Grahamb's Mk1 Fiesta XR2 Duratec HE Hillclimber

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Will do, thanks Adam. I'll reposition the engine over the weekend, and see if I can get everything shoehorned-in first.

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Spent the weekend scanning in an original Ford Dealer Introduction Guide for the release of the Mk1 Fiesta. Some brilliant pictures and articles in the pack. It even comes with the radio scripts for the commercials.



Overall some 120 pictures, all scanned in as hires TIFF's (2.47GB worth) so I'm now resizing, saving in PNG and will produce some downloadable PDF's for the various chapters in the guide.

http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/newfiesta.shtml

I'll complete the process over the coming weeks.

Also updated to stoppress page to include the Performance Ford appearance in December 2008s edition.

Didn't get to do any work on the Fiesta, but she's never out of my mind.

[Tazman]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Didn't get to do any work on the Fiesta, but she's never out of my mind.

Like all good women eh

great write up, loving following your build

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Stuck in Crawley for two days this week. Will have to put in a few hours over the weekend. I've some custom suspension parts coming from the States. All alloy rear trailing arms and panhard rod, with alloy rod ends, which saves a 'significant' amount of weight at the rear. Every little helps.

I'm trying to source a cheap suzuki samurai alternator at the moment, which is identical to the Brise/Raceline unit (unlike the Mitsubishi unit I bought on ebay last week. Doh!) I've asked Coordsport for a price, if they can supply one. Failing that, I can get one for £79 + VAT.

Spotted a Chevrolet SSR on the M40 this morning. Very nice looking piece of kit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_SSR

Oh and a new Scirocco, in white. Very tasty.

[angliaant]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

cool... i saw a mk1 fezza down the scrappie at the weekend graham... it was quite solid aswell i was sooo tempted... i had to resist the temptation

getting there now mate, soon be out and about...

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

getting there now mate, soon be out and about...

Hoping so.

Short water thermostat housing turned up yesterday. Looking at ideas for the plumbing now. Needs a header tank, or a swirl pot with header.

This type of thing

http://www.evalution-designs.co.uk/Pages/Header%20Tanks.htm

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Moved the engine back 20mm this weekend, and its now in its final resting position. I've also removed some metal from the front of the car (behind the radiator grill) to allow the radiator to lean forwards at the top, which moves it further away from the engine and the clearance / gap with the Titans is finally acceptable.

Oh, and I washed the Scooby. Seemed too nice on Sunday afternoon to be stuck in a garage.

[david_white]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Coming along Graham, have you sorted the alternator yet?

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Coming along Graham, have you sorted the alternator yet?

Still looking to get a cheap Suzuki Samurai alternator. Cheapest I can find is £79+VAT at the moment.

Cut some more metal out tonight. Took the starter motor off to give me some more clearance. Damned solenoid on the back of the motor is giving clearance issues with the new radiator.

[paulwoodford]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Looks brilliant!! I'd be so tempted to make it road legal

[BigWallace]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Stunning Fezza Graham Saw it a while ago in a mag, can't remember which one tho! Was simply stunned at the attention to detail

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Stunning Fezza Graham Saw it a while ago in a mag, can't remember which one tho! Was simply stunned at the attention to detail

Rest assured when its all back together, she'll look even better than before.

It could have been CCC, or Retro Cars, or Performance Ford magazine. Not had a full feature for a few years now, but hoping she'll be worthy of some magazine inches when I've finished her off.

Managed to find some really useful lengths of scrap aluminium bar in the skips at work today. Shall make some engine steady bars from them, after cleaning them up in the caustic soda first, of course

Taken the plunge and bought a Suzuki Samurai alternator off the web today. Need to get that installed, then I can possibly move the radiator to a more central position, which would aid cooling, and solve the clearance issue with the starter motor.

Off to Crawley for another couple of days tomorrow, so she'll have to wait until Friday before I can try the alternator for size.

Once the alt/rad issues are fixed, its suspension back on time, and then off for an exhaust system to be made. She's looking forwards to some fresh air, having been couped up in the garage since August. And I can try the Scooby out as a tow car for the first time.

[BigWallace]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

Great stuff bud! Tryin t get the Corsair back on the road again. Waitin for one o my mates t get his mk1 shell back from his sisters house! Used mk2 front arches all round. He was almost in tears when I cut out the mint rear arches, then did the same t the new front wings! A joggling tool is a wonderful thing. Now t persuade him t let me rwd it! Just Zetec'd his mk4 Scort, Smoothed the landing panel, gas rammed the bonnet n resprayed the engine bay. Also building a 1930 model A Ford Ratrod for another mate... 670bhp B&M Megablown 6.3 Chevy n 350 box with a custom Hauser built 9" rear end (ally centre n st/st tubes), new chassis built. No rest for the wicked I suppose!

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

The Suzuki Samurai alternator arrived last night, and it fits perfectly on the Raceline Alternator bracket. So that'll go on the engine tonight. And hopefully I can move the radiator over which will also cure the clearance issue between the fans and the starter solenoid. (Fingers crossed)

I've finished the Ford Fiesta Dealership Introduction Guide, that I scanned in a couple of weeks ago. Using a Freeware application called INFRAVIEW, I created a multipage TIFF file, and then printed it from INFRAVIEW to PDFCreator, which is a freeware PDF print driver.

The file is available for download from my New Ford Fiesta page

http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/newfiesta.shtml

I had to resize all the scanned TIFFs to 50% of original, then imort in to INFRAVIEW which created a 0.5GB TIFF file, and the PDFCreator squeezed it down to 22MB.

[team_zi]

Re: My Mk1 Fiesta XR2

So I officially give up with the front mounted alternator. I've found the right alternator, and fitted it to the bracket, but the engine has to be leaned forwards to get the damn thing in. So I've canned the idea, and will have to go for rear mounted instead, using my existing Brise Daihatsu Charade 2 lug alternator that I ran on the Zetec. Not sure how to route the drive belt, as I'm running the ST150 engine mount which goes on the side of the chain cover, which may mean clearance issues.

If all else fails, I'll go down the electric water pump route, and just run the alternator straight off the crank, with a single idler/tensioner.

Nuts. Not to worry, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

At least I can now run the radiator in the centre of the front panel, and I no longer have a clearance issue with the starter solenoid. 8-)