June 2010
Friday 25th June 2010
Removed the near side axle-bar (it was made by RecoProp to GpA specification, and I'll sell it together with the longer offside bar in due course) and started building up the new driveshaft that arrived on Wednesday (from Commercial Propshaft Services). Once I've found the boot kit I bought a year ago! I'll finish it off and offer it up to the car.
Monday 21st June 2010
I've started working away from home in June so I've precious time to work on the car. So I've set about getting the car off the ground, with all four wheels removed so I can sort out the brakes and suspension and a few other jobs to boot.
I've bought a clutch hose from Earls that runs from the 3/8 master cylinder to the 7/16 M-Sport adaptor on the slave. Its 1.3metres long, and saves me having to run cupronickel pipe work, which is very time consuming to bend to the right profile etc.
I've also removed the BC output cup from the passenger side of the gearbox, and compared it to the original Fiesta ST output cup, you can see that they're radically different, so my dream of simply running with a BC cup and retaining the original Recoprop custom shaft is now in ruins, and I've refitted the ST cup, and bought the second of the two custom axle-bars from CPS. Although the distance between the cup and the outer CV is 10mm shorter on the passenger side (265mm), I'm hoping I have enough play to allow me to fit the 275mm axle-bar. I can always push the engine/box over by 5mm is necessary.
With the car in the air, I've adjusted the track of the front suspension, to push both wheels out about an inch wider than previously, to take advantage of the fully adjustable race suspension from Karl in the USA.
So lots still going on. I want to be out on track soon, but the snag list is quite large, and I've got to make the best use of my free time at the weekends to concentrate on fixing the snags, and not being distracted by anything else.
Sunday 6th June 2010
The Classic Ford show at Santa Pod this year was very impressive, with a much larger turn out than usual. I've never seen so many Mk1 Fiestas before all gathered together in one place. I was on the SH*TBOX Racing stand, and although the stand was located beyond the strip finishing line, we had a very large number of people wander by. The cars on the Classic Ford stand were simply stunning. The rain stayed away until 4pm, and then we had a torrential downpour for a good quarter of an hour, which most people took as a signal to pack up and leave. By which point the car parks were all emptying on to the same road out of the complex. This made most people in the paddock area queue for around 2 hours before they eventually left the venue.
It was great to meet Matt Downer and Graham Millar again, and Andy Pipe and many others from the forums that I stay in regular contact with.
Everyone was very complimentary of my XR2, and I was able to run it for a good five minutes, just to show that the new map I loaded on Saturday afternoon (90° crank sensor position & batch mode) has ironed out the rough idle. The oil pressure is very high though. The Stack gauge shows 90 PSI, and this has lead to a small leak on the remote filter housing, which I obviously need to fix. I'm sure the pressure will drop once the engine is up to temperature.
To relieve the boredom of waiting to load the car on the trailer, I took a video from inside the XR2, of the intermittent wipers clearing away the rain from the windscreen (just shows how bored we all became waiting for the rain and the traffic to clear)
Friday 4th June 2010
I've been finishing off the fixtures and fittings on the car, and I'll be at Classic Ford at Santa Pod on Sunday, for their annual extravaganza. I wont be driving on the strip though, as she's not yet ready (or tuned).
