MK2 XR2 Zetec Track Car Project Diary

Alignment checked again

I just got back from having the alignment done, drives awesome now, so much better than even before the crash when the camber was still 1.8° out, and the tracking was all over the place. Now the cambers still quite a bit out as you can see here, but still everything else is spot on and it corners great. The guy said to do the same on the other side but take camber off, i will do that at some point.

The Mk3 Zetec lower rad hose and bypass pipe to the thermostat arrived today. Hereis the before, lots of joiners and bodged hoses:

And now:

Not one pipe joiner anywhere on the whole coolant system/set up, now it's all direct hoses and just one T-piece where it goes off from the lower rad hose to the heater matrix and header tank. I also put 2 litres of anti-freeze too. I'm hoping that I'll never have to drain the coolant again now, and hope no more hoses burst.

Jenveys

Decided to go down the Jenveys and Omex 600 route so my carbs and omex200 have to go. I've got some Jenvey 45s with 45x45mm trumpets, Jenvey linkage and fuel rail and Bosch 330cc injectors for a good price. I just need to sort a inlet manifold which is in the process, I'm getting a jenvey one as not a fan of the DCOE ones on ebay. The bodies should be here towards weekend and I'm waiting to hear back about the inlet manifold. I Just purchased a Brand new Mk2 injection fuel tank form BMF too.

An update on the manifold, should be with Shawspeed by Saturday, then Jon's going to drill and tap a 8mm nipple for the brake servo vacuum, then all being well I'll have them all mounted and done on Sunday. A mates sorting me out with a Omex 600 and loom etc etc for a good price and hes ging to wire it all in for me, I cant wait, I'm like a child!

Carbs removed

I just took the carbs, manifold pump and regulator off

Tank delivery

Well the Jenvey inlet manifold arrived at Jons 2 days early so I went to collect it last night and waited whilst Jon drilled and tapped it for me. I've just fitted it and it looks awesome.

Brake servo vacuum hose:

Also had a delivery this morning, I went to collect it from the neighbours thinking it was going to be the bodies but it was the tank instead:

Hopefully the bodies will be here tomorrow!

A lick of paint

The bodies haven't arrived yet, I got a few little jobs done though over the weekend, I removed the sound proofing from under the bonnet and cleaned it up:

Got a new fuel filter yesturday, the narrowest one i could find and which was an inline one and had 8mm in/outlets, meant for a Peugeot 106 XSi:

I've painted the fittings on the oil cooler so its abit more stealthy now:

I also gave the top of the new fuel tank one coat of hammerite, will finish it off during the week. Andy is going to collect some braided fuel lines tomorrow too

Jenvey delivery

Jenveys just arrived actually, (7pm) the trumpets are a little bent in areas which i'll sort tomorrow but at least they're finally here.

Throttle bodies fitted

After freezing my tits off for the past 2 hours, the bodies are all on done ready to go. I mounted the bodies, then fiddled with the throttle cable and pedal till the butterflies were perfectly level. Here's a picture after bending the stopoer bracket on the throttle pedal:

I got this:

Then re-fitted the trumpets:

I cant wait to hear them. The fuel tank is finished now, it's had 2 coats of smooth hammerite, not long now!

Should have it all running on saturday and a mates gonna map it so its safe to use for me, then I'll be ringing Mikeanics up Monday on morning to book it in with him. I'm going to be using Omex 600 as the management, a mate has one for sale so I've took it off his hands and with the price of buying that hes also wiring all the loom in/up for me which is all done ready, giving me a ERST fuel pump and making the bracket for it, and also a FSE regulator too, and going to map it for me.

A productive day

I started work on it today at 12pm, finished at 8pm, this is what we got done.

Old tank off:

New tank and fuel pump all fitted after about an hours fiddling:

Filter plumbed in and mounted

FSE fuel pressure regulator (power boost valve) mounted

Then when I'd finished plumbing all the lines etc, I put 18litres of tesco 99octane in, then onto the wiring (only pic ive got of any of the wiring):

We finished all the wiring, swapping the pins over onto the omex 200 plug, wired up the fuel pump, connected the battery, the fuel pump primed for 2 seconds when turning the key onto stage 2. Itook the key out, and about 15-20 seconds later we spot smoke pouring out from inside the car, it turned out to be this:

All the plastic casing/coating on the wire right from the battery to the fuel pump relay (which is behind my drivers seat and the battery is in the engine bay still) was all like this and burnt off/melted. With having no more wire and it being dark, we had to call it a day, especially as my internet couldnt get a decent enough connection to download the omex software onto a mates laptop. I also noticed fuel pissing out all down the side of the front of the tank, looks like it's coming from where I blanked off the existing lines, where they come out the top where you can see n the first picture, so tank and pump, drain the fuel all again.

I Went out and got 5m of 27amp wire and a fuse holder for the 12v feed for the fuel pump relay, and a new 35-40amp relay which cost a fiver! Got back, then Andy came over and we wired the fuel pump etc back up first, I jumped underneath to connect the connections only to notice I wired it up backwards, no wonder it burnt, oops! I connected the battery and wahey we have a fuel pump that primes spot on and a wire that doesnt set on fire! Next we tried to link 3 different laptops upto the ECU, all 3 were having none of it, so off to maplin to get a new USB-serial cable, tried that but still no joy. Then we tried a direct earth from the omex to the battery and wahey, Bren's magic laptop liked to talk to my Omex 600, then after a few touches to the map from Andy he turned the key, after lots of Pops/bangs and flames from out the bodies it wouldnt come to life. We went throgh every wire and sensor on the loom, it turned out when we swapped the wires on the coil pack (no idea why they are different to the omex 200 as every other wire is exactly the same on the plug) it lived, not very well but it came to life for about 20seconds. I also checked the tank when it the car was running and no leaks, so must be leaking from the filler neck, so tank still has to come off etc, sigh

Here's the engine bay completed and a new addition:

As soon as Andy can, when he comes back to mine, we need to swap the pins over on the coil pack again after bodgeing it up with a spare connector, sort a new earth out for the omex, then go from there hopefully it runs, can map it so it'll drive nice enough till I can get to Mikeanics, then get the tank down and see where the leaks coming from.