December 2008
Tuesday 30th December 2008
Sold the Pedal box, so thats offset the costs of the replacement one. The Autosport Show pass has arrived. I'm going to be watching the Live Action in the afternoon, for the first time. So I'll make sure that the camera is fully charged.
So what about 2008? It was an interesting year. I went to Croft in March, in the snow, and I had a great time learning the very fast and sweeping track. Then it was off to Harewood in April for the wettest meeting (since Barkston Heath) I've had the luck of attending. Not suprisingly in the wet, I had my first spin in a very long time, which was luckily, non damaging. That will teach me for ligning the car up on a dry line off the start, and then running out of grip on the first corner. Then getting out of the paddock was made almost impossible as the grass had turned in to a bog with the non stop rain, so in all, I was lucky to get home at all given the conditions. Next was MIRA in May for some giant killing. I beat both the 3.5litre kit cars, but alas, I was in the up to 2000cc class, so I didn't get a pot, despite the 1700cc Sports Libre class break. Then my entry for Shelsley Walsh for July was rejected. No reason given, and I did send the entry off in February, so it wasn't as if I'd left it too late. So I went to Snetterton in July for a Performance Ford track session, which resulted in a broken front suspension after 2 hours of extreme kerb hopping, and loads of overtaking. My Carbon Bonnet turned up in August, almost 5 months after I arranged the group-buy on xrtwo.com. And it was well worth the wait. In October I became a contractor, and landed a new job, working for the Defence Company I'd taken redundancy from two weeks before. After some discussions on the forums, I then embarked on changing the Zetec for the Duratec, which is where we are now. Not much more left to do, just some plumbing etc, new drive shaft, rebuild the gearbox, some rewiring, and she's good-to-go. So I'm hoping to get out in 2009, certainly for FITP, and maybe another run at Shelsley Walsh if I'm allowed to play.
Wednesday 24th December 2008
Pedal box is now installed. I have to get it shot blasted and powder coated, as today I've welded a bracket on to the top to brace it against the bulkhead. I'll get that all done after Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, A very Happy Christmas to all the Zetecinside visitors and sponsors, and to everyone else I've met this year whilst on stands and competing.Monday 22nd December 2008
Started modifying the new RallyDesign pedal box (hydraulic clutch) to fit the Fiesta. The previous one, modified to use the Fiesta cable clutch pedal, is up for sale at £250. If you're interested, drop me a line (email addy is on the home page).
Bought myself a Google G1 mobile phone. Amazing piece of kit. WIFI, Bluetooth, GPS, GPRS, Camera, Touchscreen, qwerty keyboard, and the brilliant open source Android operating system, which is so easy to use. Oh and it makes phone calls too.
Thursday 18th December 2008
The Subaru Legacy Diesel has stopped smoking. There are apparently some preset mileages that the ECU recalibrates itself, and I must have hit one of them, because the smoke screen has gone, and the engine feels far smoother now. I can now start to enjoy the experience of owning a Subaru without killing any more wildlife than I really have to.
Bit of a shock hearing that Subaru has pulled out of the WRC with immediate effect. And Suzuki has also withdrawn, and with Honda looking for a buyer in F1, and Seat pulling out of the BTCC for 2009, its looking rather bleak isn't it? Who's next I wonder?
Saturday 13th December 2008
I've sold the Jenvey throttle bodies, inlet manifold, and all the other fuel injection bits I ran on the Zetec, which has helped offset the costs of the new Titans'. I've also sold the inlet and exhaust manifolds from the Duratec, so I'm gradually getting more space back in the garage, and again, recovering the costs of the Duratec engine purchase.
The Titans fit perfectly on the Duratec. Theres a small piece of the front panel I have to remove to clear one of the 100mm trumpets, but I'll have plenty of space to fit an airfilter/airbox.
Next challenge is getting a radiator the right size to fit in space below the throttle bodies. I may end up with a custom job.
I've renewed my MSA competition license for 2009. And I'm toying with the idea of going to the Autosport show on January 9th, as the show this year was brilliant.
Tuesday 9th December 2008
My Titan roller barrel throttle bodies have arrived. They look too nice to put on the car.
Saturday 6th December 2008
This week I've bought a gear linkage (F1237426) and selector cables (F1489301) to match the IB5 gearbox. Details of the installation to follow. I've also bought a pair of Titan throttle bodies, to replace the Jenveys. The Titan bodies mount directly to the head, and incorporate the Duratec head mounted injectors. These bodies are shorter than the Jenvey setup that I was running, and the main benefit is that I'll have more power from the Titans, and I wont have to cut any of the bodywork away to clear them. Titan Engineering.I've also had a letter back from Subaru UK, about the smoking issue. They say that the ECU is Self Learning, and they have experience of drivers 'interrupting' the Self Learn process, so the car needs to go back in for a reprogram. Nice to know that it's my fault that it's smoking on full throttle, and not theirs. I'm still not convinced that this will fix the problem, but in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. She's passed the 3000 mile mark this week, and the few occasions I've had the engine running whilst scraping the ice off the windows, you wouldn't know it was a diesel at all, its so quiet.
