The XR3i Turbo.... nearly there...

Post by **maff** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:02 am

Angle grinder time!

Fast Eddy · Post by **Fast Eddy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:13 am

Good to see you working on the old girl again mate. Hope to see it out to play soon then lol.

Eddy

Danny@APT · Post by **Danny@APT** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:23 pm

Well, the whole "get it ready for some Summer fun" idea didn't quite work out due to funding and time issues, but there's always 2012!

So the ball is rolling for the Winter rebuild.

Firstly some engine-related problems. At the dyno day I left the engine ticking over to warm-up before driving it back into the workshop. After getting back in, I noticed the coolant temp reading a tad high with no sign of the cooling fan cutting-in, and a bit of investigation found the fan switch had decided to pack-in. I could have just replaced the switch, but have decided that having an ECU that can operate the fan a lot more reliably than the old Ford sensor would be a wiser option, so the hole has been capped and the wiring will be sorted later.

I also have had a small leak from the radiator which has gone on for years now, but I decided that with the coolant drained for the fan switch, now would be a good time to get it re-cored, as well as re-working the cooling fan set-up. With the full-width GRS intercooler, the already marginal cooling ability of the RS radiator is pushed to it's limit, and most recommend twin fans. I've managed to get away with just a single Kenlowe fan upto now, but trackdays and Summer weather made it fustrating (having only a couple of flying laps before having to cool-down for a lap). The issue with fitting two fans is the lack of space, both in the bay, and on the radiator itself-

The fix? Luckily the fans themselves sit quite far back in the cowling, so a bit of fettling was in order to squeeze them in-

[Can't find a pic- I'll get one next week]

With the radiator back, fans on and ready to be refitted in the bay, it made sense to clean-up the front panel and treat what I can of the rust to slow it down.

The area for the old xr3i airbox had been caked in oil and dirt since I bought the car, and a bit of a scrub and rinse revealed some more fresh paint!-

After drying in the sun, I was left with this, and to be honest I was surprised at the lack of underseal/paint in there!-

After picking at the surface rust, I found it went a little deeper, so there's now some extra ventilation into the bay-

So I treated what rust was left and the lower half of the front panel, it's box section underneath, and the inner arches were given a liberal coating of underguard for the time being (yes the issue is still there, but at least it's tidier)-

Radiator is back in as you can see, with it's mountings modified to move it back to allow the extra fan to clear the 'cooler.

drifter · Post by **drifter** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:59 am

Getting there mate

If you have any box section parts try and get some of this sprayed in there...

http://www.bilthamber.com/pro-introduct ... ynax%20S50

I'll be spraying a cans worth into the S15 sills at some point.

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:23 am

keep at it mate, will be worth it in the end.

Post by **Stuart** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:17 pm

Nice work Dan. I'm surprised at the placement of the induction cone though.....you got any plans to feed cold air to it or restrict the heat soak from the turbo next to it

Danny@APT · Post by **Danny@APT** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:48 pm

drifter wrote:Getting there mate

If you have any box section parts try and get some of this sprayed in there...

http://www.bilthamber.com/pro-introduct ... ynax%20S50

I'll be spraying a cans worth into the S15 sills at some point.

Cheers mate, I'll definately be spraying something in every gap to make it last that little bit longer.

pablo wrote:keep at it mate, will be worth it in the end.

Thanks Pablo, it's been a long time since I last drove it properly. I need to get it driveable fairly sharpish to clean up the new brakes!

Stuart wrote:Nice work Dan. I'm surprised at the placement of the induction cone though.....you got any plans to feed cold air to it or restrict the heat soak from the turbo next to it

I know it's not perfect, but it seems a fairly common place to situate it in Ford circles, and it's done ok so far. Ideally it would be up behind the N/S headlight, but the joining pipework/hoses need to get around everything else in the bay. The 45 deg Samco was a cheap solution at the time, but it's something I want to play around with though.

Danny@APT · Post by **Danny@APT** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:32 pm

Better update the thread before it begins to rust away itself!

Ordered both rear footwell panels plus the driver's side outer sill a week or two ago in preparation for some cutting and welding around the floor and seat mountings.

The state of the Ford after 21 years-

Driver's rear footwell (a lot of the brown fluffy crap is the remains of the sound deadening)-

Passenger rear footwell-

Driver's side sill-

Passenger side sill-

Both rear wheelarches have started to rot-through again where they were repaired before-

And the driver's side rear inner arch is beginning to corrde near the top mounting like the other side did-

gary@apt · Post by **gary@apt** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:36 pm

it will rise again mate

Danny@APT · Post by **Danny@APT** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:40 pm

The other day, Mr Hayward fired up the angle grinder and began chopping into the shell to see what we could easily salvage.

Turns out it's crept a lot further than the surface crustiness suggested. Bugger.

So, here we are again- the point where I step back and decide if I really want to do enough to have some Summer fun, do a proper job on it, source another shell and transfer the lot over... or move on.