Thrashed

October/ November 2020 Now, it has been an age since I even opened the garage door. The good news is I got through the final exams and managed to pass them all first time. The down side is that the exams, running the business and a very heavy workload meant the kit has not had a look in. The work situation is not likely to slow down any time soon, so I started looking at other options. Option 1 - sell the kit as a nearly finished project. Option 2 - just mothball the kit work on it as and when I get spare time Option 3 - find a 3rd party to finish the kit A sepa

26.07.2020 Been a while since the last update. The last few months has mostly been faffing about to get the screen sitting perfectly. This has involved the screen coming on and off about a million times!! It turns out the reason it would not sit straight is that the car is not square! To be more accurate it is the scuttle. The measurable centre point is around 20mm from eyeball centre. Weeks of measuring and trying did not work, so i decided to make it look right, rather than being measured right. Just hope not one takes a tape measure to it! After i figured this out, i th

18.5.2020 So a little milestone this weekend. The bulk of the windscreen frame has been completed. It wasn't that bad a process in the end, i was conscious i only get one go, so it had to be right. Just a bit of time and thought on the best way to do it was all it took. Below are a few pictures. Trying to do it and documenting the job is not easy as you need 3 hands at the best of times. First part was getting the side frame and lower rail clamped together. I used an M4 bolt, drilled the hole at an appropriate angle and clamped it all together.

3.5.2020 A little progress this weekend. The fittings for the brake and clutch lines arrive during the week. This was a case of screwing them in and nipping them up. All easy enough and the net result looked good. Next job was to add some fluids! I started with the coolant system. The system took just over 7 litres. I thought this sounded like a lot but when i checked the Haynes Book of Fairy Tales, it suggests that an MX5 system takes 7.5 litres. The good news is that i have no leaks. This is without the engine running, but still a good sign. Next fluid was t

27-4-2020 Aluminium tube turned up today, so had a spare hour this evening to have a play. I needed to turn this, a 1.5m length of 8mm OD tube into a tube that followed the engine from the water manifold at the back of the engine along the rocker cover above the exhaust manifold, around the front and then to the expansion tank. When i bought the tube i made sure it was 6063T6, to make sure it would form easily. I also have a mini tube bender that forms 6,8 & 10mm tubes. This is the first time using this and i had no idea how difficult this was going to b

26-4-2020 This weekend i was working on the coolant system to get it finished. Main job is checking the plumbing routes and fitting the expansion bottle. The original Fiesta coolant system has a heater in the system. My car will not have this so needed to find the correct way to plumb the engine without the heater in the system. This is how Ford plumbs the system: To me this just looked like a jumble of hoses! I also had the added issue that very few of the hoses fit, now the engine is in a rear wheel drive configuration and my radiator is in a different orientatio

I would say yes. Have a good read of a workshop or Haynes manual and just take it slow and methodically. Depends on your previous experience and confidence. Plenty of people in here have that will be able to offer help and guidance to members.

The head work I got a local shop to do but all the assembly and disassembly I did myself. I am reasonable with the spanner’s but no mechanic or engineer and I found it easy enough. Bike carbs were a bargain compared to Webber’s etc. My Dad had Webber’s on an old school Westfield as it was on the rilling road every year trying to keep them in balance. Never had that issue with the bike carbs.

I had good results from an FR32 cam, bike carbs, 3 angle value seats and a ported head. Also a good rolling road session to bring it all together!

12.4.2020 Today was planned to be a day off. A few messages with Stu (The Duck), and he convinced me to get off the sofa! Todays job was basic setting on the ECU. This would allow us to check the engine will still start after all the wiring and ECU resets. This was a good hour session, which proved the engine would start and run. It will need some tweaking as it is rough, but i need to finish the coolant system in order to do this. Hearing the engine run is always a great motivation, so a spot of lunch and next job was the windscreen! I have been avoiding this as it feels like a bi

I did consider this option but then I realised that the pots are off centre so can rotated to fit in the space. Thanks for the tip.

11.9.2022 Only a couple of hours on the Zero today. Most of the garage time has been tidying up! I have 3 `scrap’ boxes. One for metal, wiring and wood. The metal box was starting to overflow and get in the way. I got a bit brutal and threw away some of the smaller and less useful parts. This means that I can now get everything into one tote box. The wiring was actually 4 smaller boxes. Again, condensed this into one box and the wood was tidied up in the corner in a neater fashion. I also condensed the cardboard i have for my CAD modelling, which has given me a bit more room at t

10.4.2020 - Good Friday So, today was all about the pedal box. I fixed the footwell end panel which was easy enough other than access. I had to use my hand riveter as the air riveter would not fit. Luckily it was only 8 rivets, which by hand was hard enough. Next was to figure out the throttle cable. The pedal box needed a small hole drilling to take the 90’ adjuster. This then fits to the pedal and is secured with a solderless nipple. I then found a nice route for the cable to the throttle bodies. The end of the cable has a welded on nipple which fits into the socket on t

5.4.2020 So, the good news is that the aluminium sheets arrived. With the world in lockdown i bought twice as much as i needed, just in case! I need to make the end panel, which i had already made a CAD (Cardboard Added design) template for! This was easy enough with a bit of fettling and edge trim to fit closely around the steering shaft. Next was to work on the top cover. The shape is a weird one and has the added issue of the steering column cutting through the top edge of it. A few measurements and a bit more CAD and I had a rough shape. Find

29.3.2020 So, COVID-19 has proper hit. Lockdown has started and deliveries are slowing down so this week whilst i wait for the aluminium sheet to arrive, i started on the calibration of the coolant temperature sensor (CLT) and the air intake temperature sensor (IAT). After the issues with the TPS, i wanted to make sure these are working. Net result, they are not!! The ecu is not reading that the sensors are plugged in or exist. Over the last week I have been working through the wiring to make sure this is all correct. I tested the wiring and this had continuity all the way back to t