Duratec Turbo Fiesta 4x4 (Quattro) Project

[excursion]

Hello all, this is a copy of my post on Fiestaturbo.com, I figured I would post it here too seeing as I also browse this forum a lot.

I've been through phases of wanting to sell the car and wanting to keep it. I figure it's not worth anything other than to me, and as it's a fine base to start with I will be undertaking one last 'Fiesta Project'.

The rationale for this project is as follows; I've learnt quite a lot since the last Zetec turbo so the S4 project aside this will be an ideal chance to do something different. I also feel that the car could do with bringing 'up-to-date' as I enjoy learning about new technologies and I have plenty in store for the car.

As with previous incarnations I'm not looking to create the loudest, most powerful and ostentatious car. It's going to be firmly driver orientated and tastefully done. The chassis will be as strong as possible without doing anything radical such as a weld in roll cage, seam welding is a possibility. I'll be making few braces for the running gear and chassis, particularly at the front end. However, there will be a firm luxury element. No knocks, bangs or harshness. Anybody can create a rock hard & unforgiving car, but it takes more thought to create one equally as good that is still comfortable. I like to use the car in 'everyday' cirumstances.

Enough of the talk, here are some quick (read poor) preliminary photo's of the components I have amassed to date. There are lots more but I will post when Uni is finished.

SportKA PAS rack. Matched to my ST170/Focus RS PAS pump which has unique valving for sports applications. The Sport KA rack will enable me to run 20mm extra front track and provide a nicer feel on the road.


Believe it or not this is from a '53 plate car. Lots of farm tracks around here, it'll clean up fine.


Pedal box assembly from SportKA. I'm performing a hydraulic clutch conversion so that I can run a HD clutch without encroaching on pedal feel. Modifications to bulkhead and steering column required.


Master cylinder and brake booster from aforementiond KA. Temporary measure until a VAG setup is sourced.


SportKA front hubs, +20mm lower arms (cast for strength). Also hub carriers with revised gearbox mount, ideal for my gearbox conversion. The S brace is stronger and lighter than the mk3 version.

Hubs have integral ABS sensors, needed as I'm wiring in 4 wheel electronic ABS.


Puma VCT gearbox mounts, may be of some use yet. Not sure at this point.


The ST170 wiring loom, reason explained below:


The heart of any modern Ford electronics system, the General Electronics Module (GEM). I'm cutting this system from the ST170 loom to gain radio frequency locking, control of double locks and a security system. The GEM is integrated with many functions of the car including lighting and wipers. I will be utilising its functionality to the maximum to provide functions such as automatic wipe when wash, rear wipe in reverse, interior light delay etc.


The front brakes, Focus RS 330mm with 4 piston alu calipers. 16" Superleggeras to cut down unsprung weight. Billet hubs are something I'm looking in to. Front driveshafts are going to be equal length to cut down on torque steer.



The rear brakes. ST170 front 300mm discs and Brembo 2 piston calipers. Seperate handbrake caliper. A lot of people claim large rear brakes are overkill, this is horse, the rear brakes must be relavtive in size to the fronts to provide an even spread of torque across the system. A well balanced system equates to shorter stopping distances.

Porsche are a company that takes braking very seriously, look at their top steel systems and the rear calipers and discs are the same size enabling them to have powerful yet controlled brakes. An example of this is on track days,RS4's with Mov'it front 380 6's cant touch GT3's for braking unless the rears are done to compliment.



Focus, Mondeo and Golf IV A/C system's. Parts of each will be utilised to improve on the low capacity Mk5 Fiesta system. Wiring will be custom and I will be retaining the Mk3 dashboard.


Mk5 clocks with rev counter...in black (Thanks to Project for these () )


GRS EVO3 I/C and rear strut brace. IC may be changed when the front of the car has been re-worked (tubular front crossmember to give clearance for a larger radiator & cooler):


Electric & heated mirrors, heating will be controlled by the GEM:


The powerplant, ST170 turbo. It will be all steel internals which are still to come across from the states. I've comissioned a custom inlet manifold that has been made a person who works on the US Indy series. He has taken a particular interest in the Zetec. The manifold has been designed around what I want from the engine, which is driveability and effortless torque throughout the rev range.

Pics of the manifold to follow, its at a friends place in Boston along with my throttle body and injectors.

ST 6-Speed gearbox. I'm worried about it's torque capacity, Getrag don't put a very high torque rating on the box, but then neither did Ford on the B5. It's a gamble at this stage. The ST gearbox is geared for 185mph at 8krpm in 6th. It'll be flat out whenever the opportunity arises.



A little dusty..she's been in there for a few years now..Still only on 38k miles..

[excursion]

Small update. The rear calipers arrived this morning, very good condition and the pads have still got a lot of life left in them. I've had red calipers before and they didn't look too great against my burgandy car, so I'll strip these down and have them powder coated silver to match the fronts. Replacement Brembo decals can be bought on ebay.

Now I have both front and rear calipers I can begin to determine the square area of each caliper piston, in order to calculate the total fluid displacement within the system (also allowing for pad wear and brake lines). This is used as a requirement for master cylinder size, and the ratio of the SportKA brake pedal is used to detrmine if adequate brake line pressure will be available. I will post more when I've learnt exactly what needs to be done.

Here are a couple of pics:


(I have a set of Cosworth 4x4 front brakes for sale if anyone is looking for a set. PM me with offers if interested.)

I also ordered a few Scotchbrite pads to begin stripping the underseal from under the car. I'll get cracking at the weekend. I'll (etch)prime first and I aim to give it a finish as good as the top sides. It'll be my first time painting with a compressor/gun so I'm expeting a few mistakes!

[excursion]

Ordered some Scotchbrite pads this week from RS online (be warned there are cheaper places out there, but delivery is fast & reliable):


I'm using the pads to remove all underseal and take the entire underneath back to bare metal, ready for etch primer and new underseal (in specific places).

Here is the underside as it was, covered in about 1.5mm of wax. When I took delivery of the shell back in 2000 I spent 3 days and copious amounts of Waxoyl making sure it wouldn't rust...


Heres what the N/S looked like after 10 minutes with the angle grinder and Scotchbrite pad. I found the electric drill lacking in power and it tended to burr the underseal and not fetch it off cleanly. The drill is only really useful for the hard to reach places..and there are lots of those:


Long exposure to show more detail:


I've got limited time to spend on the project at the moment due to revision, so standard Grey Primer was used to protect the exposed metal. This will be removed when I've finished removing all of the underseal and in its place will sit a nice coat of etch primer.


m1k3_w47715 was kind enough to donate a pair of ST170 hubs to the cause! Big thanks to Mike :wink:


Superflex Polyurethane ARB bushes. This is the only place on the car I will be using Poly bushes, the ARB bushes take some punishment so it's worthwhile in this area:


Low screenwash level sensor from a Ghia. This will be wired up to my Mk5 clocks:


Most of the Ford parts I need for the project have been delivered, no doubt the need for more will arise though!

Mk5 secondary weather seals for the doors. At speeds over a ton the top of the doors flex and the result is a lot of wind noise. These strips should go somewhere towards stopping that. I'm going to bond the brackets on, as a lot of Mk5's rust out from the spot welds the top of the rail (it traps water):


A fresh set of decals for the car, including the engine bay which will be resprayed to match the car colour (Metallic Mk3.5 engine bays were left in etch primer):


Any parts that are not in 'as new' condition are being replaced along with all the suspension bushes & components just to be on the safe side. Even though most parts have only done 700ish miles I want the car to be perfect:


The magic button!

[excursion]

I'm going to source a set of Bi-Xenon projectors and carefully mount them in the Fiesta headlamp using the reflectors from another type of car, I'm having new covers made to replace the stock glass fronts. I've worked most of this out and have contacts ready, but the lighting will be one of the last things I do unfortunately. The finishing touches will be done towards the end of the year

[excursion]

Today I stripped the underside of all removable parts; fuel tank, fixings, pipes, heat shields etc

The tank was still half full so I siphoned it dry to make removal simpler:


The spare wheel carrier was also removed, it's gone for good as the new exhaust system will take up all of the rear space. Here are a couple of shots of the install I did 6 years ago, I will get around to updating it at some point:


Battery relocated to the boot, and false floor for install so that some load space is still functional:


This is the floor as it is now, lots of wax and underseal:



The mid section of the car is not undersealed. I spent this afternoon removing all of the wax with petrol and a combination of Brillo pad, toothbrush and cloth:


Still a long way to go.

[excursion]

A very minor update.

I need to replace the cable actuated Mk3 heater controls as I will be using a Mk5 ventilation system. The mk5 has electronically actuated temperature adjustment.

I had a play around with an old mk5 heater control panel.


Here is where I will be mounting it. This was just a 15 minute test fit; the panel will be straightend out and cut to exact size on the final version. When finished it will look like it was there from the factory.


Test fit of Mk5 instrument cluster in the Mk3 dash.

[excursion]

Minor update, but big change of plans.

The Focus ST box has gone to a friend, and in it's place sits (or will when it arrives!) Audi 22s Quattro gearbox (TT 225). I always wanted a 4WD Fiesta from day 1, and with the power I'm expecting FWD would have been useless.

Next on the list is a decent Torsen rear diff, I want to keep diff locking mechanical rather than electrical. I'm still looking in to the various options for this, I wanted to use the Audi S4 rear but it is open as standard as the Torsen is the centre diff in that configuration (and aport of the gearbox which is longitudinal). It seems Mazda have a nice one for the MX5, but I need to know if it'll take the 500bhp the S4 one will.

EDL (Electronic diff locking) will require the use of a CAN bus network (what modern electronic systems use to communicate with each other) within the car which will take a considerable amount of time to install and integrate with mk3 switchgear. It utilises the ABS system (I am using a Mk5 4 wheel electronic system) to mimic true diff locking, however it's no where near as effective as a Torsen diff.

Pretty crap update, I should have more interesting things to add once I've made a rollover jig for the car.

[excursion]

Picked up an RS2000 4x4 rear-end from Barnsley yesterday. DaveRom came along to join me as we watched the chaps at the scrap yard struggle in taking it to bits so that I could put it in the back of my Fiesta

I really can't recommend the Ford Salvage Centre in Barnsley highly enough. You kind of expect to be served by ignorant arseholes at scrappies, get used to it, but these guys were polite and very helpful. Best I've ever dealt with I think!

Anyway, here's the rear end as it stands at the minute. After a few preliminary measurements the whole assembly needs shortening by over an inch.













I am going to use the Escort arms for making the mock up rear end, cutting them, butt weld and then sleeve for a strong joint. What I'll then do is have a complete set of arms made from billet aluminium.

I have a source for the driveshafts and will be fitting HD CV joints.

[excursion]

Updates

I spent today making a set of spits (now Nomad's are finished):


The rest of the day was spent stripping the car down to a bare shell:



Nice mint shell, was new in '99 and hasn't seen wet weather


I'm going to Kent in the morning to pick up the entire underpinnings of a 2003 Audi TT quattro. I'm researching the system with a view to making a custom controller. I have some pretty trick plans for the electronic torque bias

[excursion]

Small update, we have the drivetrain! It's a lovely piece of kit; very solid construction yet lightweight. It has been proven to take 550bhp by the HPA Biturbo R32, so it should be OK for me.




Typical VAG attention to detail (I have a lot of respect for their work, it's some of the best in the business IMO) with the line routing and that highly effective green anti-corrosion treatment of bolts:


Box section arms:



The Haldex unit and rear diff:




Late type forged aluminium calipers, I will be using these as my handbrake calipers:


Not much of an update, I've spent the day cataloguing my spares as Dad has kindly given me the loft in one of the garages to keep all my Fiesta parts. It's amazing what you collect! I've still got to strip out the interior, headlining, glass and loom - pretty mundane stuff. I hope to have the car on its side by Friday and then I can mount the diff. I've been planning it all in my head over the last couple of days and now have it all worked out including the suspension arms.

More soon

[excursion]

I've been working on the car when I can, a lot of time has been spent organising all my Fiesta spares and creating a catalogue so that I know what I have. I've got the shell strippedand have removed pretty much every fitting bar a few clips (which will be removed in due course). I hate overspray on anything, even if it's not seen!




Here is the sound deadening I have to contend with before I can start any fabrication/modification. I had a nice quiet ride but it's gonna take some effort to shift all that material (the black residue on the boot floor is from a lead sandwich sound deadener)



First stage: heat gun and scraper! Lots of fumes!



Second stage: Petrol and rags:



Now I'm pretty pedantic when it comes to corrosion proofing, really hate any sign of rust. What I'm using here is Copper based weld-through primer and acid etch primer (in aerosol form at this stage). I take the seams back to bare metal ready for seam welding and then finish with the weld-through primer. In theory this gives protection behind the weld and in the seam, resisting corrosion. Once seam welding is complete I will finish again with etch primer, then a further coat of standard primer from a gun:



Seams ready for welding, and etch primer on any exposed metal:



Here is the shell ready for seam sealer removal:




I started a bit of seam welding today just to break from the monotiny of removing the damn seam sealer, that stuff is a swine to remove!


That's about it for now, I have some serious work ahead seam welding and and removing sealer

[excursion]

Small update for today, more sealer removal and seam welding:



Here is a shot taken in the N/S front wheelarch, directly behind where I've been working today. As you can see I have ideal weld penetration, this will make for a nice stiff shell:



All welding is sanded down and etch primed, I won't post pics as everything looks pretty much the same but with a coat of white primer

[excursion]

update
I've been fairly busy on this for the last week; all of the interior seam welding is now complete. I need a few spliffs after all this scraping, that's for sure! I think this is the most tedious part of the project. I'm not so worried about working on the underside and I think that's because I'll be standing up with the car on it's side for most of it, so it's easier to have a few beers while I work

Ok, bought a new welder. I got a Murex on the recommendation of Mr Steve, fantastic piece of kit!


I won't post up loads of pics as it all looks pretty much the same, but here is a sample of what's been done:





All of the roof has been done too:




OK you probably get the idea, everything that can be done has been done.

Next it was etch primed, an then brush on sealer.



I wanted to make the sealer appear neater than the OEM stuff, and carefully masked off the area surround the seam:



It didn't look as good really, so didn't bother!

A few more pics:






And that's it! It's now ready to be turned so I can finally get on with mounting the diff ...




I pondered which was the best way to go about organising my site for this project, do I write seperate, unrelated articles for each task undertaken or do I write an ongoing diary encompassing everything? I've decided to do both, so that articles are available for easy reference and the whole project has some continuity by way of a week-to-week diary.

I'm still working on the diary but I have written the 'seam welding' article which can be found here:
http://www.mwstewart.co.uk/index.php?c=cars_xr2i_seams

Getting bored of/not enough time to update the site though tbh!

Until next time.....

[excursion]

Not much of an update as I've been really busy. I've decided to make some modifications to the rotisserie stands. As it will make it a lot easier for me to have the drivetrain mounted whilst the car is on its side I wanted to make sure the mounting points on the car were up to taking the extra weight. The current mounting brackets use the bumper mounts, these are fine for the empty shell but wouldn't take much more weight.

At the rear I made two extensions that loop underneath the rear valence and sit against the rear chassis rails, from here the brackets can be bolted through the chassis rail and into the boot area via the OEM tow bar mounting holes.






For the front I made another bracket that went through the front tow eye recess in the valence and sat flush against the front cross member, this could then be bolted through into the 2 existing gearbox cradle mounts.

[excursion]

I spent a little time today swivelling the shell into place so I can begin work on the underside. This was a 2 man job as clearance was minimal between the garage door opener and the top edge of the shell, my Dad kindly spent half an hour with me holding the shell while I adjusted the height of the stands and locked them in place with bolts.

I'm out of garage space at the moment! 2 interiors, 2 sets of wheels, 2 sets of suspension, an RS2K 4x4 rear end and numerous other things are making it difficult to work on the car, hopefully by the end of next week all of the parts that I don't need will be sold, giving me back some much needed space!

[excursion]

Cleaned the exhaust tunnel in order to remove all of the Waxoyl, this took a considerable amount of time with rags and a toothbrush and no doubt the wax in the seams will come back and haunt me when it's time to start priming & painting.



At the rear of the car I started to prepare the boot floor area for the fabrication work required to mount the diff, starting today by removing the boot floor reinforcing piece.



The metal has arrived for the rear diff mount, it is 100x50mm*2mm ERW box section. I also have some ERW tube to reinforce the areas where the mounting bolts will pass through the box section.



I carried on with preparing the rear of the car today, removing the 2 spare wheel carrier mounting brackets and removing the rest of the underseal ready for welding.



If I'm in a fit enough state over the weekend I shall get on with mounting the diff

[Dave]

WOW.
Some dedication in there mate. Well done.

[markb]

very impressive.. i'll be keeping an eye on this one!

[FF_Mark]

superb very interesting read and some quality work

[Injection]

Fair play, yr working hard on that!

[excursion]

Cheers guys

Like most of the projects on here, it's a labour of love

[PIG]

top work m8 and a good read that,i'll keep an eye on this one i think

[Gmac]

Unreal

[escort greg]

amazing and i thought i had some crazy ideas wicked keep it up.

[steveo_mex]

Hooooowwly cr*p - that is awsome!!!!


ONE HELL OF A PROJECT

I'll be watching this!!!

[Stevie]

u sure are keen m8
keep the pics coming

[chiz]

some project mate!!! i dont even understand some of the words but it all looks god!!!!

overkill in places you could say, but then again its the touches like that which make cars stand out from others!!!

shall be kepping an eye on this!!!!

[Kevmk2]

Interesting project mate,i thought i put some effort into my car,but you have some real dedication there

[FJK]

some people are just too clever , fantastic

[excursion]

Thank you very much everyone, it's nice to hear some words of encouragement!

Just a small parts update today:

Audi 02M Quattro 6 speed gearbox & transfer box:



Point of note: the top bellhousing bolt centres are at 135mm - exactly the same as the Ford Zetec, Interesting!


Transfer box:


Input side:


O/S output:


Combined:


I also picked up a spare set of driveshafts & CV's:

[maxest]

Very good read!! Keep up the good work!

[excursion]

I've been pretty slack with the car recently, not done anything for weeks! Got stuck back in this past few days though stripped the remainder of the underseal, exposed the seams and welded them.

I'm going all out with the seam welding, going beyond what would normally be done...but every little helps

As above but with the welds cleaned:

Rear end:


I've now fully prepared the bottom of the car, it's all seam welded and I've spent a while taking the majority back to bare metal, or as good as. This is to ensure I've got rid of all the corrosion as even on a shell like mine it's surprising the amount of undetectable 'spiders' you can find under the etch primer (these start from stone chips).





With the shell underneath prepared I can start to work out where is best to begin strengthening. I'm starting with parts used from the Mk5.


These will extend forward to reinforce the rear wishbone mounting point and also go forward up to the bulkhead.


I was also lacking some suitable gearbox mounts, I had to travel a surprising distance to get these, just the sort of part that gets thrown away when a car is broken!


It's time to get the engine in and in position so that I can see where to modify the floor and also where best to place the prop shaft. The first obstacle was the rear gearbox mounting lug on the Zetec block, this together with another mount on the sump were completely in the way of the Audi driveshaft output.


These were duly removed, and here the crankcase is exposed; this will be covered with a plate that will be secured by 4 bolts with threads drilled and tapped in each corner of the exposed area. The plate will also serve as the rear take off for the breather system.


The gearbox alone could now be fitted to the engine, and preparation for fitting the transfer case could commence.



The transfer box proved to be an extremely close fit, initially 2 castings on the Zetec block were in the way.


These were removed.


On the transfer case itself, I needed to remove one of the lugs that secures the casing to the engine block. As the Zetec block is totally different to the Audi 1.8T block, I will be designing a bespoke bracket that will replace this mount anyway.


Finally the entire assembly bolted together. I now need to design some adapter plates to join the Zetec lugs to the Audi gearbox lugs, as most are in differing places.



With this work done I can now position the power train in the bay, and begin to make the engine mounting brackets.


The rear diff subframe requires two new crossmembers, one on the boot floor and one underneath the rear seat. The rear most member was very time consuming as the boot floor is anything but flat:


I've welded in tube where the subframe mounting bolts will pass through, and up to the boot floor (which will be reinforced):


On the car:


And here's the subframe bolted up complete with ARB:

[AustenW]

Looks good, does the input shaft line up correctly with the spigot bearing in the end of the crank?

[markb]

Nice work! Keep it up!

[2quick4u]

Excellent project m8, keep posting

[PIG]

excellent read this keep it going m8,very interesting

[Antony_James]

Thats AWESOME

not only the detail you go in to but the sheer concoction of different components goin in there

keep it up mate, proving to be a great read this

[Stevie]

fuck me your keen

[rwd_paul]

very nice work

[NRspeed]

Up! to a top project, would not know where to start with something like this. Good reading and interesting work.