Handbag Legerra Developments

[James Doulton]

After getting the Legerra home a few weeks ago, I have been using it as my daily commute. I have done a few things to it to 'improve' it:

1) I have removed the centre console because I could not take my foot off the clutch with it in place because I have to get my knee next to the steering wheel and my calf was hard against the edge of the console. I have still got to find a place for the dials and switches that were there. When removing the heater controls I found that the outer sheaths of the cables were not fixed, so moving the levers did nothing. I don't think that the heater control works at all. So that is another job on the to-do list before next winter.

2) I have moved the main instrument cluster up about 2 inches so that I can actually see the majority of the dial face of the speedo and the rev counter. The speedo is badly out of calibration - the mile-o-meter is currently registering about  3% low but the speedo is over 25% low. How can that be? It is a Czech dial, not the original Ford one so I guess that it must have always been wrong. I just have to remember that it is 900rpm per 20mph in fifth. Moving the instruments higher meant cutting the dashboard to clear the speedo drive. I now have a gap of about 2 inches below the instruments where I could site the dials and switches from the centre console.

3) I have removed the exhaust and welded up the holes where it seems to have leaked ever since it was fitted. I welded some patches made from bits of bike tube. It was quite difficult with my arc welder but I eventually managed to fill the holes that I made too. The exhaust is still loud and tiresome - it sounds really good when I rant it, but for the other 99% of the time it is an irritation. The local stainless exhaust place will make a bespoke system for £330.

4) I have replaced the original 13" cobra alloys that had 205/65 tyres with 15" wheels from a Ford Focus with 195/60 tyres. They only just fit in the rear arches and one touches the body occasionally over big bumps. The wheels were replaced because the old tyres had very poor grip in either the dry or the wet. The use of larger wheels increases the gearing about 11% and, more importantly, increases the ground clearance over local speed bumps - the exhaust used to touch before.

5) I have removed the radiator in order to cure a leak caused by the way that the electric fan was fitted using bolts through the radiator matrix. The fan had been moving up and down and wore a hole in the front of two of the cores. As a temporary bodge, I fixed it with Araldite. I'm going to weld up a frame to hold the fan in place and fix it on the radiator mounting bolts. I have bought a new in-line thermostatic switch for the top hose.

6) I had noticed that the car sometimes pulled to the left under breaking. I have now found the culprit - a leaking damper. It seems that the leaking fluid drips onto the disk when the car is parked and the brakes pull the first time that they are used. I will have to get the unit off the car to measure it to get a new pair. I don't know whether to change the springs too.

I still need to sort out the seat and I would like to move it back a couple of inches further but I think it is tight against the bodywork.

I also want to get or make a hard top or targa top - I can't be doing with struggling to get the soft top on and off all of the time, with all of those pesky poppers and the stiff locking pins at the front.

[Adrian Southgate]

I agree, and you try finding one on fleabay !

[James Doulton]

Ed has lower engine mountings. If I fit the EFI then it'll be a hole in the bonnet. As it happens, the EFI manifold has a couple of smaller fittings made of the same material, one of which is broken too. They weren't designed for this life length obviously.

[Adrian Southgate]

PS... if its the standard size heater elbow I might have a spare, failing that I think its a 'plumbers' size BSP thread (tapered) which you can use a brass fitting in.The elbow is zinc/white metal and the manifold is ally, they corrode inside and seize.

[Adrian Southgate]

James.

Lesson 1 in 'how to blow the budget big style'

RS sump, RS bellhousing and RS engine mounts will lower the engine and give you two inches clearance on the oil filler (approximately) Ask Ed Townsend how he had the injection manifold rigged.

If budget doesn't allow for a £400 alloy frenzy just lower the mounts and shorten the sump. (don't forget to lower the gearbox mount to under the chassis though or all the angles will be wrong)

[James Doulton]

The weekend's ambitious project to replace my Pinto cylinder head went worse than anticipated, partly due to visiting offspring and partly due to misfortune. The most irritating thing was that the inlet manifold connector for the heater broke when I tried to pull the hose off. I spent a couple of hours trying to free the remainder of it that was fixed into the manifold without success. All I achieved was to strain a couple of arm muscles to go with my aching back from the bending. I also noticed that the intakes are smaller on the carburettor manifold and head compared to the injected one: 34mm instead of 37mm. I knew that the injection head is supposed to flow better but I was led to believe (by Des Hammill) that it was port shaping, not size. Grrr.

I didn't need to remove the manifold from the car to replace the head, I just did it so that I could check if/how the EFI inlet would fit. It is quite a snug fit but it is also at least 20mm too tall to fit under my bonnet, so I'll have to cut a hole and cover it with a scoop or something if I decide to go that way. The rest of the intake plumbing will be pretty tight too.

I also have a bike carb kit that is destined for the Melos but I tried for size too, just to check all of my options. That fits but there is very little space for an air cleaner unless I move the battery.

[James Doulton]

I seem to have one cold after another, so I haven't got around to doing anything on either of my cars for a while so today I forced myself to do some fiddling with my new cylinder head for the Legerra. I had bought an injected Pinto head from ebay which someone had done quite a bit of porting work on. I wanted it because the injected heads all have unleaded valve seats. I discovered afterwards that the ports are already better on those heads by reading a tuning guide by Des Hammill.

It was just as well that I read that because he goes into quite a lot of detail about valve springs which convinced me that I needed replacements to fit my high lift cam (Kent FR30). I also needed to turn a little metal off the spring retainers on the inlet valves so that they don't hit the valve stem oil seals at maximum lift (12.24mm!).

I also machined the edge off the small step on the back of the inlet valves next to the valve seat and then polished the backs. They'll probably look horrible after just a few miles of driving but it made me feel good! I have now reassembled all of the valves and springs into the head but I need to fit the new cam and followers, plus the new oil feed bar, so that the whole head is ready for fitting.

I've also bought a genuine Ford EFI system which is nearly complete. It is just missing some cables and connectors but I believe that have worked out how it is supposed to be connected, after a lot of help from Ed Townend who has an EFI Legerra. I won't be ready to fit that for a while though and I'll probably make do with the twin choke carb for a while. Besides, I still don't know if the EFI inlet manifold will fit under my bonnet.

I also need to get under the car and fix the anti-roll bar because it keeps moving when I brake, making an ominous clunk. Plus I still have to replace the rotten chassis diagonal under the passenger side. Oh, and replace the rear dampers to raise the ride height to compensate for my weight. Other than buying stuff and googling info, my only achievements this year are to fit a new alternator and two little maplin buzzers to warn me about the indicators, which I invariably left on before.

[James Doulton]

Rather than a doodle, a collage! I have a bumper feed with 3" hose going to my new blower, then into the heater and coming out through 4 small holes in the dash about 10-12mm diameter.

[Adrian Southgate]

James, do me a doodle on how you have the system set up at the moment, my knackered standard fan will clear the windscreen given time to warm up. I think you may have to force vent it using the ducts in the bumper.

[James Doulton]

Today was a good day to try out my new demisters and the news is not good, I'm afraid. The car was not totally cold but had misted up and so I wiped the condensation off and drove off but the volume of air coming out of my vents was too small to have any real effect and the screen was not dry until I had done 15 miles on the motorway. It looks like I shall have to rip the dash apart to provide bigger ducts as I currently have 4 small holes. Pathetic.

[Adrian Southgate]

Good Man, That's the way to do it. How long do you think its going to take you to thaw?

My longest trip is Gravesend to Bolton, 240 miles in one stint with coffee breaks. Its wasn't the middle of winter then but late at night it does still get chilly.