MK2 XR2 Zetec Track Car Project Diary

Rivington Pike

I went for a drive over Rivington Pike last night, first time ive drove the car really since its all back together, I had a few lock ups but was all fun, took a few pics, nothing special:

I'm going to find a new thermostat tomorrow, checked mine in boiling water yesterday before we went on the drive and didnt see any movement in it, and last time the temps got quite low on the motorway even at 70 in 4th with the revs high. Last night when I drove it without the stat it sat at 90 degrees on the motorway as the water temp was at like 1/8... normally sits at 110 on the motorway when the water temp is at 3/4 and thats with the oil cooler.

I went to collect the 30m of heatwrap and ties earlier

I will take the manifold off etc tomorrow if i can be bothered.

On the way back i got a new 88 degree thermostat

It's all bled again, have to see how it is later as I aint drove it yet, just sat it at 2k on idle, then I thought it deserved a quick clean.

New pictures

Some fresh pics from last night:

Alternator, starter and manifold came off, here's the manifold before:

Sanded down and painted

more paint as i ran out of red:

More progress

and finished:

My arms are itchy as hell now!

I'm gonna let it mostly dry overnight, then dry the rest tomorrow with a heatgun, then paint it in some more VHT black

Manifold paint

After leaving the manifold overnight i spent another 1/2 hour drying it with a heat gun

Painted in VHT black:

Manifold, starter and dipstick fitted:

System fitted:

I went to the local factors and ordered a 6pk900 auxuilery belt earlier, no where stocks that size so they've had to order it, will be collecting that tomorrow and then fitting the alternator. Vibratechnics gearbox mounts still hav'nt arrived, they said 2-5 working days not 7 plus!

New alternator belt

I've just been to collect the 6pk900, so fitted that and the alternator and started it up, let it running for about 15 mins till the smoke slowed right down, i can taste it now!

Drive-by videos

Couple of drive by videos from earlier, sound quality is shocking though:

Another one coming back:

When got back, I lifted the bonnet as the manifold still stinks from heatwrapping i,t and i noticed:

A mate also noticed a flame or two on the overun so thought I'd do some static revving, not realising how much/big the flames actually are!

Alignment check

I just got back from having the car aligned to see if there was any further damage from the crash, the rear is spot on, 0.4degrees neg camber and both toeing in spot on, so happy about that as it doesnt look right to the eye. The front, I knew the camber was odd all along but not as far out as it actually is, nearside = 2.2degrees neg, offside = 0.4degrees neg, so the guy has told me what to do. Where the lower arm/wishbone bolts to the chassis he said to oval the hole slightly by a further 5mm, then get a new nut and bolt to allow for the 5mm washers, as he said there needs to be 2 threads showing, tighten the bolt up, drive to them (only 1mile from mine), then they'll set the camber up correctly to match the nearside, then simply weld round the 5mm washers on either side of the chassis leg

Chassis mounts

I just 'ovalled' the hole where the lower arm/wishbone mounts to the chassis, got some new M10 bolts, washers and nylock nuts for both sides too, I will be going to get it all aligned later this week. I collected the engine mount rubbers from the couriers yesterday, will be fitting them tomorrow.

New mounts

Here's the new mounts with the new nylock nuts i got yesterday:

Old vs new mount

Mounts fitted

Started the car up, there's much less engine movement now, aprrox half of what it was, and here's a picture of the camber on the front offside now whilst its back on the floor:

The alignment is booked in again for 1.30 tomorrow, and to get the washers welded up