Been a while since my last update, but again things have still been moving forward.
Coolant re-route:- Things have been moved on with this, all parts have now been sourced and the last parts are arriving tomorrow, there parts are custom made silicone hoses that have been designed by some one else on the WSCC forum.
One of the biggest problems was the lack of cooling capacity from the standard supplied radiator, so to over come this problem i have manufactured my own 'all alloy' one, with a much more efficient rad core, this one has more rows and is 50mm thick as apposed to the 35mm of the polo rad. this should be more than enough to keep the engine cool, and will also be efficient enough for when the car is turbo charged later in its life.
Cooling fan not working - after a lot of head scratching and looking at wiring diagrams i was unable to come to a conclusion as to why this doesnt work, the fan is ECU controlled so unless there is a problem with the ECU i cannot work it out. so to get round this i am going to add an electric fan switch purchased from CBS and use this to override the mazda's fan control. this will be incorporated into the re-route pipe work. set to come on the standard temp of 97 degrees, i have used one of the relays i fitted under the dash to operate it.
Engine running very rich - now when i have previously run the engine, it has been running very rich kicking out large amounts of black soot and running bad on idle, after reading a few forums the issue pointed to a choice of 2 options - a faulty coolant temp sensor, or a vacuum leak.
now after trying to work out why the cooling fan wasn't working i knew that the coolant temp switch works fine. which lead to me believe that the problem lays with a vacuum leak.
Now after a lot of searching, and head scratching, a light bulb come on and i remembered that when i rebuilt the engine i wasn't very happy with how well the fuel injector seals were sealing to the inlet manifold. so a new set of these were ordered and fitted, so once the cooling is back together i shall see if this cures the running issue.
new wheels - these arrived on monday and were very promptly fitted to the car, and i think they look amazing in the matt black finish. one small issue is that the toyo's 'Rim protection' on the side wall of the front tyres is making contact with the front mud guard bracket, but this will be 'adjusted' out of the way.
Carpets in - all carpets have now been fully fitted apart from the central tunnel which is in need of a bit of sewing to attach the leather gaiter of the hand brake to it, but once that is secured this will also be fitted.
Seats and harnesses are also now ready to be finally installed once the tunnel carpet is in.
Stoneligh Kit car show on sunday, lets hope the weather stays nice and i am sure my wallet will not stay in my pocket for very long, ( already eyed up my next carbon fiber purchase ) but will also be purchasing a lot of 'finishing' parts, such a various trims etc....
