fiestaturbo.com

[MotorcyclesFish]

You don't hang around do you mate?

[XRMike]

Looking great mate.

[Max M4X WW]

Was thinking the same grant. Think i might put him up for a couple of nights when i do mine!

[Sphinx]

Good work! All you need to do now is tidy up that front panel and it'll be a mint little sleeper!

[Smo]

Good work! All you need to do now is tidy up that front panel and it'll be a mint little sleeper!

Yeah, definitely! I have a genuine Ford one that's been sitting here now for about 2 and a half years, along with a new wing, but have just never got round to doing it. I'm hoping that once it's running, it'll give me all the enthusiasm I need to sort it out properly

Max - Lets wait to see if it starts first

Cheers Mike

Grant - I thought I was on a bit of a go slow to be honest

[joe boy]

good work, thats where youve been hiding

well done matey after all this time, wish i had my car to pop up

and get your arse on msn

[Smo]

well done matey after all this time, wish i had my car to pop up

It's ok, we'll get you here next week for some more Zetec-swapping fun

[mike_wall15]

[fiestamodder123]

hey, nice to see that you have your engine in simon ,ive not got internet acsess at the moment ,but i will be updating soon,engine is out of mine now ,but i need to find out about the multi plug for my engine loom and then i will drop the engine in keep it up mate and hope to see it running soon


Gav

[bakewell001]

well done matey after all this time, wish i had my car to pop up

It's ok, we'll get you here next week for some more Zetec-swapping fun

Hehe bet you cant wait for round 2

[Smo]

well done matey after all this time, wish i had my car to pop up

It's ok, we'll get you here next week for some more Zetec-swapping fun

Hehe bet you cant wait for round 2

As long as I can get all the bits I need tomorrow, consider me your engine-swapping slave

Oh, and by the way people... It runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update to follow tomorrow once I've taken it for a proper drive and sorted a few things out

[chris-fiesta]

nice one simon, well done m8

[Max M4X WW]

[1992FRST]

Looking great! Nice little read! Will be interesting at the traffic lights

[Smo]

Nah, I'm going to behave myself a bit

I've just taken it out for a couple of runs. First run, I *tried* it out down eddy's road and it went a bit better than expected (didn't mean to make too much noise, sorry eddy!).

Second run, I took it out of town and down the dual carriage way. Went pretty nice, pulls very well, but it's definitely holding back. Going to change the plugs as it sounds like it's hesitating very slightly whenever it's opened up a bit quick, but sounds very smooth when opened up easy.

If it's not the plugs, then I'm going to have to try and change the MAF sensor and see how that affects things.

Tomorrow, the plan is:

- Adjust exhaust - something's not right, midsection is too far towards the front of the car and it's hitting the handbrake cable, plus it's blowing ever so slightly at the backbox/midsection join because I couldn't move it any further on to the midsection due to the above. I'm hoping there's enough room on the cat/downpipe to play with to sort it out.

- Fit FRST suspension - 1.1 stuff is definitely not up to it, but I knew this before I took it out. It's not bad, but it can't be driven with enthusiasm as it is at the moment!

- Swap the instrument cluster for the 16v one I have here.

- And of course the spark plugs.

[XRMike]

Pleased for you mate !!

[nick050]

looks good mate nice sleeper. You sorted those brakes yet so you can realy have fun

[eddy]

Good stuff matey.

Managed to get yourself a little bit of wheelspin in second, despite taking it easy

Spring clamps are still at mine, if you need them just pop round or give me a text and someone will drop them round.

Only a few more easy jobs and it'll be sorted.

[xr2imetalhead]

verry nice project matey will be a hoot to drive when u sort the frst suspension on!! fair play to you

[bakewell001]

looked like it went good when you pulled away yesterday

Cant wait to take a spin, in yours and mine

[Smo]

Cant wait to take a spin, in yours and mine

Well you've been in mine now, just yours to do!

And I need suspension

Cheers everyone else

[Max M4X WW]

Pics?!

[Superal]

Nearly there at last...superb

[Smo]

Right, time for a brief update!

I kind of missed out some bits of what I have done recently in all the excitement of actually having it running however, I think it goes something like this but can't remember exactly:

Wednesday (23rd), after getting the engine in, I swapped the gear linkage from the 4 speed to 5 speed.

5 speed linkage before going in:




Old linkage to come out (held in by the four 10mm nuts you can see):




Made a nice hole :






And then held the new one up into place to make bolting it up easier:



And after all that, my neighbour was seeing what it felt like, only for him to apply just the smallest of pressure and the whole thing fell apart! He pulled it back into place, and it seemed to do the job, however on the first test drive I came away again, so I need to replace it as soon as possible. Hopefully I can do that in the next few days, or, if I can see the exact problem, I'll rebuild it as it's rather floppy anyway.

Afraid there's not many pics after that!

Next was to connect up the fuel lines. I used some fuel injection hose to connect the feed line up to the fuel filter, then the fuel filter to the fuel feed on the engine, and then the return from the engine to the return line.

Later in the evening, I brought the new tank up from my garden and removed the CFi pump:


(That's a bit of masking tape and some dust from it remaining around the edge)


CFi pump and EFi pump:




No more photos of the fitting I'm afraid as it decided to rain quite a bit, and I was sat under my car fitting fuel hoses and using all the energy I had to fit the new tank up!


Thursay (24th), it rained. All day.


Friday (25th), I bolted up the alternator and starter motor:






Connected up the coolant pipes and water rail (had to be cut down slightly due to the well-known rust they suffer from ):





You can also see the cam belt cover back on there.


Random photo of the two air intakes I have :




Basically, the 1.8 one that came with the engine was bent where the rubber hose connects, so I used the 1.6 one (donated by XRMike ). After this, I connected up the rubber hose and then the MAF sensor.


Next up, the downpipe and cat were bolted up (new downpipe/manifold gasket fitted) along with the lower crossmember to hold it up, and then the midsection to that:




(Lovely bit of rust on the front panel )




No more photos after that, but the rear box was fitted up next, followed by the rad and fan. After lots of messing about with the exhaust (which I couldn't get to sit right until I had some midsection mount bolts), Steve (bakewell001) came round and was kind enough to assist me by getting gearbox oil all over himself We also filled the engine up with oil, and the coolant system with some random mixture of water and anti-freeze

I didn't have an inertia switch at the time, so before starting it, I bridged the connector with some wire And then the last thing prior to starting it was petrol - we emptied my old tank into a fuel can (and onto our hands ) and only filled it up by half - I'd tried to run it low on my last drive, but didn't realise how low!

Steve put the fuel in (can't exactly say "filled it up" ), and it was time to see if it would start. The fuel pump primed (was very loud and high pitched) and turned the key - nothing. I knew what this was straight away, my start motor push-on connector needs a good clean! I just took it off and pushed it on again.

Second attempt - Turned over, but wouldn't start. It was firing, but wasn't anywhere near enough to idle. The exhaust was also knocking on the rear valance because of the lack of mid section mount bolts - Sounded bad at the time

Third attempt - Turned over, started, idled. Was a bit rough, but any touch of the accelerator stalled it.

Decided to prime it a few times, and the next time it started, it actually responded to some throttle. It was very hesitant though from idle, and when opened up too quick from any engine speed, it would hesitate too. Went and got some more fuel (as we also guessed the high pitch noise from the fuel pump was indicating it was too low) and tried again, and it was much better, still a bit hesitant, but it started, and it ran

Saturday (26th), got my insurance updated for the engine conversion, and in the afternoon I fitted the midsection bracket and got my dad to cut down the battery tray to allow me to fit the airbox bracket and air box:



The ECU was unplugged there as I was just fitting the bracket for it.


On Sunday (27th), I changed the spark plugs, and it made a world of difference. There's no hesitation now and it pulls a lot harder, it's lovely Once everything is sorted, I'll take some video clips and put them up. I know it's not exactly a chattering turbo or even anything with any sort of decent power, but it does go very well, much better than I expected


And there you have it Sorry that I started getting a bit thin on photos, but I was starting to run out of time each day and getting some bits on the car done was more important!

Next up is to sort the suspension, brakes, tidy up the engine bay a bit, fit 16v fuel lines, front ARB, may be rear beam and ARB from an RS1800, and then sort out the bodywork

[Smo]

Just thought I'd add a pic of how the rear looks with the Si exhaust:




And one random front shot:

[Sphinx]

Supoib!

[XRMike]

Awsome car mate

[Max M4X WW]

Need to get it de-catted, panel filter and improve the airbox/air feed somehow now!

[chris-fiesta]

nice one simon, well done for all the hard work!!

now roll on the vids

[joe boy]

well done mate, im glad you got it all done
get the brakes n suspension on

[Jay]

looks good

This is definately the kind of car we need videos of just to see the look on peoples faces

[Smo]

well done mate, im glad you got it all done
get the brakes n suspension on

Cheers Joe, and will do!

I have just one thing to say: God, I absolutely love my car!

I am sooooooo glad I've done this conversion, the car is so much fun to drive. I don't know whether I'm just lucky or not to have found a good engine and parts, but it's going so well now

I've been out in Joe's 2.0 which feels very quick indeed, but I actually can't tell a huge difference at the moment (may be because I've only been the passenger in one and the driver in the other).

I thought at first that the Orion 1.8 gearbox (which I believe is the same as the XR2i 16v one) would be too long to be fun, but it's perfect, it's such a laugh to drive!

I don't think I'm even going to bother doing the 130PS spec stuff, it's nice as it is and I don't want to spoil it. I still want to build a higher power engine, but I will get another 1.8 or 2.0 block for that and do it over the next year - Zetec turbo or high power NA, I'm not sure yet, but I'm definitely leaving this one as is

And the best bit? I have a 5th gear!!!! I think it's getting more abuse than the others Ahh, what luxuries

I do feel pretty pleased with myself that I've done this having never even changed a clutch before. I did feel confident about it (probably because I've been looking into it for so long that I couldn't think of one thing that I wasn't prepared for in the end), so that probably helped a lot. But if you're like me and don't actually need your car for a while (in the event that something might go wrong!) or have use of another car, and you really fancy changing that old HCS lump for something more fun, as long as you can afford the insurance and can lay your hands on all the right tools, I say go for it! I very nearly didn't but I'm so glad I did

Annnnd, I just want to say thank you to all you annoying people who kept telling me to do it and to those who helped me out with parts, doing bits on the conversion or simply giving me some bits of advice Thank you

I'll shut up now

Cheers!

[Max M4X WW]

In a few weeks you will be bored

[Smo]

In a few weeks you will be bored

I know!

[Smo]

looks good

This is definately the kind of car we need videos of just to see the look on peoples faces

Sorry Jay, missed your post!

Yeah, we'll see what comes up

I did just see a 106 with Lexus rear lights and a noisey exhaust... Was tempting to tease, but then I thought "hmm.. that could have a GTi lump in it?"