stevemersey

A memorable day in many ways. Not least because of the weather that started miserable, and ended with a biblical downpour and bow waving 7's, but in between dried and gave plenty of good quality track time.

The old Zetec 7 I have has a different but larger gap, not blanked. When I rebuilt it last year I thought about blanking it off, but came to the conclusion it had been ok like that for 19 years, so left it. All is still well. If I used the 7 on gravelly roads I would worry - but I don't.

Kenny, thanks I have made some progress with that information.

Kenny, could you let me know more please, either on here or mail?

I plan to change my 1991 S3 Zetec 1.8 on Webers to injection over the winter and would be interested in any items to help me along and keep the cost down. I would prefer to go the Jenveys, Emerald and injection tank route but will consider other options. So initially looking for: Fuel injection petrol tank. ECU Throttle bodies. Pumps Injectors etc Edited by - stevemersey on 5 Oct 2012 08:56:30 Edited by - stevemersey on 5 Oct 2012 08:56:56

Had mine done this way and my son took it and I think they simply loosened the front coupling and mounting to twist the tail pipe down a little. here

I have also heard that some of the higher power GSXR models have an ECU operated secondary throttle plate Phil, I think most modern bikes have those now, my Kawasaki does, and I believe they can be removed and discarded. Not an uncommon practice amongst bikers. The bigger problem is the fact that later GSXR throttle bodies are in pairs and harder to space.

Phil, I had been previously advised 750 or 1000 cc and will pin it all down eventually. I had not heard of Altiss so that moves things along. There is a guy near us who has a lot of experience in setting things up with megasquirt ecu's, and I am pretty happy with taking on the plumbing myself, so choosing the best throttle bodies to make it as simple as possible is really the most important step.

Andy, Thanks, I will give them some consideration. I am away for a few days from tomorrow and will get in touch on my return.

The 7 has being going very nicely lately so I thought it time to throw a spanner in the works and I have started planning a move to injection. The engine is a 1.8 sliver top zetec. This has to be done with second hand components and a bit of creativity to keep the price down. I also like a challenge so am more than likely going down the motorcycle throttle body route. My own research suggests older GSXR 750 or 1000 parts would fit the bill as the throttle bodies are all separate making spacing that much easier. So my questions are has anyone on here done the conversion using bike parts and can offer any advice on donors other than GSXR? And can throttle bodies that are in pairs rather than singles be easily spaced to fit a zetec?

I have a 91 S3 with clamshells and having recently had a bike fall off the wall and land on one wing I know the stays are very bendable and the most likely cause of trouble. If everything is the right height and level, I would look at the other dimesnions with fore and aft position being a possiblity.

Giles, Thank you for the offer. Those are interesting looking specifications and will give me something to mull over.

Eugene, thank you for that. These tales of 30 mpg give me hope.

High Klunk, It is a 1.8. The previous owner did not have a lot information on the engine. It has visible Raceline external parts and a lightened flywheel and what were described as Kent Cams but no model number. I suspect the head is unmodified. Peak power was given as 125 at the rear wheels at 6500 on the hub dyno. It feels "cammy" but very drivable at low revs. Chokes are 34mm The main jets are 135 Emulsion tubes F16 Idles F8 60 I am suspicious that 60 seems large for the idle jet, and the air bleed similarly rich, yet I can get a very smooth idle at 1000rpm or less at about 1 1/2 turns out on the idle mixture screws. All advice welcome.

Roger, thanks for the comments. The dyno session was short and cheap for us to get a baseline, they made it clear they could not help with webers, and the runs were for our information only so I have no complaint. They were very helpful and seemed to be pretty experienced at working with injection if we need them in the future. I am encouraged by your information though, and will put some effort into improving the set up we have. The car is pretty drivable, I can pootle in traffic quite happily, but it just does not feel as torquey as I might expect. And the fuel consumption and plugs demonstrate that we are way too rich. Andrew, 30mpg sounds a good target to aim for then. We have a gems engine management system that seems to predate any I can see on their website and yes we do have a throttle potentiometer. I am only just looking at the engine management for the first time and will do some further research.

My son and I have made great progress with the 1991 Zetec engined 7 on twin 40's we bought at Christmas, and it runs and drives pretty well now, but we can't help looking for more. We just had it hub dyno'd at a very helpful outfit in Birkenhead, Auto Sport North, and got some reassuring numbers for peak power, but at lower revs the fuelling was very rich and the torque curve all over the place. Long term we may well go to fuel injection but for the moment we want to extract the best from what we have. Oh and our fuel consumption is awful. So two questions, is it possible to get good fuelling across the whole rev range with Webers or am I being too ambitious? And, following on, if we should be able to get things better than they are, can anyone recommend someone to look at it who is based here in the North West?

My tunnel gets pretty warm too. The gearbox has just been rebuilt by people who know what they are doing, works perfectly, and it correctly filled with oil. You are not alone!

Cheap, practical and reliable Tow Car. We have had this old girl from new and she was in regular daily use until 3 years ago and for the last couple of years used about once or twice a week. Now on 107000 miles. Condition is pretty good for 13 years old. Wheels very tidy, no rust, but the odd small scratch and a few small dings around the roof bars. Interior is very tidy. 9 months MOT and tax until August. It is the ES model with glass sunroof, aircon and alloy wheels. Been totally reliable since new, and the engine is the quietest of any we own and very lively. Used for occasional towing of a sailing dinghy, but mostly as a commuter car. Bad point - only one- the airbag light is on. Just had new suspension bushes at rear which is the first time it has ever needed work for the mot. I am going to advertise around £900, but before I have to incur any costs I will take £800.

GP, yes a thin little bearing but no sleeve but I can't recall the diameter. Don't over torque the cover bolts, not sure what the correct number is, but worth getting the correct number as they do not need a lot.

spigot bearing removal on my zetec was accomplished by driving out using grease and pressure this way - presume it can be done that way on a k series.

I found this here useful for visualising the arc the hub was taking and the consequent camber change before I started with bump steer.

An update on my original comment. I had put 9mm (2 x shims) under my rack, after some preliminary estimates but have now reduced this to 4.5 after some further measuring using a laser. (1991 S3) This seems to give a better result over a wider range of travel.

9mm so far....still a little fine tuning I think when I get some thinner shims.

Paul, thanks I had read the article but did not realise you had written it. It was most helpful.

Paul, I have raised mine by 9mm also. I based this on a bit of measuring of the static suspension geometry and positions, a little bit of bouncing to look at the travel and some very basic schoolboy trig - and then road testing. I will probably do the more usual dial gauge or lasers and mirrors set up at a later date, but the bump steer was so bad and the steering and wishbones so obviously wrong, that I knew I could improve things with even a very basic approach. I will finesse it all when I get round to fitting new shocks and tyres. The Caterham supplied shims were 4.5mm each, so I need to make some thinner ones to do the fine tuning. I will also look at castor and maybe reduce the toe-in before the next track day but so far have made a lot of progress and having fun getting there.