sorry for delay in part 3.

Ok so It's may 2008 the horrible winter has long gone and the cars been sat in hibernation for almost 6 months. My cousin and a whole group of us ford nuts who live in the portsmouth area arranged to go to the nurburg for a week. I had just got settled into my new job and so was able to afford the trip away.

With a week before we were due to set off I drove the 3dr to work and back, to see if there was anything that seemed dodgey. So I bought myself some half budget half decent tyres as i didnt see the point in spending lots of money on tyres that would probably die from the effects of the nurburg. Got some milleniums asymmetric.
I know they aren't t1r's or f1's. but compared to the shite I had on before these were fine.
I changed the oil and filter and bought a spare can of mobil 1 to take with me.
Everything seemed fine with the car so no worries

We left from pompey and headed towards the dover ferry in a convoy.
My passengers were my mate tony and his brother wayne,, (two gings).
We had a fellow cossie with us Malcy bought it cheap just to do nurburg and then he was gonna flog it on when we got back.

So cut the story short, It was my first time driving on the other side of the road and all went ok. We remained in convoy all the way through France to belgium rush hour and all the way to germany,I was impressed by the fuel economy of the cos it was averaging 35+ mpg & 70-80 mph.

Anyway we got to the hotel without any hiccups, the car drove faultlessly,
We got shown to our rooms, and setup camp, I took a long overdue shit,
And we chillaxed. The next day we all were raring to go and we explored the nurburg museum and had a look at some views of the track. We all drove to the main entrance and this is where I bought a 4 pass ticket for i think about 75 euros.

The next day we all went onto the ring. I drove first and tony and wayne came with me as passengers. I had no intentions to drive fast it was just a cruising lap.
I'll leave the details out of the nurburg experience as you know how amazing the place is,
Tony drove the 2nd time and 3 quarters into his lap we lost the brakes. After taking it slowly for the last sections of the lap we managed to get to the end safely.
The car had eaten the nearside rear brake pad and I didn't have any spare.
We drove to a Ford Dealer but the earliest they could get some pads would of been 3 days, = too late. Luckily tho for us malc had a set of 2nd hand pads which although not ideal would allow us to continue on.

The hotel where we stayed had 2x double garages in the back garden and they allowed us to use their garage for fixing my car. So I swapped over the pads, rebled the system with fresh brake fluid. And we were all set to go again.
So it was Waynes turn this time and I was impressed by his drving considering he never driven anything like a cossie before.
I think he managed around 10m 30 in the rain, but this was his first attempt.

For the last lap I was going to drive the cos by myself but then Tony wanted to come along, so Wayne went with greg in the zetec mk2 escort. The aim was to get 10 mins or under. And I managed a 9.42, which I was pleased with,, its not a very good time but the car was starting to to get tired, the turbo was on it's way out and I needed to get the car home too.

Here's some in car footage, not particularly impressive though.
And tony ran out of tape on the camera too !!!!!!





apologies for tonys comments ,, hes like a jack russell in a transit van eyeing up dogs as you drive past them, + gets a little too excited at times.


Well after a week in Germany it was time to come back home. The cos did really well considering what I put it through. 4 laps of the ring, and got us there and back !!!!!
There were some issues with the car though, the exhaust manifold gaskets had burn't themselves up and so was leaking, I knew the turbo was going as i had a lot of enfloat play in the shaft before I left for Germany, and it was really smoking heavily on overrun and about every gasket and seal was now leaking on the engine.
So I decided it was time to get the engine out, and give it a clean off and new gaskets.





When I took the sump off and the main caps off to inspect the bearings I found something not too good

Luckily it was caught early and there was never any oil pressure problems.
I left the head on because I had just done a recent head gasket, and the aim was to clean paint and fit new seals and gaskets. After seeing the bearings I decided it was now a rebuild. So I took the head off and the bores were glazed to a mirror finish.
After dti-ing the bores I could get away with a rehone and new rings which I felt was a compromise between keeping the engine going on .5 pistons, or having to rebore and fit 1mm oversize.

Here's the reason for my smoke machine on over-run






The inlet and throttle body etc were looking real mank, So i soon sorted that out and fitted new gaskets.






After I Rehoned the bores and ring-gapped each bore, the block face was then cleaned and then the pistons were refitted.








Then the new pinto hd bearings were put in, (Yes I do oil them before I put the caps on)



Then the new pinto oil pump was fitted with the cosworth cover and spray bar.


Then the new crank shaft oil and aux seal + gaskets etc.


Then the sump and new gasket was fitted, but with a modication to the sump to accept this fitting , for my oil breather return to sump.


I sent the head off to Jim Stokes Workshop in Waterlooville as it's local to me and they did some lock and stiching on my previous cossie head around a fooked water jacket.
If you ever get a chance to have a tour round this place you wont want to leave.

http://www.racecar.co.uk/jimstokesworkshops/

Anyway the head came back and the valve guides were in good shape so didnt need replacing. By now it was Jan 2009, And I had to move my car to my grandads driveway,
The bottom end was nearly complete bar the flywheel and clutch, and the head I was going to put on once the block was in the car,

Fast Forward to March and I'm putting the block into the car,




My friend Darren and his mrs Sarah came along to help me, with the use of my engine crane we pushed the block onto box, it slipped in like a sneaky finger up a rear passage. Put the bolts in job done in 5 mins

The next Day I fitted the head + grp a gasket,




Then things started to fall in place. the manifold alternator etc. I didnt paint the cam pulleys because I'm saving up for some verniers.





The engine bay waas getting messy and the culprit was the wires on the bulkhead,


So I sorted that out and fitted the breather at the same time



my friend came to see if i was allright. He didnt stay long.


Then I fitted my refurbished t3 Turbo, now fitted with a 360 t bearing. I polished up the housing took me a while though.



Tony popped round and so I put him to work, fitting my 500 cooler and radiator.




Fitted the boost pipes and dumpvalve + filter and connected up the bailey breather.






fitted the front strut brace







And then I moved the car into storage where it sleeps at the moment.
Theres still a few things i need like cam pulley verniers,
autospecialists turbo heat shield and cam belt cover.

Now its winter i'm concentrating on getting the bodywork back up together,
and i'm either going to get the wheels refurbed or buy some team dynamic pro race 1.2's.
Then hopefully next year I can get it resprayed and then drive it and take it to loads of shows and just enjoy the car because its been so long sicne I've driven it. I'm pleased the car has taken me to the ring and back. In comparison to my saph, I've had to spend money on it but the car is just so much more reliable than what the saph was.

The future plans....

I've owned a mk1 2000gt v4 capri since I was 19,
and this requires some restoration of which I will carry out myself, Of course this has been put on hold because of my cossie ownerships. The capri will be cossie powered i've had the engine for it for the last 2 years.

I'll probably sell the 3dr after the summer next year,
But then i wouldnt mind a gt30 or rb t4 powered 3dr !!

Thanks for reading my cossie's story and there will be an update to this in the future.