brumster

Definitely friction welded. Well, it sounds like you've got better experience than myself, so I'll sit back down !! Maybe I was just well and truly conned with some cheap knock-offs...

driveshafts are now with the friction welders

I have to chip in here just to say my experience of frictional welding of driveshafts is NOT good. Despite being assured by the well-known manufacturer that competiton use wouldn't break them at the weld, they both popped straight across that very point after very mild use on-stage. If you go this route, I would suggest you be very gentle with them... maybe for sensible road use, without sticky tyres or any clutch-dropping antics, you'll be fine, but.... well... just saying

Yes, I am talking for experience....

Does this work for everyone...?

https://goo.gl/maps/k8wNoxwj9NS2

It might be worth checking the rear chassis too, depending on age of yours there may be some additional support that they added in to brace the rear lower wishbone mount. Definitely a mod worth doing, along with the front wishbone "top/back" support. There were some other bits like nosecone mounting tabs, and they also relocated the seatbelt lower mounts for IVA compliance, and added the steel arch-shaped pieces over the rear wheels.

They are all shown in my build thread in the members section, forgive the "hard sell" but if you were a member you'd get to see them

Pre-2011(or so) they didn't fit them. GBS will supply them to you to weld on, which is what I did

Ok, why not change the Truckers Rest to the BP garage just the other side of the M6, on the A5, here :

https://goo.gl/maps/NQCTYw4RCPS2

It's practically Dobbies (just before), but should be easier to get out of, not being a garden centre ...

For the Midlands meet guys, just thinking about what route we can take and meet up before the suggested midway point at the Montford Bridge Cafe. I'll be going A446 to Weeford, then A5 all the way to it. We can meet up anywhere along the way; I think there were some suggestions of places on the A5, some of you were meeting up further down before I join, so I can maybe hang around at the Truckers Rest Cafe where we met last year for the Ponderosa run...?

What times are people targetting getting there for? I figure I'll set off some time after the mad rush, say 9.30 to 10ish... but I'm easy really, I'll fit in with everyone else...

Do we want to aim for the Montford Bridge at a certain time so we can all meet up there, in which case we can just work the timings backwards from there.

I don't want to have to be explaining strange noises to the daughter, so if you can keep it down, that would be great ;)

and probably rather obviously, but, be consistent with fluid type - whatever is needed for your system (Sierra?).... DOT4 presumably? Don't go for 5.1, if memory serves me correctly it doesn't mix with the other types.... (3/4/5)

correction: after a quick google, seems DOT 5 is the odd one (silicone-based) and doesn't mix with other types well...

1 - Do i syringe the old fluid out the master cylinder and then drain each brake in turn?

2 - Does it matter what order I drain each brake. My thinking is the furthest from the MC first to avoid any `backwashing'?

3 - Is filling just the reverse? Start at the closest and work to the furthest?

1 - No, as said above, just pump through. You may well notice a colour change between new and old fluid so it's probably easy to spot when the new stuff is all the way through

2 - General practice is to start with the link furthest away from the master cylinder (rear left?), then rear right, then front left, then front right. It doesn't really make a massive amount of difference though.

3 - As above, don't empty then fill. Just push new fluid through system until signs of old fluid are gone.

There might be some value in thinking about whether you want a combined silencer and cat anyway, or whether it would be more practical to have a separate cat closer to the engine anyway, and one that is hence replaceable without the other (and vice versa). You can pick up 200 cell cats for £100. And, not that I'm advising this or suggesting it makes any difference, but a separate cat can sometimes "fall off".... <cough>

Well, each to their own, but I would go a few fractions toe-out myself.

I remember when we finished the Exmo back in the 90's, it had just been registered and our first outing was with the club to watch some racing at Hednesford. It was November time, because there was a firework display on there; it was cold and damp, a fine mizzle in the air. I'd built the car 50/50 with a mate and we tossed a coin for who was driving there, and back. Chris was there; I was driving back. So while he was getting ready I said I'd nip it up the road to the petrol station and fill it up so we could get going.

At this point we hadn't bought any nice wheels/tyres for it, so it was on the original Sierra 13" rims with some no-name remoulds. As I left the petrol station, on the mildest of throttle openings it snaked about 200 yds up the road despite a short-shift into 2nd gear! It was frickin' lethal.

As we set off I handed the keys to Chris and said "Mate... it is really slippy. Like, I mean, REALLY. Be careful!"

First roundabout we came to, he arrived into it at a pace that would normally be gentle but, I guess I hadn't impressed on him just how bad it was, because I started whincing as we turned into it.... sure enough the front washed, then he applied a bit of lock and power and we were broadside in seconds. He caught it fine, but he looked at me and shouted "You weren't f***ing joking, was you :-o ?!?!"

Kev, if you speak to TRS they will make you up a harness to pretty much any spec you ask them...

Just mentioning it as a backup. They are very helpful.

So from memory (bear with me, this was a long time ago for me!) RHE supplied a radial bearing in the kit to put on the top of the damper along with a large washer to take the spring. But the bearing would crush after a short amount of time since it wasn't designed to take loadings that way, and would effectively do bugger all anyway. Probably why the car is the way it is - to be fair, it's hardly any worse than what RHE envisaged at the time

A thrust bearing would be ideal but I was worried about it staying located/togeather, and dirt ingress, so I kind of went half-way-house and fitted tapered roller bearings, figuring they would at least be able to take a degree of side-loading without crumpling into bits. Have a browse around on somewhere like simplybearings.co.uk and find one that suits the size needed for your inserts. They do one, because that's where I bought mine, but I can't find any receipt for the ones I bought, sorry

1x Beef & Ale Pie with gravey

1x Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie with gravy

1x Fruit Crumble with custard (apple and blackberry I think)

1x Ice Cream

Mk.2 Escort racks are easily found... and I have one for sale if you need one

That front flywheel is the crank pulley and if the engine is still attached to gearbox then put it in first gear and and make sure hand brake is well on then you should be able to undo it with a breaker bar

That would make for a f**king strong handbrake

Might want someone to stand on the brake pedal while you're at it, nelmo! Or else lock off the flywheel ring gear into the block with a suitable large flat blade screwdriver or proper locking tool - but just be very, very careful that if you go this route you are putting it into a part of the block with some strength, not a little tab sticking out that will snap off under the torque

I would check the process on Zetecs for the big end cap bolts; for engines I have knowledge on, you can't just torque them up once they've been tightened once (pre-stretched), you essentially need to seek advice on measuring bolt stretch and tightening according to the procedures laid down by the engine manufacturer.... or, just fit new bolts, of course, but £££.

Might be an ideal time to fit some ARP's anyway if you're getting the wallet out

Might be easier to just take the main bearing caps off if you don't want to risk weakening a rod bolt.

Odd my roll over hoop is over the boot not the engine bay.

Oops, corrected! Ta

Plenty of people on here who could tell you what needs to be done to strengthen the chassis. Make a cheeky offer.

Personally, I would (did) :

- Plate under the front butresses where the struts mount. You could do the top if the ride height changes worry you but I just put some 2mm steel plate in there and welded it in place to spread the load.

- Keep an eye on the seam welds that hold the entire front buttress on. In fact, just watch all the welds stainless steel isn't the most ideal material for standing up against fatigue, so I'm told

- The rear diff mounting plate in the "boot" was advised to be strengthened with additional bolts

- The engine bay "trays" in the Exmo had upturned folded edges on the inside to add strength/rigidity to the engine bay - all of the monocoque cars I would say are reliant on the folding and structure of the metal, so if *anything* has been cut away, I'd ask what has been done to put something back in. When I cut the trays on the Exmo to fit the K-Series, I welded a length of 1" square section tubular steel along the length of the engine bay, as close to the cut edge as possible.

- Put 3mm steel plate underneath the "rollover hoop" ends in the boot area. Now I know this rollover hoop is entirely cosmetic on the Exmo - do NOT rely on it to save your life - but I figured it might do a half-acceptable job if it could at least NOT punch down through the stainless if the car was to end up turned over! Having said that, it's probably a bit academic as I suspec the rollover hoop would rip out of the exhaust U-clamps before it had chance to do anything useful!

- If you do a tie-bar conversion, make sure you put a decent angled section of steel behind the tie-bar inner mounts - do NOT just bolt it into the stainless engine bay side! Nowhere near enough strength in it! It needs to be re-enforced on the inside with 3mm+ steel angle, bolted into both the engine bay side and floor.

From memory that's all I did on my Exmo... there may be more, others can advise. Rich (Steamer) is the ideal person to comment as he put a V8 in an Exmo!

It's an Exmo, so 1997 build/registration sounds right. If this was the case then an SVA wouldn't have been needed, it was before SVA was introduced. I doubt it was built with a V8 though, not many were back in those days, so I suspect it's been converted some point since. Not a bad thing, but just check the V5 engine number and so forth, just make sure the V5 details match. There's no reason to worry, it looks honest enough, but do check it all the same. If the advert is true, then it's a straight enough car.

I would echo what Dan said about the additional engineering into the car for a V8. The Exmo was a nice roomy model so it's great for engine conversions, but the floorpan in the Exmo in the engine bay was structural and chopping any of it away would need some strength putting back in. Exmo's had their weak spots even without engine swaps! So, yeah, £5.5k for an Exmo is strong money... but if it's what someone wants, then I'm sure someone will pay it.

Me +1 booked in to the Fairway. It'll be just the two of us.

Put us down for the Sunday thing too the daughter's a little unsure but we'll get her convinced

I'll be there

Those Bosch pumps became so popular on the aftermarket that I suspect a lot were dodgy/cheap clones - I had exactly the same experience as you, from a pump picked up at a kit car show. Luckily it failed in the garage rather than before the car was on the road.

Genuine Sytec bought as replacement