Hi all,
I like the idea of the Escort rack but already have a Fiesta one.
I have now manged to get it apart and have found the torsion bar inside the servo valve.
The picture shows one of the two M6 grubscrews that I have fitted the lock the two halves together.
For lubrication have assembled the rack bit with some grease and hydraulic cylinder has some oil in it and the two pipes connected together.
Other pictures show the latest pedal box idea that uses Fiesta pedals.
Final pictures show bespoke petrol tank that we have made.
Big flanged hole will take standard Fiesta petrol pump and fuel gauge sender unit, but on this car may have to use an uprated pump as am messing with the engine a bit.
Derek

With reference to Steves suggestion.


I have suggested about a date in August hopefully covering other coupe endeavours
Just need to look up how to do this bloodly dartford crossing pre pay,online account, pal pay, debit, cr#p!

I may be coming to see you in August too Derek, I have a workshop concrete base (complete with Fox paw prints, little buggers!) now, so will be taking some time off to build the workshop itself in August. Getting the parts for my rear hub carrier machined over the next few weeks so things are progressing!
Look forward to seeing your progress.
S

Perhaps we should all get together in a motorway services (a la Staniforth/Gould) and brainstorm this out.

Steve[/quote]

I would not mind being in on this, but think my nearest half way service station would be in Morocco
John

Just go across before 06:00 and come back after 22:00 OK I'll fetch My coat.

Altho not the easiest, if You are doing the crossing a few times an account might well be cheaper

Blackwall tunnel is the answer! Only early mind...

Last time I went through the tunnel -- actually to visit Derek's workshop -- I rang up and paid with my VISA card later in the evening but you can probably do it on-line. You could go round the west side of the M25 but its a long way round.

Black wall tunnel - good luck with that! Now Morocco................. -- never been there!

Steve

Hi All,
Please feel free to come and visit at any time.
A call on 07814420388 just to make sure that we are here, or to make a week-end appointment.
Attached a view of the blanking plate on the steering rack and the linked oil pipes.
Also a view of the assembled pedal box and petrol tank.
In this pic can be seen the aluminium hub/flanges that we machined as the Ford ones are over £140-00 each
Derek

Hi Derek.
Just a thought, your ex-power steer rack with balance pipe connect the 2 sides of the servo cylinder could give a very dead feel to the steering as it is acting a like a hydraulic damper and if not 100% filled the air pocket pushed from side to side of the servo cylinder will make the steering feel to go light for a small part of the pinions turning, at a later date I think you will have to remove the cylinder seals so that it is used like a normal oil filled/lubricated rack.
Apart from that its all looking good
Cheers
John

Hi All,
Progress slow!
Made a start on the Roll cage, but we fixed the body onto the floorpan for Stoneliegh and now have a bit of a problem with fitting front hoop.
Might pay the fee and get an MSA certificate for the cage, especially if anyone else is interested in buying a copy.
Have now fabricated and machined the inlet manifold to take the Honda CBR 1000 throttle bodies. Had originally bought CBR 600 ones but these are bigger.
Does anyone know if it is necessary to connect up the hot water pipes to the wax pellet for Idle Air adjustment? None of the proper car throttle bodies appear to have this feature (Jenvey, Omex etc.)
Also managed to fabricate a gearlever system to make the original Fiesta cables work.

Derek

Any progress?

Would be cool to get the ecoboost in one, might be worth looking into?

Hi All,

Made a little progress.
Machined up a housing and shaft for idler pulley to tension alternator drive belt as aircon pump not being fitted.
First attempt used power steering pump pulley, but this only had 5 grooves instead of the 6 required, so machined off the inner flange.
Then discovered that this touched the 40 x 40 leg on the subframe. Next attempt uses alternator pulley and shorter belt.
Also shown is the alloy swirl pot for the radiator water.
Seem to be spending more time on the Mini based car at the moment.

Derek

Hi all,
Recently got back to the Fiesta Engined car.
Decided to do the wheel arch extensions a little differently!
Pictures show the car at Stoneleigh last week-end.
We now nearly have a mould for the bonnet, so replicas will be available very soon.
The cill extensions on this car are folded alumium with ends TIG welded on, which we can replicate.
For the next car we will extend the rear spaceframe and move the engine and wheels back by about 3" so that the engine will fit in without having to modify inlet manifold.
We will make moulds of this revised rear section soon.

Derek Hambly

Hi All,

Got the engine to run on Friday.
2 problems, because the engine is very close to the bulkhead had to make a replacement for the Fiesta thermostat housing and as we are not running a heater blanked off the heater port!
It seems that with this arrangement no hot water gets to the thermostat and so it doesn't open, so engine boiled within a few minutes!
Planning to fit a by-pass hose.
2nd problem is the alternator light does not come on. On another forum there was a suggestion that the voltage sensing on the Fiesta is done by the ECU, does anyone know if this is the case?
Also included a couple of photos of the roll cage backstays that are at an angle of more than 30 degrees to satisfy MSA Blue Book and do not come through the rear window.
Time is now marching on, earlier in the year booked a place at the Mini Spares track day at Cadwell Park thinking that we had plenty of time.

Derek Hambly