Not been on here for ages! Anyone still looking there have been a few more updates.

After messing about with the Megasquirt I took the plunge and off it came to be replaced by an Omex 600. Along with GSXR throttle bodies on a ST170 plastic manifold the car was transformed.

A mapping session has raised the power to 178bhp which I'm more than happy with for now. I think some attention t the gearbox ratios would make the most of it.

A slight mishap with a kerb has also seen the wheels changed and there's now a set of 13's on with 888 rubber.

Also fitted a full cage and some nice mirrors to make it look a lot better, the cage helps keep the cover up as well....

Its running on the MS as we speak, it starts, idles, revs and picks up OK. Some hesitation at certain revs and doesn't like to run when its cold. Need some high speed runs to get further up the map. A track day may be needed.

However I've hardly done any mapping yet so hopefully as the weather improves I can get out more with the lappy for some home 'tuning'

Went to the All Ford Meet at Scotch Corner last weekend and lost the speedo magnet off the prop n the way back... repairs needed and its a fiddly job getting the centre tunnel off:-(

Megasquirt is installed, wired up working, but way to go with getting the tune right. Although it started first turn of the key its running rich and I'm learning the ins and outs of Megasquirt.

In the meantime heres a video of the event...

Over the winter I've been doing some mods to the car. Mainly the installation of fuel injection using CBR1000RR throttle bodies and an ecu called Megasquirt. The Megasquirt is a diy educational bit of kit that allows you to learn all about efi. There are tons of resources on the internet to support you and I bought a fully biult tested unit with a base map loaded.

So far I have had the motor out for a bit paint and tart up, and I've installed the aluminium bellhousing saving a few kilo's in the process. The Megasquirt is installed and wired up, its alos talking to my laptop so things are looking up. All I need to do now is understand the startup and idle setting s and I should be good to try it.... stay tuned... I hope to have it running in the next couple days and wil post a video as and when it happens.

Nice clean, painted engine with ali bellhousing..


Nice cam cover with new gasket rubbers and a nice coat of paint....


I've installed an engine steady bar to stop it swinging around in the corners...


CBR TB's with ST170 fuel rail injecting into the ports at the front of the manifold. CBR injectors are not connected at the moment....

Not been on for a while, nothing been happening apart from wiring up the Megasquirt. Once I'm ready to start it I'll post soem pics and a video.

Meanwhile heres a nice knob I knocked up earlier....

Bit of cleaning, thinners, cillit bang, wire brush etc... then some paint....



New ali bellhousing as well, not sure whether to paint or polish atm..

Today I've spent all day in the garage, never even noticed how cold it was till I've just come out to see the lawn covered in frost! Brrrrr... I've lifted the motor out this morning after disconnecting everything, trailer has gone so I have tons more room to move about, with the car directly under the winch out it came.

Not wanting to remove the clutch as I want to see how the ali bellhousing fits I attached the engine right hand stand to the side of the block. trying the bell housing on I could see it was touching the starter ring on the flywheel so out came the carbide grinder and a little bit of fettling later, nothing touching.

Cleaned the left hand side of the engine which is quite corroded for a 2002 motor. It was the front in the Focus so someone may have had a modified body kit that let a lot of crap into the bay. It certainly is a lot worse condition than the 1.8 I had before. Cleaned it with a circular wire brush in the drill ready for a coat of engine enamel.. sprayed the sump with some HT matt black I had lying around to tidy it up.



I've also remade the idler mount at the front which previously used the pas pump bracket which was very bulky and a bit over the top. With the hacksaw and welder the bracket is now much slimmer! I've put the front engine mount cover back on to keep any nasty stones off the cam belt and used that to mount the idler bracket. Just needs a bit paint.



With the motor up on the stand I can see where the oil is coming from, there is a big leak at the back that will be OK to brass back over and although I though the plug was leaking it doesn't appear to be, maybe when its hot? Anyway, new plug and seal should sort that.

While I've enjoyed driving the car this year to various meets and shows and I've been slowly upgrading the brakes and transmission etc time has come for a bigger step. Changing from carbs to EFI.

One All Ford show to attend this Sunday then the engine is coming out for a tart up. With it out I'm going to be painting the block and sorting the oil leak from the sump. Hopefully its the drain plug as I checked it after welding by filling with oil and leaving overnight....

Installation of the aluminum bellhousing at the same time as I've figured out how to modify the type 9 clutch arm and pushrod system to replace the clutch cable.

Heres some pics of my new EFI setup. I've spent weeks whittling this from a lump of steel and have faithfully recreated the port injection position from the original ST manifold and the front set of injectors are from the ST170 engine.


The TB's are off a CBr1000RR which had an 8 injector setup. The bodies have 4 on them.



ATM I intend to use the ST injectors as they came with the engine so should suit it across the rev range, if not, I can configure the extra 4 on the TB's to give more when needed...

New brake master cylinders fitted tonight. Gone is the remote reservoir and hopefully thats the end of the fluid leaks I've had since starting the build! New front brake pipe to the front union so I can put the brake light switch on the side and maybe it'll work.




I've trimmed the pushrods on the cylinders to get the pedal back in line with the clutch. The brake pedal has always 'hung' forward to far for my liking.
New LSD in, lobro's on with a bit of machining to the spindles to get rid of the ABS teeth and my brand new set of massive 10" drums under the back wheels.Brakes need fluid and bleeding and maybe some bias adjusting. If it keeps dry I'll go find a road somewhere for some brake testing!

After the recent event where the bonnet flew off I'm going through a few upgrades.

First up got an lsd diff out of a 92 dohc Sierra and have fitted that in place of the open 3.62. The lsd is 3.92 so some recalibration of the speedo will be required, nothing major as its simply inputting a different factor. New diff is bolt on lobro's as opposed to the push in items I had on before.

Lobro's and shafts have been derusted, treated to zinc primer and black top coat. Drive flanges and bearing carriers have had new bearings and seals installed and I've used the opportunity to fit the 10" drums I've had lying around for a while. Local motor factor had all the bits new for the drums so was fairly painless. Had to space out the handbrake cable clamp as the entry into the back plate was a good distance further out than the 7" ones I took off.

Next step is new brake master cylinders. I have some integral units to replace the remote reservoir as they still leak and chuck fluid onto the chassis. Not good. As the backs need bleeding down now anyway it should be a straight forward task. if a little messy, but hopefully no more fluid leaks!

While I have the tunnel off fitting the diff I'm going to be running a new fuel pipe as I need a return after deciding I'm defiantly going the EFI route. I have nearly finished fabricating a new inlet manifold to accept the 43mm Honda TB's I have and have welded in bosses at the port head to use the original ST170 fuel rail and injectors. Management will be Megasquirt as I fancy learning the system thoroughly....

I have a new bonnet sitting upstairs as well and will have all the work done for the last Ford show on the 25th October.

Been a while now, not much happening apart from driving. Had a couple of incidents, very minor but managed to start it up from outside the car with it in gear. CRUNCH!
Then couple nights ago was messing with the carb jetting ahead of a power dyno run and forgetting to fasten the bonnet back down... WHOOSH 80mph and off into orbit. All in, two small bits of damage, not too bad....

Saturday 29th saw me a nd another couple 7 owners at McDonald Racing for a dyno run. Making 167bhp at 6200rpm, I'm quite chuffed with that as after removing Fords variable tract injection system for home tuned bike carbs there is only 1bhp different from Fords claim for the Focus. Still undecided whether TB's will be an advantage or not.

Here's the run...

Ho ho, been to Newark this weekend, what a hoot! After a little rain during Friday night Saturday was cloudy and windy but today has been glorious. Got home safe, warm and dry!
Big thanks to all the Locostbuilder peeps I bumped into and it was a lot better than Stoneleigh (and free!) I was mightly impressed with R1pete's turbo motor on th rolling road, put the TVR to shame!
I tried to take a lot more pics this time so click HERE for my pictures.

I still have some thoughts about improving the MNR but atm its all about driving. I may leave some to the winter when its off the road.

In the meantime I'm starting a new kit car project, all be it more of a conversion. I've always fancied a Jago after lusting after WWII jeeps and now I'm on the road to getting one. It has to be 4x4 for me so I've got a Suzuki SJ413 off ebay that will be stripped down to the chassis and built up with a Jago body to replicated the Willy's.

This is the starting point.....

Ive started a new blog, HERE, just need to see how much work I get done on it the rest of this year.

I've been busy driving! Been down to Stoneleigh for the car show, camping 2 nights. Nice 450 mile round trip, wet coming back. No drama's to report, car behaved perfectly, was comfortable and despite the downpour and truck spray I managed to stay dry!

Wilwoods are starting to feel better than the OEM Sierra brakes but the pads squeal very loud at low speed. Need to see if that improves with bedding in.

Pics from the Stoneleigh show can be found HERE! I only really took pics of things that caught my eye and stood out like the beautiful SS100 rep. And the V8 engines... yum yum. There was just too much to look at on the 2 days.

Got some tips lining the bodywork up and some ideas to make a new column shroud. More car building to come!

So, bodywork to do, steering cowl to make, switches to move and 10" drums to install.

I will have tons of time on my hands soon...

Sorted the lights, they didn't have a wiring diagram and I wired them up wrong. Sorted that out and all is good again.

Wilwoods are on and the brakes feel a little better, not sure if I have all the air out as I didn't have the correct size spanner for the bleed nipples 1/4" AF, American calipers you see. I'll be having another bleed before I go away this weekend.

I'm now in the possession of some new drums as well, 10" jobs off an XR4i. They look simply massive! No time to get them fitted before Stoneleigh kit car show tho, they will have to wait.

Finally decided to make a new gearknob after loking at my aweful broken Ford one for nearly a year! Saw some nice ones in Burtons catalogue and decided to have a bash meself.

Anyway an hour on the lathe and I'm well pleased!

New brakes arrived yesterday from Rally Design while I was out picking up my new Dominator headlights in carbon fibre effect. The lights are much smaller, 4", and are more of a 'torpedo' style than the rounded bowls of the 5 3/4" jobs.
Fitted them today and they do look smart, however I seem to have created a fault in the wiring, the main beam indicator on the dash is lit up all the time now. Little bit of investigation has found it not to be the lights or new wiring so I'm a bit stumped.
Great day out at Specialist Cars last Sunday, hundreds of cars and people, more Porches than you could shake a stick at. Excellent turn out from the 7's as well and we had a nice steady blast over the moors afterwards. Apart from the heavy frost on the morning it was thoroughly enjoyable.I have put all my pictures from the day in a folder inside my picture galley, just click the link on the right to see them. click the 'my pictures' in the gallery then select 'Yorkshire Breakfast 2009'

Ford RS meet tomorrow, and then I'll be cracking on installing the Wilwood 4 pots and bigger discs...

Got the carbs pretty close and the motor revs past the 8K ceiling on my tacho, need to keep that in check!

Had a run over to Specialist Cars in Malton today for an open day in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Met up with fellow 7ers on the way down. Hundreds of people and some very exotic motors lying around.

I took plenty of pics, just click here to go straight to it: Yorkshire Breakfast 2009

Set of Wilwoods next I reckon...

Got the Lambda and AFR gauge working now. Haven't really done anything yet apart from see how it idles. With the new exhaust I noticed it hunts and drops down when idling, the Innovate lambda's telling me its very weak at tick over. I'll be having a look at tuning the carbs this weekend, even if its just near enough to get back down to Blogg Brothers for a proper set up.
Still need to complete the new inlet manifold tho!

Any, here's some pics of the exhaust I got from AAS in Newcastle. Sounds great, ticking over quite quite but once the revs build and the VVT kicks in it howls... nice!!I've constructed a copper heat shield for the sensor out of 28mm copper pipe as advised inthe Innovate manual.

Some pics of the sump chop on my ST170. Rear section of the sump boxed in to create extra capacity. I left the original part of the rear section, you can see the profile where the weld is and drilled holes through it to create a baffle.

Needs to come off soon as its leaking, making a mess on the garage floor!

New exhaust on last Wednesday, had a run down to MNR Saturday. I've connected the VVT to the aux output on the Mj and set it to switch a relay at 4K. This allows high cruising speeds without the cam kicking in and buggering the mpg up.

SO, couple of nice empty straight roads and 4K in third gear... whoosh! off she goes and pulls like train!
Carbs are not set up properly yet as there is a fluffy moment between 2.5~4K where I think it is running a bit weak. I need to get the LC1 connected so I can see the AFR and have a go at tuning myself....

In the meantime I've been kicking on with the log burner, bit late for this winter but will get rid of tons of rubbish in the garden and its there for next year. I got an empty 19kg bottle a while ago and left the valve open for a week, turning it upside down after 3 days. With tons of old engine oil I drilled a hole in the top of the bottle next to the valve and filled it with water. I then cut the valve off and left it full of water in the garden for 3 months!

I got a length of 4 1/2" 3.5mm pipe the other day so I've been cracking on....

Doors marked out a partially cut. Thought original marking out was too high.

Doors fully cut out.

Hole cut in the top for steel chimney pipe. Next step, hinges and welding up.
Its tight in the garage when all the toys are in!