November 2018
29thNov
Clutch off
I've removed the bellhousing, which allows me to get to the clutch cover and clutch. These are Helix items, with a paddle type clutch installed, which has 7mm pad material remaining. I've ordered the SBD EcoBoost Flywheel (3.9Kg) and twin plate clutch, which SBD use on their 350bhp EcoBoost Westfield, and I'm waiting to hear what the options are regarding the release bearing as it needs to be replaced with a cone type so it sits properly with the competition clutch. This change should save quite a bit of weight. I just hope we dont run in to clearance issues as there's a spacer fitted to the back of the clutch slave to move it forwards, so I hope that with the deeper twin clutch plate we can just remove the spacer and it all squeezes inside the bellhousing.28thNov
Gearbox service
The FTR box was serviced by Mark Bailey, and he found two or potentially three issues. The 3rd gear dog rings were chipped, so the ring was replaced. The diff had almost quadrupled the preload, it took around 80ft.lb to move it, and the preload was meant to be around 20ft.lb. On inspection Mark spotted that two of the friction plate surfaces were badly scored, which suggests some debris had got between the plates, increasing the friction. Mark replaced the damaged plate, and reordered the plates to avoid using the output cup surface which saves it from any further damage. He cleaned the magnets off of all swarf, and rebuilt the diff and the box, in around 2 hours. One other potential issue, was the layshaft was showing witness marks where the gears were wearing through the case hardening on the splined section. He says it should be ok for one more season, so I'll make a note to get the box serviced again this time next year, and prepare myself for the cost of replacing the layshaft. Thats the only problem with putting 320+bhp through a gearbox designed for 220, you have to check the internals for wear more often.26thNov
BSC Calendar
This is how the BSC calendar looks for 2019. We've lost Cadwell in June, which I thought might be the case.
Below is a picture of the British Sprint and British Hillclimb drivers present at the HSA awards held on Sunday at Prescott. David Richards MBE (Motorsport UK Chairman) was also present as guest speaker.
Left to Right: Chris Bennett, Graham Blackwell, Pete Goulding, Graham Porrett, David Richards MBE, John Loudon, Alex Summers, Nick Algar, Chris Jones, Debbie Dunbar, Simon Bainbridge, Terry Holmes, Trevor Willis]
21stNov
BSC Awards
On Saturday I collected my 9th place award, and the Britannia Trophy, for the highest overall points scorer in the British Sprint Championship at all UK events. Pete collected the 11th place award, the Saxon Trophy, for the highest points scored on rounds held in England, and the 1600 Forced Induction class award. He also collected the St John trophy, which is awarded to the person who scored the highest points on their debut in the BSC. So our EcoBoost cars secured the Britannia, Saxon, and the St John awards, and 9th and 11th places. If we have both gone to Ireland, we'd have also won the Celtic award, which is for the Scotland, Wales and Ireland events. Thats a great achievement, and accidents aside, its been an amazing year. We're both determined to come out fighting again in March 2019 at Castle Combe, to see if we can be even more competitive from the word go. And we might be joined by the ex-Laurence/O'Malley/Ash Sutton EgoBoost car, which recently changed hands. Three EcoBoosts's in the BSC!!18thNov
Snetterton lost to sprints from 2019
The knock on effect of losing Rockingham at Corby in 2019, is that all the events that ran there, are looking to move to other venues, and Snetterton has apparently decided that there will be no sprints on the 100 circuit in 2019. This is another serious blow to the Championship. It is looking like we have another 2 month gap from April to June where we wont be competing, as Snetterton has been removed from the calendar. Not good news at all. There is a prospect of making a weekend of Cadwell in June, but we already know how fragile that arrangement can be as we lost Cadwell previously to a bike meeting, in 2017 I think.16thNov
Back on four wheels again
I've finished as much as I can of the front end, while I wait for the parts from Mygale, so I put both the wheels on and lowered the car back to the ground, so I can roll it forwards in the garage and remove the diffuser and gearbox. The gearbox needs a full service, following two years of running in the championship, and to see if we can find any reason that the gearbox may have been causing the car to turn left on the launches.Its the BSC Awards tomorrow evening, and I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone. I'll post pictures on Sunday.
13thNov
ECU unlock
Pete Goulding collected his unlocked ECU from Life today, and the impression so far is that we do finally have access to all the features that Ford agreed to. Which means we can now get on with documenting the current settings, and understanding the implications of making changes to settings to improve launch and traction control. I'm just waiting for my ECU to have the battery charging circuitry modified and when its returned I'll start on the documentation.I've replaced both the bottom wishbone rod ends on the undamaged front drivers side, as they were quite worn after 6 years of competition, and it was easy to do seeing as I was fitting the NAS bolts anyway. I also fitted the new nylon 10mm spacers to the bottom wishbones, and its all now ready to be tightened back up again. Mygale are today posting out the steering rod end and the two upper wishbone mounting brackets, so I may have them for the weekend.
12thNov
Little bit of progress
I made my first ever flexible brake hose, using the AN3 hose, and the mandrel to seperate the braid, which really made it a very simple job. Both brake lines are now back on the front and the brakes are therefore ready to be bled. The M8 x 10mm spacers arrived, so the front lower arms are now built up and everything is done up tight. I'm just waiting for the parts from Mygale and the front can be re-aligned by Triple M. The ECU is still away at Life being repaired. I believe they're finding it harder than they expected changing the security to allow Pete and myself access to our paid-for features. Pete's ECU was meant to be returned at the start of last week, but a week later there is still no news.6thNov
Brakes and suspension
I've cut the first replacement brake line to length, with a fine tooth hacksaw, but I'm waiting for a mandel to arrive that makes it easier to spread the stainless braid on the end of the line, allowing the olive to be slid over the end. I detest poking bits of stainless in my fingers, so I'm going to wait another couple of days for the tool to arrive. I went to fit the lower rod ends to the bottom pickup points, but then realised I dont have any 10mm spacers which need to go either side of the rod end in the brackets. So I've found some M8 x 10mm nylon spacers on eBay, and these'll be with me in a few days, and then I can finally bolt everything in place and sit the car back on four wheels.4thNov
zetecinside goes HTTPS/SSL
I've converted the site to use HTTPS/SSL, so the address to reach the site is now https://www.zetecinside.comThe server will automatically redirect you to the secure site address, but I'd recommend you update your bookmarks all the same.
