Discussion
Dear all,
Sorry for a lengthy post.
I thought I would share some improvements done over the last 2 years to my S3C(C). I bought her new back in 1990 but have sold and rebought her a few times (5…) but now she stays, Ol’ Daisy.
Wheels are 18” from a previous owner. I do have the original Oz and they will be refurbished any day now. In my opinion 15” is to small and 18” to big. A set of Spiders with 16” in front and 17” in rear would have been nice. Maybe….
First of all, the exhaust centre box is emptied. Some more noise. Nice.
Headers are heat wrapped as can be seen in the pictures. Not really necessary and really a relic from when she ran supercharged. Then it was essential. I still think it’s good to get the heat under the bonnet down as much as possible.
New race cats (200 cell) fitted with polished heat shields from member Peter Essling. Big difference with much less radiated heat from cats towards engine.
New black silicone hoses from ACT fitted, looks good. Bought a kit from them and it was an easy install. Also installed a wide “protector clamp” on the upper hose to protect from fan belt flex.
The audio system was updated which turned out completely useless as the new exhaust system made that redundant. Sometimes one should do things in sequence instead of parallel…
The original fan makes a lot of noise with an older blade design and does not move so much air (1100 CFM) so a new fan, SPAL VA08-AP70/ LL53A, was sourced and fitted (almost 1900 CFM). The fan is connected to a new relay as it draws more current and I also installed a manual override switch so I can cool down manually if stuck in traffic. No more heat problems.
New headlight bulbs from Osram (Night Fighter) make a good update. For the rest all the lamps are now LED’s.
Side indicators changed from original squarish to nice oval ones. Also LED which means that indicator relay is changed for an electronic relay.
After taking the blower out due to MOT complaints, I still wanted some more acceleration and I ended up with changing the diff from 3.64 to 4.27. Now that was a change. I do sacrifice some top speed but the S is not particularly pleasant to drive fast anyway with the less than stellar aerodynamics.
Years ago, I bought a Ford LSD unit from a RS500 that someone wrecked at Brands Hatch and that unit tagged along into the new diff. Big difference with LSD with this gearing.
I bought a Scorpio/Granada diff with the correct gearing (4.27) and when mounting it was difficult to get it in. Turned out that they are wider than the Sierra ditto with a lot of case strengthening castings. And by a margin… I had to grind down quite a bit to get it up there. -Keep learning the hard way. The are not really the same diff house as they are asymmetric but measures look right and it seem to work so far. The drive shafts are from Cosworth but with TVR flanges.
Much more fun to drive now and especially when accompanied with the quick shifter from Richard's (Kitschki) on this Forum. Just brilliant.
And somewhere on the way the clutch cylinder gave up so that is also new.
Over the years the engine mounts had sagged so new ones was sourced and I opted for the stainless cups to keep the rubber in shape. I was lazy so I just released the engine mounts (and some other stuff…) and lifted the engine enough to get the old ones out and the new ones in. Worked fine after some fiddling. I bought mine from Retro Ford, nice chaps.
New brakes front and disc conversion in the rear. Front is new 4-pot with 283mm Evora grooved vented discs and Rear is Evora grooved Cosworth 271mm non-vented with new callipers. Mintex all around and works fine when up to temperature. I did not go for the brackets in the rear but bought brand new billet Cosworth racing bearing houses. That also widened the stance slightly. The mounting of the bearing house was certainly not straight forward as the centre of the bearing house did not fit in the TVR trailing arm so it that had to be machines a bit. And the pattern of the bolts was not absolutely in line either….
Thank to Hans in the Netherlands (member Hansdaal) for helping with designing and sorting out the braking package!
I also swapped all the brake lines for braided ones that I had made to length but a local race shop.
And for chassis I have mounted all around Poly bushes from Powerflex. I used PTFE lubricant and that seem to work just fine so far. It’s really for bikes but has all the characteristics you want to lubricate poly bushes.
Shocks are updated from stock to GAZ Gold with a lot of support from Derek at Absolutely Shocks. Clear improvement albeit I want my car a little lower than standard and then one has to be cautions that the spring seats properly. The springs are 450 foot pounds in front and 357 in rear. I run them fairly loose as I have very low-profile tyres, 9 clicks from zero in front and 8 in rear.
After the chassis changes, I did a full wheel alignment setup. Big improvement and really recommended.
Also a few years ago when she used to go supercharged (blower still sits on the shelf after last MOT) so I added a CD ignition from MSD and a better coil from Accel. That made a big difference. When supercharged the original Ford ignition spark was to weak so we lost all power above 0,3 bar of boost. Hence the MSD box and bigger coil.
To fit the MSD box the battery was moved to the trunk.
I also mounted some high temperature leads with protective socks on them. Not sure it makes any difference but it looks good.
I don’t trust the original electric dials so a few years ago I fitted a Racetech dual gauge with mechanic oil temp and oil pressure. It’s located below the wheel to the right. Just as a precaution…
I also installed an all separate low oil pressure warning light (and sender on the block) in the dash together with a shift light just beside the speedo (ignition cuts out at 6500 rpm).
The engine has an older tuning with fully ported heads and intake and some other internal changes to stand the strains from the blower. And she runs an uprated ECU with manual adjustable fuel pressure valve. Nice pops and crackles.
Being ambivalent if I’m going to install the blower again or just drive and have fun I decided to install a cold air intake. Being lazy, I found a two-to-one silicone hose and then just re-routed the air intake to an air filter in front of the radiator. The alu tube passing the radiator is made oval to fit.
The oil filter is relocated so she can take a full-size filter and a big Setrab oil cooler is also mounted. Does not matter now but was essential when running supercharged.
The hood mount is changed and moved to the inside of the hood mounts as per suggestions here at PistonHeads.
I also swapped out the old dog’s ears mirrors for new chromed Miata MX5 ones. Much better rear view and looks better also.
I also added some LED light bars in the air intake dam to use as day driving lights. Over here all cars must have full light on also at daytime.
A few things remain. I would like to add a roll cage but would only want one looking like the Cobra hoops but I have not figured out how to do that yet.
I’m also planning to do something with the seats as they do not provide enough lateral support for “spirited driving”. I have 4-point harnesses mounted and that helps some, but the seats need improvement. Maybe re-upholster the originals with some more padding or potentially find some replacements but I understand that there are not that many alternatives.
The heater pack leaks and is hence disconnected. I will have to replace that at some time and I dread a little to take the dash out as the electrics of these cars is not really meant to play around with.
I’m also going to mount a set of spacers to move the wheels out a bit. Just 5-10mm or so.
The blower still sits on the shelf and maybe some day…..
Thank you for reading
Kind regards
//Rob
Sorry for a lengthy post.
I thought I would share some improvements done over the last 2 years to my S3C(C). I bought her new back in 1990 but have sold and rebought her a few times (5…) but now she stays, Ol’ Daisy.
Wheels are 18” from a previous owner. I do have the original Oz and they will be refurbished any day now. In my opinion 15” is to small and 18” to big. A set of Spiders with 16” in front and 17” in rear would have been nice. Maybe….
First of all, the exhaust centre box is emptied. Some more noise. Nice.
Headers are heat wrapped as can be seen in the pictures. Not really necessary and really a relic from when she ran supercharged. Then it was essential. I still think it’s good to get the heat under the bonnet down as much as possible.
New race cats (200 cell) fitted with polished heat shields from member Peter Essling. Big difference with much less radiated heat from cats towards engine.
New black silicone hoses from ACT fitted, looks good. Bought a kit from them and it was an easy install. Also installed a wide “protector clamp” on the upper hose to protect from fan belt flex.
The audio system was updated which turned out completely useless as the new exhaust system made that redundant. Sometimes one should do things in sequence instead of parallel…
The original fan makes a lot of noise with an older blade design and does not move so much air (1100 CFM) so a new fan, SPAL VA08-AP70/ LL53A, was sourced and fitted (almost 1900 CFM). The fan is connected to a new relay as it draws more current and I also installed a manual override switch so I can cool down manually if stuck in traffic. No more heat problems.
New headlight bulbs from Osram (Night Fighter) make a good update. For the rest all the lamps are now LED’s.
Side indicators changed from original squarish to nice oval ones. Also LED which means that indicator relay is changed for an electronic relay.
After taking the blower out due to MOT complaints, I still wanted some more acceleration and I ended up with changing the diff from 3.64 to 4.27. Now that was a change. I do sacrifice some top speed but the S is not particularly pleasant to drive fast anyway with the less than stellar aerodynamics.
Years ago, I bought a Ford LSD unit from a RS500 that someone wrecked at Brands Hatch and that unit tagged along into the new diff. Big difference with LSD with this gearing.
I bought a Scorpio/Granada diff with the correct gearing (4.27) and when mounting it was difficult to get it in. Turned out that they are wider than the Sierra ditto with a lot of case strengthening castings. And by a margin… I had to grind down quite a bit to get it up there. -Keep learning the hard way. The are not really the same diff house as they are asymmetric but measures look right and it seem to work so far. The drive shafts are from Cosworth but with TVR flanges.
Much more fun to drive now and especially when accompanied with the quick shifter from Richard's (Kitschki) on this Forum. Just brilliant.
And somewhere on the way the clutch cylinder gave up so that is also new.
Over the years the engine mounts had sagged so new ones was sourced and I opted for the stainless cups to keep the rubber in shape. I was lazy so I just released the engine mounts (and some other stuff…) and lifted the engine enough to get the old ones out and the new ones in. Worked fine after some fiddling. I bought mine from Retro Ford, nice chaps.
New brakes front and disc conversion in the rear. Front is new 4-pot with 283mm Evora grooved vented discs and Rear is Evora grooved Cosworth 271mm non-vented with new callipers. Mintex all around and works fine when up to temperature. I did not go for the brackets in the rear but bought brand new billet Cosworth racing bearing houses. That also widened the stance slightly. The mounting of the bearing house was certainly not straight forward as the centre of the bearing house did not fit in the TVR trailing arm so it that had to be machines a bit. And the pattern of the bolts was not absolutely in line either….
Thank to Hans in the Netherlands (member Hansdaal) for helping with designing and sorting out the braking package!
I also swapped all the brake lines for braided ones that I had made to length but a local race shop.
And for chassis I have mounted all around Poly bushes from Powerflex. I used PTFE lubricant and that seem to work just fine so far. It’s really for bikes but has all the characteristics you want to lubricate poly bushes.
Shocks are updated from stock to GAZ Gold with a lot of support from Derek at Absolutely Shocks. Clear improvement albeit I want my car a little lower than standard and then one has to be cautions that the spring seats properly. The springs are 450 foot pounds in front and 357 in rear. I run them fairly loose as I have very low-profile tyres, 9 clicks from zero in front and 8 in rear.
After the chassis changes, I did a full wheel alignment setup. Big improvement and really recommended.
Also a few years ago when she used to go supercharged (blower still sits on the shelf after last MOT) so I added a CD ignition from MSD and a better coil from Accel. That made a big difference. When supercharged the original Ford ignition spark was to weak so we lost all power above 0,3 bar of boost. Hence the MSD box and bigger coil.
To fit the MSD box the battery was moved to the trunk.
I also mounted some high temperature leads with protective socks on them. Not sure it makes any difference but it looks good.
I don’t trust the original electric dials so a few years ago I fitted a Racetech dual gauge with mechanic oil temp and oil pressure. It’s located below the wheel to the right. Just as a precaution…
I also installed an all separate low oil pressure warning light (and sender on the block) in the dash together with a shift light just beside the speedo (ignition cuts out at 6500 rpm).
The engine has an older tuning with fully ported heads and intake and some other internal changes to stand the strains from the blower. And she runs an uprated ECU with manual adjustable fuel pressure valve. Nice pops and crackles.
Being ambivalent if I’m going to install the blower again or just drive and have fun I decided to install a cold air intake. Being lazy, I found a two-to-one silicone hose and then just re-routed the air intake to an air filter in front of the radiator. The alu tube passing the radiator is made oval to fit.
The oil filter is relocated so she can take a full-size filter and a big Setrab oil cooler is also mounted. Does not matter now but was essential when running supercharged.
The hood mount is changed and moved to the inside of the hood mounts as per suggestions here at PistonHeads.
I also swapped out the old dog’s ears mirrors for new chromed Miata MX5 ones. Much better rear view and looks better also.
I also added some LED light bars in the air intake dam to use as day driving lights. Over here all cars must have full light on also at daytime.
A few things remain. I would like to add a roll cage but would only want one looking like the Cobra hoops but I have not figured out how to do that yet.
I’m also planning to do something with the seats as they do not provide enough lateral support for “spirited driving”. I have 4-point harnesses mounted and that helps some, but the seats need improvement. Maybe re-upholster the originals with some more padding or potentially find some replacements but I understand that there are not that many alternatives.
The heater pack leaks and is hence disconnected. I will have to replace that at some time and I dread a little to take the dash out as the electrics of these cars is not really meant to play around with.
I’m also going to mount a set of spacers to move the wheels out a bit. Just 5-10mm or so.
The blower still sits on the shelf and maybe some day…..
Thank you for reading
Kind regards
//Rob
Thank you. She turned out alright after almost 30 years. No problem keeping up pace with some of my high horsepower Prancing Horse buddies on vindling roads, where weight makes a difference. But when there is a long straight it feels like I have almost parked when the major diff in horsepower shows its face (>430). All in all not bad for an old lady.
An auto just adds weight and besides I would have to can my new nice quick shifter :-)
I'd rather use the extra weight for more power like putting back the blower and give her some help with aspiration. It does not give that much horsepower but loads of RW torque and already from low revs.
Last installation was done in late 90's and ran for about 10 years. It was done with equipment of the day with all the limitations that brought. If putting it back today there are so many options so it could be done much tighter and with a better control system. I would not go the blower way from scratch today due to costs, but now I do have a twin screw compressor on the shelf with most of the pieces needed so costs would be minimal. We will see.
//Rob
An auto just adds weight and besides I would have to can my new nice quick shifter :-)
I'd rather use the extra weight for more power like putting back the blower and give her some help with aspiration. It does not give that much horsepower but loads of RW torque and already from low revs.
Last installation was done in late 90's and ran for about 10 years. It was done with equipment of the day with all the limitations that brought. If putting it back today there are so many options so it could be done much tighter and with a better control system. I would not go the blower way from scratch today due to costs, but now I do have a twin screw compressor on the shelf with most of the pieces needed so costs would be minimal. We will see.
//Rob
sebackman said:
.....An auto just adds weight and besides I would have to can my new nice quick shifter :-).....
The auto quip was just a joke (see other post) but I'm sure you would have the technical ability do do it if the fancy took you. The twin screw compressor sound like a much better use of your time and skill. What are you waiting for?
No worries I did see the other post and I think installing a slow and heavy slush box is not appealing. However, I would not mind a moden light weight and quick 6 or 8 speed auto box with paddle controls….
My engine runs a RS Williams cam with higher lift and some overlap so power band is slightly higher. The higher gearing in the diff demands more shifting and you can actually use 4th and 5th gear for spirited driving. With the standard gearing the 5th (and 4th ?) is for highway only or long straights on the track. Overall the car feels much more responsive and is easier to keep in power band.
Don't know how much it improves the figures but it certainly feels much quicker and responsive when driving. Top speed is about 120 mph. That is enough for me in an "S". 62mph is just below 3000 rpm with my wheels.
Now, the blower is something else. On my car we got +500Nm torque in a light weight car. That is fun ! Almost 250 RW Hp @ 0,7bar, but its the torque that pulls when the LSD locks the rear axle.
I just need to figure out how to get MOT to accept the installation, its to much work to take it out at inspection every year. That is what is stoppning me now.
My engine runs a RS Williams cam with higher lift and some overlap so power band is slightly higher. The higher gearing in the diff demands more shifting and you can actually use 4th and 5th gear for spirited driving. With the standard gearing the 5th (and 4th ?) is for highway only or long straights on the track. Overall the car feels much more responsive and is easier to keep in power band.
Don't know how much it improves the figures but it certainly feels much quicker and responsive when driving. Top speed is about 120 mph. That is enough for me in an "S". 62mph is just below 3000 rpm with my wheels.
Now, the blower is something else. On my car we got +500Nm torque in a light weight car. That is fun ! Almost 250 RW Hp @ 0,7bar, but its the torque that pulls when the LSD locks the rear axle.
I just need to figure out how to get MOT to accept the installation, its to much work to take it out at inspection every year. That is what is stoppning me now.
Wow ! Long story ans good job 
Could you give us more information about the blower ? What model ? Eaton ? witch reference ?
What modification have you done on the injection system ? Did you keep the genuine ECU ? Did you rise the fuel pressure ? Did you lower the compression ratio on the engine ? How much power did you get ? At what pressure ?
Thank's.
Could you give us more information about the blower ? What model ? Eaton ? witch reference ?
What modification have you done on the injection system ? Did you keep the genuine ECU ? Did you rise the fuel pressure ? Did you lower the compression ratio on the engine ? How much power did you get ? At what pressure ?
Thank's.
AutoAndy said:
That’s a great narrative Rob, great story, and interesting story about blowers and diff ratios improving performance ...any figures by how much they changed things like acceleration?
...great car too.
Rob...great car too.
How about sending an article off to Sprint magazine? You appear to have written most of it above!
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