Panko

yep exact symptoms

its not the flywheel. 2 different flywheels, 3 clutches, new box, new diff. same deal. everything has help but not gotten rid of it totally. Im still planning to start the engine build soon, i just dont want to drop the new donk in and still have issues,

when i was looking into running the EL computer, i was certain the ECU itself was a different pin out (30 pin plug) hence why i looked into other alternatives

these are the ECUs here. http://www.stinger-performance.com/universalparts.html

that car also runs a MAP sensor, rather than the vane meter, and an o2 sensor. i looked into this for my XF wagon (for when i turbocharge it). you keep the stock throttle body, knock sensor, ISC valve etc etc. just the way it meters air gets changed. any more info on this Lord? Do you have to re-pin the ecu loom or anything? I haven't ordered it yet, but i came across a mob in the US who make plug and play aftermarket ECUs for the US EEC4 injected cars. I got in contact, and after many emails back and forth, it turns out the US cars are the same pin out as the AUS cars. I put together a conversion chart after decoding the wiring looms, and the guy from the company confirmed that they would also plug and play with the early Australian injected cars, in this case an XF EFi. It runs Megasquirt hardware, has 2 on board MAP sensors, SD card slot for the tunes, and can be tuned using Megasquirt software. The only thing that changes, is you have to plum in an o2 sensor, and run a single wire into a certain pin on the XF ECU plug, which is blank at the moment. unfortunately they are frigging expensive.

Thanks for the link Dean. Turns out i wasnt subscribed to Rod's thread, so i hadnt actually seen the pics haha. Yep so Rod did a great job. It looks awesome. Of course with my shitty luck, ive had another set back. The guy who was doing the rwc, has gone away until the 12th of december. So im going to take the car somewhere else, and fingers crossed they dont find anything else wrong with the car. It also got a little warm on the trip back on saturday. I didnt drive it, i headed home, while Cal drove the car back to his house. He messaged to say the temp gauge was sitting up on the start of the red after a good hr on the freeway. Im thinking thermostat is in need of attention. However, Cal said it cooled back down to 82 degrees (measured on a digital infrared thermometer) very quickly after idling for just a few minutes, so its the higher rpm its not liking.

Yeah unless its major, i dont think ill ever leave it with a workshop to work on it, ever. at least the guy doing the rwc didnt actually damage it, but he would've had he lifted it there, like he wanted to. On closer inspection, it was definitely done by the factory jack, being not slotted into the chassis far enough. i have been told by a fellow escort owner, that even though they show being able to be lifted at the back, it never should be, because the strength isn't there. The recommended way to do it is to jack it from the correct front lift points (same deal, jack with pin through chassis), and lift it high enough to get both front and rear wheels off the ground, from the front lift point.

Yesterday Rod came round and got started on the sill repairs. He got the body pulled down pretty close to right, but it wasnt until later in the day we realised how bad the seams where, further in. So, the car is going on a bit of a holiday to Rod's workshop in a couple weeks to have all the repairs done. We discovered a little bit of rust around the damaged sills, so that'll all get cleaned up properly. one bent sill trim to be straightened. passenger side before... passenger side after Driver's side after... This is where we left it, because we soon after realised the problem area was further in. These seams are what we are concerned about. for reference, this is what the seams are supposed to look like. This is a mate's Mk1 4 door. so the seams should be flat, or parallel with the body line of the sills, or close to.

ok, all suspension is fixed and sorted. no more clangs and bangs, took it for its last drive for now, because the permit ran out today. however, the driver's side was harder than the passenger side. the springs on these are identical left to right, and go in, in the same orientation, so trying to use the same trick on the driver's side that i used on the passenger side yesterday, just didnt happen as easy. i dont think i have ever got so frustrated working on a car...there was plenty of naughty words, and I'm pretty sure the neighbours now think I have a mental issue, after yelling at the car a few times. lets just hope i never have to do that again...or not until i purchase and fit my roller tops.

Small update. I had the front left suspension apart, had the coil spring completely off the strut, WITHOUT removing the strut completely. I was told, that it couldnt be done, that the strut had to come completely out of the car to remove springs. Which is just shit. It would mean cracking lower ball joints, tie rod ends, removing brake hoses. Well, yeah all i had to do to get the spring out was crack tie rod end, remove swat bar, and bam i had enough room inside the front guard to work and remove the spring, to fit the new spring insulator (water sprinkler hose haha) and it seems to have fixed my issue. I actually ended up putting the proper (original) spring insulator on the top of the coil, and putting the replacement on the bottom. No more noise, clunks and bangs from the passenger side. Now i just have to do the same on the driver's side and thats the front end done (hopefully for the last time too) haha. Rod ill get in touch again regarding the sills it will be on its wheels tomorrow, ready to drive again.

Yeah dean unreg permits are for exactly that. Preparing a vehicle for registration. That is all the talk about on the website. Last thursday, i was driving the car around all day. On the way from my place up to Keilor east, then to Campbelfield, i saw 2 police cars, 3 police bikes (the bikes were all together), sure it made me nervous haha, but not one of them bothered to even give me or the car a glance.

Yeah so a bit of a set back. The most disappointing thing is my permit will run about before i get it registered. So when i go to get it checked, and registered i can either run the risk of running around on an out of date permit, or buy another permit. Oh well. Redrover, yeah they do seem to take things out of proportion. Its so annoying that a panel beater, and a couple of guys from RS Owners Club Vic that i met last night, all said it shouldnt be a rwc issue. Sure the law is the law, but these guys know the cars, because they either own them or have worked on them in their panel shop.

ok so there has been a development in regards to the sill damage, that goes against me apparently VicRoads licensed vehicle testers recently had to do a compulsory "upgrade" course to keep their license. as part of that course, VciRoads is cracking down on any under body/carriage damage. I did go see another vehicle tester, the guy who machined the brakes and made the new brake hoses, and he explained it in detail the reason it has be fixed. so yep, very very annoying, but it seems i no longer have an option

so you can see the factory jacking point in the background where the rubber bung is. the sill should be level across there, with the half moon cut out lining up wiht the factory jacking hole in the chassis. the road worthy guy reckons its pushed the floor up, on the other side of the sill, between the sill and chassis. this is not the case, the floor naturally rises behind there anyway, but he is convinced this damaged has caused the floor to go up.

Im still thinking its a wheel, or multiple wheels. I spent all day driving the car today, to the panel beaters (ill explain in a moment), then to the workshop where i was getting the roadworthy cert done. anyway, its driving ok, but I've had a couple of set backs, which are a bit a upsetting so the first set back. The mechanic won't even look at the car, because one of his things to be fixed was some damage to the rear lower sills. I haven't had it fixed the damage, because its a pain in the ass to fix, and its not structural or integral. (this is why i went to see the panel beater this morning to have it assessed) So whats happened? The factory jack, has a long pin that goes through one side and out the other of the chassis rail, then a crank handle to lift it. Some dumb ass in the past has lifted the car using the factory jack, but instead of going into the chassis, they have done it directly under the sill, on both sides. as a result, the sills have been squished level with the floor. The roadworthy guy originally thought it was a lift point for the car, until i got stuck into him, and is determined that its fucked the floor, and he won't pass the car until i have had the sills pulled down. Now, after talking with the panel beater, he has said its not integral, not structural, and it should not be a road worthy issue. So i have to sort something out with that, which is just shit. the second set back, is something is up with the front struts. I have this issue, where doing low speed sharp turns, I'm getting this clunking in the front end. It turns out, for whatever reason, the coil springs are turning on the struts. the noise I'm hearing is the springs being loaded up, then releasing as they go back into place...the noise has a real "twang" to it, like a spring would. I think I know what the issue is, and Im hoping to be able to fix it in the car, by compression the shit out of the coil springs, and unbolting the strut tops. if i can't fix it in the car, the struts have to come out, and its not a nice job. These are fixed McPherson struts, which means i have to crack the ball joints and tie rod ends again to remove the struts from the car Anyway, all part of playing with old cars. looks like it will be sometime yet before i get it on the road after all

Im still leaning towards the wheels. I swapped them from to back and the vibration through the steering wheel has dulled down, however its still there a touch. I feel like it is now coming from the back. Doing hwy speeds its smooth. It wont be front brakes, they have freshely machined discs and new pads fitted, however i didnt touch the drums on the back, and there is a good chance they arent great.

i should add, the car is driving quite well now the alignment is done. has a funny vibration causing the steering wheel to wobble. i swapped the wheels front to back, no good. I'm thinking that the 4 wheels are just that out of whack that no matter what they are causing a vibration. its at its worst at 60km/h.

yeah i should've known about the sway bar. just wasnt thinking when i fitted it. its a pain to get in, you have to use a ratchet strap to pull it together to go into the control arms. its like a giant spring. when i bought this, i originally said id sit on it, because the XF was priority. but the problem is, I can't permanently keep it at home, like the XF, due to space. so theres a good chance this will end up at a mate's house, so its not fair on him having it there, unable to be driven. once i got started on it, it just snowballed. so yeah it happened pretty quickly. so the hard work is done (providing it passes its inspection on thursday) its just a matter of doing all the small stuff i want to add. extractors, twin barrel carb and manifold, corner bumpers. but all in good time

because I'm not interested in putting the 12s back on any time soon

Ive just dropped the car off at the tyre shop to do the alignment, and he confirmed for me that the current tyres are 23mm oversized. This explains the scrub. I also enquired about tyres for the 15s. Correct size is 175/50R15, which only 2 manufacturers make…which means expensive. Thankfuly the tyres i already have on two of the 15s (which are oversized) will fit on the back. They are 195/50R15. I got them from the wreckers, but havent been so lucky with finding the 175s for the front.

Keep in mind i havent to touched the back yet. Ill eventually go an inch lower in the back too...but i need to try the 15s on it first.

Dave are you going to buy the tyres for me? They are expensive, thats the reason the previous owner put the 13s on

I cant wait to get it back from the alignment tomorrow and go drive it. Sick of looking at the ugly wheels though. The more i look at it the more i dislike the wheels lol.

Well today went well. i finished everything i needed to get it driving again. all the brakes are in and working...the brakes are awesome in it haha, and they haven't even bed in yet obviously. now, before i took this photo, i ran into some trouble... chop chop clearance issues. so i lowered the car, and even with the 13s on, it was grabbing the front corner of the guard. silly design. when Ford released the Lotus Twin Cam Escort, they actually trimmed that corner off. so i had to do some massaging vvv this is the final result of my home attempt of massaging the guard. Ill get them all rolled properly when its registered, especially if i want to fit the 15s on. I've also discovered that the 13s are actually 24mm oversized diameter, compared to the factory 12" tyre size. so that wouldn't be helping with clearance. anyway, once i got that sorted i put it back in the garage on stands, hooked up the last of the brake hoses and and bled the brakes, then corrected the front end alignment so i could at least drive it (its going in for a front and rear end alignment tomorrow morning)

i nearly bought the "Group 4" coupling, which is (as name suggests) Group 4 competition, metal uni with sealed bearings, like a uni on a tail shaft. they are even cheaper than the urethane repair kit lol. but a few people have said no good for road use, because there is no shock resistance through the steering, so you feel everything