1986 Ford Fiesta XR2 1.7 VVT Turbo

[jhot80]

This.

I was 21 when i started am a rip old ages of 24 now. Taken 3 years to leanr how to do all theses things and best way is just get in the deep end and get cracking.

 

[jhot80]

Love these since my cousin had a B reg one when I was 16. Then my best mate at the time bought an E reg one with 18k on the clock in 1991 when we were 17. I eventually got one about 10 years later, but mine was a bit tired. Still sold it to a mate, then bought it back for a short while though. I'd love to have a garage and some space to attempt something like this, with either a Xr2 or another Mk2 Gti.

I was gutted when i sold my first one to go to uni. So glad that i got another one even tho its been a lot of work.

 

[jhot80]

Good work and great little car, I also remember having one of these when I was 17.... Such a unique exhaust note that I recall too...

what kind of budget have you managed to stick too?

Yer i loved the old exhaust note but thats long gone now i think. I havent got a clue how much ive spent. Wouldnt like to add it up but its prob quite high.

 

[jhot80]

Lil is it simple age that harms reliability?

Its usually only poor maintance that really harms the reliablity. I drove it pretty much worry free till i decided to pull it apart.

 

[Sash]

Fantastic! this country has a distinct lack of guys like you, well done! Burton Performance should be able to sort you out with any bits you can't find!

 

[vRS LIL]

The fixing is the easy part. My Dad was building them before I was sperm but parts are the major issue or is everything readily available?

I had no issues with parts. All consumables were easy.
the rarer parts were things like parcel shelves with no holes cut, best I found was about £50 and was fairly scabby. Door cards, kick guards. Body parts are still available, and like here there was a wealth of now knowledge and people with breakers on forums that could help.
i got a lot on e-bay from people breaking them.
MK1 parts are a lot harder but MK2 will end up going the same way. Worth buying bits like I did to stash away for that reason.

 

[jhot80]

Not a huge amount done on the car. The pedal box is all bolted in.

Still need to plumb it in and set it up.

And annoyingly i broke one of my an- connectors. I didnt need to take it apart but i have got much at putting then together so i thought i would tidy it up and sna. why did i have to play with it.

Other than that i havent had much time to do anything in depth on it.

 

[jhot80]

Been a while since my last update. Mostly because i have been busy sorting things out for moving to my own place.

About a month ago then engine was ready for turn key. I powered up everything to make sure that the wiring was correct. The fuel pumps didnt start the ecu is supposed to turn them on but didnt there might be a setting for that, thats i havent looked at. Anyway short cut took the relay out and ran a wire from battery to correct pin and they started. Gave it a fuel seconds to fill the swirl pot and fuel rail. Turned the engine over and it span over very fast like it had no compreasion. My heart sank. Turned it over again and the engine locked very odd. Started looking in the engine bay and i could hear fuel flowing but there shouldnt. Took out a spark plug and the engine was full to the plugs with petrol. The lower injector seals were completely wrong and being side feed injectors ment the fuel could go straight into the engine.

New vs old not hard to see why it didnt seal.

Anyway now got to do an oil change on an engine thats never run fun. So kinda left that for now and moved onto the brakes

Brake res all mounted and plumbed in.

All plumbing finished. Just gotta bleed them now. Mounted my seat on some runners as i couldnt get it back far enough just bolting it to the floor and i wanted it a bit higher. Have taken any pics tho. Im hopefully going to be bleeding the brakes next week. Even if it doesnt go least then it will stop and disengage the clutch.

 

[jhot80]

Took a couple of pictures of the dash. Need to get hold of some new springs as the cut ones that bought for a fiver mean that it is so low it rubbing on the arches. Short term i am going to roll the arches so its no scrubing on the way down the drive but it does look good.

Couple more pics of the fiesta.

I have wired up and installed the speedo. I think it fits in quite well.

I have finally got the engine turning over and firing but the mapping was so far off i played about with it a few hours and got the 0-500 good enough for it to fire into the 500-1000 range but i ran out of time get the map right in that range. I couldnt get a base map from Gotech that would work for my engine. I decided to be crafty and asked OMEX for a map for a 600 ECU and translated the map into my gotech.

Original

New Base Map

Quite a large difference. My first attempt i had to take a lot of fuel out to get it firing. Before changing it it was just filling the exhaust with fuel then every now and then it would light it up and fire a massive flame out the exhaust. Was quite entertaining but not very productive. I have got time Friday to load the new map and have another crack at starting it cant wait!!

 

[Goodj]

Congrats on Slimmer of the Week!

 

[jhot80]

I am making progress slowly as get rid of all the faults.
Biggest on my list changing the injector connectors for ones that work. I also got fed up of trying to get the correct one from auss or us so bought ones that a slightly different from a UK company and flied off the tabs that stop them fitting.

Then the starter motors starts to play up just when the car is about to start. solenoid is getting stuck and even when i let the ignition off it still turns over so new starter motor already.

Ive also rolled the front archs as they were scrubbing on the tyres. just rolling it up and down the drive did this.

hopefully get the new starter and it will be away.
There cant be anymore things that can go wrong without it being driven.

 

[cat171]

Great project!! You're doing really well. I remember these 'back in the day' a few of my mates had them.

 

[jhot80]

At last it has started. Ignore the smoke it were i have been touching everything with oily hands. It has been idling at 2.5k. I have adjusted the idle screw so it down to 1.8 needs more adjustment its a pain though as as i have to the throttle body off to do it. all thats left is to rebleed hydraulics. Fix a oil leak from the front of the block and relocate the water temp sensor to a better place with a more accurate reading. Small water leak from the engine outlet and it ready to drive.

 

[Wick]

SUPERB!

What a read. Some of the metalwork you've achieved is brilliant and great to finally see the vid above.

 

[Mr R.]

Have you bleed the brakes yet?

The feed to the master is ment to be gravity feed from the reservoir but you have the feed pipes going up hill.

 

[jhot80]

Yer i have bleed the brakes once but there was a leaky joint under the car so need to redo it. Once the air is out of the feeds its fine.

 

[jhot80]

Took it for a litle drive to the end of the road and back over the weekend to see what fell off or what fell over.
The Snag list for MOT;
Jammed thermostat - New one ordered just waiting for it to arrive
Front brake circult needs bleeding - got to the end of the road push the brakes felt the rear circult go and hard really nice free front circult went to the floor. nearly had a trouser accident.
engine coolant temp sensor - I think the sensor is the correct one but the wiring is playing up. There is supposed to be 5v or very near that at the sensor plug but im only getting 2.8v so something going on there - Any advice from those who have made their own looms? This is causing the biggest issue as the cold correction maps are really being used as the ecu is seeing 80oC minimum so cold start is quite hard.
Need to make the spacers for the rear damper bolt to centralise the drop links
Make the 2.5" exhaust not really needed for the MOT but i have all the bits and the current exhaust is worth some dosh.
Once the MOT is done i will be getting the engine run in. Make some det cans and fit a Wideband Lambda gauge and go to a airfield and spend a day or 2 mapping it.

 

[jhot80]

Spent the weekend making the 2.5 exhaust for the car. I got a box of about 25 2.5 inch bends for a very good price so only needed to buy the boxes and hangers. I spoke to a guy i know in the exhaust dept at work and he said for passenger cars they do 10 times the engine capacity as a rule of thumb but thats normal cars so i went with 5 times. Which when looking at the boxes it looks a lot.

By chance i came across these exhaust mounts on ebay. They fit really well see how they go.

Fit really well under the car doesnt bang on anything.

Just need to tidy up the tip with some sandpaper and it will be spot on.

Took it for a spin nothing exciting. Still havent bleed the front brakes so they are quite bad. Cant really hear it the engine over the fuel pump a rubber mount has arrived to try and shut it up. Theres also a couple of pin holes the manifold and downpipe the need pluging.

 

[jhot80]

The car goes for its MOT tomorrow. Just spent the whole weekend do the last few things.
The list of fixed bits for the MOT goes:
Fit new springs as the current ones were too low and the lack of ground clearance was already annoying me.
fixed the horn
fixed the handbrake, had to recut the teeth in the adjusters on both sides but not the handbrake cable has slipped so i need to readjust that tonight.
got rid of a misfire under boost caused by the sparks plugs being the standard item. turbo spec plugs fitted.
tracking is roughly there. go enough to drive it
washers all working
tweaked the map to make it a it safer.
checked fluid levels
Took it for a drive around the block and already it feel quite quick and pulls quite strong even though i was only giving part throttle at low revs
Cant wait to go to the MOT just wanna do it now.

Springs have settled a bit at the front so it isnt quite as high as it looks in the picks but the springs are much stiffer so steering it a bit more alive will be even better ones the tracking is done properly.

 

[jhot80]

Took friday off work to get the car sorted out for the test friday afternoon.

Front wheel bearings changed
Rear shock fixed as it dislodged itself from the body on the way home
Misfire cure. Was a wet plug 5mins with plug over the hob jobs a gooden
First run in oil change

Now mot'd and taxed. Took it to my cousin to get my tracking done

Just need to get the miles And get mapping right.

Feels a bit surreal driving around in after 3 years 5 months of being a driveway ornament. Its only a bit behind my 6 month target for a 'quick winter body restoration'

Its so much fun. Feels fast already.

 

[Stefan.]

Awesome project!!!!

Should be bloody proud of yourself for all that work and keeping a car like that on the road!

:approve:

 

[mossyv6]

How have I missed this?

Awesome project mate

 

[not normal dan]

Awesome, really have a shot spot for these purely down to the fact it was the first hot hatch that stood out to me as a child. Neighbours used to have a metallic blue one when I was about 6 years old and I thought it was awesome with its pepper pot wheels haha.

Really is something to be proud of mate, great little project you've carried out there

 

[jhot80]

Couldnt resist the picture at work. lol

I stopped the car after the drive back and the bonnet was very hot almost too hot to touch. so i got out the sticky back aluminium foil to and lined the bonnet with it to try and keep the heat down. I need to try and isloate the air filter from the heat of the turbo but the will be for another day when i have some more time.

The Cam cover was also very hot which cant be good for the seal. which might explain the bit of oil leaking from that seal. i found some heat sheild that i had left over from a cat which is supposed to be very good stuff. and happened to fit very well.

I have now done 250miles so the next oil change is due which i will do at the weekend.
Also on my list is
Fit my rear disc conversion
make a Fan cowling
beef up the fan wiring
fan override switch
upgrade the gearbox mount
fit the egt gauge
glue my det cans as one of copper pipes check falling out.
fit the hydra switch for the launch control and flat shift
stud conversion.
make another piece of carbon to hold the gauge and said switches.

 

[jhot80]

Got some bits done on the firsta the other day. Managed to fit the Oil cooler that i got at a bargain price. It is a in water to oil type cooler that is fitted on the Ford 1.0l Fox turbo engines but fits perfectly well if had better water hose was a bit of a pain getting the water hose round without it kinking but got it there in the end.

In reality it would prob fit most car with the same thread on the oil fiter.
I also made the other gauge holder. Put the EGT gauge in along with a fan override switch which is helpful in traffic stops the temps rise when im just idling and the swtich to activate the launch control.

 

[aucky]

Wow! Some serious man-hours have been put into this!

 

[david1987]

Bloody hell. You realy know your stuff!

It would be interesting to know how many hours you had in this car.

 

[jhot80]

Dont know. Prob averaged 4 hours a week for 3 years. Im not gonna add it. Long time.

 

[Stay Puft]

Impressive work mate! Looks tidy and must be a hoot!

 

[jhot80]

Finished updating my Det Cans. Some much better. Much less background noise coming through them now.

The bits of vac hose go into your ear.

Made them using phumatic hose that is more flexible than the garden hose. smaller and more durable and the quick connectors mean its easy to disconnect it and take it out and put it back in with out tools.
i have also finished fitting my rear disc convertion. its nice to have a reliable, good handbrake at last plus the pedal feels firmers now and the braking at the rear once the pads were bed in was better without lock up. Just need to work a bit on the pedal box and the front brake mostly the lines and i will have a good brake set up.

Finally got to hear what the exhaust sounds like from outside the car and i cant really hear it inside the car.

 

[jhot80]

Made a start on striping the fiesta done for a load of things i want to do. hopefully this wont take too long as im itching to get back out in it.
Fit new front brakes
One of the CV boots has split
Oil Change
Bleed brakes
there is a small oil leak from the turbo
change the coolant routing
move the gear stick back a bit
face the exhaust manifold
roll the rear arches.
block hole in the bulkhead left by heater matrix
change the lift pump

I got the exhaust manifold off to face it as it has been blowing the whole time it been back on the road and im trying to quiten it down a bit inside.
Getting manifolds like this one faced are difficult using milling machine because of the odd shape. The next best is it get some MDF and some wet and dry sandpaper

Use MDF because it has been machined flat

This shows all the high spots on the face. Spray some WD40 or the like on the wet and dry and keep sanding. didnt take that long really.

I didnt get a picture of the finished product but looks much better.

I finally fitted the boost soleniod as well so turned the boost up from 8psi to 12psi. Feels absolutely rapid cannot wait to pump it up to 16psi now.

 

[jhot80]

My goodies have turned up.

My New front brakes. Best i can get under the pepperpots.

Then i made the new brake lines

My new springs also turned up. The front wasnt as low as i wanted it to be and the back needs to be stiffer to complement the front springs. So i have the Rallys Designs -2" 240lb fronts and -2" 380lb rears which should correct my understeer as it was a bit crap on handling compared to the standard stuff with the front springs stiffer then the rear. Not to mention with my seat being behind the b pillar when i sat my 97kg arse in it it made the rear suspension drop a lot.

New vs Old

 

[jhot80]

I have finally got around making a new gearbox mount as the old one relyed on a threaded bar running through the middle of it to hold the gearbox up and this created a lot of NVH. Not to mention it was a bar with a rubber around it and was very flexible resulting in bulkhead contact under hard pull aways.

I had an idea of what i wanted to do so bought a Rover V8 mount. 3m of 20mm 2mm wall tube. Thankfully i have already got most of the parts that would be in the way out.

New mount in place.

Top section of the mount made

Whole thing made

In place

I have also decided to do something similar for the roll restrictor as the new mount being a lot stronger means the roll restrictor is going to be under more stress.

Also on the note of noise. I had been using a Solid State lift pump that i cannot remember what the brand is which pretty much says it all was jsut laying around from something. I bought a Facet Posi-flow one which is supposed to be their uber quite one. I used one of them apps to measure the old pump and just the pump running makes 83Db inside the car and the new pump came in at 71Db. which doesnt sound like a massive improvement but it is like night and day in the car.

 

[jhot80]

Finished up the Lower torque link. The old one was a bit of a rush job and it has been bending a bit under the stress.

Old ones

New one

Much stronger. Coupled with the new gearbox mount it should be solid

 

[matt_132]

Great work, don't see many around now!

 

[jhot80]

Finally got round to getting the brackets made to fit the 4 pots. I had bought some ally when i bought the calipers, however the brackets are thin in places so i needed to get some high grade steel.

Gave them a dry fit the other day and they are spot on.

Just waiting on some high tensile bolts to turn up them i can fit them, bleed them and go for a drive see what their like. Brakes should be miles better with them as the master cylinder for the front is sized for these not the xr2 calipers and it giving a squishy pedal atm.

 

[jhot80]

Got the brakes properly fitted and plumbed into last night. Didnt get a chance to bleed them because it started raining and i must be getting soft as years ago i would have just sucked it up. I also weighed the calipers to see what the weight saving is.

New comes up at just under 2kgs about 1.95kgs.

old stuff comes in at 3.9kgs. So a unsprung weight saving of just shy of 2kgs.

 

[jhot80]

Went for country lane drive the other night and fiesta started to misfire heavy under boost. Nursed it home and let it cool off before trying to diagnoise the fault. Started with pulling the plugs.

Doesnt look good at all for cyl 1 and 4. So i stripped the head off to be sure the engine has had it.

Cyl1 had it the worst but cyl 4 took a pounding aswell. Only possible source i can find is the turbo looks like it has s**t itself

I have already got a new engine on the way. Managed to get one deliveried for a faily good rate but there is a week or 2 work to get it ready to go in.


Oh s**t happens. Least this engine should go in and just start at turn key. Gives the chance to do a few thing like equal length shafts.

 

[jhot80]

New engine has turned up although it was pure luck that someone was at home. Company didn't tell me they had even sent it let alone when it was supposed to arrive. Comes with a few spares bits and a link shaft bracket, which is very good as i was having trouble getting someone to sell me one on its own for a reasonable price.

It also has the sticker that i want to keep that says the 92kw/125ps on it.

 

[jhot80]

I found the source of the metal that went into the engine.

It has been running pretty hot which is the problem of not running enough spark advance. The new engine is almost ready, picked the head up from the machine shop so it is skimmed and ready to go on. Just waiting on the turbo to turn up didn't realise that it was coming from the US, hope i dont get stung for import duty.


Its interesting to see the difference between an the new early puma engine and the broken late puma engine. Like the early one has 2 temp sender bosses in the water outlet, which is handy as i wanted to get the ECUs sensor and the gauges Sensor as close together so i know what the ECU sees.

Still needs cleaning up so it doesn't leak.