CherryV's Thunder

[CherryVimto]

Not much happening lately.

Found the wire on pin 58 on the ECU which another member said is part of the torque control in first & second gears. Gave it a snip and went for a quick drive.
Now she really shifts! Quite a good free mod that and the speedo still works.
Not decided whether I want to wire in a switch or just leave it as is.

Still got the engine start button to wire up.
Going to swap over all the coolant hoses to Samco hoses. Not going to reveal the colour yet.

I can't believe how well this car goes round corners, it's just so much fun to drive. I wonder how much better a set of coilovers will make it!?
Getting a full set of Toyo tyres ordered next weekend to match the front and back up and need to get the alignment/tracking done.

 

[moondustka]

Nice project..

Becareful with coilovers, they're only as good as they've been set up as it's all manual if they're fully adjustable. I only found this out a couple of years ago talking about chassis dynamics to my tuner. Lots of people buy them, fit them and slam the car, thinking it will handle like it's on rails.

Really, the car needs to be corner weighed to find out what lb rated springs are needed for each corner, then the dampening adjusted to suit. The height will also play a factor.

This is something I still haven't got around to doing, but will be leaving it up to the tuners.

A lowering kit is generally ok as it's all preset by the manufacturer, so long as they've got it right :lol:

 

[CherryVimto]

I've been reading your project thread and I bow to your skill and knowledge, but I think all this 'corner weighing' and 'damper adjustment' are a little far fetched for me, being more of a simpleton with all those technicalities. :roll:

I'm not interested in 'slamming' the Puma to the ground. There is a Golf parked near me which has adjustable/gas(?) suspension, and it sits about and inch & a half off the ground and the tops of the wheels are buried inside the arches. Quite frankly, it's looks bloody stupid and totally impractical! What people see in that is totally beyond me. Why have a car you can't even drive over a pebble in!?

I'd be looking at coilovers to get a nice height which looks good and is practical to drive and hopefully I will get a more firmer/positive ride out of them.

Now, I have won something on eBay which I will hopefully be picking up on Friday after work! :lol:

 

[moondustka]

I've been reading your project thread and I bow to your skill and knowledge, but I think all this 'corner weighing' and 'damper adjustment' are a little far fetched for me, being more of a simpleton with all those technicalities. :roll:

I'm not interested in 'slamming' the Puma to the ground. There is a Golf parked near me which has adjustable/gas(?) suspension, and it sits about and inch & a half off the ground and the tops of the wheels are buried inside the arches. Quite frankly, it's looks bloody stupid and totally impractical! What people see in that is totally beyond me. Why have a car you can't even drive over a pebble in!?

I'd be looking at coilovers to get a nice height which looks good and is practical to drive and hopefully I will get a more firmer/positive ride out of them.

Now, I have won something on eBay which I will hopefully be picking up on Friday after work! :lol:

Yea no worries - to be honest I'm not that clued up on suspension and geometry too much. Just didn't want you to spend the money and be disappointed

As a general rule, the manufacturer will supply spring rates which are suitable to everyday driving. If you get fixed dampening ones, then it should adjust accordingly with the height. If it's adjuatsble start with half way in between 'hard' and 'soft, then adjust until it's firm but not bouncy over every little bump

 

[CherryVimto]

Update time....

Picked up a wee something I won on eBay:

All dismantled ready to be cleaned up.

Does anyone know off hand, what size and thread the little grub screws are as one is missing.

 

[CherryVimto]

Fitting the rears today! :thumbs:

 

[CherryVimto]

Now sitting on coilovers...

View media item 4418
View media item 4419
Managed to keep the front the same heights as it was. Will keep it at this level until I've sorted out different wheels and new tyres.

Next is oil +filter change and spark plugs.

 

[CherryVimto]

Spent a bit of time changing the spark plugs this afternoon.
Was an interesting job with the strut brace laying over the top!

I think the plugs definitely needed changing:

View media item 4421

 

[alexwilliams840]

Looks great mate :thumbs:

 

[moondustka]

Looking nice

 

[CherryVimto]

Thanks.

Puma wasn't flavour of the month today.
I stopped off at Morrisons on the way home to buy a few essentials, just to return to the car to find a rather large pink puddle under the front.
I walked home, luckily only a couple of minutes away, and returned with a large bottle of hot water. Putting that in would've been ok if it hadn't have been running straight out again, all over the floor!
Decided to throw a load of water in and carefully drive home.

After consultation with a good friend, thermostat housing was the first item on the list.
So, off came the drivers side wheel, accessory belt, drivers side headlight and alternator, I eventually got the the thermostat housing. Yep, it had failed, but luckily, I had kept the one I had removed from my old Puma!

Eventually I finished putting it back together in the dark! Now up and running again.

 

[moondustka]

Speedy repairs! Good on you.

 

[CherryVimto]

It needed fixing as I'm covering for sickness at work and am on call, so could need the car at any time!


A little something arrived in the post....

View media item 4424Getting ready to shift my battery to the boot

 

[CherryVimto]

Not much happening lately.

Found the wire on pin 58 on the ECU which another member said is part of the torque control in first & second gears. Gave it a snip and went for a quick drive.
Now she really shifts!

I think that was a bit of psychological trickery..... After cutting the wire the car was suffering unexplained random stalls so joined the wire back again. To be honest, it don't feel any different other than cutting that wire must do something as it stopped the exhaust popple.

Swapped temp gauge wire from pin 80 to 75. Gauge now works.
For anyone who may be interested in what the plug looks like pulled apart so the pins can be swapped over:

View media item 4425

 

[CherryVimto]

Spent a few hours moving the battery to in the boot.

Pulled positive cable through and mounted the neutral/earth making sure the paint was cleaned off where the terminal touches the metalwork:

View media item 4443I got a bit extra cable so I could use it for both positive and neutral/earth.


Removed battery and box. Stripped back the wiring towards the fuse box:

View media item 4444

Joined all the cables together:

View media item 4445The positive is bolted together like that to ensure all of the alterations I've done actually work. It will be covered/insulated properly.


Battery voltage when all connected up:

View media item 4448

Started the engine. Fired first time as usual. No cables got warm.
Running/charging voltage:

View media item 4446Voltage dropped about half of a volt when I put the headlights on.

Next thing is to insulate the join in the positive cable and to secure the battery/box in the boot then find a nice cover for it.

 

[alexwilliams840]

Nice work, will be doing this myself soon too. Are you lengthening the earth too or earthing the battery to the body and connect the standard terminal to the body?

 

[CherryVimto]

On the negative terminal of the battery, there were 4 black/yellow wires and a thick wire from the gearbox. This was earthed slightly to the right of the battery by the suspension turret.
I joined the 4 wires and the gearbox earth together and bolted them straight to the earth point by the suspension turret, removing the paint first to ensure clean connection.

The battery is earthed directly to the bodywork in the boot.

Only need to alter/lengthen the positive.

 

[alexwilliams840]

Thats what i planned to do too. Where did you earth it too in the boot? One of the bolts that holds the seatbelt on?

 

[CherryVimto]

mounted the neutral/earth making sure the paint was cleaned off where the terminal touches the metalwork:
View media item 4443

On the bodywork in the boot. You can see the neutral cable and where it is bolted on to the metalwork at the back.
Almost directly behind the bolt is the solenoid for the boot release.

 

[alexwilliams840]

Oops, can't believe i missed that post! Haha. Great place, looks like you put your battery exactly where i plan to put mine!