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.....Freshly coated, all the goodies salvaged from the original Mkl and a lot of new upgrades were bolted up (see Tech Spec). "With the good preparation the engine and box were actually dropped in and bolted up within 45 minutes," he says.
Ready For Action
Nothing seems to have gone too tits-up as George lists what went where and how. Not even creating the trick fuel filler, plumbing in the extinguisher, chopping and reforming the original exhaust and inventing the trick dash caused any problems. The only ball ache came with choice of rims. "I had some 14-inch RS seven-spokes, sent them off for refurbishment and found they wouldn't go over the brakes afterwards," he recalls. "The Compomotive MOs bought to replace those are pretty neat though, and apparently were the first of this type in the world - so there's a small claim to fame."
With the Fiesta ready just a week before our Bruntingthorpe thrash, George didn't have too much time to assess his handiwork but a 0-60 of 6.66 seconds, top speed of 121 mph and quarter-mile of 15.20 were none to shabby. "Since then I've chased down a couple of rattles and raised the boost from 6 to 9 psi," he explains, "but apart from that I'm leaving it well alone. It's as light and rigid as I can get, will spin the wheels in third and is as fast as I need. Chips and uprated injectors are too expensive anyway and will only risk blowing the motor."
George's main problem is going to be keeping away from his Fiesta. "My insurance was £900 but that was for a 3000-mile-a-year policy," he explains. "So far I've done 1500 of those in a couple of months." Better pay up a bit more then George, because we want to see your Fiesta out at the shows during the summer. Oh and keep an eye out for trees too, unless you want another six months' graft.
Captions -
Middle-Left - "Since Bruntingthorpe I've raised the boost from 6 to 9 psi - it's as light and rigid as I can get and will spin the wheels in third"
Middle-Right - Handling kept tight by uprated dampers, poly bushes and a rear strut brace.
Bottom-Middle - After an increase to 9 psi George keeps a close eye on the cockpit's boost guage.
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