Front End & Steering Assembly

Trial fitted the front end assemblies and steering rack.

The alignment of the wishbones needed adjustment (modification).

Fitted the steering column and checked the travel and it up

All this equipment needs to be removed to allow the fitting of the side body panels.

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The steering rack mountings supplied by GBS were replaced with some 'sexy' billet aluminium units supplied by Rally designs.

Hub Assembly - front drivers side

Installed the front drivers side assembly.
1. lower wish bone
2. suspension assembly
3. lower trunion
4. hub carrier
5. mounting and mudguard bracket
6. upper wish bone
7. upper trunion

Rear Brake line

The rear brake line was installed from the master cylinder along the inside of the tunnel. The tube was tie wrapped to clips that were secured with rivets. The red fuel line was also installed using the same method.

Body Panels

Started fitting the body panels.
The right angle chucks and cobalt stubby drills made the job much easier. I also bought a vice mounted sheet metal bender.
The panels fitted in order are:
1.Footwell front - both sides
2. Footwell Inner - both sides
3. Tunnel panels - passenger
4. Rear bulkhead panel

Gearbox modification - BGH Geartech Ltd

I have sent my gearbox to BGH Geartech Ltd for modification to match the gear raitios to the engine and differential ratio to give me a linear performance across the range.

Based on my 170bhp Zetec and Diff Ratio of 3.92 I have opted for the following.

Fast Road - E3 – 2.0 Sporting Close – Heavy Duty
Gear - Ratio - MPH
1st - 2.92 - 41 mph
2nd - 1.86 - 65 mph
3rd - 1.295 - 93 mph
4th - 1.00 - 121 mph
5th - 0.85 - 142 mph

Gearbox Mount

The gear box mount fitted in place.
The location dead central over the hole allows around 20mm play (forward/backward) which GBS confirmed is acceptable for a Type 9 gear box installation. The width of the standard Ford engine mount needs to reduced slightly to fit between the chassis rails. I fitted a washer between the mount and the chassis to raise the mount clear off the countoured underside (saves having to alter the chassis or the mount).

Hand Brake

At last we have some progress - after much deliberation I settled on using the standard Ford Hand Brake as it best fitted the chassis mountings and gave the best positioning.

The saddle had to be mounted below the hand brake linkage to avoid it catching on the chassis when the hand brake is pulled.

This was done by tapping the linkage to lower the saddle position.

As the standard Ford Sierra cable inner is too long for this application it was cut in the middle and jointed using "Gripples"

Routing the cable was fairly straight foward once I accepted that the holes in the chassis weren't a perfect fit and that I would have to cut the standard cable fittings off and custom fit new ones .