My Puma.. Maximum Track Attack!!

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Best investment you can make, should be mandatory on cars running harnesses on trackdays in my opinion. Although incorrect fitting of harnesses, seats etc is probably worse than not using a HANS device...
 
Agreed to be honest, it does surprise me no one ever checks those sort of things on a track day.... I did one recently where no one even checked to see if if anyone had a driving license!!

HANS and new harness will be on the shopping list once the cage is installed, for now I'm working through the brakes and brake lines. I maned to get a bit more done last night, front circuit is now complete and I just need to make up one more for the rear and then it will just be fluids and bleeding the system and checking for any leaks. Also noticed that I'm probably due a new set of front pads and that my rear calipers are well and truly shot so a they will be get a rebuild as well as fresh discs and pads from Tarox. Wont be long before my 6 pot conversion for the front is ready as well!!

I'l post some pictures up later of how the brake lines/bias valve and all the little adapters have been installed.
 
So a few pics of the progress on the braking system.... now before anyone starts I admit it certainly isn't the neatest of jobs. I have admittedly rushed it a little bit but, its functional and it will work as intended. I may remake some of the pipes and tidy it up a little bit but for now it'll do the job intended.

Rear lines to each corner
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

male to male bulk head fittings uses
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

female - female adapter in the wheel arch and then the braided line atatched
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

rear line attached... looking at a better solution than cable ties to the coilover
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

bias valve mounted in easy reach
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

In other news I picked up my roll cage yesterday, the car is undergoing its biggest transformation for quite some time!
 
Hiya, please tidy those brake hoses! It doesn't look like there's any slack in it which may lead to the hose or fitting being ripped with the suspension movement. Also it's a good idea to have an air loop in the pipe/hose to stop air getting further back into the brake pipes or master cylinder.
 
Brake lines are fine, not pulled tight and the suspension is at a full extension in the pictures, once compressed and on the ground it wont cause any issues.

Just have one more pipe to make up and then thats the brake lines all done, will attempt to get them bled up and check for any leaks this week.

In other news... I started to fit my roll cage. Got the rear section in and secured loosely. Yesterday afternoon I removed the dashboard so I could start to get the front half fitted. I'l also be doing so much needed tidying up of the loom behind the dash.
I also need to fix a long standing issue with my heated front screen and get that working again.


Couple of pics of the rear cage in.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

dropped one of the door bars in just to see how high they sit.... Gonna be fun climbing over this!

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr
 
Took the day off work yesterday and after a morning out with the wife walking the dog and a pub lunch I managed to spend a bit more time working on the car.

First job was fill the brake lines with fluid and bleed the system up as well as check for any leaks. All went smoothly and all leaks cured just by nipping up the unions a touch. Fresh Tarox fluid and I also spotted that my front pad material is low so new front pads are on there way again from Tarox.

Fitted a few parts that I had been gathering over the last few weeks... first off, replacing my very old and worn air filter for a nice new Ramair one.

Out with the very very old...

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

And in with the nice and new!

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr
Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Decided the time was now for a service as well, fresh new filter and oil. The Oil I'm using is from an american company call Purol, they got in touch with me via TrackAddict and kindly offered to sponsor my car. I'l report back on how I feel the oil is/performs. The guys behind the company are ex NASA engineers who developed their own oils for their own track/race cars.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

New, genuine oil filter.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Lastly, I made a little mod purely for cosmetic reasons, One thing that always bugged me is the the way a lot of the standard Ford fasteners look, especially the wing bolts, so I removed and replaced with some nice M6 s/s countersunk bolts and black anodised washers. I had to open the holes out with a 6mm drill bit but its a nice and quick modification that looks much better IMO.

Before....

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

After... I need to clean it all up under the bonnet but she'll be looking great under there again soon.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

I finally managed to get the car back in one piece (exterior) and get it down off the axle stands which means I can get the rest of the cage fitted in the next week or so.

Front bumper is now quick release using two bonnet pins mounted on the side of the bumper. Makes removal/install so much easier. I'm now planning how I can mount my front splitter to the chassis rather than the bumper, I just need get some brackets made.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr
 
Can you tell me what's the part number or the size of your Ramair filter please ? (it's the induction kit for Puma or a universal one ?)
 
I love this car... only wish I could end up with something to this standard...

What purpose is the metal structure behind the dash? Is it structural to the car or support for the dash..? I want to cut my dash down but don't know how strong it would be if I were to remove the metal structure too..
 
Its structural to the dash, I cant imagine it adds any support or strength to the car. I haven't thrown it away yet as I may need to add part of it back in to keep the dash secure.... hopefully I wont though.
 
Hi Jay.
I removed the dash `bar` ages ago. Though I did keep the end plates to secure it to the A pillars.
I have not had any issues, although it wobbles like billy-o at high speeds.
I`m thinking of a simple strut in the middle to stop this (though it doesn`t bother me that much as I`m not really looking at it when I`m out on track...
Like the cage, your car`s developing nicely..
 
Thanks!!

Well I finally got the car home on Wednesday evening, the cage is mega although it is a bit tricky getting in and out now.

Hoping the weather will be on my side over the next few days so I can make a start at getting the interior tidied up and all fitted back in. Currently awaiting on some 3D printed parts to be made for a few trick little items. As much as its a "race car" I still need it look and present nicely for my own satisfaction.

After 10 years of owning this car I think it might finally be time to look at adding some extra power under the bonnet. I've talked about doing for years but just never really bothered to start anything but, I've got a 2.0 Zetec engine in the garage that I bought about 3 years ago with the intention of turbocharging......
 
PumaJay said:
Got a few little bits done on the car over the bank holiday weekend...

Got bored of the lime green bits on the car so it all going, sold the Induction Hose and the other hoses i had on there, all being replaced with orange!

So to start i replaced the washer jet hoses with orange hose and tidied it all up with some p clips... was awful drilling into the carbon bonnet!! was scared id go through the other side lol

Picture066.jpg


Then i found a new company called JS Performance producing silecone hoses, very good quality aswell i might add, and there ALOT cheaper than Samco or SFS, so i ordered the 2 radiator hoses from them, £50!
Fitted...

Top Hose
Picture064.jpg


Bottom Hose
Picture069.jpg

Picture067.jpg


Gonna be ordering the Induction hose when they've got the tooling sorted and made them up!

Also ordered some orange caliper paint and im gonna be repaing the rocker cover electric orange then getting the strut brace out and having it powder coated to match!

Plenty more work to be getting on with!

Oh and ive bought anothe car hehehe... my new track rat!


Hello, how do you order Washing hoses , there is some kit, or just choose diameter and length ( what diameter you order)
 
Managed to get a few other little jobs done yesterday afternoon.

First one was to sort the rear bumper out, the two side clip/mounts have been getting weak over the last few months and not holding the bumper tight enough, I managed to find two brand new ones on ebay a couple of weeks ago which I won for £2!

Also had a good clean up behind the bumper and added a little bit of bling to the brackets. The bumper is now held much tighter to the car and doesn't feel loose.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Something I've been meaning to fit for a long time is my wired go pro remote, its simple button to start/stop recordings. GoPro is mounted on the car and the wire just runs round to place the button above me in the car.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Final job I did was to make a new panel for where the radio once was and to mount my kill switch which will be wired into the ignition.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Few more jobs still to do inside the car, battery cables being the next one on the list, roll cage around the head area and then mount the passenger seat. After that its good to hit the track again!
 
Got busy again on the drive way yesterday, something I've been wanting to do for a while was fit a rear ARB.

After a few discussion with Whiteline I decided to gibe their mk6 Fiesta ST kit a go. All the measurements said it would fit but obviously I wouldn't know for sure until I tried to fit it.

Well I'm happy to report that it does.... perfectly.

***disclaimer*** I think I've fitted it upside down, going to flip it over one night next week.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Had to take the car out to for a quick spin, can't report back any significant difference yet but I haven't really pushed the car, will need to get it on track.

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay Hardy, on Flickr
 
Looks amazing Jay! Gotta love this car :)
Interesting in the difference the ARB makes. Are these kits available from Whiteline directly? Should also work with Fork-mount shocks I guess?
 

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