From Mechanical Database

Log entries listed from newest to oldest.

Jan 23

Modifying the front end to replace as much as possible with a tubular chassis, which will get pretty interesting. Almost complete with the custom steering column support to replace the factory one. The steering wheel will be brought lower to aid with center of gravity and reduce hand movement between the steering wheel and shifter.

Jan 08 2010

Finished fabricating an exhaust flange that is perfectly matched the ports on the head. Used a 3/8ths cold rolled plate of steel.

Further, the exhaust flange was welded in place of the old one on the 1st gen hooker headers. The old flange was terrible port matching, extremely poor quality and sealed quite poorly to the head. The welds did not turn out as perfect as planned, due to the extension on the back of the torch which interfered with proper positioning around the tubes. Next time a visit to the welding supplies store is undertaken, a shorter tungsten enclosure will be acquired for the TIG torch. Also the tubes were not matched properly. Despite all that in the end the headers are quite nice as far as the gasses will be concerned. A neat trick was used to smooth out the steel inside after grinding it a bit. Putting valve grinding compound all over the inside and inserting a steel wire brush on a die grinder, to move it around, resulted in a very smooth finish. This will be attempted on the aluminum head ports as well with even smoother results expected. Strut mounts were replaced with ones from a 2001 Ford Escort with only 66,000 miles.

Acquired a 2003 ZX2 master brake cylinder, master clutch cylinder, 3 pedal assembly, and a line. Prior to installation the front half of the engine bay was chopped off to be replaced with a simplified dom tubular steel contraption. Plans are still being made as to what kind of a structure to use for low weight and high strength. Also in case anyone was not already aware, the clutch pedal is adjustable as can be seen in one of the photos below. All of the bolts were also carefully ground off the firewall to clean it up, reduce weight, and improve the appearance and room. Interior side of the firewall will be done as well soon. A quick spray of white paint was applied just to keep the ground areas from sticking out and to provide some sort of rust protection.

Jan 01 2010

Finished removing the entire dashboard, with no plans of reinstallation. Cleaned up steering column, eliminating all unnecessary parts. Managed to remove the steering wheel without a steering wheel puller by cutting off the old tip without any damage to the column. New steering wheel is ready to be mounted when the paint dries. The bottom of the headers also hung too low and hence were cut off to convert them to 4-4 headers without plans for a collector or anything else. While the system will be quite loud it is only until the turbo will be installed.

Dec 25 2009

Made spacers for the rear suspension 2nd Gen (actually from a Protege) rear disc hubs, since the 3rd gen has longer subframe. The spacers were 7/8 in thick. Finally obtained the bolts for the calipers, from a 5 lug Protege which has the same exact calipers and mounts on the hubs.

Finally put the modified struts on the back of the car, as can be seen in the pictures below. The coils seat great. Haven't decided on a height yet, but one photograph demonstrates how low it's currently sitting. The car may remain at that height, however regardless of which setting will be used, the fenders will have to be rolled, thus bringing up the need to find a place to rent the fender roller tool from, or purchase one if it is available cheap enough. Another option may be custom fabricating one due to their simplicity.

Got another set of struts from a Ford Escort with only 60,000 miles from the junkyard to replace the fronts that were ruined in the previous strut welding experiment. Unfortunately killed one of the shocks during welding, but learned a lot about how to weld them carefully during the process. At only $ 10 each from the junkyard, this is no serious loss. This time instead of using a cutting wheel on the angle grinder to cut the spring perches off, a sandpaper wheel was used which yielded better results without grinding off too much excess material.

Dec 21 2009

Removed the dashboard, with plans to make my own bar for the steering wheel, therefore throwing the entire dashboard away. Emergency brake cable and lever also removed due to the rear disc brake conversion. Plans to reinstall from junkyard later.

Swapped the steering rack from power to manual.

Smoothed out the struts and removed all traces of the original spring perches since they didn't seem like a safe way to hold the aluminum Ground Control coilovers sleeves. Since the rear struts are slightly narrower than the fronts, by about 1.5 mm or so, I had perfect tubing supports for the fronts but they were too loose on the rears. So I cut the cylinder sections up and compressed them with a hose clamp to weld them. Then I cut another one and stretched it over to make sure that the seating surface would be wide enough for proper support.

The welding and paint job are a little shady, as my welding skills are returning after not having done it for half a year. It looks quite messy because there are two rings that were welded together, being welded to the strut. Paint job is just to keep the rust off, and besides this whole setup is temporary. Also while welding the struts, trying to fill in a deep cut I made while removing the perches carelessly with the angle grinder, I made a hole and the compressed gasses from the struts leaked out. The fronts were shot I think anyways, so it's time to replace them from the junkyard (again, temporary) before I weld on the new perches and throw it all back together.

Dec 11 2009

Got the crank back from the machine shop, knife edged. Next, finding some forged rods and oversized pistons, boring the block, balancing the whole deal. Got some more figures on various choices. Carillo rods would be 378 each, while CPC pistons (949) 567-9000 would be about 780 for a set.

Dec 07 2009

Just showing off a few pictures of the Harland Sharp rocker arms (will make an article later) installed on a head. And also how clean the head is too.

Clean new rail and fuel injectors.

Dec 01 2009

Finished porting the MAF sensor, almost done with the intake for now, since it's a piece so easy to remove the rest of the porting and polishing work will be done after the engine is running.

Also cut off the MAF flange for direct air filter fitment, eliminating the need for a MAF sensor adapter.

Modified serpentine belt pulleys because they were damaged in the previous accident. The outer rib was removed and the system converted to 5 rib design to weight reduction and simplification. The previous build ran a 5 rib serpentine belt anyways. The comparison demonstrates the vast differences between the pulleys, comparing a stock pulley to that from a remanufactured alternator that was modified. Despite the appearance, they are both actually the same diameter as far as the belt goes.

Cracked open the bottom end of the newly acquired SPI motor from the junkyard. It was so fresh that when the crank was brought into a machine shop for knife edging the machinist assumed it was just freshly ground. Picking the engine was tricky because it was so clean and in a wrecked Escort at the junkyard, however someone swapped the instrument cluster on purpose to make it appear as if they car had more miles so they could come back later and claim the engine for themselves.

Waiting for the crank to get knife edged. The hood, bumper, headlights, headlights header pannel, and radiator support were sold on Craigslist, leading to the next following tasks:

• Possibly getting forged rods & pistons.
• Attempting at making a home made crank scraper, metal already acquired.
• Replacing parts of the front end with tubular steel.
• Ordering a carbon fiber hood.
• Order aftermarket black headlights.
• Making a custom bumper.
• Making a custom alternator mount.
• Making custom engine mounts.
• Possibly getting block bored out a bit.
• Lowering the car some more, and making custom mounts for the coilovers on the struts, metal already acquired.
• Repairing the SSR Type-C wheels.

Nov 22 2009

Performed IM (Intake Manifold) preparation for the new build. Throttle body flange was ported for the 56mm BBK 3.8 TB. Polished the IM to the best ability, removing previous vacuum ports to be replaced with regular fittings. TB to IM surfaces were cleaned and mated while polishing ensuring a seamless fit. The perfect surfaces eliminated the need for a TB gasket, allowing the use of a little RTV instead.

The TB (Throttle Body) was ported slightly to improve the air flow transition at entrance. Butterfly valve was knife edged and half of the retainer shaft removed for smoother air flow.

Planned modifications for next build day:

• MAF porting, and modification to allow direct filter placement, eliminating the need for a MAF adapter.
• Crank preparation for knife edging.
• Custom engine & transmission mounts.
• Head porting, possibly IM lower flanges as well.
• Rear disc brake conversion, front subframe & suspension components re-installation.

Oct 12 2009

After having wrecked the previous 97 Ford Escort it's time to start another project. A white 97 Mercury Tracer automatic with manual windows and locks was acquired. It will be the transfer car to all the modifications from the previous wreck.

The trunk in the Tracer is pretty rusty because it had previously been used by some cleaning company, however that's only more motivation to replace it with a tubular chassis. The process to strip down the engine has begun, with the first things on to do list:

• Head & block replacement, rebuild (a head with Harland Sharp rocker arms is waiting to be put in, pictured below).
• Accessories elimination (a/c & power steering.
• Full gutting of every part that doesn't make the car move or hold the driver & passenger in place.
• Some custom tubular steel work.