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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 29, 2014 23:09:10 GMT
I am going to retrospectively create some posts about my build, more than a month has passed since i received my kit. I first saw a Rocket at the Chomondeley Pageant of power back in June, i was impressed by the design, the idea of mounting the transverse engine and box in the rear over back wheels, MR2 style, in such a simple and light weight chassis. I spoke to Paul about the car at the show and found out they can do a bespoke engine fit if i didn't want to use a Zetec engine, so i took a brochure away to think about. My current track day car is a Ford Puma with a 2.0 Ford/Mazda Duratec engine from a Fiesta ST150 (with diy megasquirt ECU and wideband Lambda sensor) that i have owned for a long time. It has adjustable suspension units, poly bushes, Mondeo ST24 280mm front discs and calipers, Focus ST170 rear hubs, discs and calipers (270mm) and Sparco seats/harnesses. Unfortunately the body had gathered too much rust and rot to get it through its MOT. The last time i had it on the ramp to check out all the critical bits, i found lots of rust and rot, but the killer was a big crack around the rear beam mounting, it would have taken days of welding to fix all the rot. I decided it not worth trying to repair and fancied a change anyway. Even though the Rocket requires a focus donor, i figured i could still use my engine, gearbox, wiring loom, wheels, rear hubs and brakes, seats possibly fuel pump and other bits and bobs. When i fitted the Duratec to my Puma, i sourced the engine from a 2005 Fiesta ST, it came with an IB5 gearbox, actually a strengthened version of the IB5 with a different bell-housing pattern that matches the Duratec. I always wanted to build a kit car, so at the end of August i decided to take the plunge and booked the next build slot at RTR. I ordered the adjustable suspension, powerflex bushes, wilwood pedal box, hi-spec calipers, powder coat, bolt pack, and custom exhaust and manifold to be made for the Duratec. Colour is signal Red with silver powder coat I then had 2 weeks to get my engine removed and taken to their workshop for the bespoke engine fit. The main difference between the Zetec and the Ford/Mazda Duratec is that the Duratec exhaust ports are on the back of the engine and its an all alloy block. (supposedly 18kg lighter) The valves and ports are bigger and you are supposed to be able to get up to 200bhp at 7000rpm on an otherwise stock engine using throttle bodies and the right exhaust. As usual, work and other commitments meant that i still hadn't taken the engine out, it was a Thursday and i was due to drive the Engine down to RTR on Saturday the 6th of September. So on thursday night, out came the engine, first job, remove the bonnet, of course the bolts snapped, not that it mattered though: All drained, disconnected , strapped up and ready to come out: It was a tight squeeze coming out, made me wonder how the heck i managed to get it in there in the first place! and out she is: Engineless and ready to be covered up until i get round to taking the rest of the bits off that i will need:
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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 29, 2014 23:22:53 GMT
After taking my engine down to Nottingham, i waited patiently for the kit to be ready for collection, in the mean time i removed some more stuff from the Puma: Exhaust Fuel tank, dashboard and wiring loom: The Exhaust and fuel tank was arkward to take off on the driveway because i had to drop the rear beam The exhaust will be sold on flea bay as its a stainless steel item so still worth a bit. Photos: All labelled up and ready to be stripped down to remove all the unnecessary functions: The steering column has a totally different mounting, so ill have to source a focus one from flea bay or a breakers.
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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 29, 2014 23:50:41 GMT
On the 18th of October i went to the RTR workshop in Nottingham to collect my Rocket kit and engine Here is it unwrapped in the garage, very nice powder coat finish! The exhaust is impressive, nicely made! I also had a de-cat pipe made so that i don't end up destroying the cat when sorting out the fuelling, ill need to add more fuel to the engine map to make the cat work, otherwise ill damage it, currently i have the engine running nice and lean on cruising loads to get better mpg. Old vs new exhaust manifold, notice that the stock item is a tubular 4-1 system, but the primary pipes are quite small and the exit flange looks restrictive, the new one looks like it will flow much better. All the various bits and bobs: The Protech dampers look like good quality items: nicely welded fual tank: All the suspension arms and uprights: The engine back in the garage waiting to be degreased and power steering, AC pumps removed etc:
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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 30, 2014 0:25:32 GMT
A couple of weeks or so after collecting the kit i fitted the floor, I marked it out and cut it with a jig saw, filed it smooth, marked the centre line of the chassis tubes for drilling and riveted it in place. I used 4.8mm 12mm long rivets that i bought from screwfix, i bought a stanley hand rivet gun too, after popping all those rivets i could certainly feel it in my hands and forearms! I used a bead of PU adhesive along the centre line of the chassis tubes and in the drilled holes to seal and prevent water getting in and causing rust: I left out a couple of rivets to allow my seat brackets to be positioned later, the brackets had to be made and put in place before i riveted the floor on. I am considering drilling a hole near each corner to allow water to escape, not sure if its worth doing so ill do it in the future if needed. After turning the chassis back over i rested my seats in a place to see if they has a chance of fitting: They are too wide, the shoulder supports will prevent the seats from adjusting past each other on their runners. It doesn't look like the tunnel or gear selector will fit in between them either. The Hi-spec calipers arrived a week or so later, they look great: My next post will be about the Focus Steering column and my steering column extension, i came up with a non-weld solution that used original Ford steering column parts which I had already removed from my Puma.
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Post by nigel on Nov 30, 2014 7:17:52 GMT
Chris.. great build thread, just one thing that I noticed and you may wish to consider before you next assemble your suspension is the drilling, taping and fitting of grease nipples to the suspension arm pivot points. Many Rocket/Sonic builders have done this during a winter update as they have found the inevitable poly bush squeaks annoying. Just a thought nigel
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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 30, 2014 20:38:08 GMT
Thanks, I read about the grease nipples, im going to see how it goes, i can always installed them in the future as others have done. I plan on keeping things simple and getting it through the IVA in time to qualify for the free test. Once IVA'd i plan to make improvements.
Paul collected my Chassis and suspension parts today, it will be returned with the issues sorted and the rest of the suspension built up. Ive started to prep my engine for installation while my chassis is away.
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Post by duratec1999cc on Nov 30, 2014 21:31:41 GMT
I read a few posts about how to tackle the steering column extension, i noticed that the steering column from my Puma had the correct ends to fit inside the Focus Column joint and the Ford KA universal joint that i bought for attaching to the steering rack splined pinion. This is the also the same column as as a Mk4/Mk5 fiesta i think: D shaped at one end: And hex at the other: It fits: Here is the bar removed from the column tube: I clamped the rack in place and bolted the Focus column in place to i could check how long the extension needs to be, the bar was a bit long so i had to shorten the tube attached to the focus column joint: The bar goes into the tube all the way to the end, about 3 inches in total, so its completely safe still. I drilled the tube on the focus joint and cut a slot into it to make it the same as how it was before i cut it. I plan on using the thrust bearing that was in the end of the puma column tube, so i cut the column tube in half so i could use it by attaching it to a bracket or some kind of tube clamp to support the column extension. I drilled the bar so i could bolt it up tight, this had to be done very accurately in order to line up with the holes in the tube, i drilled it by hand as i don't have a bench drill, i used a right angle to keep checking that i was holding the drill square on. I used DeWalt Extreme2 drill bits, they are the best drill bits i have ever used, they cut through the metal like cheese, i used cutting paste and kept the drill slow and the drill bit cool so that the metal peeled of in big long spiral threads. the hex end needed a bit of filing to make it nice and flat and even, it was a little bit to rounded on the edges to go into the Ford KA UJ. Here it is installed, i cut the tapered end of so it would go all the way in without fouling on the joint: Here is the complete assembly: When i bought the Focus steering column, it came with an ignition barrel and no key, so i had to get it out.... I thought the easiest way would be to use a 1mm cutting disc in my angle grinder to cut the front of the barrel of as close to the casing as possible, trying not to cut into the casing too much. Once the tumblers were exposed i could easily poke them out with a flat screwdriver, then insert the screwdriver, turn the mechanism to the Accessory position, press the locking pin and remove the barrel: Luckily the Ford barrels seem to be mostly the same fit, so my puma barrel went straight in: While i was at it i thought i would sort out the wiring and swap the plug that matches my loom onto the focus ignition switch: heat shrink tubing makes for a neat job I have not yet mounted the column extension because i need to fit the rack in its final position first, which i cant do until my suspension is built up. I will make another post about fitting the column extension in the future.
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Post by duratec1999cc on Jan 4, 2015 23:14:42 GMT
I had chance to do some more work on building the Rocket on new years day, i measured the bump steer with the rack clamped in place, i posted the results here: (about half way down the page) mevowners.proboards.com/thread/6140/bump-steer?page=3I basically, I think I will need to raise the rack a fair bit, maybe as much as 26mm, going to try a different heights and re-measure later. While it wasn't raining and there was daylight I removed the Focus ST170 rear hubs disc and calipers from the rear beam of my Puma: I had previously installed the rear wheel bearings (bought SKF bearings) using a threaded bar and some suitable spacers when i had an hour or 2 about a week earlier, i put the bearings in the freezer first and carefully warmed the upright with a heat gun. In order to press the bearing fully home, i needed something that was slightly smaller diameter than the bearing so it would just fit inside the carrier but still push against the outer bearing casing. Luckily the tie rod removal tool happened to be the perfect size, on the outer side is an old steering boss: The bearing didn't get very far in before it warmed up and then needed to be pressed in. The threaded bar was only M12, the nut threads gave up when pressing the second bearing in so i had to find another nut and use the other end of the bar. I installed the hubs by placing those in the freezer first, and gently warming the inner bearing casing so its just warm to touch. I then pressed in with the same method. It didn't require as much force to press these in, and they went in further by hand before needing to be persuaded, i used a large socket on the back of the bearing so it pushed against the inner bearing casing. I could have used the drive shaft to wind the hub in, but it was easier with the threaded bar: The hubs are Febi Bilstein 3991, they are all the same part for the Focus and many other models, apart from the Focus RS Bearings and hubs are fully home: Installing the circlips finished that job off. I tried fitting the ST170 rear discs and calipers to see how it all lined up: And the answer was it didn't, the disc was rubbing on the caliper bracket, when i tightened the disc on to the hub, the disc was seized almost solid against the caliper bracket: The outside edge of the disc also runs very close to the inside edge of the caliper bracket, im not sure if the clearance will be enough to allow for thermal expansion of the disc when it gets hot: This a photo of the original position of the disc relative to the bracket when attached to the focus rear hub: There is 2mm of clearance on all 3 sides on the original focus setup. I checked the other side and found the situation to be similar, I know from the forum that others have fitted the ST170 rear discs and calipers as well as the 1.8 focus ones. The difference between the 2 setups is just the size of the disc and a difference in the caliper bracket to bring the caliper further out. To sort this problem out, i will either need to remove some metal from the caliper bracket to stop it from interfering with the disc, or put spacers behind the disc (probably 3mm) to bring it further out. I will also need to elongate the holes in the upright to bring the bracket slightly further out, to prevent the risk of seizure when the disc expands. Has anyone else had to do that? My bearings are fully pressed in and the circlip is fitted, so that's not the reason, can anyone tell me what this measurement is on their rear upright between the end of the bearing carrier and the flat plate of the upright as shown here: Mine is 22.8mm, measured more accurately than the method shown above.
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Post by nigel on Jan 6, 2015 10:21:47 GMT
Sorry I'm unable to help Chris, my Sonic is fitted with standard focus mk1 calipers and discs I just used Mintex 1144 pads to increase breaking efficiency. Additionally my uprights are stripped, bearings removed discs off, so I can't measure for a comparison.
Just a pointer regarding your steering setup, have you considered phasing? Interesting artical kiwi posted might be worth a read, if you haven't read already. However as far as alignment angles etc refer to the BIVA as you will be UK registering.
Nigel
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Post by duratec1999cc on Jan 6, 2015 16:30:41 GMT
Sorry I'm unable to help Chris, my Sonic is fitted with standard focus mk1 calipers and discs I just used 1144 pads to increase breaking efficiency. Additionally my uprights are stripped, bearings removed discs off, so I can't measure for a comparison. Just a pointed re your steering setup, have you considered phasing? Interesting artical kiwi posted might be worth a read, if you haven't read already. Nigel I just need the measurement of the upright itself indicated by the bottom edge of the yellow marker, won't matter if your hubs aren't fitted. RTR have since told me that only the 1.8 disc will fit and I will need the hispec rear calipers if I want to use the ST170 disc, so I guess I'll have to get hold of 1.8 discs, caliper carrier brackets and calipers (if caliper is also different) Yes I saw the phasing post, I understand it as being a different thing than the uj offsets. I'm going to check what it was on my puma steering column. On mobile now so will explain more later.
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Post by airforceone on Jan 6, 2015 18:35:37 GMT
I wouldn't worry about the focus 1.8 rear discs as they cost about £30 for a pair including postage just sell your ST170 iscs and that will probably cover the cost.
I'm sure the calipers are the same it's just the carriers may be different.
Just make sure you get the correct carriers as there are a couple of different sizes depending on the version of car they came off i.e Mk1 or Mk2.
I bought Mk2 ones by mistake, the hole spacing is different so they don't line up with the holes in the upright. The MK1 carriers cost me £30 from ebay but if you go to a scrappy you'll probably get the carrier and the calipers for £30.
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Post by nigel on Jan 6, 2015 21:51:40 GMT
Just taken some quick measurements mine is 22.54mm with the internal bearing lip being 3.07mm (allow a little variation for thickness of plastic coating) While checking the distance between my caliper bracket mounting holes and the inside of the bearing enclosure lip is 67.06mm see picture below, same for both holes well as near as dam it. nigel
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Post by duratec1999cc on Jan 7, 2015 0:34:05 GMT
Just taken some quick measurements mine is 22.54mm with the internal bearing lip being 3.07mm (allow a little variation for thickness of plastic coating) While checking the distance between my caliper bracket mounting holes and the inside of the bearing enclosure lip is 67.06mm see picture below, same for both holes well as near as dam it. nigel Thanks Nigel, your measurement of 22.54 is close enough to mine, and the lip looks to be 3mm from memory, so that can't be the problem, in fact if i had less than 22.8mm the back of the disc bind even more. I can't physically measure the other distances yet until tomorrow evening, but if its slightly less on mine then that would explain the outer edge of the disc running very close (0.1 to 0.2mm) to the caliper carrier bracket. RTR have said they have some 1mm shims i can put behind the disc to sort out binding (ill need 2 or 3 of them stacked) and get the disc centralised inside the carrier bracket. In order to sort out the outer edge running very close i can elongate the mounting holes outwards on the upright by 0.5mm so i have a bit of room for thermal expansion to prevent the possibility of the disc starting to bind after prolonged heaving braking. My rear stub axles/hub carriers, discs, calipers and carrier brackets are from a Mk1 ST170, i removed them myself from an ST170 rear beam about 4 years ago. The Mk1 stub axles are all the same so it follows that the ST170 setup should fit the RTR rear uprights just as well as the 1.8 setup does. I did some part number checking and found the following which confirms what i thought: - 98AB-4A492-BA Focus Rear Stub Axle, all Mk1 models with Rear discs, also Fiesta ST150
- 1138512 Focus Rear Hub, all Mk1 models except RS
- 1075557 Focus rear caliper carrier, all Mk1 models except ST170/RS also Fiesta ST150
- 4346382 Focus rear caliper carrier, ST170 only
- 1075554/10600824 Focus rear caliper, all MK1 models with rear discs
So as you can see the only differences are in the caliper carrier bracket, which makes sense as it needs to have larger dimensions to accomodate the bigger disc, as can be seen from these photos: Mk1 standard carrier bracket: Mk1 ST170 carrier bracket: You can see the extra distance (extra 27mm) between the mounting holes and the slider pins. A common mod for the Fiesta ST150 which uses the standard focus rear brake setup, is to fit the ST170 discs and carrier brackets, another indicator that the fit should be the same. The brake discs are also a comparable height, the ST170 discs are actually 1mm thinner according to EBC, making the height from back of the disc to the wheel mating surface 1mm less, which (other things being equal) should help my situation in comparison the the 1.8 setup. (my discs and pads are EBC that i bought 4 years ago) EBC Focus Mk1 1.8 Part Number: D280 Diameter: 253mm Height: 34mm Thickness (new/min): 11/9mm
EBC Focus Mk1 ST170 Part Number: D1116 Diameter: 280mm Height: 33mm Thickness (new/min): 10/9mmMy bearing is fully pressed in and the circlip fits, the upright appears to have the correct important dimension, so I can only conclude that the Febi Bilstein 3991 Focus Front Hubs that i bought for the rear uprights must be slightly different than the original Ford ones. That part number is used for a huge range of Fords, if it was wrong by enough to cause binding, surely Febi would have been made aware and sorted it. The EBC disc i have can't be different, it fitted perfectly when it was on the focus stub axle. I have some experience with brake setup, i fitted the Mondeo ST24 280mm front brake setup and the Focus ST170 280mm rear disc setup to my puma for track days. The ABS on the rear was the tricky part because the ST170 uses hall effect sensors and the puma uses a VRS sensor system so i had to build a circuit to convert the signal. (my background is electronics) I can solve the problem with the shims and slight elongation of the mounting holes in the upright, from what i have found out, if i fit the 1.8 setup i will have the same problem if not worse. Can anyone shed any more light on this mystery? Is any of the part related info i have found out incorrect?
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Post by kiwicanfly on Jan 7, 2015 2:14:33 GMT
I set my front brakes with about 0.25mm of clearance between the outer edge and the inner edge of the caliper, I skimmed the disks down as they were originally just a tad too large in diameter. All seemed well until I went out and competed in a street sprint, with the hard braking the disks expanded enough to run on the caliper, the worst bit was trying to get back through the pits without anyone noticing the horrible noise coming from the front of the car. I promptly turned another 3mm off the diameter just to be sure!
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Post by nigel on Jan 7, 2015 11:46:13 GMT
All very strange, I confess that at the time of my build I just took the easy option of building standard, keeping things simple upgrading after I'd built and registered. However I cant understand why some builders struggle to fit standard designed for components.
Although I'm no racer and have never managed to get my discs to glow, I've done a number of track days, continuous hot laps and never experienced binding brake discs, thus needing to start machining or shimming the discs for clearance.
Agreed Chris very mysterious, especially when you consider that these items (rear uprights) haven't changed since the products/design conception as far as I'm aware. Anyone else had like problems?
Nigel
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