December 2009
Thursday 24th December 2009
I've fitted the battery box to the floor, and wired up the Redtop 15 battery, so the -ve is connected to the foot of the roll cage (as before) and I've decided on the wiring for the isolator, I just need to get outside over the hols to connect all the wires up. The car is now back on its wheels, and I've fitted the radiator so I can focus on plumbing it in. I've been advised to run 10W50 or 10W60 oil, so I'll shop around to get a gallon so I can fill the engine up, and check for oil leaks.
Thats it from me for now. Have a good Christmas, and please keep looking out for updates over the holidays.
Thursday 17th December 2009
Fitted the rear axle today. It is based on my spare unused axle, and has Focus rear hubs, with HiSpec calipers and aluminium caliper brackets. The main advantage is that the Focus axle uses nuts to hold the wheels on, which will make changing wheels so much easier. The axle has been powder coated, and the caliper brackets have also been anodised. The trailing arms and panhard rod are also aluminium, and are available from www.kustomengineering.com
Wednesday 16th December 2009
Finished the control box this evening. One switch is left as a spare, and I may wire this up as a windscreen demist switch.
Sunday 13th December 2009
The rear axle was collected from Rutland on Monday. Its a really nice piece of work. The axle is powder coated black, and the brackets for the HiSpec calipers are anodised black. Looks very nice. I just need to get some brake pads, and plumb in the calipers. It uses Focus bolt on rear hubs, which means I'm not reliant on Fiesta drums or bearings for the rear anymore.
I've also bought some 40A relays for the control box, from rswww.com These are single pole normally open, and the ECU will be connected to two of them, to control the fuel pump (15A) and the radiator fans (10A). The other relay is for the starter motor solenoid which takes around 15A to run the starter motor. I've started on the control box wiring, and I'll have it finished during the week. I've also bought an intermittent wiper motor relay from VWP, and that'll also be wired in this week.
The Geartronics sequential gear display has also turned up. This display unit simply fits on the dashboard, and takes its input from a Penny & Giles potentiometer, thats fitted to the gear selector shaft on the IB5 box. As the shaft rotates, the display shows the gear selected in large bright red LED. It only needs a 12V supply, which I've already catered for with the wiring diagrams.
I need to order an Innovate LC-1 lambda sensor for the car, and I'll do that this coming week.
And finally I've made up the second oil line, using the Earls Pro Lite 350 hose, to run from the remote filter to the adapter plate, so theoretically, I can now refill the engine with oil, and I should have full oil pressure on the key (barring any leaks)
Saturday 5th December 2009
I found myself a supplier for the O-rings required for the Oil Adapter plate. Brammer (UK) in East Goscote. They supplied me with half a dozen Viton BS209 O-rings, which enabled me to fit the plate to the engine. I also bought a pair of 1/2BSP to -10 adapters, and 20mm Dowty seals from Earls.co.uk, and feeling confident, I made my first oil hose using the Earls Pro Lite 350 hose, which is so much easier than messing around with stainless steel overbraided pipe. Not a single finger cut or pierced. I also bought some M12 crinkle washers to hold the switches in the control box in place, and I've fitted the ITT Cannon connector and the 8 way fuse holder to the control box. The circuit diagram is now also complete, so I can finally start on the wiring of the control box.
