jamie rigby

today i gave it its final wash of the year -





then did this for the first time since owning it -







decided to take it off the road till march, use the money on upgrading my van rather than insurance and tax on a car i'l hardly ever drive and not doing trackdays anytime soon, plus keep it out the bad weather for the winter as its not getting any younger haha

bluntys1rsturbo

good plan matey, i do the same with my car

pjdj1989

Buh booh baaaaah

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Good to see it tucked up out of the weather

jamie rigby

its back on the drive now teasing me with no tax or insurance :blub:

ad4m mk4

awesome car mate, inspired me 2 start up a new project! top work

jamie rigby

glad you like, thanks




was close to seriously thinking of breaking this the other day then... i thought id start it up, first turn of the key after not touching it for nearly a month.

drove it round the block, really wanted to take it onto some national speed limit roads to kick its head in tho, miss the noise, just a 30mph pootle around my estate wasnt enough

been so tempted to book a trackday tho and ask my mate to tow it there but thought i best not because the plan worked... with the money id save on this being off the road ive put it towards a newer van and got myself a new shape transit in silver which i won on ebay and was only local to collect too, 110bhp model too not 85bhp like my old one haha

short write up on the van -

110bhp 2.2 tdci, 56 plate on 113k, 2 previous owners, 12months mot, 1 month tax, literally robbed the guy legal with the price i got it for... had a wee problem with it tho the day after i collected it, it was hunting (revs dipping up and down when on idle), cutting out every now n then and going into limp mode every now n then and mega down on power which was stressful... turned out it was the common faults on these - the fuel pressure relief and inlet metering valves, so i had these changed at a garage monday night with help of a mate after me getting the valves from ford (170quid ) then a mate of a mate re-calibrated the ecu to update it to suit the new parts and now all is well! loving it tbh its totally different to drive from my old 04 plate 85bhp transit

jamie rigby

Just booked the first trackday of the year for me at Oulton Park for saturday 2nd march, cant wait!

ordered 1m of 16mm fuel hose to replace the squased braided 19mm i have on in 2 places atm, ill do that when i service the car in afew weeks!

mk22door

Love this

Lookin' forward to more track day vics

jamie rigby

cheers mate!




so i gave it its yearly service today with these items -



new wheels i got the other week only for the tyres -



due to personal reasons i cant make the trackday on the 2nd march so ive got a refund minus 15quid which wasnt too bad, ill be looking at doing trackdays from like april/may onwards again and itll be returning back on the road after my birthday in 3 weeks when the insurance should drop down a tad

watched this my best session from july earlier and just wanted to be out at Oulton now/today, love the place!

CrOwSoN15

That sounds/goes very well!
What size is your steering wheel? I'm after a deep dish like that but don't want 350mm!

jamie rigby

it is 350mm

CrOwSoN15

Hm, doesn't look too big actually. Do you find it okay size wise?

jamie rigby

yeah love it it's an OMP Corsica, feels perfect!

dave_s2_rst

iTrader: (2)

Wow looks like fun,

Your xr handles well on track and you quite clearly know the corners!

jamie rigby

yeah its not bad haha, improved a tad in that afternoon with tighter lines but the other vids arnt as good as that one with the m3 csl not really getting away from me



got bored so thought id try lightening the bonnet a tad, noticed this as i was doing it -



so left it here -



also thought id check out where the oil on my cambelt cover is coming from, its been leaking since oulton last july so thought it was about time i checked it out -



its either the rocker cover gasket which looks the favourite or the cam seals, so ive ordered a new rocker cover gasket and removed the rocker cover to give it a freshen up, also cleaned up the bodies -



rocker cover before/progress/finished -







the paint reacted abit but it still looks miles better than it did beforehand seems as the last time i painted it was when it was first fitted onto the 1800 zetec 2 1/2 years ago haha

random pics -

jamie rigby

Rocker cover gasket done, will take a pic when i get the bonnet off which at the minute im waiting for a mate to come help/hold it while i undo the 2 remaining bolts, sh!t design, doesnt help with my oil cooler hoses in the way haha..

im removing the bonnet as ive got some bonnet pins so I can remove the rest of the innerskin and make the bonnet removeble for easy maintainence and a possible gearbox change in the next few months as I want a slightly shorter ratio one in a Escort S1 rst box

just worked out with 185-60-13s and 7500rpm rev limit -

S2 RST gearbox - 1st 40mph, 2nd 67mph, 3rd 99mph, 4th 134mph, 5th 167mph.

S1 RST gearbox - 1st 36mph, 2nd 60mph, 3rd 89mph, 4th, 120mph, 5th 150mph.

add 8% to them and thats what it reads on my clocks atm with the S2 box

i'm in 2 minds atm tho as i could get a 2nd hand 30year old S1 gearbox and it could be whining or the lsd may not be as good (which id be gutted about as mine is awesome) and could need new diff seals, then new pinch bolts etc so think im just going to stick with my S2 Box and live with the long gears as my it doesnt rattle or whine or crunch and like i say the lsd is awesome

CraigoScott

iTrader: (1)

keep the updates coming pal

jamie rigby

so, rest of the innerskin removed -



few pics without the bonnet on since doing the rocker cover gasket and painting the rocker cover again -













Pins fitted -



going to insure and tax in a week or two!

jamie rigby

i've just bought/ordered a 2.25''-2.5'' reducer and 500mm of 2.5'' tube for the exhaust for a new longer and slightly larger exhaust tip as i dont like the way the tip is short of the bumper on the Ashley Challenge System plus i'd like it a tad larger, they should be here mid-week hopefully

got a quote for insurance renewal of Ł760 with adrian fluxthis week so think i'll go with that quote and insure and tax it at the start of april after the clocks go back and i'll get the full months tax unlike if i tax it now

jamie rigby

i got impatient and thought balls to it so the car is now Taxed and Insured, MOT is up 2 weeks so that needs doing next!

i've bought a 2.25''-2.5'' reducer and 500mm of 2.5'' tube for the exhaust for a new longer and slightly larger exhaust tip as i dont like the way the tip is short of the bumper on the Ashley Challenge System plus i'd like it a tad larger, they arrived yesturday so will be sorting that over the next few days!

jamie rigby

done 100 miles in the car today to bed the car back in after not driving it for 5 months, went buxton raceway watching drifting then went over the cat n fiddle for a hoon on the way home with a mate in his 8v mk2 gti, quick pic from when we were having a break inbetween the average speed cameras haha -



next mod after the exhaust tip will be a s1 box when i find one

jamie rigby

exhaust tip before -



tip now -





much better! sounds exactly the same which i was abit suprised at

also put a spot weld on the centre section sleeve joint instead of making up a 3rd mount!


MOT next!

jamie rigby

just passed MOT with no advisories!

nothing really planned now really mods wise, ive talked myself out of changing the gearbox, only thing I want to do is a strut brace on the bottom of the main hoop on the cage to give extra support and maybe make it even stiffer

power wise ill only be upping if something fails like cambelt or piston rings

jamescosworth

cool project mate...how did you find the cvh on the bike carbs? did you have to re-jet them? easy to set up? thinking of going this route on my escort. cheers!

jamie rigby

perky above 4000rpm with the kent 22cam but only down to the little weight of the car... I had mike at mikeanics rejet them and it made 117bhp on an optimistic rollers, probs 110 in the real world/on a proper modern rolling road

jamie rigby

I've just sent a payment for a s1 rst gearbox, hopefully be here by weekend/early next week!

im going to get new diff seals from ford this week then get it fitted a.s.a.p.

like I said afew weeks ago here are my ratio's which I have atm, and ratios/speeds I will have with a s1 box -

S2 gearbox - 1st 40mph, 2nd 67mph, 3rd 99mph, 4th 134mph, 5th 167mph.

S1 gearbox - 1st 36mph, 2nd 60mph, 3rd 89mph, 4th 120mph, 5th 150mph.

..add 10% to them and that's what it reads on the clocks.


should be perfect/right inbetween how my old short ratio box was and the s2 box, also I believe the s1 lsd's are more aggressive than the s2 diff's which im looking forward to testing too!

dug112y

iTrader: (1)

ratios are identical, its just the final drive that makes the difference. an rs1800 box has the closer ratios. if i were you i would strip it and get it checked,replace the diff bearings and get bara to uprate the lsd before you fit it......

jamie rigby

I havnt got the knowhow or time to faff with ripping gearbox's apart

The Underdog

great project. enjoyed your youtube vid too. car flies

jamie rigby

cheers!


the S1 RST box arrived yesterday!

new diff seals fitted -





went over the box with a wire brush and a rag -



wasn't that dirty tbh just the usual bit of grime underneath from when it would've been removed previously, then gave it a lick of hammerite -



going oulton park to watch some racing tomorrow so sunday it shall be getting fitted!

jamie rigby

s1 rst box fitted -



selects all gears, ratios are just how I imagined/wanted!

speedo doesn't work tho which is a ball ache and think I need an early XR2 linkage as the ZS linkage is notchy/even more so that it was with the s2 box

lsd isn't quite as good as the one in the s2 box too but defo works as it grips better still than how my old short ratio open diff box did

jamie rigby

got this Escort mk3/S1 RST linkage on my way home from work from G's Escorts in Widnes -



bought this as a guess to hope it'd fit, I didn't have much hope and was expecting to have to change the rods after afew opinions... but I didn't all I did was bolt it up and it lined up perfectly -



happy times, the only thing that was different to the fiesta linkages ive had is the stabiliser bar is quite straight/doesn't dip down away from the floor pan so it's rather closer -



as you can see ive had to put the rubber fuel hose over the linkage and sometime probably this weekend ill be routing that on the other side of the tunnel if I can find some P-clips as I cant remember where I put them, ive just got away with the metal fuel hose by bending that a tad

anyways the linkage... the box feels 1000x better now with this even with the epic throw it has just like the old standard xr2 linkage I had before fitting the Zetec S/Puma linkage, the only downside is it kinda needs new bushes inside, just abit of bad luck I suppose as he could've picked out a better linkage altho I suppose Mk3 escort parts are all ~30years old now


Hitting Santa POD for RWYB next Saturday, hope to get a 13.5 or less!

jamie rigby

ordered new bushes for the gear linkage, they came yesterday, so today I removed the linkage and separated it to see whats what -



removed the bushes and springs to find out they were different ffs -




so im just going to return or sell on the black new ones I got and I just put the linkage back together, grim n greasy job, got abit stressed whilst doing it/refitting the linkage as I bent the stabiliser bar abit too much so had to remove it all again, bent the stabiliser to save re-routing the rubber fuel hose you can see in the other pictures that was kinda trapped between the floorpan and the stabiliser bar


whilst the car was up I took this pic to show my mates welding work on the exhaust tip -


POD Saturday!

PumaJay

its always nice when you get a car back on the road, it gets your enthusiam for it back.

i tend to find when i leave mine off the road for winter i look at it like its boring and i want something else.... then i drive it and fall in love again!

jamie rigby

awesome day!

we decided to go to Shakespeare County Raceway instead of Santa POD, glad we did as it was half hour closer than POD and when we were queing we could watch everyone up the strip!

the day started abit grim as I drove onto my mates trailer my exhaust clamp on the centre section bashed the trailer and bent the exhaust back, after an inspection the manifold had bent... back to how it should be from when it drooped over 2 years ago when it was fully heatwrapped and bent with the heat, so now that's been pulled back the exhaust is sticking out over an inch further than it was and bashing the floor, so I need to cut off the spot weld on the centre joint and trim the centre section pipe down to suit...

anyways the times, I got 8 runs in, managed 5x 13.7's and 1x 13.8 and 2x 13.5's, the best being a 13.5 @ 104mph, so its an improvement over 18months ago to my last visit to POD so im happy.

bad thing is the LSD in the new gearbox, it was just spinning one wheel when attempting a burnout and with a sh!t handbrake my burnouts were a fail, im abit disappointed at the LSD but suppose you cant have it all, the gearbox is strong, I didn't miss any gears today with the new epically long throw escort linkage, I recon even with the old box with the great LSD the ratios were so long I couldn't stay in power band so I doubt I would've beat my 13.5 today anyways



vid -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7FbM1TX ... e=youtu.be

couple of pics -

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Cool.Nice to see your timee coming down.

jamie rigby

so, the exhaust... after bashing it against my mates trailer Saturday morning and it moving back the manifold, I went to remove the back box and set about chopping an inch of the centre section, before that I thought id check the manifold and flexi properly as I was under the car then I noticed a couple of holes in my flexi -

so, new flexi time after over 2 years from when it dragged on the floor all the way home from oulton park, exhaust removed -

better pic of the knackard old flexi -

so im going to take the centre section to pipewerx tomorrow as im off work and get them to weld in a new flexi and get them to shorten it an inch!
pic of the manifold now its bent to how it should be, used to be 5-10mm away from the front crossmember after it bent at oulton 2 years ago when it was fully heatwrapped -

also I still have an oil leak, which I thought was my rocker cover gasket so it must be a cam seal, great! think ill leave that for now tho

jamie rigby

got a new flexi from pipewerx then went to my mates he welded it on/in for me after I chopped the old one out and marked it up etc, its 1'' shorter than the old flexi -



fitted -





since these pics I adjusted the clamp on the centre section and tucked it up more -



pic of how the tip sits now -



just need my mate to put another tac weld on the centre section sleeve joint so it doesn't droop down!


pic to show the fuel hose going over the gear linkage stabiliser bar after I bent it a tad last week, abit tight but its not wedged in -

jamie rigby

had this 3 years last Wednesday, it has done me well and been very reliable but obviously kinda constantly needed tweaking here n there as does any trackcar but I think im there now with what im going to do to it, just maintain and use it, i'll only be changing the box for a better lsd if something breaks, i'll only be going for more power if it breaks.

had my mate tack weld the centre section on the exhaust again after replaceing the flexi so it wont droop down or slip on the sleeve joint.

sorted my washer jets out with his air-line too

also ive checked and tweaked the tracking to 0.1 toeing out

works gone quiet again atm so trackdays are still kinda on hold although there's nothing really available that im keen on atm