| Event/mileage |
Issue |
Solution |
| 4rd
Year. |
2002 |
. |
| 2/1/2002 30,500 |
I'm back - Wisconsin Hobbyist plates do
not permit
driving in January. Normally this is ok, but this year there is no
winter.... |
. |
| 4/21-30/2002 31,500 |
Swap in 2.0 Focus Zetec |
.-
see XF-Zetec conversion page |
| 5/2/2002 32,000 |
Remapping of GEMS fueling map
continues. Mileage
now around 17mpg, but a lot more power |
Note: (5/03) - lean
out cruising map - AF approx. 13.5 -
gives
23mpg freeway, 20mpg country roads
|
| 5/30/2002 32,800 |
Running good, except odd event where
revs limited
to 4500rpm |
..issue disappeared... ECU gremlin? |
| 6/4/2002 32,900 |
(GEMS) ECU overheats - 3000rpm
see near the bottom of XF
conversion page |
Added cooling.
Conditions:
95F weather, sidescreens in, heater valve
not
completely shut off. ECU mounted on the Exhaust side firewall inside
the
scuttle. ECU too hot to touch. Issue resolved with added ECU cooling
installed. |
| 10/25/2002 37,300 |
Clutch cable brakes again. Seems
underrated.
Too much force is required. Snaps off, 1/4" back from the eye in the
footbox. |
replaced cable for now -
considering hydraulic.
Craft something from Pegasus or Jegs parts. |
| 12/19/2002 39,500 |
Weather perked up, so out I was, but
speedometer
failed again... |
replaced 1" flexible cable in right
angle drive
at the gearbox. Also shortened both ends of the main cable to make sure
it runs free enough to spin the speedo by hand from the gearbox end of
the cable. |
| 12/20/2002 39,501 |
Battery failed - low temperature starts
killed
it off. Fully charged, but capacity is not enough to crank a 10.5 CR
Zetec
at -0C /<32F temps. |
New Johnson Control (aka Sears Diehard)
sealed
Gel battery ($45) is perfect. Slightly lighter, fits about in the
same space and 340CCA ! Need to device pole caps for general
& track
safety. |
12/22/2002
39,600
|
Parked for the season
|
|
| 5th Year |
2003
|
|
| 2/1/2003 39,600 |
Back on the road |
|
| 4/15/2003 40,100 |
installed adjustable Leda shocks
and new
springs - however 275 / 200 lb/in F/R is too stiff . |
Handling improved significantly, but
since it's
a daily driver, I
ordered 220lb/in Front and 150lb/in Rear
springs.
Running 275/150 F/R now.
|
8/23/2003 44,000
|
rattle inside the muffler,
sounds like a weld had given away
|
lost 1 of 3 #4
exhaust
header bolts, others loose. replace/retorque - fixed.
|
10/08/2003 46,200
|
deDion tube failure...whoOAaa
Left rear shock mount cracked, causing 1" left rear suspension drop.
|
weld up the old tube
to
close season, ordered new tube .....
But..we're back on the
road within 2 days.
...I hope it's safe :-)
|
11/07/2003 47,100
|
Speedometer
out again. 1" flex drive wire broken - this is fragile when it gets
cold and the bowden cable stiffens. This is Wisconsin, it does get cold
here..
|
use a 1" x 1/8" square brass rod
section as a link between
right angle box and gearbox - no more troubles. Also, no more wavy
speedo needle.
|
11/25/2003 47,600
|
new deDion tube received.
Looks reinforced.
Also received hydraulic clutch actuation parts
|
Mounted - slight adjustments
needed, for brake-T mount and Z-arm openings, otherwise fits fine
|
12/09/2003
47,800
|
Season ends
- snow and salt are here.... it's hard to stop :-)
|
|
6th
Year
|
2004 |
|
2/1/2004
|
Back
on the road again of course !
|
|
5/1/2004 49,000
|
Starter solenoid keeps hanging up.
This is still the old starter from the Crossflow. It's a Magneti
Marelli.
|
lubricate solenoid plunger. Dry
graphite works best. Also added heat shield wrap to the starter /
solenoid
|
7/6/2004 50,900
|
brake pads glazed (still about 30%
left)
|
replace (original) brake pads
|
7/17/2004
51,500
|
Nothing
to report.... just running
great, except the weather has been lousy in Wisconsin, hence not many
miles have accumulated this year.
|
July
3/'04 Black
Hawk
Farms track day...
kinda washed out....
|
12/31/2004 53,000
|
The car
has been very solid this year, but driving has been curtailed by THE worst weather we've seen here
in Wisconsin in a while, with perpetual downpours. Some rain is no
problem, but there are limits :-)
Fortunately the 2004
driving season ended with a perfect 45 degree F -
blue sky day - I suppose global warming has even reached Wisconsin
|
7th Year
|
2005 |
|
March
53,000
|
Back
on the road!
|
|
May
55,000
|
Just
running good, but... the weather has not cooperated. Cold is ok, but
rain is not great.
|
Brake light
switch is out again... need to really fix this..
|
September
58,000
|
Rear
brakes glazed
|
new
rotors, new pads
|
11/30/2005
59,000
|
Season
closed... winter is early
this year
|
|
|
|
|
8th Year
|
2006 |
|
February
59,000
|
One
30mile spin - 35F, but that's enough!
|
|
3/12/2006
|
Last
spin with the old gearbox - time to change!
|
3.36
1st / 1.81 2nd gear a 3.92 diff and a 2.0ltr Zetec does not work well.
Last year October visited Brian Hill and his team at BGH Geartech. He
put together an E7 kit for me, which I'm about to put in.
Original ratios: 1st - 5th 3.36 / 1.81 / 1.26 / 1.00 / .82
New ratios: 1st - 5th 2.75 / 1.75 / 1.21 / 1.00 / 0.85
|
3/29/2006
|
Not
much spare time, but, the box is done - time to put it back in the car
|
See Gearbox upgrade
page for details
|
4/1/2006
59,250
|
1st
run with the uprated box
|
sofar
so good. Better put some miles on it...
I just noticed that the old T9 boxes actually used trust washers on the
layshaft...
hmm.. maybe I improved it :-)
|
5/20/2006
60,000
|
Front
rotors worn
|
New
rotors and pads.
|
| 5/22/2006
60,400 |
Lotus
trackday at BHF - |
Gearbox
worked great! No more 3rd gear crunch. The dreaded front wheel
lift-off due to the 3.36 gear has finally been put to rest. Last year
with 3.36 and the sticky racing slicks, the car did a mini-wheely on
leaving the pitlane and I almost hit the exit wall...
We now have clean
starts with these new ratio's. |
6/2/2006
61,000
|
coolant
in the driver side
footwell - heater hose split
|
replaced
|
7/30/2006
63,000
|
ECU
overheating again after
coming of the freeway in 100F weather.
|
Added
noise filter to 5V
regulator, increased cooling fan capacity - seems to work
|
9/1/2006
63,500
|
Throttle
cable frayed... hanging
up in the sleeve
|
Replaced
it with the old
throttle cable I still had laying around from the Crossflow days.
|
10/15/2006
64,500
|
GEMS
ECU fails - replaced with DTA
S60
DTA S60 PRO is DTA's latest
development
|
This
DTA is an excellent
unit. Features, programmability, monitoring is quite a step up. Great
logging features!
Combined with a WB02 (Bosch NTK) gives much closer tuning than the GEMS.
|
12/1/2006,
65,000
|
Season
ends... it's very cold
here (10F)
|
|
12/12/2006
|
NOT!
|
Back
in the car! It's 35F
and dry, some rain washed much of the salt away.
|
12/31/2006
65,500
|
50F!!!....
yes, this is Wisconsin, not
Florida
(normally it's 10..20F this time of year)
|
Winter
has arrived.
|
12/31/2006
65,500
|
Left
rear lower shock mount
(1/2") bolt sheared
|
Issue
caused by trapping a small
section of bushing rubber under the washer, preventing establishment of
proper bolt tension, leaving it to bend and fatigue. Used larger plated
washers this time and ensured proper seating.
Replaced all lower suspension bolts with plated Grade 8.
|
9th Year
|
2007 |
|
1/3/2007
65,500
|
Left
lower A arm balljoint needs replacement.
Locknut loosened itself .... Retightened for now, but need
replacements. Not bad for 65k miles.
|
new
ones ordered - will install these when it gets warm(er)
|
1/5/2007
65,510
|
Left
lower rear shockmount bolt shears off.
Had to get tools from home (10mi's) and do roadside repair.
|
Replaced
all lower suspension bolts with Grade 8 plated.
Suspect this failure was due to trapping some piece of bushing rubber
under the bolt washer, preventing proper bolt tension to establish,
causing significant bending stress.
|
1/26/2007
65,550
|
Using
full sequential injection mode causes cam sensor errors below 1200rpm,
i.e. idling >5 secs stalls the engine.
|
Replacing
Ford's magnetic cam sensor with a Honeywell Halleffect device. The DTA
S60 ECU has both magnetic and Hall effect inputs. The Honeywell-IGT101DC
does not quite fit, thus a bushing is needed to fill the gap as well as
an
O-ring to seal it off. Bushing: L =
.5", ID = .705", OD = 1.01"
Zero cam errors now!
Solid idle, smooth shifts.
|
5/31/2007,
67,000
|
Throttle
cable is not fully returning
|
Replaced
with 1/16" heavy duty mountain bike brake cable.
|
5/31/2007,
67,000
|
Overheating
when sitting still in traffic jams in 90F weather
|
Replaced
cooling fan
thermoswitch (in filler neck) with a 75C model (was 92C) - works
perfect even in super hot 90F (32C) weather with traffic.
|
7/22/2007, 69,500
|
Front
wheel balance issues.
Haven't had this in a while. Proper centering of the rims is important
as I've noticed that with hasty wheel mounting (track days) the rims
may not be perfectly centered possibly.
|
Last
session had 22 (!) stick-on pieces of lead on one of the
wheels..
Back to traditional transverse and radial balancing solved the issue.
Just 2 small rim weights / wheel. Wow.. now it's good.
Oh.. that's $12/wheel.
|
| 10/16/2007,
71,700 |
Speedo
out ...again. - check
this eve, probably the cable at the right angle drive fell off... the
Oct 8 track day was great, but new Avon's did vibrate slightly, causing
things to come loose.
|
The right angle drive had vibrated
loose.. no big deal. The high speed running at Road America probably
did that. Car still vibrates >100mph and power is off > 120mph,
due to having "lost" the ECU map after the TB issue... to be corrected
over the off-season months.
|
11/22/2007, 72,100
|
Ok, season end is here. Snow
came
last night and a lot of salt. That's it then. It's early this
year, but given the length of the "to-do-list", it may well be a good
thing, as I still can't stop driving this car...
|
|
10th Year
|
2008
|
|
3/11/2008, 72,100
|
First drive in 2008! At last.
It's now a balmy 33F, almost +1C, here in Wisconsin. Still sheets of
ice and snow, but no salt!! Salt ran out in January having
received a record 90" of snow fall.
|
Car needs tuning, the TB's aren't
properly tracking since last year, drawing false air on idle...
I'll work on it, but I need to get some driving in first :-)
|
|
|
|
|
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