May 2001
Thursday 31st May 2001
Called Earls to see whether my fuel hoses are going to arrive this weekend, and, the answer is, nope! Their shipment is stuck in customs at the moment, but they're expecting delivery tomorrow. 8(
Wednesday 30th May 2001
Wired the fuel pump and lambda sensor heater element last night, and they both work off the battery. Not much else does though as the battery's knac'kd. I'll get a new one from Halfords this evening.
Ran a shielded twisted pair cable to the rear axle, ready to connect to the sensor for the traction control system.
Tuesday 29th May 2001
Relocated the radiator, and refitted the bottom water hose, which is now in perfect alignment with the water pump and the radiator outlet. I'm now trying to find a hose that has a kink in it, as the Raceparts hose is straight, and it really doesn't allow for any movement of the engine. So, if you know of a 44-32mm (id) hose, that is 150mm long, that has a kink in it, let me know!
Rockingham was simply superb on Monday. Some absolutely gorgeous historics were racing round the circuit. Old Lotus's, ERA's, Chevrons, you name it, they were there. Brilliant.
Greengauges say that they don't sell a temperature sender unit that has two electrical contacts on, but they've given me the characteristics of the sensor, so I'll check the Ford gauge to see if that is the same, and if it is, I'll refit the original sender unit. I have to make sure that they have the same characteristics, otherwise the gauge wont be calibrated properly.
Sunday 27th May 2001
Because the water pump inlet isn't quite aligned with the radiator outlet, the water hose fits, but it sits at an angle, so I'm moving the radiator an inch to the right, to bring the pump and radiator in to alignment. However, that means making new brackets, which is going to take a couple of hours to fabricate and attach to the shell.
Refitted the alternator and connected the +ve outlet to the battery lead so the charging circuit is now finished.
Rockingham's opening ceremony on Saturday was quite spectacular. Nigel Mansell took a Champ car round the full oval, and managed to lap the 1.5 mile circuit in 33.0 seconds, which is a new track record, averaging over 163 MPH! Quite spectacular, but nothing like as fast as the professional Champ car drivers would achieve in September 2001. We're off to The Rock again tomorrow, to watch some more of the Historic (pre-'66) GP cars racing round the circuit.
Friday 25th May 2001
Bad news. Earls are unable to supply the fuel hoses, as they're out of stock on some of the straight fittings. Damn!
And Silverstone was a non event yesterday, because when I woke up I had an upset stomach, and spent most of the day doubled up over the loo!
I'm out and about this afternoon to get the remaining components, ie hose clips, cable etc, so I'll be prepared for when the hoses do finally arrive. I may not have them for next weekend either, as the shipment from the States isn't due in until next Wednesday, and theres a backlog of orders that need completing. At least the Raceparts hoses fit! That's something that's gone right for me this week. Off to Rockingham all weekend for some Historic action. Hope the weather stays fine, as the grandstands offer no protection from the elements.
Wednesday 23rd May 2001
Wow! The silicon hoses have arrived from Raceparts, and they look perfect! 45mm x 32mm x 150mm long. I'll fit one tonight. Re-fitted the exhaust system last night, and then flushed the radiator out with water to make sure that theres no debris after my recent attempts at soldering.
Need to get some large jubilee clips to fasten the hoses on with.
Realised that the water temperature sensor isn't going to work, as theres no return path for the current that's going to flow through it! I've emailed Greengauges to see if they sell a sensor with two connectors on it.
Tuesday 22nd May 2001
OK, starting to make some progress again. Raceparts have despatched the water hoses so I should have them tomorrow. Sunday is now D-Day for getting the engine running for the first time. Checklist below is all that I need to do before she'll run. Not too much work.
Monday 21st May 2001
Ordered the last three hoses from Earls. One really short one, 65mm long, that connects the two fuel rails together, a hose to feed the fuel in to the pressure regulator, from the fuel rail, and one 126cm long hose that feeds the fuel rail from the bulkhead connector. The photo's later in the week will make everything clearer.
Just need to feed some power to the fuel pump, drop a few litres of gas into the fuel cell, and I can start the engine. If only the water hose from Raceparts would materialise. Off to Silverstone GP Circuit on Thursday afternoon to have a spin in some Toyota Celicas and MR2's round the circuit. That should be fun! Jez Palmer from DriveTrainUK should be there, to help supervise the event.
Saturday 19th May 2001
Fitted the regulator to the front bulkhead yesterday afternoon. The short fuel hose that Earls sent in error, is now used to take the outlet from the regulator, down to the bulkhead connector, and in to the return pipe, to the fuel tank. Noticed that the electrical terminals on the fuel pump are Very close to the metal fitting on the end of the fuel hose. I've got to be real careful not to short the +ve supply to the side of the fitting, or it may blow more than just the fuse :-(
Wednesday 16th May 2001
Moved the fuel pressure regulator. It was fixed on the side of the servo bracket, but thats proved too difficult to route the fuel hoses to, so I'm planning on fixing it to the front bulkhead, to the side of the servo
Monday 14th May 2001
Cockpit fuel lines now installed. Allan at DTA said that the fuel filter must sit before the fuel pump, and not after it, because he's seen so many pumps fail from debris sucked in to them, from the fuel tank, so taking Allans advice, I've plumbed the filter in-line before the pump. I've replaced both the bulkhead connectors that come out the back of the fuel tank. I've used 90° connectors, instead of straights, to give me more room between the cell and the rear valance. It appears to have done the trick. Next I need to measure the hoses required from the front bulkhead to the fuel rail, then to the pressure requlator, and back to the front bulkhead.
Went to the brand new Rockingham Motor Speedway on Sunday for the Supporters Club race meeting. It was fantastic. Yes, the place does resemble a building site, but what they've built, in a little over 2 years, is just amazing, and the views from the grandstands was breath taking.
Click here for some photographs of the race meeting.
Still awaiting water hoses from Raceparts. Latest word last Friday was that they were still in the system somewhere. Hmm.
Tuesday 8th May 2001
Ordered the fuel lines from Earls. Should have them by Thursday.
Bought a copy of vBulletin for the new forums area. Just need to get the software installed and configured. Time to brush up on my PHP and mySQL skills.
Heres a couple of shots of the car with the passenger door and bonnet fitted. (bonnets not closed properly, just resting on the catch)
Monday 7th May 2001
Went to the Kit-Car show at Stoneleigh today to meet up with Jim Hearne so I could borrow his 2.0 Zetec cams for re-profiling at Piper Cams. Whilst there, I spotted one of the stalls was selling brand new rear axles for Mk1/Mk2 Fiesta's, for £50. So I just had to buy one. Its still got the plastic end caps on the stub axles, and looks perfect. I'll paint it next weekend.
Bought some door rubbers too. £20 for 8 meters, which I've now fitted to both sides of the shell.
Measured up the lengths of the hoses that I need for the fuel system. I'll order them from Earls tomorrow. That'll provide fuel lines as far as the front bulkhead, and then I'll run pipes from the bulkhead around to the regulator/injection rail and back again.
Friday 4th May 2001
Dismantled the new fuel tank to see which of the two pipes on the rear of the tank is the outlet, and which is the return. The lower of the two is the outlet. The return pipe just sprays fuel straight in to the collector again. No swirl tank effect, so I may buy an external swirl pot and fit it in the return path.
Fitted the passenger door and bonnet back on to the car. She's looking very close to completion now.
Raceparts say that the 45-32mm x 150mm radiator water hose has now gone to manufacturing, so that should be back in 4-5 days time.
Earls say that I just need to supply the lengths of all the fuel pipe sections, and they'll do the rest. I'll measure everything up over the weekend.
Drove a superb Mondeo V6 Ghia-X on Tuesday/Wednesday this week. The V6 2.5L engine has a really smooth delivery, but the Auto-box ruined the car. Give me a manual 5-speed any day.
Looking at getting a forum area setup, for fellow Zetec fans to discuss mods, tuning etc. The www.vbulletin.com product looks brilliant, and is very cheap to buy and install.
