Scortedvan

Thank you! I did consider going with an RX8 box, but Ive only done a couple of miles on my type 9 since fully rebuilding it so it seemed silly to replace it in the end. Not really much to update on at the minute, I'm booked in for mapping at a place called protune, but the earliest slot they had was October 2nd. Ive not used them before but they were recommended by Motorsport Electronics who supplied the engine management. The guy i spoke to when booking was also really good, pretty much interrogated me about the build and parts used etc, just to make sure there was no obvious reason for time wasted during the booking. He also keeps the cars for a couple of days to make Sure cold starting is setup properly which is good. I have now sorted the high idle i mentioned above, it just needed some fine tuning of the TPS calibration. Using the auto calibration option in the MEITE software I suspect assumes you are using an IACV, which thus assumes the throttle butterflies are 0% when released, but of course Im not using one, and so at rest the butterflies are slightly open.. this means the auto setup sets ‘slightly open’ as 0% and gives the strange idle. I just set the calibration manually and it idles fine at around 1200rpm, to account for loads being switched on. I have also sorted the airfilter out now, i wasnt sure what to do and what would look neatest, but in the end went for a generic pipercross filter and custom backplate. It fits really well with the trumpets and gives plenty of breathing space around them. Lastly whilst waiting for the mapping session i thought id have a look elsewhere on the car. One thing thats always bugged me is the fact that the wheels dont really self centre when driving, due to a touch of negative castor. Also when looking at the front wheels, they always seemed to sit towards the back of the arches. I did a bit of research and it seems that this is not uncommon with lowered cars, and the usual fix is to fit a twin cam ARB and mounting brackets, which pull the TCAs forward and provide some castor, aswell as putting the wheels central! They cam also be shimmed to a degree by fitting shims in front of the TCAs. I ordered a mid priced kit, as I figured this was a but of an experiment and may not work. I then stripped the old ARB off, and found it was knackered! Yet the previous owner had got it powder coated anyway... crazy. So it needs a replacement regardless. The new bar arrived yesterday and it seems ok, the finish on the brackets isnt great so will need touching up, and they also need some manipulation to fit... but they will. Oh and i also found a neat little pre filter i can fit in the An-10 connection from the fuel tank to the pump - the original ford in tank filter wont fit where i modified the tank adapter and its bothered me that i had nothing, so quite pleasing to find this. It was around £4 from Torques UK. Otherwise now, Im just waiting for October 2nd!

Thanks Vista, and everyone else that replied - i think that settles it then! I have a mk2 rack fitted and the previous owner used base model mk2 TREs (Ford part no. 5021411) with the capri steering arms. I do need the green TREs (Ford part no. 1564468), as they will suit the m14x2.0 thread on the rack, and will have a smaller taper that will fit the capri steering arm. There is a HUGE rs tax on green tres - ive seen anywhere up to £80 per side for genuine ford items, which seems insane. Instead I have a ordered a pair of firstline for £30 delivered. Thanks again everyone, and thanks for offering ti measure some up for me @colr6, i think we have it sussed now

If you have some to measure that would be outstanding! The more I investigate the more it seems I need the green track rod ends, most sources suggest they have a smaller taper than the standard mk2 TREs, and an M14x2.0 thread

No the ones on mine are straight with the track rod. I found this picture online, mine looks identical to the one listed as mk2, including the taper size.

Hi all, thanks for the replies and help as always! Ive just been out to check, the track rod threads are m14x2.0 and the taper on the track rod is too large for the steering arm. So i was under the impression I needed the ‘green’ TREs from a mk2 rs2000... but @vista you mention they have an m12 thread? In which case Im still not sure... Kind Regards Joe

Thanks for the reply, im going to drop out later and remove a track rod end to ID the thread properly, it was a peer through the arch job! Having looked some more though, your assumption matches others - a standard mk1 tre should fit, so if that is the case god know what I currently have fitted! kind regards Joe

HI All, Hopefully this will be a straight forward question, I just want to get it right before I order them! I've been sorting the rest of my car out ready for mapping and I've noticed that the track rod ends appear to have the wrong taper for the struts - the taper doesn't sit fully home in the steering arm. I haven't measure the thread on the rack yet but I'm pretty sure its coarse UNF, which I believe makes sense being a mk1 escort (mk1 escort rack - UNF thread, mk2 escort rack - metric thread?). So being as I have Capri struts fitted, which TRE do I need? I see a lot of talk about the 'Green Rs2000' TREs, but they seem to be for metric threaded Mk2 escort racks? Thanks for the advice as always, Kind Regards Joe

Interesting - thats exactly the same as I’m seeing, throttle all the way off and no air leaks that i can see so far (although I am yet to smoke test it), and perfect throttle response etc. Also when balancing the throttle bodies i was seeing 15in/hg and all identical to each other after setup, so about what i would expect to see. You’ll have to let me know what you find, I was going to drop ME a call to see if they have any recommendations, it would be nice to sort prior to mapping.

Agreed, so far things have gone pretty smoothly .. spooky! Bad news regarding your TPS, always the simple things that put up the biggest fight. Out of interest, what management are you using? Oddly mine also idles around 2k despite no obvious issues - air leaks etc. Im not bothered too much as it runs well despite this and can be easily sorted when i take it for mapping if i haven't sorted it in the before. Thank you very much! I am chuffed yes, its turned out as I had hoped it might. I just want to have a proper go in it now!

Well, the end of this project is incredibly close now im pleased to say! The expansion tank which was the last part i was waiting for arrived the other day, plus a few clips and bits of hose. This allowed me to finally fill it with coolant and run up to temp. Pleased to say there were no coolant leaks at all, although the system is pretty straight forward and ive not coupled multiple sections of hose together, so the only joins are where each pipe ultimately terminates. At this point i actually felt pretty nervous, i knew it started but its almost like i was putting off running it up. After multiple checks I put a couple of jerry cans of fuel in the tank, and flicked the key. I had the laptop connected so i could make some aterations and monitor temps etc. The only things i needed to tweak on the base map was the injector flow rate, the base map was set at 300cc/min and this made the thing run mega rich. I took this down to 220cc/min and its much happier, but this will all be set correctly when i take it for mapping. I also dialled the fuel pressure up a bit - ideal is 3bar and mine was closer to 2.5bar when running. Otherwise... happy days! No leaks of any sort, and the fan cut in at 100c and bought the temp down to 92c where it then dropped back out. I let it cycle like this a few times, and it was perfect (also bare in mind the ambient temp was 32 and i ended up seeing intake temps of around 45+ so it was working hard!). It was a little lumpy when just off idle and whilst revving and the throttle bodies id only breifly checked by gapping the butterflies so i stuck the balancing kit on and synced them up and this made things even better. So with confidence at a high i decided to see if it would let me drive it out the garage... and it did 😎 It was also good enough to let me pin it down the road very very briefly! It was fantastic to feel it move itself and even on the base map it just felt very torquey and responsive. And again no issues, everything just worked. So for now, i just need to get it over for mapping and at some point get a proper air filter for it, im using filter socks at the moment but they dont really fit very well. Hopefully then, the next update will be the rolling road result! As i said at the start of the thread, im not bothered about chasing numbers, but its always nice to see a result. I just want a strong reliable setup. Thanks everyone for the help, particularly answering my queries at the start of the thread. I could easily have not done this if you hadn’t offered advice and reassurance

Hi there, thanks for the kind words! Regarding coolex, i cant recommend them enough. The product ive received is really smart, perhaps one of the welds could be a bit neater but thats being super critical and its not at all visible. Im very pleased with it especially at the price! And well spotted on the washer bottle, every time i look at it i remember it needs sorting and then i promptly forget! Thanks for the tip 👍

Hi all! Pleased to say im almost at the end now with this project in terms of buying and fitting parts. One thing thats been causing an unnecessary amount of grief was my radiator.. which as ive mentioned through the thread has gone awol at the hands of a guy i shouldn't have trusted. So looking for a replacement the obvious choice was one from RF as ive used their hoses but they are insanely expensive. So a but more searching and i found a company called CoolExperts that basically custom make radiators for mk1/2 escorts. Theyre superb, they offer different size cores, with/without fans and fillers, with/without fan switches etc. So i ordered a 55mm core rad, with inlet and outlet on the pass side, with a 10”cutlass fan - £190 delivered! Very pleased with it, and the fit is great considering i don't have the cutout lower panel. Im yet to fill it with coolant as i still need a length of 8mm hose for the degas pipe but once that arrives i can fill it and run it properly! Im hoping to have it ready for mapping in September so fingers crossed..

Thanks for the comment! The location of the ecu was something that once again i took longer over than necessary... originally i had intended on doing just as you mention and leaving my lead connected permanently in an accessible spot. But upon receiving it its actually a really nice ‘thing’, so actually i don't mind it being partially visible. Nothings set in stone though, Ive only fixed it and the fuse box with number plate tape for now so it can all be moved if i wish. I still cant get over the fact it started so easily and ran so well considering I've still not checked anything in the ecu. Also in terms of TB balance, they were noticeably out when I bought them so before fitting I just roughly set them up with a 2mm rod, even that seems pretty good!

Well another milestone reached! I managed to to save enough over the last couple of weeks to purchase the Me221 management and st170 harness. It turned up the day after i ordered it and so i went straight out to fit it. I needed to make a couple of alterations to the harness - swap the injector connectors to the denso ones on the hayabusa throttle bodies and fit a new tps connector for the same reason. Otherwise it couldnt be simpler, all the sensor spurs are good lengths so nothings too tight anywhere, and theres loads of spare loom inside the car so the ecu can be mounted almost anywhere. I decided to fit mine on top of the tunnel just under the centre console, mainly because i wanted to save some bother when trying to connect the laptop to it. The rest of the wiring alterations i did the other week meant the supplies, grounds and fuel pump relay trigger line were all ready to connect to the Ecu. As soon as I was finished I turned the ignition and sure enough the fuel pump relay dropped in and the pump primed proving the ecu was powered. Unfortunately the lead i thought i had for connecting the ecu to my laptop has gone walkies so i cant really do much more till a replacement arrives - i dont know wether anythings calibrated and i dont know what basemap (if any, but i suspect some form of zetec as the box it came in is labelled as such) has come preloaded .... but that said i couldnt resist turning the key :) And to my great surprise it started straight up and idled reasonably well!!! I turned it off after a couple of seconds but ..yeah.. big step forward. So all thats left now is to get the radiator back (easier said than done) and get it fitted, sort out a proper air filter (I have some pipercross filter socks at the minute but they arent the best fit), get the laptop connected and actually calibrate/check calibration of ect/iat/tps, get a proper basemap loaded and then run it up to temp for leak checks and snagging. From that point, it should be a case of getting it mapped and enjoying it 😎 One slight issue i did find is the ignition supply that someone took to the passenger side and used for the LP pump it used to run, drops out when cranking. Ive used this as the main relay trigger so of course the ecu goes offline when cranking. Easily sorted im sure 👍 FullSizeRender.mov

Yeah, no doubt where ever I put it, it will be easily accessible. Although I should need to look at it far less often than I did with the ceramic fuse box, a ritual on the car used to be to re tension them! Behind the dash is very much 'open plan' in my car so I can get to it fine. Though in general I must admit, I am a sucker for trying so hard to hide things away, I make life more difficult

Yet another small update! I'm just working through a few little bits that are outstanding whilst I wait to have enough cash saved to buy the engine management. This time it was the wiring. Firstly where I moved the original fuse box to inside the passenger foot well, there wasn't much spare cable to fit it nicely anywhere, plus it was pretty fragile anyway so I replaced it with a standard blade fuse box. This has enough spare slots to take the output from the fuel pump relay, and also a main relay output to power up the ECU on ignition on. I needed to extend the cables that originally connected to the fuse box in the engine bay, but the rest were ok. I just need to tidy the wiring up to it (still pretty messy in the pics) and fit the cover for it, then find somewhere neat to fit it permanently, initially I'm thinking under the dash out the way. Then the ECU and relays can live there aswell. The wiring to this fuse box I've done exactly as standard with the fuse positions the same as they are in the original fuse box, so the original wiring diagram is still applicable. This means the fuse ratings can be kept the same (the 20A fuses in the pic were all I had at the time so I could test). I also got hold of a battery terminal fuse box from a Renault Megane Scenic, so that I can fuse the main power line to the front of the car, and also the independent battery lines (one for the fuel pump relay and one for the main relay). This is really neat and I've been meaning to do it for ages. Its silly there never was a fuse to the front but this was how I bought the car and I never got round to sorting it before. So I'm very close to the end of the actual work at this stage... i still need my radiator back (6 weeks to swap the inlet and outlet connections over and leak test it!) and then the front of the car can go back together. Then the management fit, should take long as I'm preparing the connections for it in advance, then hopefully start it and go through the preliminary checks and snagging... and then hopefully I can get it over to NMS for mapping!

One of the more exciting packages arrived today - the exhaust from HPE/Piper. It took a little under a week to arrive which is pretty good considering everything, and was packaged really well. Ive had the manifold and 2 1/4” system. I immediately offered the manifold up, as i have been looking at the gap the down pipe has to fit through, and to be honest i couldn't see this bit being straight forward, especially after previously trying an ashley manifold which (no exaggeration) did not fit anywhere, even the head flange was bent and the holes were out. I neednt have worried though, it fits perfectly! I dont think it could fit any better if it had been made on the car. Its absolutely perfect. And the rest of the system was just as simple, it all just slid together in no time and hung perfectly. You also get a cotton reel mount for the centre pipe which i think mk2s use, for the sake of 1 hole in the rear floor pan i will fit this as it will make the hole thing much sturdier, not that it really needs it. In other news, the type 9 us filled back up with oil, and ive fitted a new cambelt kit. I dont normally use the locking tools on these and zetecs, but as Ive never heard this engine run i thought id better. It was out, but not by much, and to be fair its easily done on these due to the VVT pulley not locking when there is no oil pressure (so when you tension the belt it pulls the pulley round a touch). I still dont havey radiator back which is a pain as i could finish the engine bay cometely if i did but there we go! Only big purchase left is the ME221, and if things go well in the next couple of weeks i may be able to get it this month :)

Small update on this, again just to keep things recorded as much for myself as anything else! The throttle bodies are now bolted down hopefully for the foreseeable! I have roughly connected the throttle cable for now, it needs cutting down properly but I just wanted to see where things sat initially. I have also sorted the ht leads and coil mounting out. This is one area where as great as RF are, they could probably do with reviewing thier prices a bit. I got an under inlet coil bracket for £20 delivered from D A Engineering, RF are closer to £40 delivered and they are obviously identical. The longer HT leads to suit the new coil are around £80 delivered from RF though which i find hard to swallow. I ended up getting them from MR Retro Leads - £33 delivered. These leads come with the sparkplug boot fitted and 24” of lead, so you can route them however you like. You also get the coilpack boots and terminals so you terminate them yourself once you have cut the lead to your required length. Once the leads were done, a cut a small slot in the Sparkplug cover so, everything looks neat and tidy. I have also managed to prime the fuel system to check for leaks and ensure the static pressure is correct. Thankfully no leaks were present and i got a nice steady 3.2bar which should suffice. It was really nice to hear the pump run actually, with that and the engine cranking from the key now it feels very close to being complete. Finally i have just ordered my exhaust - a HPE manifold and HPE full 2.25” system - very pleased! I spoke with James at length and he was really helpful. For those that don't know, the system and manifold are produced by piper and they get really good reviews. The only alternatives are mega bucks for a bespoke systems/TLE/Simpson, or an Ashley which is gramted cheap but will (guarantee) just not fit. That should be with me within the next 2 weeks and I’m really looking forward to fitting it!! Im hoping to be able to order the me221 management in the next week, so there is a small chance before July is done ill be able to go for a start but we shall see - Im in no rush really. In preperation for that im running in a decent supply to a small fusebox with a main relay for the ECU, and a fuel pump relay. The main relay will just be aux controlled, and the fuel pump relay will be operated by the ECU.

Another week and a bit more done. The fuel system is complete now, the nylon braided teflon lines are all in up to the regulator which i have had to put on the o/s inner wing due to the throttle bodies making bulkhead mounting difficult. The outlet from the tank will suffice for now, but i have the technical drawings back for an adaptor, I'm just waiting on making an order as i need to order 10 @25 a go! The cooling hoses arrived from RF, makes life very simple to be honest as everything just fits. The heater matrix pipes were the only slightly tricky part as where the copper matrix pipes were cut flush with the bulkhead, trying to get the silicone hoses through the bulkhead hole was tight. I ended up slackening the heater box mounts to give a bit of wiggle room. Im just waiting on my radiator which Im having repaired for now - id like a big alloy job but its not immediately required, something for the future once its running. Decided to order a HPE exhaust manifold and system, it works out cheaper than RF, piper etc and the manifold looks fantastic! Hopefully ill get that in the next few weeks. And then, i just need the ME221 management, but i suspect i need another pay day to arrive before i can buy that! In the meantime I’m just tidying up bits under the bonnet and making things as neat as possible.

The biggest advantage I can see with it is the pressure reduction in the system - and this was the reason a customer asked for it. Without the pipes/heat exchangers under constant pressure/stress the likelihood of leaks will be reduced to an extent at least. But the con to me as I said before is; what happens should you have a leak and you don't have a waterless coolant top up bottle to hand? Putting water in is essentially writing of ~£60 worth of fluid, and then needing to go through prep work again would be irritating. That said I am very tempted by it, and at the minute I'm swaying towards using it, and just making sure I have a top up bottle in the boot as Katana mentions! Nice to hear different peoples opinions on the subject though.

Sorry, not bspp and not tapered so not bspt or npt. The closest you can get that I've found is 1 -1/16” -12TPI which is an sae fitting but the 1/16” means it just wont fit. Its undoubtedly 1” -12TPI (someone on turbosport had an old parts page that showed the fitting and ford referred to it simply as ‘1” fitting’). You could get away with M25/2 but again you might aswell be looking for unicorns! Im more than happy to have these made, and im getting more and more people each day ask about them, so if everyone asking buys one ill have none left! Clearly something a few people have pondered in the past.

Exactly this - i really want to have the engine bay as clear as possible if i can, by the time regulators, catch cans and expansion tanks are fitted it all starts to look a but cramped! Theres a pic online of a green mk1 engine bay with a black top zetec, you can see nothing but the engine intake and exhaust and it looks brilliant. How are you finding the waterless coolant? I carried the conversion out on a customers car and i was quite impressed by it, however the inability to carry out emergency topups i always found a bit of an issue! Kind Regards Joe

Thanks for the heads up - im not on Retards Club but I'll get the missus to get in touch with him later. Ive just looked through some pics a black cossy mk2 and the combined brake and clutch reservoirs he built for it is exactly what I'm after for coolant and oil catch! Thanks again

HI all, Little bit more progress made! The plan was to complete the fuel system after getting the engine in, so thats what ive been concentrating on. I have the pump and filter fitted in a very nice cradle, and I also got a bit of a deal on a superb pump/filter manifold from Torques_UK (who are fantastic by the way, cant say enough good things about them - everything's next day delivery, everything's quality and he answers all questions). I then started getting the supply and return line ran in, which went well. The black lines and fittings against the green car look really good in my opinion (also in the picture ignore the fact that I only go one of the P Clip eyes over the bolt I noticed after looking at the picture I took and sorted it!). The lines are in the engine bay now, just need to decide where the regulator will sit. I really wanted it on the bulkhead by the brake res, however there may not be enough room, and it may end up living on the inner wing. I need to work that out. I also got the return line fitted into the sender which is great, to be sure i half filled the tank with fuel and hung it upside down so the sender was the lowest point and nothing leaked (better safe than sorry!). I also sorted the supply to the pump fitting but this I'm less happy with. Its fine, it doesn't leak, but I really want a proper adapter. So being unable to locate one, I've commissioned a company to make them. I have managed to muster some interest on another forum, so I should be able to sell a couple to cover the minimum order cost of 10. Finally one thing I wasn't expecting to get this month was a set of throttle bodies, which also came up at a very respectable price (half what I expected to end up paying). They are from a Hayabusa and came with a manifold to suit and the injector harness. Next steps now will be to wait for payday! And then order the cooling system parts I need. I'm going to use RF pipes, although costly, it will be nice to just have them fit without messing around.I am still trying to source an expansion tank that I like, lots on ebay but I just haven't seen one that I think will suit properly yet. Id like a cylindrical one that I can get tucked into the nearside corner really. I am half thinking of running waterless coolant and no expansion tank, but ive also thought there are some fundamental flaws with doing that so im undecided as yet. From that point, I will just need engine management and an exhaust - everything else should be done! I had the engine turning over on the key the other day which was good to hear, though I still need to put a cam belt kit on it so it was only a brief flick!

Got you, that does look good. What I have done is cut off the nut from the top and opened the hole out to 13mm from memory. I've then welded an An10 fitting on top. The thing thats frustrating is that i cant find an adapter that fits into the large threaded part of the tank. Its really odd - nothing matches. Its SAE ,JIC, ORFS, etc etc. And no one seems to be know either!