S1 Rebuild(s)

[Dave Adams]

some pics of the rebuild process,

the top trailing arm bracket is broke......

the diff is sloping back a little (looking up) so that will need sorting.......

As you can see there isn't a lot of bracing in an S1 chassis, that will be sorted.

[Dave Adams]

well.....today i went scrap yard hunting and got my missing coolant sensor plug, and a spare (almost new ) alternator with mounting bracket for the Legerra project for 30 quid....a good price.

i also got a spare air flow sensor.

so i got back to my car and tried to finish the plumbing....the heater connections. the heater unit is 1/2" pipes and all of the focus pipes are 5/8".....so i need a reducer connection. as an experiment i put my plastic 1/2" joiner up-against my 5/8" joiner....and thought they look like they might fit inside one another, so in the vice they went and they do fit together, very tightly. so tight i cannot get them apart now....so home made reducer.

the radiator is now fully fitted..just need to sort the expansion tank and the bleed pipes......BUT i have had to remove the heater again and look at mounting it differently....the pipes were higher than all the other water pipes on the car.....not good.

[Dave Adams]

My proposed tyres along side the current ones....

175/60 X 14

195 X 14

[Dave Adams]

not much done to the car this last week......and today i have to attend a speed awareness course because my truck has a faulty speedo.......an excuse i know but it has been defected since before Xmas for over and under reading....(my truck has a speed indicator on the Tacho head, which does not agree with the dash unit) anyway i will be £100 lighter in the pocket today my first speeding ticket in over 20 years and close to 2 million kilometres driven ( a bit over i would think i average 100K - 120000 km a year)

i have basically swapped one of my gearbox's for a set of new  red seat belts, any other colour would have been way cheaper but Sandra wanted red to match the colour of the car......when i get round to painting it.

i have altered my inlet manifold and fitted it fully now, along with a new cam belt and oil filter. there is a fair bit pipework to ensure is leak proof for my cooling system and the bleed pipes from the thermostat housing, radiator and expansion tank need joining up. but as far as i am concerned the car is almost ready to fire up. i am just struggling to get an exhaust down pipe for it (Focus 1.8 petrol....) the issue is the focus has a Cat fixed to the manifold, which i dont need. But that means i dont have a down pipe. all i really need is the connecting flange, not sure what route i will be taking just now.

so.....i have decided to paint the garage floor, since Aldi has some floor paint on offer just now. and it is getting very dusty from the concrete floor. it will make it easier to get a better finish when i paint the car. it is a surprise to me just how much room i have in my garage now that i have cleared it out to paint the floor.....

[James Doulton]

My speed awareness course was as a result of the road signs reading slow - they said 30 where they should have been 50.

[Dave Adams]

Forgot something......washer bottle and fuel filter.

both have been a pain to find space for......

[Dave Adams]

Fuel filter bracket fitted to lower engine mount...under the steering column.

[Steve Kerswell]

So are we, the royal we, nearly ready to fire the beast??

[Dave Adams]

just about....new cam belt fitted........new oil filter and oil.  i have a different thermostat housing to fit and one heater hose to work out. oh and an exhaust to make....i have ordered a 4-1 manifold kit. but yes....its a few days work away from being a runner.

[Dave Adams]

i no longer get email notices of posts to this thread......why not?

[Paul Sheridan]

Dave, go into the settings on your page, top right, once in, click on the email tab and then check the email buttons you want notifications of. For some reason they un check themselves sometimes.

[Steve Kerswell]

paid your phone bill ?? :-)))

[Dave Adams]

idle valve fitted......it looked a real hassle to fit it with the same shared air supply as the engine its self so i gave it its own little air filter.

it needs to be removable.....and the ford unit has two holes in it as mini venturi for the idle air to pass through.....which just happen to be a good interference fit on 1/2" pipe i had.......hope it all works as planned.