tristanh
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Posts: 990
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No big deal , when you have good crimpers and pin removal tools. Cut the Gixxer dejector wiring , leaving the wires about 3 inches long , strip the ends and fit seals and heat shrink... Crimp on two power timer male pins... press into Male JPT sockets.. and et voila , 4 handy adapters for Ford-Gixxer injectors
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tristanh
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Posts: 990
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Hmmmmm..... Tear apart commenced.... I reckoned there was a lot of useless wiring in there. It's still a lightly modded stock KA loom , which had the fusebox over at the drivers right knee. I decided to relocate it to the middle and slim down what I could. Some time ago , I piqued the interest of my friend Brian Garvey , in talking about inlet tract length , and ended up with him casting a new inlet mani for me. A lot tidier than my effort! Reason for this was to get more length , and use the Gixxer injectors, further out from the head, to promote torque and air/fuel mixing. The OEM Ford ones shoot straight at the back of the valve, good for pottering about, and emissions, not for power. However, in case it doesn't work, I can easily revert to them. Whenever it makes it to the dyno, it'll be interesting to see the difference. Handily for me, of the 2 types of injectors commonly in use, (High and Low Resistance), the impedance of the Ford and Suzuki ones are almost identical. Use the wrong type and it could damage the ECU. so, shiny inlet mani needs attaching to the Throttle bodies... My brother-of-another-Mother, Adrian in Mectec.ie turned out these 4 neat collars on one of his lathes. get 4 small o-rings , and stretch them onto the groove in the TBs , and the groove Brian machined into the ends of the mani runners.. a dollop of Vaseline, and the whole lot squeezed together, with a satisfying pop. Air tight, and neat. I swear the vaseline wasn't used for any other purpose. Honest. You can see the black steel struts to hold them all together. Now, mani bolted on, and here you can see the Ford injector plug wiring. Which uses Junior Power Timer style plugs... which don't fit the Gixxer rejectors. Of course they don't , if they did , where would the fun be... and what else would I be doing late of a Saturday night , after work , on a Bank Holiday weekend...
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tristanh
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Routinely bewildered
Posts: 990
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Firstly my trusty service crew got held up with a cycling tour, and got delayed into service... as in, I was in service, with no crew!
Suspension "bump" was waaaaaaaay too stiff , so the braking was woeful, the car just wanted to skid, not slow. Then the Navi had a wee mix up on the notes , which caused both of us to lose confidence a bit... then , Special stage 3, near the end, an outer CV joint exploded as I changed gear out of a square right. I had one, we got it changed , and got running eventually at the back of the field, just hoping for a run to the finish. Then the oil light came on, on SS5 . Game over, ball burst, no jelly and ice-cream for me.
This video shows me; (a)me driving like I was asleep, and (b)the car just not braking at all for me, the bump was way too stiff. The car wouldn;t "sink" on its suspension, and hence not bite into the road, instead it was just locking up under breaking. I backed off the dampers in service , which helped.
Ka at about 55 secs in.
Had the equivalent of a young lads 7am "walk of shame" in rallying terms, ie getting towed out on a rope, car up on trailer and home in a sulk. To add insult to injury, the oil light that caused me to retire..... seemed after it was only a fault in the wiring or oil light switch. No engine damage, I had 45 psi oil pressure the next day, at tickover, with the engine at 90-95 degrees.
So that's the rallying fun, after that I ripped it apart to "fix" it, got bogged down getting my house habitable, paying a mortgage , taking over more of the running of the family business, starting into my Mk1 resto, and working my way through various girlfriends!
But finally , the bug has bitten again , I renewed my competition license and want to get back competing.
There was various upgrades planned, everywhere I looked there were places to make things safer, stronger, lighter, faster. Amd sometimes several items got all 4!
Yeah, its soul destroying when it doesn't go well, but when it does, the sheer bliss of nailing an apex perfectly on a drift, and taking a good time, more than makes up for it .
So, upgrades starting, first with the Cage. loose plan, in no particular order...
X door bars, a transverse dash bar, and run bars from the A pillar bars out to the front turrets. A big rub of the lightening stick! Rewire, tidy the loom, relocate the battery to the rear. a lightweight battery at that. Polycarbonate windows everywhere bar windscreen . Longer runner inler mani , Brian Garvey, a mate who does some ally casting, has cast one for me, use injectors further upstream, and increase the fuel pressure. Lengthen the exhaust secondaries . Remap, and hopefully improve power and torque. Change the rear drums for discs. Move the seats further rearwards and down, and extend the steering column to match . Fit a bias-pedal box, remove the servo and linkage . sort out the bumpsteer somehow. it's quite unnerving on fast bumpy straights. Coilover overhaul and rebuild. Fresh coat of paint and weld a couple of patches on the body.
I'm hoping I won't have to buy new seats and/or extinguishers.
After that the driver needs to MTFU , lose a stone and start driving it properly.
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tristanh
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Posts: 990
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I got the PAS working , car was a lot easier to catch by the scruff of the neck , and more importantly , rescue it from big slides . My best mate Jackie , the ultimate legend she was , sponsored the entry fee as a birthday present , so things were just looking rosy . Scrutiny went well , stages looked nice , good bit of fast flowing stuff , which we always went well on. Up early on Sunday morning , raring to go.....
should have stayed in bed.
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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tristanh
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Posts: 990
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Right , seeing as I don't quite have seemed to bore everyone to tears (yet?), on with the saga.
Anyway, the wallet had nothing only echoes in it after that last rally/class win. But as ever, that doesn't stop ya, this motorsport racket is an addictive drug, and there's only one cure....
Poverty.
I stood back and did a bit of an assessment , to see what I could do , jobs to finish , things to upgrade etc. 1. Fit a GRP bonnet that a boatbuilder mate made for me,and cut a vent into it to let out hot air. 2. strip the wishbones and change the bushings , the bang that bent the wheels loosened them up.(ended up fitting uniball bearings) 3. strip the dampers , re-grease the internals , and see if they need re-gassing. Also fix the top mounts, they're showing signs of wear . (solid top mounts) 3. Full alignment check , all I did before the last rally was check the tracking. 4. Fit the PAS pump, space is a premium , but it has to go in there! 5. Try and fit a better tensioner pulley to the fan belt. 6. Get the ECU sent to Motec/TDP to get fixed , it has a "filter" for electronic interference blown. 7. There's an annoying thump from the back , think it's just the solid axle beam bushes , just need to check thats all it is . (It was , sorted by stripping and rebuilding) 8. New brake pads , and probably discs..... 9. Probably paint and fit my "spare" front bumper , the current one is getting tired...and touch up the paint along the sill area. 10. Re-do some extinguisher pipes and jets. 11. Probably change the outer CV joints , as a precaution.. 12. Fit 2 new front tires.
After checking it , the list looked like this.. 1. Fit Des's GRP bonnet,and cut a vent into it . 2. strip the wishbones and change the bushings , the bang that bent the wheels loosened them up. New Spherical bearings ordered from MecTec.ie 3. strip the dampers , re-grease the internals , and see if they need re-gassing. Also fix the top mounts , they're showing signs of wear . Stripped them, all ok . Top mounts need the pillow ball bearings replace , but there's another couple of rallies in them. At least the housing is ok. 3. Full alignment check , all I did before the last event was check the tracking. Spoke to Philip Case RallySport(ex M=Sport top tech!) about this, he made a few suggestions on damper settings. 4. Fit the PAS pump , space is a premium , but it has to go in there! Made the new PAS pump bracket, rough..but effective. It's strong , and simple . need a longer auxillary belt now tho. 5. Try and fit a better tensioner pulley to the fan belt. I got a timing belt an idler mounted , that'll make the belt wrap around the alternator pulley more.. 6. Get the ECU sent to Motec/TDP to get fixed , it has a "filter" for electronic interference blown. 7. There's an annoying thump from the back , think it's just the solid axle beam bushes , just need to check thats all it is . yep , just a smidgen of wear on the RHS axle beam bush. 8. New brake pads , and probably discs..... 1 more rally left in them! 9. Probably paint and fit my "spare" front bumper , the current one is getting tired...and touch up the paint along the sill area. 10. Re-do some extinguisher pipes and jets. New jet ordered from RallyBitz 11. Probably change the outer CV joints , as a precaution.. 12. Fit 2 new front tires.
The Moonraker forestry was coming up , no night stages this time , so should have been an easier run .
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tristanh
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Posts: 990
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I was thinking, I've no more use for my rally spec 1300, dyno proven to 95bhp, I might stick it in the classifieds.... Oh yeah? What's it worth? That's a good question.
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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tristanh
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I've no idea why they'd mess with custom shafts tbh. Unless it's the iron block Zetec engine cars, or if they tried to use the Puma/Fiesta intermediate shaft for the lhs. The 1600-2000 zetec's bolt up to the stock Ka box, the prob was using the puma box wit the puma engine that needed the hybrid drive shafts. But seeing how easily you can build the hybrid box, I can't understand it either Actually, the Puma Fiesta box would work perfectly too, the only reason I used my box was it was because of the Motorsport ratios in it. And it was easier just to swap the b/h than transport all the gearset over. If I had had a standard Ka g'box, chances are I'd have left the Puma box on the engine.
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tristanh
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I had one,drove it home from Calais to Ireland, across the UK. It cut out about every 2 hours on me.... Petrol would stop coming to the carb. One particularly interesting time was on the m25, at about 9.00 pm... I started coasting along the hard shoulder, but was still travelling at about 55mph when the hard shoulder disappeared due to concrete bridge structures, and I had to filter out into the traffic again, with no propulsion!!
Not the most popular man around London that night.
Anyhow, wasn't killed, luckily, got around the concrete structures, and got in again to the hard shoulder . I was under the bonnet, fumbling at the carb, ripping off the fuel pipe and sucking petrol up from the tank. I say sucking, I think inhaling is a better term. So.. Suck,, gargle, cough, spit out, repeat several times. Until on about the 4th go, I spat out the saliva flavoured go-juice onto the ground. Only the ground now had shoelaces. Which were attached to sensible black shoes. Which had a sensible dark trousers over those... I kept looking up " oh, hello Officer, sorry about that! "
Somehow evaded arrest, while parked without warning lights (no hazards fitted), in a foreign registered vehicle, that I couldn't really prove I owned, while driving it with a non UK trade plate. In retrospect, it may have seemed like far too much paperwork! 😂
Anyway I digress. Sometimes in strangely flavoured colours too. Buy one. They are a proper Lancia from before the Fiat era, with lovely engineering on them, and really brilliant handling.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 22:40:51 GMT
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Another serial Vw nut here. Doing a ground up,nut n bolt resto with mods on S1 mk1, and my Big bumper mk2 is due for some lovin' soon, including a special 2.0 16v heart and suspension upgrades.
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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tristanh
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Posts: 990
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Jan 31, 2017 22:19:06 GMT
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I was thinking, I've no more use for my rally spec 1300, dyno proven to 95bhp, I might stick it in the classifieds....
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 18:47:40 GMT
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I suppose a lot of people are afraid of gearboxes, thinking they run on witchcraft and prayers, and once opened all the magic gets tangled up.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 18:45:04 GMT
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Tuxman, you sir are an inspiration, both in automotive and personal fashions. Most others would likely have given up after some of your setbacks, both mechanical and medical.
I hope some day to make it over the Irish Sea to see the Monster on track and to shake your hand.
Simply stunning stuff.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 14:01:54 GMT
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I want to put a 1.6 into a 100E. B/h is available for rwd.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 13:34:15 GMT
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All looks very good in there, although possibly a tad of a squeeze What horsepower is it making with the 1400cc Sigma lump on the throttle bodies though? Sounds bloody epic for one of them Mine was dyno'd at 145, after I fitted it first with the crude inlet mani, dodgy ecu and a not ideal exhaust. 3 items which have been rectified since. Hopefully more when it's next mapped. As I mentioned before, one of the guys had 190+, the Super 1400 Puma spec engines ran a destroked 1.7, for mental free revving, big bhp power plants. Mine is little more than a fast Road engine, stock valves, crank, rods, and pistons.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 13:04:46 GMT
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Engine mount that I made. You could possibly build a standard Fiesta/Puma chassis mount on, but its longer, and would probably end up fouling the inner wing.
It looks crude, because, well it is... but it's simple, cost me nothing only time and it works. I built it deliberately a little lower than I measured, so I could shim it up to the exact height.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 13:00:21 GMT
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 12:57:53 GMT
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This isn't helping me not want to actually build a Ka for B road blasting. I did nearly buy (well swap for my old Passat TDI) a Ka with the 1.7 puma lump in it, but it wasn't the best looking conversion, and had a horrendous bodykit. I'm surprised to hear how easy the hybrid gearbox is to make, it always sounded like a bit of a bodgy weak point so people went with cut and shut drive shafts instead. But looking at yours, it seems a simple and sensible route to go. I've no idea why they'd mess with custom shafts tbh. Unless it's the iron block Zetec engine cars, or if they tried to use the Puma/Fiesta intermediate shaft for the lhs.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 12:55:49 GMT
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Yup, simple as that. Even fitting the b/h is a doddle, the diff isn't shimmed "solid" like most boxes, instead it has a Belleville type washer as I recall to preload it. The IB5 box is in LOADS of Fiestas, Escorts, Kas of all ages so getting one I'd easy. I think even the Fiesta RST had an IB5, and that has an LSD.
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tristanh
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Jan 31, 2017 10:02:40 GMT
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You'd shock a lot of people with just a set of -30 Eibach springs, the Mondeo /Escort front brakes, Puma m/c, Focus drums, and some slightly wider sticky tires. If it wasn't for my rally one still not finished, and my mk1 and 2 Golfs, E30 and E39, I'd be making another 16v one for trackdays and road rallying.
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tristanh
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Thanks guys, I wasn't sure if my particular style of waffling would appeal to anyone. I'd be tempted to build one as a road car with a stockish 1600 zetec se, just as a sleeper. The rhs engine mount is the only stumbling block, and even that isn't a big deal as you'll see when I find pics. Even the radiator is the stock Puma/Fiesta one.
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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