fiestaturbo.com

[Excursion]

Thanks guys!

Today I started on chassis strengthening work, I have already reinforced the pedal box and brake servo area, and next up were the rear turrets.

I fabricated a piece that joins the turrets to the lower chassis leg that runs underneath the boot floor.


I added a pair of captive nuts on each piece:


With the aim of designing a billet aluminum strut brace to go between:

[FRSJON]

great work again! bought some mg/ap calipers today

[- Danny Boy -]

Amazing stuff, absolutely amazing. It just keeps getting better and better!

[Excursion]

Thanks guys

Jon - good stuff, do you have the discs?

[jonyb4]

cor, id have thought that be a bit extreme for you!

have you got a pic of underneath the car? or does it not go through like im thinking?

good job

[FRSJON]

Thanks guys

Jon - good stuff, do you have the discs?

yes mate but hoping to use st170 ones like you were going to..did you ever trial fit that set up?

[Capri]

GREAT JUMPING FLUTES OF CRUN!

Yet more lascivious updates. SMASHING! Keep it up, old fruit!

[Excursion]

Jon - I did. The data I pulled from the internet regarding lug spacing was totally incorrect, so they aren't a straight bolt on at all. I have planned a different mounting method which will require work to the calipers themselves.

On Friday a friend of mine kindly trailered the Fiesta to a local farm to be blasted - thanks Jim! His friend races a Caterham and the Fiesta just squeezed on to the trailer.


We used lifting straps on the front cross member and rear towing eye to get each end of the shell up in to the air. In terms of shell preparation key areas were masked off with several layers of masking tape and duct tape, and all holes inside had been taped off to prevent dust. Thanks to my Dad who helped here.


Underneath I had previously used Scotchbrite pads to remove underseal around stone chips that had begun to rust, and I'd applied grey primer as a temporary measure. The front end was very good and there were no major problems, and in fact this part alone didn't warrant blasting.


The rear end was what made me decide to have the work done: surface rust was present along the chassis seams and in hard to reach places, which would have taken a long time to remove when using a flap disc and hobby type sand blaster, especially in the wheel arches. In my opinion if rust removal is the objective then it all must be removed, otherwise there's little point starting.



The blasting media was a fine grade of glass bead.


The blaster only operated at 10bar, but there was a serious volume of air going through; It sounded like a jet engine!


Here are the results: one very solid shell and a good surface for me to work on. The man operating the blaster was also impressed and it made me feel even better when he recounted a previous job on a Karmann Ghia; by the time he'd finished removing layers of filler and rust there was nothing left underneath



It was good to have a blaster who had worked with cars previously, as the underneath of a car body requires far more finesse than a lot of the commercial jobs do. The photos show just how much resistance underseal has to abrasion, in fact removing it means holding the gun in one place to build up heat first which increases the risk of warped panels. I told the blaster to leave it given that all the areas with underseal left on them are perfect.


Some more chassis strengthening. The Fiesta is constructed in a way that places reliance on the sills for most of the middle-body strength. The rest of the shell and especially the rear end feature well sized box sections but for me the sills are disappointing given what is expected of them. This is especially true when compared to cars like the Mk5 Golf which have sills made of multiple sections in 1.5mm steel. The Mk3.5 revisions added rigidity by running two central chassis rails to the rear of the floorpan but this still doesn't go far enough for me, so I have added a 1.5mm 'U' section to each sill which links the rear beam mounts to the front lower arm area.


I made sure I had the entire underneath in primer on the same day it was blasted. I was lucky in that it was another very hot and dry day. I used 90% Zinc primer - it's amazing stuff, 1 litre weighs 5kg! I think this and Epoxy are the best things that can be applied to bare metal to prevent corrosion. The high Zinc content acts like a sacrificial anode does on a boat hull.


I used Halfords red oxide primer spray. It's like water so gets into the seams nicely.

[heeman10]

What a job to be able to do outdoors! The best possible environment really, in terms of light/access/conditions for the operator! What a luxury I'm sure it could be argued that a dehydrated, extracted cell would be better for the bare metal, but it looks like you got it all protected nice and quickly afterwards. Cracking peace of mind to gain

Will you be installing purpose-designed jacking points while you're at it all dude? And regarding my bumper - I'm just off up to my rented garage to sort it all out, including the bumper. This week would be a very convenient one for me to take the bumper up to work, if you have a courier sent up. Drop me a PM if it's doable!

[- Danny Boy -]

Awesome stuff as per usual Mark!

[jonyb4]

f**k, im stunned

amasing mark

[Excursion]

Thanks guys, here's a video of the process: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php ... 7972770335

It wasn't as messy as I was expecting.

[Excursion]

What a job to be able to do outdoors! The best possible environment really, in terms of light/access/conditions for the operator! What a luxury I'm sure it could be argued that a dehydrated, extracted cell would be better for the bare metal, but it looks like you got it all protected nice and quickly afterwards. Cracking peace of mind to gain

Will you be installing purpose-designed jacking points while you're at it all dude? And regarding my bumper - I'm just off up to my rented garage to sort it all out, including the bumper. This week would be a very convenient one for me to take the bumper up to work, if you have a courier sent up. Drop me a PM if it's doable!

I will PM you mate. I had my eye on the BMW jacking points, but they sit quite low below the sill. I may see if I can make them removable and carry a couple in the boot or something.

[Dave G fsi]

Brilliant job there mate

[Excursion]

Thanks Dave

Given that primer is porous, I have sprayed over it with satin black.



The next step will be for me to apply some 3M underseal with a 'schultz' gun. The 3M product is of OEM quality:


Some more shell reinforcement.


I have linked the new sill reinforcement to the central chassis rails.


Then at the intersection on the central chassis rails I've added some 1.2mm thick pads with a captive nut attached.


I am still designing a subframe that that will link these new points to the front arm mounting points, then on to the lower engine mount, to the front chassis legs and finally to the front cross member. Ground clearance is a factor here, as is exhaust clearance. Looking at the shell I will need to drop down from a 3" downpipe into two 2.25" pipes for the length of this subframe, which isn't a problem as there is sufficient clearance in the exhaust tunnel.

A tubular steel version would probably look like this:


Or if I triangulate, I could step down to some 10mm thick Aluminium flat bar, then run countersunk machine screws to really keep a low profile. I think this will be the best option.

[jonboisescort]

great work as always mate

[Wittmann]

Really interesting and nice work you have done and planing. Fiesta shell will bend and twist like aluminium foil whit your power. Really interested that mod you have done to the sills.

[heeman10]

Do you not have elevation differences between those eight points Mr S? It looks as though it'll need two separate subframes, otherwise you would end up with stepped sections of ally flat, which wouldn't be particularly stiff. If only there were space for a nice 40mm section cast ally subframe, hey! I remember the bracing under my Mk6 Fiesta was there to do little more than allow lateral flexing of the chassis rails, rather than attempt to increase torsional rigidity. It really wasn't thick material that would withstand any torsion ACROSS it, but by having a four hole bolt pattern it would serve to increase the chassis's torsional rigidity, solely by anchoring those four points relative to one another. Your chassis is looking good under there now - I would love to see what it feels like once it's on the road. I can't imagine a Mk3 Fiesta that felt truly planted!

[Excursion]

Thanks again chaps

James, yes, there are. I need to tackle that somehow. I may need to go forward to the S brace then back again. I want to keep it looking elegant rather than a 'bunch of bars', so a fore and aft frame may well be the way to go

[leighk2010]

some great progress mark. I think this could turn out to be the best mk3 fiesta ever made once its done so much tie and effort and clever ideas going into this car. Shame ford did not put this much effort it.

[Excursion]

Thanks Leigh.

[Excursion]

My new rear brakes arrived, so I couldn't resist fitting them. I will replace the disc/rotors, have the bells re-anodised and repaint the calipers.


Thanks to TompeteRS for my Quaife ATB Limited Slip Differentials and the bellhousing spacer gasket:


I have news from Ian (engine builder); my head is back from the CNC shop and now has 16 oversize valves, double valve springs and the porting to both sides, so Ian can now measure clearances and order a pair of cams to suit. I borrowed a bare block & head from him in the mean time and I hope to get the engine mounts fabricated this weekend.

[jonyb4]

good news! going to flow liek a wind tunnel, headstart it being a blacktop too


whats the hub and bearing design on that rear brake setup then?

[Excursion]

good news! going to flow liek a wind tunnel, headstart it being a blacktop too


whats the hub and bearing design on that rear brake setup then?

Cheers. They are ST170 rear hubs on a Mk5 ZS beam.

[jonyb4]

ahh that would work

[Dave G fsi]

Looking good mate

[SEG1]

i saw how cheap the atb were going for,and i couldnt believe it.
i see you taken advantage and bought two!
might have to stock up.

[crazycage]

i saw how cheap the atb were going for,and i couldnt believe it.
i see you taken advantage and bought two!
might have to stock up.

how much are we talking mate?

[Excursion]

Engine mounting today.

I bought the N/S section of a Focus inner wing to help me mount the gearbox, I also bought the O/S bracket for the engine mount. It turned out I didn't really need either


I am using Focus RS mounts. They are unique to that car and stronger than the rest of the range.


As the Black Top Zetec and MTX gearbox were never factory fitted to the Mk3 it is up to me to place the engine in the bay. This gives me a bit of flexibility in terms of engine height, but it's a careful trade off between a lower center of gravity and practicality for road use in terms of ground clearance. I settled on a final position that is just a fraction lower than the standard engine.

The old adage 'measure twice, cut once' saw me spend most of the afternoon with a tape and checking clearances everywhere, at one point I had the engine in a position where everything seemed to fit without the requirement for chassis modification, but it turned out to be too low. In the end I had to scallop a very small section from the N/.S chassis rail in order to make space for the gearbox.

The fabrication for the engine mount was actually really straight forward:


Engine bolted in: It's at a funny angle because the gearbox end is suspended via the engine hoist.


Gearbox mount tomorrow.

[Excursion]

i saw how cheap the atb were going for,and i couldnt believe it.
i see you taken advantage and bought two!
might have to stock up.

how much are we talking mate?

I get mine from TompeteRS. He is a good chap http://www.tompeters-fordparts.co.uk

[Rhinopower]

Thats quite a lot lower than mine, have you still got enough space to get the nut on the bottom of the engine mount?

[Excursion]

Thats quite a lot lower than mine, have you still got enough space to get the nut on the bottom of the engine mount?

I have mate, I left a rectangular cut out on the wheelarch side that is just big enough for a ratchet spanner

[jonyb4]

ratchet spanners save lives, i only have one which is a 15" one

[SLEEMAN]

shed load of work going into this, i'm suprised you haven't considered a cosworth conversion with the amount of money you've probably spent lol! cos with those brakes they can easily stop a cossie lol

[tompeteRS]

FRS Quaife LSDs for the MTX75 Box - £230 posted while stocks last. Will be bringing some along to FITP.