Retro Z Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 The Ecoboost turbo engine is a 4 cylinder, same as used in the Focus RS. According to the brochure i have from Ford, we are only getting the V8 and 4cyl turbo and no N/A V6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Hi retro Z and Y'All Thanks for picking that up, I'll put it down to a late night Seniors Moment When I was writing I was thinking about Mustang's six cylinder history and v6 Turbos in F1 so it just came out a V6, apologies for that I've amended the post, there is a NA V6 available here but it looks like it won't get to us which I don't think is a big problem, the turbo four performs really well as is in stock trim so once the tuners get hold of it it could become a really fun fire breather and unlike the Focus it's rear wheel drive, they are well priced over here but that doesn't mean a thing, I hope price doesn't become a deal breaker because from my brief encounter I consider it a fun car I would happily own. Bye Y'All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Hi Y'All We left Whittie's Ranch this morning and did the 40k freeway commute into Houston to see where Whittie works and have lunch with him which we did in an Uptown area known as Galleria, we had lunch at a rather nice Japanese fusion restaurant which actually was the best restaurant food I've had so far this trip. Whittie couldn't stay long so headed back to work and I got the privilege of escorting the ladies through the (Uptown, Oil Town) shopping mall which given my intolerance for shopping malls was surely going to be the low point of the trip, we saw all the expected suspects such as, Forever 21, Sacs 5th ave, Maceys, Bally, De Beers, TAG Heuer and a host of clothing shops and perfume stalls which really made it just another shopping mall. Until.....WTF??? WOW there must be a god, how could an agonizing crawl through a shopping mall ever possibly turn up this little piece of heaven, these things leave most cars gasping in there wake, here's a glimpse of our motoring future although at $88K US I won't have one any time soon. If you have a few minutes to kill, this is worth a look. http://www.teslamotors.com/models/walkthrough Bye Y'All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Hi All Time marches on and after a short but fabulous stay we've left Whittie's Ranch and spent a couple of days in the Big Apple which is definitely worth a visit in spite of max -1deg temps, at least the skies were clear. After fifteen and a half hours in the air we are currently mid way through an eight hour stopover at HK looking forward to another seven and a half hours in the air to get to Perth so the best part of 31 hours plus transfers. While I want to keep the travel log car centric there were a few thing we saw in Houston that are worth a mention, the first is NASA where one day is not nearly enough. You know what this is. We've all seen this on TV it put Man on the Moon but standing beside it gives a totally different perspective. We went down to Galveston which is the closest coastal town to Houston so people flock there in summer but the beaches are pretty crap, being on the Gulf of Mexico the Port is used to service oil rigs and there were a few in Port. They have a decommissioned drill rig that has been turned into a museum and having spent more time than he likes to think about on these things Whittie was able to give us a guided tour which was great, I can now see why Whittie avoids them where possible. Here,s' a street sign with a difference we found not far from Whittie's Ranch. The freeways here are a real experience with billboards and electric signs everywhere, some alerting people to look out for a vehicle the police are after, some showing the current Texas road toll 2871 and rising and one I spotted advertising Daiquiris to go!!! WTF!!! I kid you not, there was one at the freeway exit to Whittie's Ranch but sadly we didn't get to try it. This is not the one but it gives an idea of what they are like. Here's how they work. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Hi All I finally have some activity on the Zed to report, although the head came back from the engine builder with a clean bill of health Tuss has cleaned it further and inspected it discovering a small amount of corrosion that really is of no consequence but repaired it anyway, the area is on the right hand side at the back of the head. The sump was removed today and cleaned, this is the first time I've seen it with the cover plate removed and it's a real work of art. Tuss removed a couple of big end caps and the bearing shells were unmarked he then removed a couple of pistons the top bearing shells do have some signs of wear that could simply be result of high compression but the decision has been made to replace them. Two pistons were removed and inspected, the top ring is about 10mm below the top of the piston so there is plenty of metal to absorb any compression that might have occurred, the rings move freely in their guides and the gudgeon are fine so no damage there. With the parts supplier closed the motor was covered up to keep any dust and grit out, new bearings will be ordered tomorrow and the motor reassembled during the week, Tuss wants the car to refit the motor on Friday. I'm comfortable that there has not been any damage done that will affect the life of the motor and replacing the big end bearing shells is really just a while we're at it thing. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Hi All I hope you're all enjoying the festive season, yesterday was a bit odd without Whittie around but still hectic as usual so today I'm having some quiet time out with the Zed. With Tuss being both unwell and busy the engine has taken a while to be reassembled but it is now ready to go and Tuss is attending the workshop tomorrow especially to refit it so today I detailed the engine bay in readiness. With a rebuild the magnitude of this one it's unrealistic to expect everything to be right straight up and the car will usually have to go through a shake down period as little faults are identified and rectified, this is certainly the case here. When I took the pic of the sump for my last post I noticed a mark on one of the fins on the bottom where it appears to have been touching something, I showed Tuss and we decided that the engine mounts should be set to the max height adjustment when the motor goes back in and I should go looking for the contact point which I have now identified as the steering rack bump/rotation stop u bolt. On finding this my first thought was to create clearance by grinding away a portion of fin off the sump then in writing this post and looking at the steering rack pic I realized that the bracket is highly adjustable and while its positioning is largely irrelevant when a standard sump is being used it becomes critical when a cast finned sump is fitted. I decided to go back to the garage and move the bracket slightly so that it would create clearance by sitting between fins. That won't do, I'll have to tidy that up. You sure can tell the time of year by the masking material I'm using. Good to go. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Hi All I really owe Tuss a big thank you for giving up his holiday time and opening his workshop exclusively to refit the engine into the Zed today. I picked up a hire trailer at 7.00am so I could get the car to Tuss by 8.00. Three hours later Tuss was ready to resume his holidays. The cars now home for me to finish off and get going, the rings are already bedded in so I'll only need to do a few hundred Ks before hitting the track again, Tuss has assured me that the sump now has plenty of clearance . Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whittie Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 The bonnet off shots look pretty sweet! Thanks not only to Tus but you as well for getting the ole girl near running again! I look at the poster above the fireplace every day and it makes me miss the car more every time. The challenger makes sense to drive every day, but the zed is just too cool to pass up. Having said that, I think I might bring a v8 zed home... The Dadson is special and it works as a race car, but when you can get 400+ rwhp for next to nothing out of a 6+ liter v8, that's pretty cool too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 The bonnet off shots look pretty sweet! I look at the poster above the fireplace every day and it makes me miss the car more every time. The challenger makes sense to drive every day, but the zed is just too cool to pass up. Hi All Following the photo shoot the photographer initially retains ownership of the pics but he and Whittie designed a collage and had two printed on canvas 800x500, Whittie has one mounted above his fire place and I have the other mounted above my desk, sadly due to copyright I can't show you the print but on the day I took a lot of pics from much the same angle as the photographer and this is close to one of the pics Whittie looks at. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Hi All Happy New Year all, (that's Y'All for the Whitties) I hope 2015 brings everything you wish for, personally with the exception of a couple of highlights I'm happy to put a line under 2014 and not look back. Today's not only the first day of a bright new year but it doubles as my birthday so I get to choose what I do and I can't think of anything better than putting a couple of hours into the Zed before the partying starts. Tuss said the sump now has plenty of clearance but I decided to put the car up on stands and crawl under to have a look and what I found looked ok but not ideal when potential engine movement on worn mounts is taken into consideration and as there is still plenty of room for adjustment, that's what I did. Here you can see where the sump was touching. Now I can forget about it completely. The radiator is looking a bit sad after two dousings with coolant but a quick once over with Autosol should fix it. That's it for today, the sun's over the yard arm so it's time to get the party started. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PB260Z Posted January 1, 2015 Moderators Share Posted January 1, 2015 Today's not only the first day of a bright new year but it doubles as my birthday so I get to choose what I do and I can't think of anything better than putting a couple of hours into the Zed before the partying starts. Happy Birthday, good to see you doing just what you want. 21 again ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Happy Birthday, good to see you doing just what you want. 21 again ? Thanks for your kind wishes PB260Z, not sure I really want to go back to 21 again but I don't mind admitting to being 30, the sad part is I've done it twice. Hi All, Two weeks watching Dakar highlights nightly has inspired me to get the Zed going so I can drive the bloody thing again, first job was to refit the heat shield and fuel lines when I noticed some holes in the firewall that require a plug or grommet to create a seal. So a couple of grommets, plugs and a pop rivet later later they are sealed, it's not a matter of reducing interior noise but attempting to keep fumes out of the cab. Tuss has done everything on the motor except adjusting the valve clearance so I figured that's the next job while the radiator is out and I can get to the front pulley easily. I'm on a roll so I recon a day or two and the Zed will be once again making it's wonderful noise and annoying the neighbors, some of whom can't wait to have a ride in it. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 Looking good, yep, gotta stir the neighbours if only to get them to appreciate it when the engine is switched off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Hi All My next little challenge in getting the old girl going again was to locate a replacement crankcase breather hose for the one that spectacularly made contact with the exhaust and my first stop was to the shop that got us out of trouble with the brake master cylinder but he had nothing and wanted vin numbers so I gave up there and on my way to Enzed called into super crap and foraged through their assorted heater hoses and found exactly what we had used previously, it's designed for water not oil so will go soft over time but I'll deal with that when the time comes. To make sure it doesn't contact the exhaust again I've loosely secured it with a few cable ties. With the battery out I can see rub marks on the battery carrier that if left will only get worse and eventually rust so I glued a couple of strips of rubber to it for protection. All that's left now is to fit the radiator and mount the new overflow bottle, bonnet and grill and it's done. When we bought the car it had a harness fitted for the drivers seat but only the stock lap sash on the passenger side, we decided a harness for the passenger would be a good idea but weren't keen on drilling a hole in the suspension tower to fit it so I gave it a bit of thought and with a little assistance from an engineer friend designed a bracket to mount onto the top of the suspension tower, they worked well and were only removed when fitment of the roll cage rendered them redundant, I stumbled onto them today and was about to add them to my scrap metal pile when I thought that someone here may be able to use them. They are made from 12mm thick ali and mount onto the strut mounting bolts with flanged nuts that ensure adequate thread cover. You can clearly tell by the nuts that this is a one off, I hadn't noticed previously that they are slightly uneven length, I don't remember what they cost to have made and it doesn't really matter but I'm thinking they're too good to go to scrap so I'm going to advertise them here and if someone want's to fit a harness without drilling holes in the read suspension tower, $20.00 and they're yours. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Hi All I've had a few distractions in getting the Zed going but I'm back on track and focused once more, I decided to fit the radiator today but after being shuffled around the garage since its last rejuvenation it was looking a bit off color so I thought a visit from autosol was in order. I very carefully and gently fitted the radiator making sure I neither removed body paint or redesigned radiator cooling fins then secured it in position only to find I had totally forgotten to fit the thermostatic fan temp switch but that was an easy fix. Here you can clearly see with the top hose in place it clears the distributor power lead connector but experience has taught us that when the car is driven aggressively in competition the engine moves sufficiently that the radiator hose and the power lead connector come into contact in such a way that eventually the lead comes off the terminal with clearly obvious consequences, hence the cable tie. When we purchased the car it had a generic radiator over flow bottle cable tied to the front panel beside the radiator behind the grill, we always thought it was a bit dodgy but it worked well we saw no reason to alter it but with Whittie's spectacular head gasket blowing lap at Wanneroo, the top of the bottle blew off never to be seen again so is now a sacrifice to the gods of speed. Oops, I have a little admission here, I often say that I don't have an original thought in my head but I'm very good at plagiarism and that line proves it because it comes from a film that's based on a true story about a NZ bike enthusiast. (The Worlds Fastest Indian) If you haven't seen it , I recon it's worth a look if you can find it. Fortunately those generic overflow bottles are made in commercial quantities and we have been ably to acquire another one and it comes with a metal mounting bracket, I now just need to work out where it will fit. Cheer Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PZG302 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 If you can pick one up quickly, the overflow bottle from a NA6 MX5 will fit really nicely on the inner guard with the top above the radiator so coolant isn't siphoned out of the radiator and also looks factory. I used one in my old 240 and it only cost me $10 from a MX5 wrecker in Brisbane, so it shouldn't be an expensive item to procure and will look better than the generic overflow that won't fit anywhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 If you can pick one up quickly, the overflow bottle from a NA6 MX5 will fit really nicely on the inner guard with the top above the radiator so coolant isn't siphoned out of the radiator and also looks factory. I used one in my old 240 and it only cost me $10 from a MX5 wrecker in Brisbane, so it shouldn't be an expensive item to procure and will look better than the generic overflow that won't fit anywhere Hi All Thanks PZG302 that's a good tip, I googled it today and found some pics I think I'll go that way and will let you know how I go with it but in the meantime I've located the generic bottle beside the radiator just need to secure it with cable ties. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PZG302 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Not the best picture as it was after the car was binned, but here is where I mounted mine.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Hi PGZ302 That overflow bottle fits where the regulator and fuse able links are normally located and as we have replaced ours with fuses and a self regulating alternator the space is available and I found one on line for not much money so will consider the mod further but for now will stay with the generic bottle mounted beside the radiator. Hi All I didn't do the video thing on start up this time but I finally got the old girl making her sweet noise again yesterday and I think the neighbors must have actually enjoyed hearing it once more because it has been a while and I haven't had any complaints, I let it idle for a while looking for cooling fluid leaks and found a few. I know that Glycol coolant is extremely slippery stuff and prone to leaks (I can't help thinking many of our politicians either consume this stuff or or swim in it) so I first added some Wynn's Stop leak, I have over time found this product effective on plugging leaks and thereby extending the life of old or worn components on old vehicles so that was more or less insurance, following that I added some Bars Leaks minus the pellets, this I've found seals joints so that the slippery Glycol can't escape. On starting the engine there was initially quite a lot of blow by emitting from the catch can filter but by the time I thought to take a pic it had passed and hasn't returned, I'm not sure what caused it and will raise it with Tuss but I'm sure it's not critical, after running the motor for about half an hour the oil pressure and coolant temperature were where they should be and all initial leaks appeared to have sealed so I shut it down for the day leaving bowls under the car to catch any over night leaks. This morning there was no evidence of fluid loss in the bowls so I fired it up with the intention of going for a blast but wouldn't you know it, the leaks reappeared so I let it run for a while to get up to temperature and they appeared to slow a bit so I decided to go for a run with all necessary emergency equipment on board. I'm ready to go but there is a tel tale coolant patch on the drivers side. I climbed into the car, checked the gauges and found this, it doesn't really mean anything but that's when Whittie pulled off the track. So with an emergency pack on board I decided to set off on a shake down run but wouldn't you know it... flat battery!!! WTF??? I couldn't believe it so I thought this is too hard I'll just push it back into the garage connect the overnight charger and try again tomorrow then I thought if I get out and give the car a bit of a shove to get it moving and if I can get back in over the roll cage before the moderate down hill gradient and can get it into gear I might just get it going and if I can't get back in quickly enough and the car hits something then at least Will will have a bit more work. Anyway it worked, at almost the bottom of the gradient in second gear the old girl fired up oh so sweetly, so I now set off on a 50k battery recharge. At the end of the trip the gauges were all normal and there were no leaks but evidence of where they once where. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whittie Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 5 years off the road and she only got 2800 k's Oh well, looks good to have her back on the road - pity about the distance but in 10 months time I'll be back for 3 weeks and ready to tear in to it again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Hi All Once again I'm up before dawn and driving into a rising sun, must be some Motor Sport happening. Northam Round the Houses is on, last year Whittie and I entered the Zed but this year I decided if I'm not on the track at least I'll be at it so put my hand up to help and landed the job of assistant starter, I think flaggies have some of the best views in motorsport because they're so close to the action and that's how it was for me. Competitor numbers were down a little this year due to some unexpected clashing of events but the show was as good as ever with many of the usual suspects in attendance plus a few surprises. There's a new Father & Son combo on the track which is great to see but Father is being rather conservative in introducing Son to motorsport which clearly has son asking why. I really enjoy seeing the old open wheelers and specials (some brand new replicas) being driven spiritedly, as one original went past the driver happily showed off his half a turn of play in the steering which reminded me of my first car, an Austin A40 with a mere quarter of a turn of play in the steering but it all seemed quite normal at the time. There was a surprise visit by the Curtin Uni car, Whittie studied at Curtin and was briefly involved with the car project at the time, this one appears to have a little more wind resistance than it really needs. That car was followed by a parade of go carts, miniature hot rods and Falcon Super Bird Coups, they got to do three slow parade laps at nothing remotely close to competition speed but the expressions on their faces was priceless when on the final lap they were greeted by a vigorously waved checkered flag. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Hi All I tried to start the Zed today and wouldn't you know it I'd forgotten to connect the maintenance charger and the battery was dead, I connected the charger but the voltage in the battery was so low the charger wouldn't engage simply switching on and off and going no where. Last time this happened I was shown the trick of connecting a second battery in parallel as if to jump start the engine, that tricks the charger into working because it can see the required minimum voltage, I have a couple of 120hr deep cycle batteries for my caravan solar set up they are great for powering lights and small appliances etc but have no cranking ability so I connected one and the charger to the car battery and turned the charger on, after about half an hour I removed the deep cycle battery and the charger is happily continuing to charge the car battery. This is a whole lot easier than trouping off to the battery shop as I did last time, from now on I'll make sure the maintenance charger is connected. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agno Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I was at the flying fifty as well and I have to say I was a bit disappointed not to see Dadson Racing making an official outing... Next time I hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I was at the flying fifty as well and I have to say I was a bit disappointed not to see Dadson Racing making an official outing... Next time I hope Hi Agno I wish I'd known you were here we could have caught up, if you're still in WA end of next month the Albany Classic Round The Houses is on 30 & 31 May, it's the largest and generally best attended round the houses events we have here, sadly I'm in the starters box again instead of on the track but I'm sure it will be fun. I've found a couple of clips of the event to give an idea of what it's about, interestingly there's a white 911 Porker in the first clip that delayed our rebuild six months by pushing in to Will's shop ahead of us but that's history and we're all friends, the second clip is in car Zed brigade. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Hi All With Whittie in the US there's no pressure to finish off the last little bits on the Zed and a caravan project I'm working on is keeping me fairly occupied but one of the last things to be upgraded was the exhaust the muffler and hot dog were already stainless but the pipe was machine bent mild steel so we replaced it with 2.5" mandrel bend stainless. This has served us well but it's time for it to go. Replaced by this. Salvage the bits we're going to reuse and discard the rest. The process was surprisingly simple the pipes and bends were tacked into position on the car then removed and welded then refitted, all too easy really. Cheers Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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