[jackstrath]

Love your thinking and upgrades Jack !
Wonder what happens to turbo and engine temp with less airflow, interesting and surely following your progress 😊

Thanks Bart! That question has popped up a few times but i think its not as complicated as people think. Its a water cooled engine so it shouldn't matter to much, the 2nd set of vents mid way up the bonnet are designed to drag hot air out the bay so there will be some movement, granted not a lot. As for the turbo again it is also water cooled, think about putting a turbo blanket on a turbo, you then also block off any air circulation, but the turbos don't seem to mind.

 

[Bart_FRS]

Thanks Bart! That question has popped up a few times but i think its not as complicated as people think. Its a water cooled engine so it shouldn't matter to much, the 2nd set of vents mid way up the bonnet are designed to drag hot air out the bay so there will be some movement, granted not a lot. As for the turbo again it is also water cooled, think about putting a turbo blanket on a turbo, you then also block off any air circulation, but the turbos don't seem to mind.

That sounds reasonable, as long as you coolant water is cooler than before you'll be right.
Thought about this and does make sense. Still interesting to see the results.
Hopefully you'll be able to test it out soon !
Keep up the good work Jack, I love your build and progress 👌

 

[jackstrath]

That sounds reasonable, as long as you coolant water is cooler than before you'll be right.
Thought about this and does make sense. Still interesting to see the results.
Hopefully you'll be able to test it out soon !
Keep up the good work Jack, I love your build and progress 👌

yup exactly bart , as long as the coolant is kept under control it shouldnt be a issue ! thats the plan anyway haha!

 

[jackstrath]

So! New post, New flickr account! Had reached 1000 photos on the other account even after removing my holiday snaps from 2007! haha!

So first off is the bonnet, Vents have been fitted. Final placement and fingers crossed they work!

Next back was the exhaust from zircotec, as always lovely finish that wont last long this white but it will do the job non the less!

So now that the bonnet vents locations were decided i could get on with making the 2nd part of the duct from the rad up.
I originally wanted to make this in alloy first. But my lack of sheet metal skills was shown and i just couldn't get the shape right. Watching to much Gas Monkey/Jessie James shows wasn't paying off here! haha

So the only other way i knew how to do it was to get the carbon/fibreglass looked out again!

Q the mess!

Cavity boxed up with cardboard and tapped off and expanding foam filled!

This was then removed to leave me with a foam plug that was body filled and sanded (like 100 times!)

Which was then sent to the local painters to get 2k paint on it to seal it from the gel coat chemicals! This was then moulded.

Moulds made and pulled! A few touch ups needed but as this wasnt going to be a visual part i wasnt being to fussy with it.

This was then wet laid with carbon and then placed under vacuum to get all the extra resin out that would just be dead weight.

Which then left me with this!

One very light but strong 3 layer carbon duct. After lots of trimming and fitting (to both part and underside of bonnet)

I was left with this!

Its by no means visually perfect but it will do the job of diverting the air up and out. Need to fine tune the fasteners (will use riv nuts) and get the edge all sealed with rubber seals so its completely air tight. But for the first go im happy!

Next up was a bit of bad news... The pair of team dynamics i had on order for 14 months finally got cancelled, Rimstock have been in a bad place i think since covid hit and with the foundry shut in the uk out sourcing casts were providing quality issues....

Did a bit of looking about and speedline, braid and compomotive were the only wheels sorta out there that had the fords 4x108 fitment on there lists. Speedline wanted 12 wheels (when i only needed 2) so i tried compomotive and they had some in stock in the correct size!

So paid at 11am Friday and 3pm Saturday i had a set of wheels at my door! Ordered a set as i think the two 1.2's and two comps would of annoyed me!

Lovely! Grey is the stock colour, white or black is screaming my name ! haha

Cheers!

 

[rotaryrocket]

Hey Jack, are you still on the first built engine in this car?

 

[jackstrath]

Hey Jack, are you still on the first built engine in this car?

Yeh sure am, its had a set of pistions and intake valves but other than that its still the first built engine.

 

[jackstrath]

So with the relocation of the oil rad, air flow through the rad was paramount. Would be pretty silly to get fixated on the water temps under control and in turn the oil temps rocket....

So more ducting was required. The exit of the air out of the rad isnt ideal, air into a high pressure zone isnt what you want but thats exactly what a wheel well is. Its looking like due to having the rear of the wings vented i might be ok but i guess time will tell!

Air always pics the easiest route and i knew the rads efficiancy would drop not having air directed through it.

So out with expanding foam and make a mould.

After filler, painting and mould making a quick carbon duct was made - Nothing pretty... pure function over form!

Rubber seal was added and once the bumper is fitted it fits up really nice!

Another little job was getting air out of the cabin, Naca duct fitted backwards takes car of dragging cabin air out of the inside.

Next up was some heat management 101 - Honestly think this is one of the biggest things on a track/race car. Heat kills things!

With the whole front end changed to hopefully allow better cooling, the focus's stumpy noise again hinders me! The lack of room between the carbon duct i made for the rad and the manifold was a concern. Was going to just cover it in the good old gold tape but figured i might as well try something a bit more substantial - Q Zircotec 's ZircoFlex II, 0.5mm thick but reduces temps from 500oC down below 150oC!!!

Once i was happy the carbon wasnt going to melt i got the car out for an aligment, kept it fairly tame toe wise, this is also the first time iv seen the results from the powerflex bushes fitted, just over 3.5 degrees camber and just over 4 degrees caster will hopefully help big time on the track!

Which leads me to getting a dry day to get the car out and get some logs done. Didnt get the string on the bonnet to see how airflow was doing but did get a few pulls in just to see what the temps are doing and its looking promising!
Although it wasn't anything crazy speed, there was enough to watch the temps rise, how they recover and just to see what they were doing.
Although its not in race conditions, its promising to see the water temp peak and "recover" (as it was never high) with no issue.
Oil temp peaked at 82oC before dropping off which is about what id expect to see on the road with the vent "open". Il probably never get it up much hotter than that on the road unless im being a naughty boy haha!
Air temp Peaked at 29oC and then also recovered quickly.
On the road figures don't tent to transfer onto the race figures but at least i know the car is able to heat exchange, at a fast road pace. So far the vents and duct set up doesn't seem to be a "wall" which is positive!

So it would be rude not to get some photos of the car when i was out!

And seeing as it was a nice day while out logging i took time to test out the flat shift on the car - Headphone users volume down

 

[rotaryrocket]

Looking good Jack! Always look forward to your posts…😁

 

[hEaT]

Awesome update, as usual. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jackstrath]

Well this is a bit overdue! And tbh not a super lot has happened! But there has been progress!

So took the car to a localish car show, good 60 mile trip for the car! Zero issues and came away with best modded car of the show!

And as always every time i have the car out I'm always interested in the data i can gather. Iv yet to go through the logs from its run but in the main time here's some real life data from the car and the various heat protection in place.
Car was driven in the lock-up, parked up for about 5 mins before i tool these readings. (no direct sunlight effecting the readings).
First photo showing the location of the DEI Gold Tape, Its directly above the exhaust manifold only.
I sadly never got photos of the gold side but if i had to guess its going to be around the 170oC range.
Next to photos of the bonnet shows the difference between a protected part with a manifold directly under it and a bit with no heat protection OR a manifold!
67.7oC on the unprotected bit (like i say with out a manifold below it)
vs.
58.9oC on the other side with the gold tape below and the exhaust manifold below that!
Next up is the Zircotec Zircoflex.
167.4oC surface temp on the manifold side.
vs.
61oC surface temp on the carbon side!
That's a 63% reduction in temp! Well worth it!
If it wasn't so expensive, id have my exhaust tunnel coated it in

Like i said before the car had been parked for a few mins and even though the manifold is also coated it was reading 256oC at the time of me probing my temp gun about.
Now i know there are probably flaws in my science but this isn't the Discovery Channel so bite me

Studs, something that i should of 100% done before now but never did.
Moving to the Comps it was clear they must have a shallower set taper for the wheel nuts. This meant although more meat for the wheel flange, there was now less stud showing, and in turn less thread engagement for the nuts.
Quick phone call to my 2 favourite Paul's, first Paul at Part-box.com to get some high quality extended studs ordered.
Followed by another call to fellow track FRS owner to Paul to pick his brains about making clearance on the front hub allowing the extended studs to be fitted/changed at track side without hub disassembly.
So with correct studs and nuts, and a sacrificial nut (hence it being blue) and i stud installer tool which makes life so much easier, the focus is now fitted with extended wheel studs all round!

Long overdue, both post and job.
While doing the extended wheel studs, i noticed the hubs were WELL overdue a refurb. That combined with the wheel bearings having a bit of play in them (3500 odd miles of kerb hopping will do that) i thought it was time to give them a bit of TLC.
I had been putting this off, and the reason i didnt do them when doing the underside refurb was the fact i knew the ABS sensors were not going to come out in 1 bit

So anyway stripped the crusty hubs off and sent them to Joe at Surface Excel to be blasted. Joe actually removed the bearings as well for me which was prime! Got the hubs back and they looked extremely pleasing to the eye!
Got Zack at Oldmill Garage Services to press in the new RS bearings and i gave the hubs a lick of paint, treated to new ABS sensors and then built the car back up and got it back down on the ground!
Another little annoying job competed!

And this for me, Final piece of the puzzle!
Im not 100% sure if its the first,i "think" it might well be the first in the UK but who really knows!
Carbon Fibre Roof..... and if that's not the first, im 99% sure its the First Fully Composite Panelled Focus RS!
So like the roof came from JTK Composites in finland, I weighed up making the roof myself but this worked and i didn't then have a roof mould to store! haha
So being a true Scots min i wanted to try save the carbon roof scoop.... Now see if i could have words with 23 year old jack armed with the tiger seal gun.... there was no need at all for the amount of tiger seal holding on this 300g roof vent... but hey i guess it never leaked or flew off!
With that removed, it was Martin the glass man in to remove the heated window in 1 piece - success
This allowed me to then have the fun job of removing seam sealer (flashbacks of the underside restro-not fun) and then drilling out the spot welds, which is also not a fun job.
Roof skin actually came off easy enough, so after a lot of reading, messaging and seeing a few other cars, Tigerseal was selected for the bond. Roof was trial fitted and fitted nearly perfect wit a tiny tiny bit of metal work at the window to tap down a little.
So armed with a few tubes of TS and some clamps from my mates i set about gluing the roof on.
And if that wasnt bad enough i then went about and cut a hole in it the next day so i could fit my (saved) roof vent

(ca help it, i love my grinder)
Window popped back in and left to set it was time to get the car dusted off and out for a photo or two!
Now for the science, the total weight saved including the Tiger seal that was needed to bond the roof back on, is Exactly 10.2KG. Might not sound ground breaking but for 1 panel and that panel then lowering the COG, plus the car is already light, im more than happy with that! and if not, i can always just stop what im doing and look at it!
Thanks

 

[hEaT]

"Not much of an update"
Shows off full CF roof

Love it mate, car looks fantastic as usual. Must be nice to have that much weight off the top of the car.

I am a BIG fan of that DEI heat tape as well. I use it on a few spots on my car, notably around the downpipe on my 3dr Sierra (Merkur) and around the oil pan where the cat sits on my ST170. Great stuff, and makes a huge difference. Studs are up for me this year too on the ST170, have a set of ARPs here. Same set the Sierra uses, and Corvettes. Been hard to find with all the shipping delays globally.

Looking forward to the next update!

 

[jackstrath]

So, If anyone has followed me from the start, you’ll know that ever since I went big power the gearbox has always been a niggle I couldn’t fix.
So at the start of the year, I started to look into new options, fast forward to May and after a good few messages with Craig at Super Drivetrain Solutions, a bit of prototyping… we have a solution!
Now I have seen kits, or more adaptor plates to convert a zetec to VAG dsg, but Iv not seen any working, but they used a 50/50 mix of ford and vw parts to make a hybrid system.
This is the whole kit….. from crank onwards will be DSG, that includes flywheel, starter motor, clutch’s and most importantly half shaft.

So from concept, to CAD, to complete - ready to bolt on kit. This is Project DSG.
All the way from South Africa to my doorstep ready to start the next part of the project.
I was going to wait another week before posting these photos but i couldn't wait! The kit is just that nice to share!

So now i start to work my way through the list of things to complete.
First up is to find a good usable DSG DQ 250 box - Check

Next is to get the focus up on the stands and standard gearbox out, in fact it will be a whole front end off. I think its going to be tight for space to want to get it all sitting right. Don’t think il have to cut the PS leg but iv got the grinder at the ready!
Then once in and custom mount made, Will be wheel speed sensor pick ups for both front axels.
Custom Shafts
Move crank signal to pulley side.
Then major rewire as i plan to move onto Syvecs S7 to control both Engine and Box.
Sure there is a lot of little things in between but that’s the mile stone points!
Wish me luck!

 

[hEaT]

Wow, this has to be a first right, mating a VW DSG to a Zetec block? Looking forward to seeing the work that goes into it.

 

[jackstrath]

Its not the first, there is 1 other thats doing it but using a mix of parts, my set up from the crank on will be VAG so hoping for it all to work a bit better.


So first off happy new year!

Things are moving (just a bit slower than id like) but we are making progress!

I got the kit bolted up, this is when things took a little turn.

I wasnt convinced with the angle of the box, the engine does lean forward ( in this photo its leaning back) but it didnt look right.


As previous posts show the fit and finish of the DSG adaptor was on point! Everything bolted up as pretty straight forward as your expect. With the gearbox and engine now one it was time to lift it into the car to see if it would fit in to the now looking very tight engine bay!
And this is where it ended, i couldnt get the box "up" enough to fit. This was a concern of mine that the fact the DSG box doesnt taper down from the bell housing and is very square in its dim's. Further inspection it was clear that there was more going on. Now i want to make it clear that this isnt pointing fingers, This is one off custom parts using my sizes and angles making a kit half way across the world. I thought i had worked all the angles out in my head correct so was double checking and in turn its been a simple miss comunication from refrence points. Both of us should of made it extreamly clear where the datum points where so we could all sing from the same hymm sheet but hey these things happen and when your doing it for the first time, this is just another development issue!
So using this kit as an (expensive) mock point, iv went back to Craig and we have got a new kit, with a few changes to hopefully let it all come together. In short the box is to rotate towards the front of the car, closing the angle and this will inturn level the box and also bring the diff up, This should let me clear the subframe clash and then level the box to let me get another inch or 2 of travel up.
This kit could of 100% worked but at the expense of tilting the engine forward more, but for me, that would cause me to change to much on the manifold/turbo set up to make it worth while.

So back to the drawing board to make some changes!

So Zetec DSG rev 2 kit landed.
First things first, with changing the rotation of the box, everything else moves, including halfshaft location. To keep costs down we were able to reuse the shaft from the orginal kit and just swap out the bracket that mounts to the back of the engine. So a quick trip to my mate Ross to borrow the use of his press the old flange/shaft was removed from the old mount and reinstalled on the now mount.
Then it was a simple case of bolting the new adapter up, you can see by the side by side shots of the adaptor, rev 2 has only moved a few cm's but this is enough to bring the box to 5 degrees from level while keeping the enigne at the OEM tilt. This is a huge plus as it means all the aux's parts can now stay the same and save redesigning it all.
With the box bolted to the engine it was time to offer it up to the engine bay and it was extreamly close to going right in. Like iv said before this box is big so i had to do some minor trimming, plus it was cold in the garage and any excuse to get the grinder fired up!
The lip on the NS leg had to get cut and there was a few bits on the box that needed a little "kiss" with the grinder - End result - near perfect. Engine sits in the OEM location and at the moment is only sitting 1 degree down on the gearbox side. Im going for perfect so i might have to trim a little more but i sometimes get carried away with the grinder so im holding back just now untill Craig the welder comes and we can make the call from there.

Another intresting point is its looking very much like i can retain the vibra engine mount on the passanger side which i another plus, but as you can see from the photo the lower part of the DSG gearbox mount sits directly below the OEM loaction so im hoping we can make a simple "adaptor" to go between the two mounts.



Next was a new location for the Crank sensor since im loosing the Zetec flywheel. This timing ring was mounted onto a pully.





so not sure if you are aware but the external oil pump is driven off the crank pully. This kit was designed and IIRC i was one of the first to run it on a turbo zetec. Oil Pressure has never been an issue so i was keen to get this issue sorted right!
With moving to a trigger wheel on the crank i needed to move the drive gear for the pump out, so some spacing of the drive gear and the pump gear was required.
First off i noticed that the replacement pully that i had differed from the current one due to the bore being stepped. So first things first was to get the bore the same through the hole ID. Then i was onto making a spacer that had a step that makes sure the gear runs true. This was machined along with a baby spacer that moves the oil pump pulley out to match. Though all this i was in talks with Dan at OPI had been keeping me right with do's and don't. Customer service 101 right there!
Spacers machined and fitted up and the "simple" job of moving the belt out was complete!
Another job ticked off the list



I then bought a DSG DMF

And just to finish up if you have ever wondered what the size diffrence is like between a MTX75 and a DQ250 then here is a photo



Also the car was in the UK Fast Ford Mag, Front cover which is pretty cool! Fast Car did an online version of it so you can check out some proper photos of that here

https://www.fastcar.co.uk/cars/tuned-ford-focus-rs-mk1/?fbclid=IwAR3FlgYWC2RF8owynP2NjIpBq2riSkNarVI4uNDPDouit8ADNnei89Jq-h0


Thanks

 

[hEaT]

Cheers Jack!

How are you mounting the crank position sensor with the new trigger wheel? Also, any chance those crank pulleys with gear are available or is that a complete one off custom?