where do we go ???

[Steve Kerswell]

Just been chatting/welding with the hill billies down the lane. Their hot rods are coming on a treat . They were commenting on all things "modified" and where do we go next. Even Zetec engines are now long in the tooth, Type 9 gearboxes are getting in short supply so pull a good price. Bike engined kits are great but fragile in the transmission area. Mazda MX5 wont last forever. BMW look like they will keep with RWD, but finding a cheap breaker for reliable use is hard. Electrics are a bit of a minefield nowadays and attract a premium price. How long before we get attacked on emissions? They say the IVA is written in stone, but already I have seen it modified. Historic vehicle stuff is under attack from various quangos. Do we hope to maintain a status quo ???

[Steve Kerswell]

A good 5 minutes "positive" thinking, and it's done :-))

        as for being weak, well I think that dispels that myth, and of course the type 9 was only a 4 speed with a 5th. Crammed in and that has almost cult status. The hotrodder down the road claims the only fault he has is he is forever changing gear, and changing gear cost time at the traffic light drag race, which seems to happen with alarming frequency when you have something different. Everyone wants to try and beat you away from the lights :-)

[James Doulton]

Is there an easy fix for the hydraulic clutch? Different pedal box, maybe, but which one? (I have a cold so I'm NOT feeling positive).

The Haynes Roadster uses a Sierra diff and hubs but with their own wishbones and hub carriers. Quite a lot of welding in that but they don't have to accommodate the whole Sierra 'sub-frame'. The same would probably work for the Mazda rear end.

[Adrian Southgate]

Be alright as its probably registered as a Dutton anyway..

[James Doulton]

The talk of a box being good for 500-600bhp cannot really be taken at face value. There is no way that Mazda would design a gearbox that is 3 times as strong as it needs to be!

I think the issue is to do with life expectancy. The original Type 9 could last about 20,000 miles with a V6 on the front of it. Most gearbox failures are caused by fatigue - teeth and bearings don't normally fail the first time that you stamp on the loud pedal, they go after thousands or millions of cycles. So a dragster, which only does 1/4 of a mile at full power, is likely to last a few seasons. Is that what 'being good for' means to us? 

Maybe it is. Many Duttons still have the original Escort box and they survive because they have done so few miles. I think I might have talked myself into putting my V6 on my plain Type 9. Result!

[Steve Kerswell]

This has gone away from where I was aiming, Sierra parts etc. are drying up, have to rethink the future. As for the clutch, simple bracket converts it to cable if hydraulic is to difficult to comprehend. And as for engines, I think anything goes if you are willing to engineer an adapter plate, but even that is a simple job to template, it's the fitting of the shaft and the clutch that needs considering, plus as I have discovered with this MT75 box, problems with getting the starter to mesh correctly, and clutch cable alignment all raise their head. Thinking heads on? That's good :-))

[James Doulton]

My Melos had a 2l pinto with an Escort box. The only trouble was only having 4 gears.

[Steve Kerswell]

The other thing, one for James, is understanding electronic devices. What is needed and why to make an engine run,  Good article for the magazine. Paul has his zetec running, Dave Adams is on his way to zetec power,  a layman's guide James, that's what we need. Something I can understand :-))

[Paul Sheridan]

My engine is using an Omex ECU.

This is a newbi that was unavailable when I purchased my one ... http://rrrshop.co.uk/ecumaster-emu-1-p.asp Bit cheaper than the Omex.

[James Doulton]

I'm still toying with the idea of making my own ECU. I reckon it would cost less than £200 rather than £600. I think that the software would be an interesting challenge. I dare say that I'll end up buying one when mine doesn't work.

[Steve Kerswell]

Do it James, then teach me how it works. I used to work with an automation engineer and he taught me about inputs and signals but everything was Siemens. Should have paid more attention but time was money :-))

[Dave Adams]

i still think about it james, i figure that the task could be easily produced using multiple dedicated PIC's to each task and one CPU to organise the data streams, it would allow almost infinite variability in sensor use and complexity of operation. as we discussed before there is no need to maximise the  the efficiency of the electronics as for a one off it doesn't matter. also the circuit boards for small dedicated PIC's are simple and easily within the scope of hobbyists. 

the starting point has to be RPM measurement and timing the sparks, from which the injection timing can be worked out.

the PIC's cost only pence and the discrete components to service them likewise only pence.....a fag packet estimate for a basic ECU set up is less than £100, even lower possibly.

[Adrian Southgate]

Something like the Raspberry Pi @about £30 runs linux and should be easily up to the job with a quad core processor. All you need then is some clever bugger to program it.