T464 PNB - "Smokey Joe"

[The Arch Bishop]

I'm trying to imagine it.....but just can't...... Damn my imagination!

Great to see progress as it's all gone a bit quiet on this forum at the moment. I guess all the fair-weather tinkerers (me included) have gone into hibernation.

[TGPlayer1]

Yeah it's a toughie but I'm sure it'll come to you.

Well I'm glad it's appreciated, otherwise I wouldn't bother!

[TGPlayer1]

Bought the boy an early Christmas present



This pretty much completes the monochrome theme, leaving only the tricky task of the door handles. It's a genuine ceramic billiards ball that's been drilled and tapped, so it feels nice and heavy, won't be affected by UV light and, most of all, won't give me frostbite in the cold mornings. Plus it's as retro as funk.

I also got my hands on a new spare wheel. I got a pristine prop alloy to put the original Goodyear tyre on for shows (the tyre is dated 1998 and has never been used on the road). The wheel came with a tyre, all for the princely sum of £2 and a frankly exhilarating Sunday drive into Cheshire. So I'll stick the tyre that I bought on the steel to use incase I actually get a puncture and keep the prop/Goodyear for shows.

Next thing I'm on the hunt for is a black steering wheel as I'm still using the old blue one. I also might go for something slightly different. I want to stick OEM but not sure whether to go for something from a newer car, like the 4 spoke Mondy wheel. I'll need to look into the airbag wiring and column splines and stuff, but I like the look of those wheels an it'll stand out.

Any suggestions about things I can keep myself busy doing (to the car, ahem) then fire away, I'm basically out of ideas for anything small/cheap.

[TGPlayer1]

Doing away with cheap ideas, i've decided to venture into the world of track days. Hoping to get my new engine up and running before March, I invested in a set of track wheels.

The journey down to get them was eventful, lets just say there was a bit of bush involved, and some is still on the back bumper Anyway the car wasn't damaged, except for some light scuffing on the NSF wheel where i mounted the inner curb haha. But after shaking myself down i drove a bit more slowly to the seller's house.

They're Speedline Corse Chronos, 15x6.5J with a lovely ET15 offset, so they sit just flush with the arches. The tyres are 195/45/15 so they're a bit smaller than standard, but that will aid with acceleration on track. They are Pug fitment so i need to get some spigot rings but aside from that they're all good, maybe in need of a refurb but i won't get too excited about the cosmetics.



Stanceness mmmmm




The only thing i'm unsure about is the tyres, they are Avon ZV3s and i have had no driving experience - spirited at least - on these, so i was wondering if anybody has any opinions on them, and if they are naff what would be a good budget track tyre? I'll probably make a separate post in the racing section but if anybody wants to chirp in here that'd be cool.

Till next time

[hardmonkeys]

Looking good mate

[TGPlayer1]

It snowed a lot tonight, and the old boy wasn't happy about it, so decided to pack it in at 1.30am. So it's now stranded and I'm cheesed off.



I think the battery froze or something because it was absolutely fine, then some dash lights came on and then all the electrics lost power, basically like when the battery is just about to run out of juice. So hopefully I can jump it tomorrow and get back up and running.

[TGPlayer1]

After some investigation and a long charge, i've determined the cause of the issue is a combination of factors; slightly tired battery on a car that rarely gets a long drive and is started quite a lot, plus reconditioned alternator of undeterminable manufacture that isn't quite as good as a genuine Ford item, plus having the lights, heater blower, radio, wipers and heated screen on, added with a dash of ridiculously cold weather leads to battery going flat.

It seems that whilst it was on charge it was 'waking up' the battery, and it actually took more amperage as the time went on, instead of going down like usual.

Also i tested all the electrics with a voltmeter on the battery with the engine on, and with everything but the blower on it still showed 13.1V (alternator output), but then when i put the blower on it fell quite quickly to about 11V and continued down slowly.

So after a big charge it should hopefully be ok for a while.

[trublustu]

The cold weather will show up a tired battery
If you keep having problems when its freezing, give me a shout.

Fair weather tinkerers? you mean, not insane tinkerers!

[mada]

just logged on here as I'm looking at getting another puma!

Ive seen yours about in altrincham as thats where I'm from too! I used to a blue one about 2-3 years ago.

Although I'm currently up in aberdeen and drive a freelander now! haha

Looks like its coming along nicely, let me know if you need a hand with anything.

Think i have a old mk5 fiesta hanyes manual hanging around if your needing one? might have some other bits and bobs left over that your welcome to too if you want?

[evilrob]

8 ball.

[TGPlayer1]

I'm a cool dude Rob.

Anyway I got my track tyres today



Nankang NS-2Rs. Part worn but they're all in good nick, and it was a bit of a steal so I had to snap them up really.

So the next thing is thinking about what colour to paint my track wheels. Looks wise White is obviously best as it's the classic motorsport colour, but my road wheels are white and I fancy something different. I don't want to do green as it's been killed to death and I think blue or red is a bit generic. I've whittled it down to a few options; gold, purple, orange, yellow, gun metal or matt black.

Decisions decisions. However there's no real urgency about it as I don't have the engine in yet, but it's something to mull over whilst I'm on with the other things.

It's basically getting to a point where I'll be happy with it for a while so I can keep my money in my pocket. I just want to get some 20mm spacers on the back, fit gas bonnet struts, get the poly bushes in the rear beam and make an FRP airbox mod. With that done and the 1700 in I'll be happy to just roll around and enjoy it.

[ArtfulHussy]

I think gold would look good and a bit different. Yellow would stand out as pretty lairy if you wanted something loud looking for on the track.

[trublustu]

Yeah, Black and Gold,
the old JPS Norton colours

Or dayglo green

[trublustu]

What wheels have you got for track use btw?

[TGPlayer1]

What wheels have you got for track use btw?

Speedline Corse Chrono



I also edited the colour shortlist, added orange and gun metal. Personally I'm leaning towards gold but can't decide. I'll make a poll to see what people say.

[ArtfulHussy]

Those would look cracking in gold! Kinda old school but I'm not sure why!?

[Wild E. Coyote]

Never mind the wheels! I thought I saw sparco seats inside? How comes it passed unposted here?

[TGPlayer1]

Sorry to disappoint! They aren't Sparco actually, I don't know what brand they are the only label is a quality control tag, so the only thing I know is that they're well made and can be used in the BRC. As for the not posting about it, I put those in when I stripped the interior back in 2013, at the same time as I did the rear arches, and I was so rushed in the run-up to FordFair that I just didn't take photos of everything. Also I was a forum noob so didn't document every step of the way.

In the interest of completeness I'll take some photos, and also the frames have caused medium interest with people so I'll show you those too.

I think that's everything.

[TGPlayer1]

Curse my memory, I forgot about the seats until today. Anyway here you go.

They're a bit scruffy I admit but were a bargain and do the trick ok.



And a couple of the frames





Basically I butchered the old seat runners for the floor mounts and welded some straight steel bar to them and bolted the seats to the bar. So I'm sat very low, and although I'm not the biggest chap, I'm a bit cumbersome and getting in and out is not a pretty sight.

[trublustu]

Hello Tom..
After seeing your car in the flesh I decided to scrounge a set of seat base feet in order to knock up seat bases in the same way you did.
When I had the seats out on the floor in front of me I realised that I could `split` the runners. Keeping the lower half connected to the feet and saving me the bother of welding plates on.
This also has the advantage of raising the seats an inch or so, as the runner is that thick.
I had to do a bit of destructive surgery to split the runners (Ford seem to have decided that they werent supposed to be dismantled!
The bases are in my glamorous assistants shed, so I cant do pics at the mo, but I`ll post some up next time I`m round.

[TGPlayer1]

Hey Stu.

I was after the lowest possible position, we toyed with keeping the runners but decided flat bar was the way to go.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[TGPlayer1]

Nothing major to report, just a quick update.

I fitted a K&N cone filter t'other day, had one in a cupboard at work so I binged it on. Really makes no difference to the driving of a knackered 1.4 but at least now I sound a bit more like a yobbo to back up looking like one.

And talking of looks I think it's time for a good wash and vac on this nice sunny day.

[alerno]

Hey Stu.

I was after the lowest possible position, we toyed with keeping the runners but decided flat bar was the way to go.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Thanks! I might do the same, get some Fiesta/Puma runners, and try to adapt.

BTW: How much lower do reckon you are now? Is it true the steering wheel feels tooo tall now?

[TGPlayer1]

I'm sat as low as possible, without bolting the chairs directly to the floor. It's just a piece of flat bar on top of the floor brackets.

Under the chair there's enough room for a CD changer but not much else, i'd say there's 60mm between the floor and seat bottom, and my arse is more or less in line with the sill top. It's low.

And yes the steering wheel is high, but i got used to it, and i prefer a high wheel anyway. In the position i'm in i can't see the trip display over the wheel, but none of the gauges are obscured.

[TGPlayer1]

Milestone!



Or should that be 100000milestone?

To celebrate I went back to the 90s and got some dice