Still no Progress........

Well y'all must be wondering what further stuff I have managed to do since I got back from Bots.
To be honest, nothing, what with shooting competitions, trips to the Cape, visiting the kids etc etc. every weekend has been chock-full of activity but nothing to do with car building.

The other factor is of course the spraypainting. I have got to the stage where if I put anything on the car I am going to have to remove it if I wanta decent job done. This last weekend of the 24/25th November a buddy has hooked me up with a quality painter who can do the job for less than R10K. My next best quote was R19K - a significant gap!!!!

So let's see how this pans out.....

Stuck in Botswana

Anyone following this blog will have noticed that I've not been active for a couple of weeks. The reason is simple - I have taken 2 weeks off from my normal D2D grind and been busy working in Botswana as part of an Operational Review team at Debswana's Orapa Diamond Mine.

I have basically finished all I can do to the car prior to painting, so when I get back my first move will be to get her to the wheel alignment shop and then the paintshop.

Round up.....

There are a lot of small things going on, not enough to warrant a post all their own, but enough that they should get mention somewhere.

First, I got the rear brake disks. Those were fitted with a minimum of fuss. So now the car can be lowered. But that is not going to happen just yet.

The essential hoses for the cooling system are in, only the header tank needs fitting, and for that the scuttle needs fitting. The correct fittings for the water rail are also fitted.

I bought a rivnut gun, and I am busy drilling holes in the scuttle for the washer bottle, header tank and the brake and clutch reservoir bracket.

The spark plugs are fitted.

I am busy replacing every galvanized capscrew with stainless steel ones.

I'll tackle some wiring this Saturday.

Coil Pack......EPIC FAIL!!!!

Ok so I run down to my local Ford dealer and I order a new coil pack, as the old one is pretty beat up and chipped.

I specifically mention I want the one with the SQUARE connector port, post 2008, so it matches my Webcon harness.

I pay R850 because it has to be ordered special.

Cool, I wait for a day and I get a call from them to say my coil pack has arrived.

Yeah, you guessed it, it is the old one with the oval connector.

The confusion came in because I asked for a Coolant Temp Sensor for a 2002 Mondeo 2.0l and she ordered the coil pack from that model as well.

Fortunately the Webcon harness comes with an oval connector (as a spare), so I spent the evening cutting off the new-style square connector and attaching the old-style oval one to the harness.

I attached the wires to the new old-style oval connector the same way they were connected to the old new-style square connector.

The worst that can happen is that the engine will not start because the spark is being delivered at BDC instead of TDC. Swop the 2 wires around I am back in business.

Doing some internet research I found that when they changed over the coil pack from the old oval type to the new square type the orientation of the wires was indeed changed over, so I disassembled my new old-style oval connector and swopped the wires. These things are not meant to be taken apart once they are put together with the result that the metal contacts are a bit munched. I will try and source a new old-style oval connector from Ford.

Confused yet??

With my luck they will send me a new new-style square one, instead of a new old-style oval one.....

Quick note to everyone reading or accessing this blog - PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS IF YOU LIKE OR DO NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE AND READ!!

I see my count is on the rise - even from folks in Alaska.....?? I am trying to keep it light but unfortunately the content does require some technical talk!!

The Cooling System

I've decided to create my own cooling system layout. In a previous post I made mention of hanging the pump off the engine. I changed that idea to making a bracket and attaching that to the chassis and hanging the pump off that.

After that the rest was simple. If the bracket shows signs of fatigue I will make it out of steel.

The top section from the rail to the radiator was even simpler. I now need a couple of banjo fittings and fitting the header tank and I am done with the cooling system.

I took time out to dummy-fit the throttle bodies, and found out my carefully assembled linkage was fouling the left top cross-member. I reversed it and now the linkage operates smoothly. I cannot fit these yet as she must go to the paint shop first.

I also bought some black paint for the headers and the cam cover. 

Time out for a Rant

Yep, you read right I am downright pissed.

I am struggling with this cooling system. I seem to have been supplied with enough hoses, but there is no indication of what fits where or what connects to what.

On top of that I have gone with a water rail, which deletes at least 2 hoses and one pipe, and I have identified which pipe and what hoses they are - I will have to make up my own layout for that - but as for the rest it's a total mystery.

I also went with the electric water pump, and I spent the morning just staring into the well in front of the engine trying to figger where the water pump and its associated mounting hardware might fit. I could not see it.

Which brings me to my point. How in hell can Birkin put a product onto the market without detailed assembly instructions???

I'm not sure if Birkin realise what liability they are exposing themselves to. Would you travel in a car that was assembled by people who had no instructions on how to put it together?

They say they have the "Build Doctor" BIG FRICKIN' DEAL!!! The doctor starts out all very well but it looks like they got bored with it half way through and gave up.

The section does not cover (inter alia)

The Independent Rear Suspension
The Differential
Installing the Engine (various types)
The Cooling System (Fan, plumbing, fan switch, header tank, water pump)
The Exhaust system

It's farcical.

And the bits that are covered are out of date.

Sure it is a car for enthusiasts built by enthusiasts but not everyone is mechanically savvy to the degree that they can build it to factory spec as was intended. I place myself into that category.

I do realise that most of the assembly is self-evident, but even so...

When I started this I was assured that they (Birkin) had all the drawings and pictures needed on computer, and they were available on request.

Three months down the line and R200 000+ later I am convinced that is not true.

So what did I do today?

I fitted the horn, and the cooling fan and water-pump relays. And not even the horn fitted where I thought it was supposed to. I had to suss that one out for myself.
 

I then decided to man up and design my own water pump installation. You will see above the water pump mounting slot there is the open hole left by the
old Mondeo engine mount stud.

I am going to hang a M12 stud out the bottom and fabricate a bracket that will let the pump hang off that. A lot of the pump's weight will be taken up by the hoses. I will have to get some rubber mounts to null out any engine vibration. My problem with this idea is that the pump is no longer at the lowest point of the system guaranteeing flooded suction, but it is low enough.



The Water Rail and Exhaust Headers Completed

On Tuesday I had the rail welded up and it looks like a very neat job. I wanted to fit it that day but I had to go to Jo'burg on business and only came back today.

Cutting to the chase the headers were installed, tightened up with the supplied bolts (no studs) and the rail went on straight after with no issues.

It pays to fit and check before you fasten!

Finally I fitted the crank position sensor, using the jig, and fixing the damper with an M6 screw.

I had wanted to fit this while the engine was still on the engine stand, but I was worried it might get damaged in the installation - it is very exposed.

This weekend I will start piecing together the cooling system. This evening I tested the thermostat in a pot of boiling water (it works) and I also drilled a couple of 2mm holes in the thermostat's plunger as a bypass so that the electric pump doesn't cavitate while it is closed.

There are very few bits left to fit on this car - soon it will just be cosmetic stuff like the windscreen and the wipers.