Mk1 Focus RS powered Puma, now going RWD, JWRC

[tuonokid]

Hi Ben
I'm glad I'm not paying your fuel bills
Does that in tank fuel pump have the fiddly to fit nylon screen filter on it.
I used Merlin 6 years ago when I replaced the fuel pump on my Westy, it was way expensive elsewhere.
Barry

 

[moondustka]

Hi Barry,

Fuel's not actually that bad to be honest, it's only drinking it on full throttle - last time I checked I get anywhere between 18-20mpg round town which isn't far from a standard Mk1 FRS should be better with new management providing sequential fuelling, lambda etc.

And yes, these pumps have the screen filter on the bottom. Can't remember what they're like as haven't fitted one for a while!

I've never bought from Merlin before but sounds like I shouldn't have any problems. I might ask them if they know of any trouble with that 450 pump, any returned etc.

Ben

 

[TylerB]

[post]346628[/post]

Got my wheels refurbished at a local company. The wheels get dipped, and missing metal gets filled (I think with new metal, maybe chemical metal), powder coat primer, powder coat colour and powder coat lacquer so should be fairly durable.



Fitted with Toyo R888s.

Love these wheels too! Give it more a track car impression, the escort wheels make it look somehow more aggressive though, i wouldn't sell them if i were you. Anyway, it's just what you prefer, good job.

 

[moondustka]

Thanks Tyler. They're a motorsport bred wheel, designed for gravel rally I believe, that's why there are only small holes round the outside. But I like them, they're reasonably light and very strong. These particular wheels are quite old and Compomotive don't make them anymore.

 

[moondustka]

Time for some frilly mods :grin:

So I've ordered LED lamps reverse, indicator and brake lights. I've actually only got the reverse lamps at the moment because they came from this country. The others will come whenever they come because I got them from China. I like LED lamps (not for reliability, as let's be honest some of them don't last any longer than and ordinary lamp) because they are slightly brighter and you get a clean on/off from them which for things like indicators and brake lights I think is more alerting than a dimming up and dimming down by comparison.

Here is the comparison for the reverse lights, sorry the angle is probably not the best but you can see the difference:



And both LED lamps together, again, photo isn't great but you get the idea:



They are a bit brighter and much whiter. I have done the middle boot brake light with red 501 LED lamps and that looks great. When all the lamps have arrived I might do a video so can see what they're like. Quite an inexpensive mod to do if you get the lamps from China and can wait.

One thing to note, the two pin connectors on the indicators and reverse lights are wired the wrong way round - of course this doesn't matter to an ordinary filament lamp, but LEDs are polarity sensitive. I have swapped the pins in the plugs to make them work - fiddley but the correct way to do it IMO, I bought some sparer plugs from Ian G in case I damaged or broke the connectors. Ford have wired them so that on a single bayonet cap the outside of the lamp holder is positive and the tip of the cap is negative!

I'm also looking at LED HB3 headlight lamps but the latest Philips units are are quite expensive at £120 a set and to do high beam as well you'd need 2 sets!

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

What lamps are you reffering to, please?

Nice work, BTW!

 

[moondustka]

Hi Sinisa,

I got these for rear boot brake light:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172126409868?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

These for the reverse lights:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171924416092?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I got these for side repeaters, however I think I might change them because they aren't quite as bright as a normal lamp:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151468782...49&var=450670050846&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

These for the indicator lamps:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361343615053?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Unsure whether these are wired correctly for the brake lamps, but so cheap I'm not bothered if they aren't correct:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111766388...49&var=410758705101&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

And these are the headlight lamps I was looking at, but quite an investment:

http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/exteri...lights-headlamps/hb3-9005-5th-gen-4000-lumens

 

[TylerB]

Looking good, I agree it will be more alerting, especially for the brake lights. Cool upgrade !

 

[g-whizz]

[post]349378[/post] Time for some frilly mods :grin: So I've ordered LED lamps reverse, indicator and brake lights.!

Nice going Ben k: Those headlight ones look very interesting too but £60 a bulb!! :shock: Even though one of mine's just gone I think I'd rather drive with a torch out of my driver's window :grin:

 

[moondustka]

:lol: I know, I can't justify £120 a set (when they've got a deal on)! And you'd need two!

 

[tuonokid]

If anyone's considering upgrading lighting have a look at Boltonbits on Ebay, I've been through to their place and it's an Aladins cave of lighting.
Barry
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-RDX-LED-Traditional-Light-Kit-8-Standard-Fog-Reverse-Defender-1983-to-2001-/390769288627?hash=item5afbaa25b3:g:G6YAAMXQlgtS-fwF

 

[moondustka]

So, I discovered a leak!

I noticed that a small amount of oil was leaking from the turbo oil drain, where I had put the adaptor in. After trying to seal this twice over the last two weeks, I decided I would have to use an alternative method to sort this once and for all!

Here's the offending item:



I had to separate the steel sump pan from this aluminium windage tray because the oil pick up has to be removed.





Removed the threaded adaptor, cleaned out the threads with the tap I'd used previously and polished the top face clean.

I also drilled out the small bolt thread and through into the tray. I wanted to weld it up and i didn't want to trap a pocket of air in there.





And welded:





This was hard to get the TIG torch into!!



And cleaned up..



Unfortunately, one slight slip of the wire wheel in the air die grinder, resulted in some fine scratches on the adaptor :-( I did lightly sand these off smooth. At this point, I didn't think it was worth cutting off to start again, as the black anodise had turned brown with the heat from welding (which I quite like actually). See what you think anyhow:





I then set about cleaning the face which the steel pan mates against:





Before I put it back on, I spent a couple of minutes looking around underneath, quite pleased with how clean it is:



And found this stamp (I knew they were, but it's nice to find a stamp!)



And all back on, ready for the steel pan..



Much better I think



And that was all of Sunday's efforts and took about 7 hours!

More to come, as I decided to give the steel sump pan some TLC while it was off.

 

[tuonokid]

Nice work again Ben. I thought it might have been a fancy sump on a FRS but it looks just like a standard blacktop one, have you got plenty of clearance underneath the car?

 

[g-whizz]

Nice going Ben...though if I'm truly honest I was technically lost after the word "windage"... :grin:

 

[moondustka]

[post]350037[/post] Nice work again Ben. I thought it might have been a fancy sump on a FRS but it looks just like a standard blacktop one, have you got plenty of clearance underneath the car?

Thanks Barry. You are most probably right, although I thought the windage tray might be slightly different? Perhaps not! There are other features that make the FRS engine different from an N/A zetec.

The gearbox is the lowest part of the car. I'll get a photo. It'll explain a lot, because really everyone (including myself) has mounted the engine differently to how it was intended in the FRS and this means the bottom of the engine and gearbox isn't flat.

[post]350038[/post] Nice going Ben...though if I'm truly honest I was technically lost after the word "windage"... :grin:

Thanks. Ha, just call it top half of sump, sump being a pot at the bottom of an engine which holds oil

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Ben
Thanks for replying on my post about the Ka. The reason I asked about the sump was the Silvertop one is much shallower and has a steel windeage tray bolted on to the mains whereas the blacktop two piece one is much deeper. If it's the same depth as the gearbox or higher it's not a problem

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Nice effort there! Just love this thread! And one (nasty) question: do you get to drive that car at all or are your just getting it beyond perfect all the time? :grin:

 

[XAF]

Looks amazing as ever Ben. My inner geek loved the service date written on the oil filter too. About the only thing I could match skills on!!!

 

[moondustka]

Hi Ben
Thanks for replying on my post about the Ka. The reason I asked about the sump was the Silvertop one is much shallower and has a steel windeage tray bolted on to the mains whereas the blacktop two piece one is much deeper. If it's the same depth as the gearbox or higher it's not a problem

No worries Barry, not sure my reply was much help!

The steel sump pan is slightly higher the gearbox just wish it was aluminium. However, you can get aftermarket sumps that are one piece with built in windage tray, but are approx £500!

Nice effort there! Just love this thread! And one (nasty) question: do you get to drive that car at all or are your just getting it beyond perfect all the time? :grin:

Thanks Sinisa. I was driving it a bit before, but I can't stand a anything that leaks! I wouldn't say it was perfect but I'm trying to get it reliable. I had my Ka to a stage where I could just get in it like a daily and drive it, sometimes quite hard, put it away and get it back out again to do the same with no troubles. Always did the usual oil check etc.

Reliability and jut trying to make it better all the time

There are some oil hoses crossing over under the sump. Would be nice to sort that but would mean buying a new filter head to swap the inlet and outlet round. I bought this one years ago and was mounted in a different place!

Looks amazing as ever Ben. My inner geek loved the service date written on the oil filter too. About the only thing I could match skills on!!!

Thank you!

Ha, my brother Dan gave me that idea a few years ago. Just means I know how old the filter is and how many miles it's done as I'm quite religious in changing oil

 

[tuonokid]

Hi Ben
The aftermarket ones are by Raceline and as you say are about £500 but I managed to get a second hand one off ebay for £400 for the Westy I'm building. If you don't do this with the blacktop {or FRS) on a westy there's only about 40-50mm of clearance to the road, that's why I asked about yours.
Barry