T464 PNB - "Smokey Joe"

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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.
 
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 said:
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.
 
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. :roll:

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
TGPlayer1 said:
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?
 
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.
 
Made a decision on the track wheels and went with gold, and I think they came up ok, considering I did them with the - I only know this now - crappy Halfords aerosol paint. I thought "2 cans will be plenty". Turns out I'm a glass half full kinda chap and each wheel took one tin. " Not to worry, I'll just get more tomorrow" I thought. But no, my local branch only had two cans, and I was the lucky owner, so I had to drive to the next closest one. Apparently God didn't like this idea an tried to wash me off the road with rain that would make Noah get an umbrella. But, undeterred and singing along to some BB King (RIP) I aquaplaned my way into the car park and got their last two cans of the elusive Nissan Gold Metallic I so desired.

And here they are!



I'll stick the rubber on in a few days when the paint has cured all nicely and then I'll go tearing up the B-roads to see how much difference track tyres make over recycled Chinese condoms. So stay frosty and I'll update later in the week, but for now the big hand is pointing at 12 and the little hand is pointing at beer so I'm going.

Peace out.
 
It's MOT time next week, and I've got a lot of work to do, well, a lot of bribing of the tester really.

From what I can tell I need to replace the exhaust centre, get the horn working and wire brush and under seal the floor pan, hopefully I won't find any big holes near the sills, which will need replacing before long, again.

Whilst I'm there I'm going to fit some goodies; rear beam poly bushes, ARB poly bushes and 30mm hub spacers.

Then it's the big one, bidding the engine so that it doesn't fill Kwik Fit with blue smoke, for the 5th time. Basically fresh 20w50 mixed some Winn's Oil Treatment, and a kind word to the tester to not rev it over 2500 and it should just slip through, unless it's just too rich, which maybe a concern.

So it's prayer time really, I can only hope it goes through, but for now it's just a dirty weekend for me, only not the kind I'd like.

Oh also I fitted a cold air induction system, which consists of a cone filter and some flexible ducting cable tied into place :eek:k:
 
I only realised after i finished typing it that this is a very long ramble, so sorry about that.


Well this is long overdue an update, as a fair bit has happened in the last month.

I spent a few days in the workshop getting everything up to scratch, ready for the MOT. I fitted the rear beam poly bushes, after fighting with the original ones to get them out. The process I used was to burn away the rubber with a blow torch (whilst holding my breath for far too long), then use a pneumatic hacksaw to cut away what was still left, eventually resorting to twatting the centre out with a hammer. Then i rubbed away any residual rubber with a pneumatic finger sander to leave about 10mm of clean metal to cut the outer section so i could get it out. Then i slipped in the poly bushes and refitted the beam.

Then i stuck on the 30mm hub spacers, which was totally uneventful and strangely easy, apart from the awkwardness of course, and sheer amount of rust in my eyes. I also sorted out the horn, by borrowing the one from my motorbike, and repaired any rust holes with a coat of satin black - which worked as there was no mention on the MOT of the large holes :lol:

Next was to fit the ARB bushes, which didn't happen as there is just no access, so that's been left in abayance, to be done when the engine swap happens.

With this I serviced the engine, filling it up with nice thick oil and Wynn's to stop the smoke.

After a long night in the workshop i strolled home, ready to start again on the big job of making an exhaust out of bits and bobs that i have bought and what's not completely rusted away.

My own forgetfulness made this job a little harder, as i thought the flange on the cat section was OK and the centre section flange was duff, and as i had a replacement centre without a midbox it would bolt straight together. But no, it was the other way round. So i had to cut the flange off the centre section and get a universal flexi to remake the downpipe. Then i had to remake the rear hanger on the centre section as it had been cut off. With that all hung up and fitted nicely, the back box needed adjustment as the in pipe was the same diameter as the centre pipe, so the flared bit was cut off and a bit of the original exhaust was welded in place, so the back box slots inside the centre pipe. I should point out here that i am incapable of any skilled task so all the cutting and welding was done by my brother, whilst all the monkey work with spanners and hammers was done by me.

And with that it was ready for the MOT, which it failed catastrophically. The emissions were through the roof, and the brake and fog lights were sub par, so some attention was necessary. By which i mean do nothing at all and just grease the tester's palm.

After sitting on the drive for two weeks the battery had gone flat, so flat teh central locking wouldn't open the car, so i had to force open the bonnet by pushing the latch with a screwdriver, luckily i have no grill so access was slightly less impossible. Eventually i got it open and took it for the MOT, which it so very nearly passed on it's own merit; it was 0.01% away from passing. So some things happened that are definitely legal and not shady at all and i walked away with 12 months more motoring joy :thumbs:

And here we are, took it for it's first proper drive after all the work yesterday and it runs just fine, the exhaust is a little quiet for my liking, but hey ho a better back box will sort that. It seems to be firmer at the back with the poly bushes, but it's hard to tell on the road, especially with coilovers, but i know that for track they will be much better. I am now also happy with the stance, i was always annoyed by the back wheels sitting in too far, even with the 20mm spacers, but now it's all gravy and i think it looks spot on.

So for now i'm just into money saving mode. Nothing needs to be done until i am finally allowed to do the engine swap, changing insurance companies in December so that should hopefully be go-time. When i do that i'll fit the ARB bushes, get a track-oriented clutch, fit Redstuff brake pads and fit braided brake lines. Then i can get out onto a track and see how bad i am at it :lol:

Now i'm just looking forward to FordFair. I'll be getting the valeting tools out in a couple of weeks, give it a hell of a buff and wax then get on down to Silverstone.

Also i'll add some pics of the car as it stands, for those who are interested and also because i haven't put any up for a while and i want to :D
 

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