishing it
it's going to be a nice car when done, just keep the work going and update's comming, i'll keep an eye on this

grts

[Simon84uk]

Ok time for an update...

I made a checklist of things I wanted done before MOT time and in general (and some bit's that could do with re-addressing).

Done:
- Air filter box / heat shield
- Jubilee down coolant "breather" pipes
- Order longer up-pipe (63x300mm), turbo elbow to first IC elbow (51x150mm) - Done (Merlin pipes are best one's I've come by and now swear by them)
- Fit above pipes
- Secure Nitrous solenoids, purge and inner car line
- Fit new GReddy Profec B-Spec II boost controller
- Wire up 5 centre console gauges
- Mount dash with aluminium bracket
- Wire up 2 dash gauges and warning lights
- Order and fit "C" clips for door pins (Part #6122626)
- Create and wire up fuel gauge (haha, got to get a picture of this up. Crude but effective)
- Mount fire extinguisher nozzles in engine bay
- Re-mount mirror using decent fixing kit (I bought foam pad one, it was pants. Bought loctite one and is savagely strong)

To Do (Soon, i.e before MOT):
- Sort tacho signal feed (3 Zener diodes across coils or Megasquirt output)
- Purchase 30A fuse (will explain below)
- Wrap downpipe
- Purchase metal tie for above
- Grille NS fog carrier and IC gap (and purchase grille)
- Mark fuel gauge max (on way to MOT fill to brim)
- Check tyre pressures
- Fan override switch

To Do (Near future):
- Grip-fill in new filler cap
- Blank sunroof - Rusting out again, just going to fit aluminium sheet there until I get around to carbon roof.
- Vibratechnics engine mounts (gearbox and OS)
- Fit Parada's and 888's to my other wheels
- Consider re-mounting harness rear points (either fit cage or put to floor)
- Brace bonnet if drives me too mad (Or carbon/fibreglass one)
- Do a rust once-over check again and then rattle can it to seal it (not going to be a pretty car as only going to end up in a gravel trap someplace)

To Do (Eventually, lol!):
- Fit front strut brace (sitting in garage at moment but not essential to get it on the road)
- Wire up nitrous
- Fit rollcage
- Change gearbox for Stage 2+
- Build and fit new bottom end with forged pistons AND RODS!
- Fuel cell and Bosch 044 external pump
- Poly windows
- Remote central locking kit
- Carbon bonnet, roof and tailgate (or fibreglass, money dependant)


So not too bad a progress for a Weekend and a few nights, the end is in sight. Well, I say end but as everyone knows a project car is never finished haha. Most the time has been spent on making decent wiring looms for everything, I don't want to have to go back and re-do anything any more, taking a leaf out of dj_yd's book! Do it right the first time

I had a slight issue when wiring the tacho signal feed I thought I could just take a line off the coil A side and run it straight there. I was a bit wrong! When it came to test it the car would not fire despite being running only 30 minutes prior to that, I spent about an hour last night and decided to re-address it again tonight. I connected it up to megatune on laptop and everything seemed fine, so I decided to detach the wire from the coil A feed, still nothing. I started thinking why it wouldn't spark, I had previously tied the crank position sensor wire up safe so thought it was getting interference so wouldn't spark. I soon realised it was working as the coil LED's on the board don't come on without that input. I then thought I had either fried the coilpack by constantly discharging one side of coil, or blown the drivers on Megasquirt board. So I whipped the board out and all seems fine, then it hit me, I was thinking too deep! I realised that I hadn't checked the simple things first, and would you beleive it I had blown the 30A coil fuse! The constant discharge must have done it. Ah well at least the fuse done it's job, my own fault for wasting 2.5 hours trying to diagnose a blown fuse lol.

Anyway not had a chance to start it since that as it was about 22:15 by the time I found it, and the neighbours have a new little girl. They would kill my ass if I started the noisy RS then.

Going to buy a few loose bits tomorrow, not sure whether to solder in the megasquirt tacho output to SPR1/2 or to try the 3 diode setup yet, will see. So providing the rain stays off a bit at least I may even be looking at MOT next Monday after brief setup this weekend.

Another note, I noticed my fuel pressure regulator has had it's cap bit drilled out and the allan key head visible, really hope the previous owner hasn't fooked it about too much. Shouldn't be too much of an issue as will be custom mapping it anyway, but still too much pressure and the fuel line joiners are at risk above 5.5 Bar.

I had a look back through my posts at work today, setting my budget at 2.5 to 3k. Oh dear, it's clocking on for almost 3 times that now, but will be good fun when it's all done.

Pictures to follow when I got some more done! Hopefully one of me grinning with a fooking MOT certificate!


Si.

[jayrs]

its always the simple things that stump you but look at it this way mate, you have double checked everything and know it all to be fine so was it really a couple hours wasted for what now is, peace of mind

as for the FPR, i wouldnt worry about it too much, its prob only been adjusted a bit, if you wanna be sure get a pressure gauge on it to double check

[dj_yd]

good progres

i have build myself a megasquirt to( will do an update on that soon on my thread ), as my ford ecu has internal edis , it has a tach out pin ,so i build a tach out circuit (a transistor and a resistor)on the megasquirt bord.
i have tested this on my bench and it works perfect , no messing with the coils, just a wire form the MSQ to your tach(i use my original loom without chopping any wires or conectors, so i don't have to ad this tach wire)
i have a litle movie clip from the testing , i will post it when i update my topic

[phil_pearce]

Hello mate!

Good to hear your finally getting on with the task in hand! Once yours is done you can give me a hand!

[Simon84uk]

Thanks

I switched the fuse out and started fine last night. I tried a few more things with the tacho feed to no avail. I also tested out my speed sensor wiring, also not working

I have created this diagram (quick paint one) to show what I have done, a) so I have record of where I went wrong and b) see if anyone can spot any mistakes. Might also post up in Technical Problems section if I can't work it out soon.



I was getting weird occurrences with both gauges where they would flick on and off, the connectors were loose so I pushed them in until felt click this time. But still dodgy, also redone the earth for them with some Vaseline also, still flickery. I'm assuming I got something massively wrong somewhere along the line.

But on plus side drove her up road to test speedo (didn't work) but she drove well, to about 20mph at least haha.

Hopefully FPR hasn't been wound down, will soon see when it comes to setting it up.

Look forward to seeing your clip as maybe it can point me in right direction...

I'll give you a hand when it's MOT'd won't be as frantic then, still want to do this Wales trip with Robbie this year? What's left on yours?


Si.

[Simon84uk]

Just found this to extend "Method B" might try that tonight.




Si.

[phil_pearce]

I'll give you a hand when it's MOT'd won't be as frantic then, still want to do this Wales trip with Robbie this year? What's left on yours?
Si.

arnt you the pro on paint! I will be doing the trip if the car is running, doubt the other half will allow me to take the Mazda!

Hmm what's left on mine...

Finish the zetec inlet adapter
Fit inlet
Weld t3 flange to tubular manifold
Fit turbo
Modify my downpipe to fit turbo
Fit intercooler
Fit water hoses and radiator
Fit twin fans
Fit oil breather
Fit gearbox mounts
Wire in boost, oil pressure and oil temp gauges
Customise wiring loom
Fit some seats
Strutbraces
Get the car mot'd, mapped and insured


Think that's about it!

[dj_yd]

Just found this to extend "Method B" might try that tonight.




Si.

thats how i did it, i used 1k resistors
and you must install a jumper from the hole marked S12C to the hole marked JS9 (+12C) at your msq pcb. to get a current flowing true the resistor at the base when the ecu gives the trigger pulse for the tach so the transistor wil act as a (very fast)switch
this is where i had trouble at first , a made the circuit and it didn't work. after a bit of thinking i installed the jumper and all was fine
DO NOT INSTALL THIS JUMPER FOR NON-MegaSquirt-II APPLICATIONS - IT WILL DESTROY THE PROCESSOR!!
but i think that you use msq 2 if you have the option for the tach out
you also have to get the tach out to the db37 connector , i think i used the js1 from the ecu and got it out at IAC1B or you can use js0 and IAC1A if you havn't used it. I have a 2nd coil driver on there
and than in megatune/tunerstudio set the tach out to the correct output (the one you used)
that should do it

[Simon84uk]

arnt you the pro on paint! I will be doing the trip if the car is running, doubt the other half will allow me to take the Mazda!

Aye, done my entire College Electrical Engineering coursework project using it haha!

Hmm what's left on mine...

(Paraphrasing a bit) Sh*t Loads!

Think that's about it!

Damn, so you're maybe a month or two out still then. Have you bought all the parts yet? I'll set you a challenge if you like for us two up the pod by a certain date! Robbie can trail in the cloud of proper size turbo dust, haha


Cheers dj_yd, yeah it is a MS2 v3 board. I just stole a handful of 1k resistors and variable pots from work, but didn't have any transistors so just ordered some. Hopefully they will arrive before the weekend so I can get on top of it asap. Going to move the speed sensor onto it's own power supply as no idea what sort of current it uses, also doubting it a little anyway as was the one the car came with (probably one of the few things original remaining lol).

Finished work late today so not had a chance to get on and do more aiming to wire up heated screen and do downpipe tomorrow night.

Si.

[Simon84uk]

Ok, so update time.

The latter part of this week and weekend's been pretty productive, even to the point of a few road tests. I'll break it down a bit...

Thurs and Fri was just finishing off various loose ends and got the downpipe wrapped. On Saturday I managed to sort the speedo problem, turned out to be an issue with the connector fittings coming apart inside. Still seems to be a bit temperamental with the gauge cutting out and in, maybe I'll redo the earth when I get round to it.

The transistors I ordered for the tacho output have not arrived yet still so that's on hold until it arrives.

Later on Saturday afternoon my mate came down with his LM1 wideband so we could set it up for MOT emissions. Managed to get the idle sweet and fast idle emissions down to pass the pre-cat test. It was then time for a roadtest, there's a nice 1 mile round route in my area very little traffic or anything. Done 1 lap fine no problems was a little rich, so we brought it back to bring map down a bit. All gauges worked fine (except tacho of course), we noticed that my ebc showed -0.60 Kpa/10 and racetech boost gauge showed -0.6 Bar but the ecu was seeing 40 Kpa. We both got a bit confused here thinking the sensor wasn't calibrated properly, even changed the boost hose going to the ecu sensor. Soon it dawned on me that it was in fact correct, 40 Kpa is -60 Kpa (according to the ebc) I remembered reading that the ebc was actually reading in bar not Kpa so lot of worry over nothing.

The road test continued on for another lap, again also fine, even started to look into boost. Came on then for a second lap, got the first 1/2 done fine then noticed bit of smoke coming from drivers side front. I was intending to pull over after the junction I had just got to, but pulling out the car struggled. Needed to overtake a parked car just after pulling out but every inch was a struggle, it eventually stalled as I got my nose in with tail hanging out. I started it again fine then tried going and stalled again trying to pull forward, saw a car coming so got out to push it in... would not move, like was in gear or handbrake was on. Turns out the smoke from drivers side front was actually the brake bound on. My mate got out car to help me push and was still a struggle to overcome it, but we got it back in. Left it for about 5 minutes to cool down then drove the last 1/2 circuit back, on arrival home the brake was smoking again so I got the laser thermometer on the disc 190 deg!

Looked into service kits and my options for what to do, I would have gone with the wilwoods if I didn't have other big expenses looming (i.e engine and gearbox) but I decided just to go for recon units seeing as pistons, seals and sliders would be about 50ish each side anyway.

On the Sunday I decided to take a quick look at the brakes and address some rust that I knew was about and check out the underside while car is off the road for a few days awaiting new calipers. While it was in the air I took the opportunity to cut my rear valance which I had taken a sledge hammer to previously when trying to fit an annoying poly exhaust bush.

That brings us up to date, I took some pictures over this weekend to show progress.














To Do:

Order and fit recon calipers
Wire up MS tacho out circuit
Heated screen - Solder in power and alternator signal
Fan override - Mount switch and wire up


Si.

[Simon84uk]

Bit of a hectic week and weekend...

Brakes:

First thing Monday I ordered fresh pair of callipers from my local place, which arrived in on the Wednesday. I went up before work that day and gave him my old ones, just the callipers, and paid him in advance so I could send mother down in the afternoon as I wouldn't be back in time. Anyway I got them that evening when I got back, I came to fit them and realised that they didn't have the sliders in which I left in the ones I dropped off grrr! Luckily when I popped there first thing Thursday he hadn't sent them off yet so was able to retrieve them. While I had no sliders on the Wednesday I decided to recondition the hangers, took them back with a wire wheel then filed off the most part of the rust. They look much better So all was fitted on the Thursday evening, didn't bleed them as had no pedal pusher volunteer or pressure kit to hand! I popped out (with hangover) to grab Eezibleed kit from same local place and bled them up as soon as got home. I'm definitely a big fan of that kit, awesomely easy to use!


Rust:

NSR Arch, been working on that over last weekend and during week. Inside wheel-arch has been taken back, treated, painted and undersealed where needed. Repeated same for OSR and working around the ruddy rain managed to get it done over this weekend, both of which I cut the lip out for clearance later on and applied proper paint coats to seal it all in. Found a large patch under some underseal on top of inner arch which was a bit unexpected, luckily it didn't go through and wasn't too awkward to clean up. Need to touch on a little on the floorpan tomorrow night as the car is still raised up. While arches are off I re-studded them and applied fresh trip tape, not put back on yet as adhesive wasn't dry in time for refitting.

Didn't want to go too overkill on it all, just enough for it to last until it will all be done again over winter, when I buy a spit to sort any rust once and for all before spraying her.


Shiny new toys:

Last weekend I paid for some shiny new toys from one of the members on here... Area-Six lower arms, Bailey header tank and some Vibratechnics gearbox mounts. These arrived early Wednesday morning, luckily all the parts are fairly resilient as the courier had battered the sh!t out the box. I inspected the parts and all were in-tact and seemed decent condition. I fitted the header tank pretty much next job after bleeding brakes on Saturday, easy job and good excuse to flow some new coolant. Got to say these things look awesome and really freshen up that corner of engine bay. I cleaned up the little surfaced rust on the mounts and painted them to stop anymore, again these seem to be barely worn, no signs of wear at all.

I spent the off time this weekend stripping back the lower arms, took the rose joints out as they were covered in bit of crap and also the ball joints to recondition them too. Cleaned the lot and ran another coat of paint over the bodies, weren't in bad condition but just to do it once before they went on. I bought some boots from local motor place as I was aware one had a small split in, I got a short-fat one and a tall-skinny one as wasn't sure which one I needed before they arrived. Turns out the tall-skinny one fits the ball joint, however the short-fat one seems to be a decent makeshift boot for the rose joints! Will keep most the cack out anyway. Going to pop there tomorrow morning too to pick up another 7, then maybe fit them next weekend, no rush on that though.


Electricals:

Fitted transistor setup to ECU and set output, seems to work alright from cranking input as fuel pump had stopped priming. Also finished wiring in heated screen, again can't test until it's running due to the alternator input being required to enable the system.


New problems!:

Fuel pump not priming, wipers not working, Dipped/Main beam not working (NSF sidelight didn't work before which still doesn't), Brake lights seem to have stopped working. I'm assuming it's a relay/fuse issue as all seem to be semi related. But will look into that tomorrow, hopefully once I got that done


That about covers this week, been hectic but still no MOT! This idea of having it done by my birthday is slowly approaching failure

Si.

[Simon84uk]

Okay been about a month since last update!

Well... I made my MOT by my Birthday target

The brake issue was probably the biggest headache, but I wound in the pushrod adjuster in the servo a bit and seems to work fine now In regards to the electrics all playing silly-buggers magically it resolved itself, can only assume they got wet when I had her outside in the rain. So following that I made sure all the engine grommets, screen and blanks were all sealed and siliconed properly. I also re-done my sun-roof as the primer layer wasn't water tight and had just let it rust, I'll be ditching this in favour of carbon or fibreglass as soon as I have the cash but needed something doing in mean time.

Time nowadays is pretty much just spending time mapping her, going pretty well although getting some weird results where I map a particular load site area then maybe another 20 mins driving I go back through that site and it's running like cack and spluttering. Very odd and ultra frustrating, I guess persistence is key so will just keep at it. But taking her out the first time I realised I needed to do something I never thought I would do again... I fitted a chavvy sunstrip As I ditched my visors I kind of had no choice, went for a subtle black one so hopefully not too bad.

I picked up an MTX-75 gearbox with Quaiffe LSD and some gears apparently (not had it apart so can't confirm that, but seen receipt for the LSD) so looking into fitting this asap, read about too many problems with the BC box so decided this was my only option. I also just got hold of an RS2000 to steal gearbox mounts and any conversion parts from, I put up a breaking thread if anyone needs anything. But for now have fitted my Vibratechnics gearbox mounts to my recon S2 LSD box.

I came to Ford Fair this year as I missed the last 2, although the RS didn't make it ;( Came to see the FT stand, some nice cars about . I picked up a Vibratechnics OS engine mount while I was there although not had a chance to fit this yet.

Other than that over the month I bought some more shiny/alloy engine parts just to tidy it up some more, looks a lot better now. Also decided to ditch my square number plate and get a stick on one, should again tidy up the front end. Additionally last week some Compomotive MO5's came up for sale on here, this was fate I decided! The chap was in Croydon and on Saturday I was going to be there visiting family so I pounced on the opportunity Got them fitted first thing Yesterday pre-mapping session.

I'll have to put some pictures up as she's looking quite mean now Original idea of subtlety doesn't seem to apply anymore unfortunately.


Si.

[Rs Adz]

brill project well done on sorting the rust one proper mean looking frst keep up the good work

[Simon84uk]

I know I keep promising to update this, but to be perfectly honest the RS is giving me so much Jip at every turn and with life's other commitments I just don't get round to it. So sorry about that.

Status so far:

Back in Feb I got her booked into M-Tech for mapping as I gave up trying to get it working myself. They fitted Bosch 044 pump and swirl pot for me at same time. Got it mapped to run in at 0.8 bar and 217bhp. Now the problems started...

Whilst the RS was there it started leaking water, I knew there was a little leak from somewhere before but when was up and running it was collecting down by the bottom pulley and getting flicked up on the windscreen. There was also slight steam coming out the exhaust. Anyway, they asked whether they should fix it or what I wanted to do. So I drove up that afternoon to discuss. Choices were: get them to strip mine and whilst at it fit new forged bits, get them to build a Zetec Turbo for me, or take her home and do it myself. I decided I'd get her back home, as I wanted to assess what the hell had happened before making any decision by stripping it down.

It didn't take long to find the water leak :S my own fault really. The steel plate for the water pump conversion was ever so slightly fouling on a bolt washer and lifting the edge by maybe less than 1mm I then whipped the head off to check the source of the steam as I suspected the head gasket had breached somewhere, it had. On cylinder 1 there was a slight breach, was odd as there was no sign of overheating anywhere so not sure what caused it. Maybe one of the head bolts wasn't torqued up correctly, who knows.

I also found what was causing the noise with my transmission, I knew it was one of two things gearbox failing (unlikely as was reconditioned and hadn't gone more than 50 slow'n'easy miles with me) or release bearing. I'm now convinced it was the release bearing luckily, so got another on order for the rebuild along with new gaskets and fresh fluids.

After weighing up my choices, I contacted a member on here who I've dealt with a few times before and bought several uprated parts to put in. Managed to get some good deals as was stretching my budget a lot. Also found a genuine Garrett T34.48 for reasonable price and decent condition so snapped that up too. So now my list to fit has grown to:

New parts
- 2.0 ZVH all new parts with 85mm Accralite pistons and Farndon rods
- Stage 3 CVH head
- New AP paddle clutch
- BC box Quaife LSD and close ratio gearset
- Jamsport Inlet Plenum with knife-edged Cossie throttle body
- Genuine Garrett T34.48 with 360deg thrust bearing

Other parts sitting about to fit
- Vibratechnics top engine mount (I know not needed but my stock one has gone)
- Wilwood Midilite 4-pots with 295mm discs
- Fibreglass bonnet
- Carbon roof
- Rollcage
- Polycarbonate windows
- Morette quad headlights
- Front strut brace (needs modifying for brake servo)

I'll try remember to take photo's as I build it back up but more than likely I'll remember again 6 months down the line


Si.

[Choosey]

Don't wanna sound too negative but not a fan of the wheels or dash setup. Think a set of more 'track orientated' wheels would look better. And I'm not a fan of the open bulkhead setup, would a cut down mk3 dash, maybe flocked, not look/work better?

Should look and go very well once your list of bits are all added though! Have the primer parts of the body etc all been painted up? Get some new pics up if it has. I may change my opinion on the wheels then lol.

[Simon84uk]

I totally agree regarding the wheels and dash, they've been changed for White Compomotive MO5's. I tried the half dash thing, but I broke it by accidentally crushing it and never got a second one. It's on the cards though down the line and will be flocked, just too much other bits to finish first. If you know of one going cheap near Southampton let me know.

I've got a body shop on standby for running over it when it's running properly, that's the first port of call. Don't want to be changing bits out and damaging the paint. I'll get them to re-address the NSR arch too. I put some paint over the arches to stop any more rusting after treating them, but not going to be the final finish.

I drove it round the block when I got it back and she drove sweet apart from the water leak, I look forward to getting it running again.

Cheers for your thoughts though


Si.

[fiestarsturboblack]

mate iv enjoyed reading ur thread, really good work an looking good , i do have a q an that is wer did u get ur center console as i want one?

[Simon84uk]

Thanks, umm made it from sheet of ally I had laying about. 4mm thick I think and just cut, bend and drill for gauges. When I fit dash back in will be going if you want to come collect it. Don't know when will be yet though, too much other stuff on :S


Si.

[AW3K]

Hi mate

where did you get the a pillar panel from? do you have a part number

cheers

Andy

[Simon84uk]

Hi mate

where did you get the a pillar panel from? do you have a part number

cheers

Andy

From the pic and checking I get 6933608 and Internet tells me this is left hand A-Pillar Assy for 5-door. I knew a chap who worked at local bodyshop and he got it for me. Google link I found is Link but I don't know where he got it.

Cheers,
Si