June 2008
Sunday 29th June 2008
I'm looking at buying a Fiesta ST150 2.0 Duratec engine and IB5 gearbox for the Fiesta at the moment. More news to follow, but I need to reduce the weight of the car, and the Duratec hasn't been done yet in the Mk1, so I'd like to be the first again with the conversion. The internals from my BC gearbox should go inside the IB5 box, and there'd be a few other changes to make, such as a cable gear change, and a hydraulic clutch, new manifold and system, new drive shafts, new wiring loom, new ECU. Hell, I could do with a new project, and the Duratec engine, being all alloy, is a far better engine than the Zetec.
Friday 27th June 2008
Here are my pictures from the Epynt Hillclimb, taken last Sunday.
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| Epynt Hillclimb, June 2008, Brecon Motor Club |
I weighed the block, crank and cylinder head from the Project 2.0 engine last week, and the Zetec isn't exactly a light engine.
Block : 35KGs
Crank : 15KGs
Head : 18KGs (without cams fitted)
I've checked the oil level in the gearbox too, as its been a while since I last did this. Pleased to say that the oil is still at the maximum level.
Wednesday 25th June 2008
Race Technology replaced my DL1 logger with a new unit yesterday. I dropped in to their base in Eastwood, and the team listened to the problem, and swapped the unit out. It may be a software bug, time will tell.
Paul Waters in his Road Modified Fiesta XR2 apparently came to grief at a very wet Anglesey at the weekend. Paul had to be airlifted to hospital, and is making a good recovery. Our best wishes to Paul, and here's hoping you make a speedy recovery mate.
Monday 23th June 2008
The Brecon Motor Club hillclimb at Epynt military ranges was a great success yesterday. I left home at 4:30am, and arrived at 8am to find an already busy paddock. We had to remove trailers from the paddock and park them in an area away from the event, as there simply wasn't enough room for all the vehicles and their trailers. I was quickly leapt on by the scrutineer, and the car and driver were passed fit for competition. We had a convoy run up the hill at 9:30, and everyone jumped on to the end of the queue for an exploration of the area. The hill is quite simple, with a fast left, a fast right, a chicane, a second chicane, and a very fast long fourth gear straight leading to a final 90° right. The road back was even longer, with a 3mile drive round some more twisty lanes, which lead the competitors back down to the paddock. My first practice run I recorded a cautious 73s run, and learnt that the 2nd chicane came up much quicker than I thought. Second practice I improved by 3 seconds to record a 69.9s run. First timed run after lunch I managed a 68.0 and on the second timed run I ran a 68.3s. The fiesta was flawless, the onboard video is on Youtube, and the Race Technology Datalogger didn't record anything as it appears to have redeveloped the fault it went back to Nottingham for repair for, in May. I am at a total loss as to why its not working. Its the same Compact Flash memory card, which still has the test data on it from when RT had it back for investigation. All the lights were on, so it said it was recording. But yet again, the DL1 only created the folder for the files, and hasn't written any data in the folder.
So a great event, well worth the trip from Leicester, just tinged by not having any data again, so I dont know my top speed or have any other data to see where I could have gone quicker.
Chesman Motorsport now have the block, crank and pistons for the Project 2.0. They are going to acid dip the block, rebore it to 85.00mm, and lap the crankshaft only as it doesn't need regrinding. It should be all ready to collect in 3 weeks time.
Thursday 19th June 2008
So the best hillclimb venue for me, Shelseley Walsh, wont be happening in July as my entry has been rejected. "Over subscribed" is the reason. Extremely disappointing. Not even on the reserves!
Wednesday 18th June 2008
Finished stripping the Project 2.0 engine this evening. The block and crank will be taken over to Coventry on Friday for a rebore and crank journal regrind.
I spent the day at our new Data Centre in Doncaster yesterday. It really is most impressive. There's a 12 cylinder Perkins generator which is used to generate electricity should there be a power cut. There's a 25,000L tank of diesel should the generator need to run for presumably several weeks! The whole place is secure, and Thales are going to relocate the majority of its 1500+ servers to the new facility. We're looking to host servers for non-Thales customers too, so if you're after a data centre facility, providing high availability (five nines) get in touch, and I'll pass your details on.
Sunday 15th June 2008
I am car #52 at the Epynt Hillclimb next Sunday, with an Astra, an MI 16V Peugeot 205, and a pair of Williams Clio's in the class. The event is near Trecastle, in Powys, and it looks quite a trek. I've been to Epynt before as a Marshal on rallies, but I've never competed on the Army ranges, so I'm quite looking forward to the hillclimb. A lot of the members off the Turbosport forums will be there, in Mk2 Escorts mostly, including Graham (Windy) Millar in his XE powered Mk2, so there'll be some very quick times set.
The Project 2.0 engine in the workshop is now headless, and tonight I'll drain the oil, remove the sump, cranks, pistons and rods.
Thursday 12th June 2008
The voltage regulator for the on board camera is now built, and tested. I used a 78S12 1.5A regulator, with 330nF and 100nF decoupling capacitors, and LED's to show that it is on. It should eliminate the interference.
My Mondeo is at the bodyshop at the moment, and has been since Tuesday. I spotted surface rust on both rear doors, and mentioned it to the dealer when she went in for her 62500 mile service two weeks ago. Ford checked the rust and agreed to sort the problem out. Three days later, and the car still isn't ready...
Not to worry, as I've been told to order my new car! And Ford are no longer on the list. So its a toss up between the Skoda Octavia VRS DSG 2.0 Diesel, and the Seat Leon FR550 2.0 Diesel. I'll arrange for some test drives.
In the mean time, the black Mk6 Fiesta Zetec which is my courtesy car, is proving great fun to drive, if a little slow, it is great round town, and has bundles of grip. You just have to drive it hard, to get the best out of it. Typical Ford.
Thursday 5th June 2008
I'm turning my attention back to the new Low Cost 2.0 Zetec Series II engine I was planning on building at the start of the year. So its out with the trusty Haynes manual and a quick check of the bore sizes and stroke of the standard engines.
| Engine Size | Engine Code | Bore (mm) | Capacity | C:R | Stroke (mm) |
| 1.6 | LIF | 76.0 | 1597 | 10.3:1 | 88.0 |
| 1.8 | RKA | 80.6 | 1796 | 10.0:1 | 88.0 |
| 2.0 | NGA | 84.8 | 1988 | 10.0:1 | 88.0 |
So the JE Pistons I bought are 3.346" or 85.0mm bore, which will mean a rebore of 0.2mm is required. The bore area therefore will be 8.5cm x 8.5cm x 3.14159 / 4 = 56.74 square cm.
Volume of 1 cylinder is bore area times stroke = 56.74 x 8.8cm = 499.35cc
As there are 4 cylinders in the engine the total engine volume is 499.35 x 4 = 1997 cc
I'll be taking the engine next week, to a local rebore outfit to get the block bored, cleaned, and the crank reground if required.
The link to the Eagle rods is here: http://www.eaglerod.com/products/Ford/4cyl/4cyl%20rods.html
The link to the JE Pistons is here: http://www.jepistons.com/cat/je/sport/ford/zx3.shtml
Monday 2nd June 2008
I've fitted a Longacre wide angle rear view mirror in the Fiesta, so I can see whats happening behind me. This is required for the track day in July. The mirror is the same as the ones used by many BTCC teams, and is available from Demon Tweeks for around £45. It comes with two anodised aluminium brackets, which clamp on to the roll cage. The mirror then fastens to the brackets, using rubber coated washers to stop it from moving. The view behind, from the drivers seat is great. Its well worth the money.
