The car formally known as 'mint'

[mk1matt]

Better tyres are on the shopping list too, going to go for some Yoko A539 I think.

Now theres a contradiction

[Mk2Matt]

What should I get then? lol

[mk1matt]

Whats your budget?
You might like the yoko's pesonally i found them crap. Not a touch on the A008 they used to make

[Mk2Matt]

Budget is about £200 for the lot. I can get some tyres at trade price I think so that may make a difference. Ideally they would be reasonable in the wet as well as the dry, but I'm aware the A539s are fairly shite in the wet...but can't be any worse than my Champiros!

[dazzle]

Sorry it's of subject, but that video clip was ace
Right, now carry on

[dangerousdave]

They do a continental contact sport 2 in 195/45/13 which will look similar to the 175's i think you were after but obviously with more rubber? They are fitted to loads of production cars from the factory afaik so must be pretty decent in all weathers...they are about £60 each though i think

Also pads wise, its worth thinking about spending some money, better pads have a better coefficient of friction, so they will work a lot better than a standard cheap set from halfords

[Mk2Matt]

They do a continental contact sport 2 in 195/45/13 which will look similar to the 175's i think you were after but obviously with more rubber? They are fitted to loads of production cars from the factory afaik so must be pretty decent in all weathers...they are about £60 each though i think

Also pads wise, its worth thinking about spending some money, better pads have a better coefficient of friction, so they will work a lot better than a standard cheap set from halfords

I'm after 185/60/13s I'll look up those tyres when I get in from work.

[PIG]

888r's toyo.very good tyre imo.had um on my minilites

[dangerousdave]

Or those Arent they meant to be real shit in the wet though? They are about £60 each too i think

[DanR]

The question on what tire to me all depends on what kind of use will the car see? If it is weekend fun with maybe some track action I would go for either Toyo RA1 if you can still find any (great sticky tire, does not heat cycle out and gets faster the more it wear) or the new 888. I like the 888 less as it seems to need to run highewr pressures to avoid tire roll over the outside triangle. They do seem to suffer less though with performance fade once they get hot (ie they are less sensitive to higher temps than RA1 and do not get as greesy)

For me the tire is probably the most important thing on the car and the last area to skimp on. I never understand someone with a 400bhp engine running remoulds (unless you just want to burn them up rather than see the performance the extra traction gives you)

changing from poor tires to good tires is like getting a new car

[RChambers]

Agreed Shame you can't get Goodyear Eagle F1's in 13's as they are an awesome tyre. If I was Matt I would buy the 15x6 minilites for sale on here with decent tyres already and sell the wheels he has

[Dave]

Mine are A539s 185/60x13.
I like them, and I have a lot of confidence in the grip.
Demon Tweeks recommended them to me.
And for all the Demon Thieves jibes you hear, they are pretty much the best round here on tyre prices.

[Ratters]

i find the yoko's ok i had the conti sport's [rear only] on my rs alloys & when i fitted the steels with the yoko's i wouldn't say there was a noticeable difference tbh. neither as good as the old bridgestone potenza's though

[windy]

I can comment on R888's because I've used them & they are OK in the dry but pretty poor in the wet. They only lasted 40 miles on my car & they tended to overheat very quickly. The only reason I used them was because they (Toyo) sponsor the championship I'm doing.

You are better off going for Dunlop CR311 & they now do an emarked tamac rally tyre which will pass an MOT. Even uncut they are good in the wet £100 each & readily available in some decent widths for 13" rims.

Ideal allrounder for trackdays / sprints & road use - can't beat em.

[mk1matt]

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/ Allsorts on here

[Mk2Matt]

I have decided to go for the Princess brakes that Merv's offered me...and now that's sorted I decided to keep myself entertained by buying these little beauties

[Clint]

Very nice and they do look like new as you said so

[Joe-Tait]

Got a few things to fit now Matt

[mervhill]

Very nice Matt, keep on my case about the brakes. I've got a nose op on the 18th of this month hopefully it'll stop hurting nice and quickly and I can get the other side off the car and get them down to you

[Mk2Matt]

Update time

Left work early today to go to the dentist...it was bad news there...so to make myself feel better I decided to fit the 45s

Here it is before I started...



and after:



There are however issues:



The Negative battery wire is tight against the trumpet.



Coil is very close to the trumpets.





No. 1 trumpet is seriously close to the battery tray. To get around this I'm going to grind the lip off the battery tray



Here you can see the wiring loom which is also pressing hard against the No. 4 trumpet - this may be able to be bent out the way?

Anyway, they are just a few of the issues... the next one being I don't have a clue how to fit the throttle cables

[Mk2Matt]

It has just been brought to my attention I could get hold of some shorter trumpets which would solve some of the 'being a bit close' issues.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone got any of the said shorter trumpets?

[Clint]

Move everything and use the trumpets you have, that battery needs to be in the boot anyway, carefully remove the tray and reuse it in the boot

[PIG]

or get a bling ally battery tray for rally redesign/alimax/prefab etc etc.they ant that dear,gave mine away about 4 weeks ago other wise you could of had that matt.sorry m8y

[Clint]

Proper bling looks like factory fitment:



BerLing !

[Mk2Matt]

Cheers for the information and ideas guys.

For my next question, I need to know how the throttle cables attach to the carbs. I have the little block etc for the pedal and I know I'll need to drill holes in the bulkhead to feed through the two cables. I cannot work out though how they make the carbs work and how/where to attach them

Any pictures etc would be helpful

[PIG]

un-lucky matt,terry may have a picture of gaz's old engine bey that may show you matt.
ive never been one for putting the battery box in the spare wheel or old tank wells clint,im parnoid about sliding in to something and smashing it,i did do that once in my old rs2000 on a road rally,thats why i moved my fuel tamk as well

[dangerousdave]

Matt, 2 holes in the bulkhead just above the standard cable out hole. Put the locking nuts on the adjusters on the back side of the bulkhead so they are in there solid. Slide the block on the top of the pedal and connect up the cables to it and your done

Agreed tray in boot and get the bay tidied up whilst your there

Bling bling

[Mk2Matt]

Well in the 30 minutes of day light I had this evening before it got dark and rained again I removed the 45s again and removed the coil. I thought about placing it lower on the wing however, this would mean that drilling the holes to secure it would be a real pain in the arse. Instead I have decided I will extend some of the wiring to the coil by an inch or so and place it higher above the trumpets.

Now, for the sake of getting all this in and working before the RR Day on the 18th and the limited time I have, I've decided I'm going to bodge the battery tray out the way for now. Not sure if this is going to involve some cutting or some hammering yet - I will let you know.

When I have more time I will buy one of Jon's steel battery cases he's been advertising in the For Sale section and boot mount it behind the seat like Dave's one.

Think that's all for now

[panelbasher]

matt. have you seen the pics of how we mounted battery trays in boot of my brothers & mk1ians escorts? Can pop over tomorrow nite to look at your throttle cable issue if you want. Have got lots of dcoe spares.

[Mk2Matt]

That would be useful Terry Be good to show someone that actually knows what they are talking about rather than trying to describe it poorly on here

[Mk2Matt]

Not much to say tonight, but Terry popped over and we've discovered that the Mk2 Escort must have had a different accelerator pedal top to the Mk1 since the pedal block I've got doesn't fit it without modifying the top of the pedal.

Also got to sort something to ensure the accelerator cables don't get damaged because they aren't straight as they go through the bulkhead.

Apart from that, I've not done a great deal

[tom burgess]

you want to make sure the cables are as straight as possible going through the bulkhead because no matter what you try that will always cause a problem if you dont

[Mk2Matt]

Yup, that's the plan Tom and the fiddley bit but we have a plan so will see how we get on

[PIG]

the mk2 pedal has the little ball on it does'nt it m8?cut it underneath that file to size then drop the block on to it and tighten the allen key bolt if its that type of course

[RChambers]

That's what I did to mine as well Pig

[MotorcyclesFish]

That's what I did to mine as well Pig

You've got an escort?

[mk1matt]

You've got an escort?

[Mk2Matt]

Have to admit, that did make me laugh!

Phoned Burton Power today, very helpful and I've ordered a 'Universal Ford' accelerator cable. Fits directly onto standard Mk2 pedal, has all the bits so I don't need to worry about the bulkhead and all I need to do is cut it down to size. I'm going to run it on one cable for now for ease.

Haven't done anything else to the car tonight...went to the pub instead

[dangerousdave]

The twin cable thing is a load of shite anyway, instead of your 1 cable snapping they both will snap leaving you in the same situation the only way you could use a twin to your benefit is to not connect one and that becomes the spare should the cable ever decide to snap maybe possibly in the limited milage you will be doing

[Mk2Matt]

Sorted the battery tray issue...



Don't worry, I'm not proud of it!