UPDATE 1Well it's been a couple of weeks now I thought I'd let you all know how things are coming along. TBH it's mostly been a lot of planning and phone calls.
Main engine2 weekends ago we dropped our donor 2.0 Blacktop Zetec E engine upto our engine builder. A large package of parts arrived from Raceline just in time to take some of the key components, Alu Sump etc. up with the engine.
Since then we've been in regular contact sorting out the Clutch/Fly combo and choosing to to get the Cylinder Head soda blasted and 4mm ball bath polished.
The Water Rail from Raceline whilst Alu looked a quality component the finish was "cast" style and whilst neat it's possibly not in keeping with the BDA cover or how I want the engine to be finished aesthetically. So we kept hold of this and popped it over to Premier Plating a neighbouring company. They buffed the surface on their industrial wheels to give a really shiny finish.
Unfortunately their smallest wheel is not quite small enough to get into the corners, so out came the small polishing and porting kit to get it really shiny all around. You can see the difference where the lips and tight corners are.
We'll now ship this back to the engine builder for incorporation into his workflow.
Next up TyresLast year we saw G-D-S test a Yokohama road tyre for the factory on the track. Toyo's T1R's have dominated the scene for a while as the size of 185/55/15 is pretty hard to get and the performance price point makes them ideal. A couple of years ago Yokohama launched a tyre called the Advan AD08, it's lineage sits on the 1B side of the Yokohama product line but it'a a 1A tyre. To give you an idea the AD08's have a wear rating of 180 Vs. 280 for the Toyo's. The main complaint for the Toyo's is also the flexibility of the side-wall which allows a lot of lateral movement when pushing them. This year Yokohama introduced a 185/55/15 and a 205/50/15 into their range which has attracted me to take a look. To get an independent view I nipped along to Adam's and Page the UK's largest Yokohama Motorsport dealer who is also a Toyo leading agent for a discussion with him (handily he is also just round the corner from us). We whipped a couple of tyres off the shelf and compared to our current wheel tyre set-up. I'm looking for a wider tyre for the rear to help control some of the power we're going to have available. In the end, we ordered a test set to trial how they fit onto the car, after all we've not tried a 205/50/15 on the rear and we have to be careful on the fronts as any wider tyre (even in moulding tolerance) could potentially interfere with the top end of the sliding pillar spring.
To give you a comparison here is the difference on the rears.
Having test fit both a front and a rear, I'm happy to report they both fit fine and I'm looking forward to measuring on the telemetry system the increase in lateral G that this set-up allows.
DashThe next activity we have to get sorted is our dash... the current set-up is partially not currently working (spedo) and we've been running on a faulty rev-counter which wanders badly. In order to integrate the Omex 200 ECU and the Race Technology DL1 I already have I've decided to upgrade the Dash 3 we have to a RT Dash 2 (they also handily offer an upgrade scheme to control costs). It's a full dash with indicator, headlight, parking brake etc. it's indglo, completely programmable and a 3 way serial is available for seamless integration. It also meets the MOT and RTA requirements so can completely replace what we have.
The current dash will be taken out this week and a replacement template will be cut from Alu sheet. A new layout will be designed next weekend and we've decided to cover it in Carbon Vinyl to keep things simple.
Other things that have now been sorted:Availability of LSD, Race Fuel Tank, Anti-tramp bars and the supply of a side exit exhaust (and ongoing supply for 2.0 Zetec E conversions made to template) - watch this space.
That's all for now folks... more work and pictures soon!!!
Cereal
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