My "new" Zetec S

Hi All,

Just got home to find bump stops have been delivered.
Built up rear shocks.
Shock bodies and top mounts are aftermarket, bump stops Ford ( new) and shrouds Ford ( reused )



Hoping for an early finish tommorrow so I can get these fitted.
Then tracking on Friday and I can get back to working on the ST.
Bought the replacement solid pipes for the ST rear axle swap, hoping they are not too hard to get bent to fit


Al

Hi All,

Nice early finish today and its chucking it down so rain stopped play 😢

Doing some homework regarding the rearaxle swap. I'm ok with the axle refurb as I've done an axle before.



The only bits I re used on this axle were the axle, the axle fitting brackets and the hubs.
Fitted new abs loom, wheel bearings, back plates, calipers and 15mm spacers.

Since I did this axle, I've refurbed the calipers that came with it to use on the zetec, so all I need for the zetec are the axle, the axle mounting brackets and the stub axles.
I've got new back plates, spacers, brake lines and wheel bearings.

The only bit I had issues with were the brake line/abs sensor brackets.


Tried to get new ones from Ford, but were told they wre discontinued. so had to reuse old ones.

So, my only sticking point is the fact I need to change the handbrake cable as the zetec one has different ends to an ST one.

So if anyones got any info I'd be grateful

Thx Al

Hi All,

Found some info, just want to make sure I've understood it. (pics taken off a utube video so not great quality)



It looks like I need to drop the exhaust and remove the rear heat sheids, leaving the front one in place.
The issue I've got is that when I fitted the MIlteck back box I cut the pipe before the rear silencer ( red line )


to fit the remainder of the miltek kit you need to cut where the blue line is, but I'm sure I've got a front silencer fitted ( which I want to get rid of)
I bought a front section without silencer


So, i'm thinking it might be a better bet to take the whole exhaust off, remove all the heatshields, do the axle swap with new handbrake cable, refit the heatshields and then refit the exhaust.
Longterm plan is to replace the front exhaust with SS, same dia as the milteck system.
Found an exhaust fabricator close to me who can do it, don't know if i can go any bigger with the flexi or if I an open up the front flange as I'm thinking they are the only restrictions after the cat.

HI All,

Was happy yesterday, but now not !!!!
Took for test drive this morning and have the same noise
Not as bad as before but still there, possible causes ( In my opinion, which is propably wrong )

Tracking - I know its out, but nowhere near as bad as before, nothing is rubbing
Everything needs to settle down - I've changed a lot of stuff. Subframes been out/in, new struts, wheel bearings, ar bar, drop links, wheel bearings. but to my mind, if everything is in and tight it should be ok.
Racks knackered - I fitted new o/s inner tie rod and with car on stands rack went lock to lock freely with no noise

so, I'm at the point of changing the rack ( even if its just to eliminate it ) I've got a perfectly good rack on the ST and another referbed one in the garage so I'm thinking of removing the ST rack and fitting it, if it fits

Al

Hi All,

Been working on the ST for the last week so not had much time to try and track this noise down.
Rack is off the ST but as you can imagine, I don't really want to go dropping the subframe if I've overlooked something straight forward.
I've checked all the subframe rear mounting bolts with the car on the ground - all tight, test drove - no difference
checked wishbone front bolts, had to do on stands as no room, test drove - no difference
checked shock to hub bolts, ball joint bolts, arb clamp bolts, rack mounting bolts - all tight - test drove - no difference

On one of the tests I hit a pothole and got an almighty bang.
Don't know if this is a factor, but tried to bounce front of car this morning and there is zero give in the front springs.


I didn't get round to having the tracking done as thought if I do end up having to change the rack I'll have to get it done again.
Is there anything I am overlooking ?


Many thanks
Al.

_jimmy_ said:

Could it be the drop links contacting something?

Click to expand...

Hi Jimmy,

I dont think so, I checked them when the car was in the air and they didn't appear to be hitting anything.

Went to the tracking place this morning, he had a look and found a couple of issues.

Spring binding on top mount
I've checked the mounts I bought and they are correct but they are not turning - the spring is jumping.

Hub knuckle hitting wheel on full lock
Don't really get this as I had ST wheels fitted before the other half hit the kerb and had no issues

Excess play in bottom steering UJ.
Can't see this would cause the noise, but may replace.

Been checking out all the parts I've changed to try and dermine if anything could be incorrect

Top mounts - say they fit 05 zetec S / ST150
Shocks - say they fit 05 zetec S - but don't list ST
Drop links - say they fit 05 zetec S / ST 150
Springs - say they fit mk6, but not fusion, TDCI or ST
Wishbones - say will fit 05 zetec - but dont list ST
Inner rack ends & track rod ends - say will fit 05 zetec / ST150

One thing the tracking guy did say and I had noticed but wasn't sure about was that the camber of the wheels was excessive.
So I may have found something.
As far as I know, there is no camber adjustment on standard fiestas, so, if the camber is increased, surely the only thing that would do this would be the length of the wishbones.
would this stop the spring moving correctly on the top mount ?

I'm rapidly running out of ideas

Al

Hi All,

Had a possible "eureka moment" this morning, which "may" shed some light on this problem.

I had always planned on polybushing the wishbones, and remember that when I got them, I stripped out the OEM bushes on 1, then ran out of butane, so took a wishbone off the ST being under the impression they were interchangable.
When I fitted the wishbones, I had a pig of a job getting the o/s ball joint to locate in the hub, everything on the n/s went in fine.
So, I'm thinking that this car has a zetec wishbone on the n/s, with no (noise issues) and an ST wishbone on the o/s, this wishbone is pushing the hub out too much, causing the camber issues and the shock issues.

wont get a chance to do anything today, but tommorrow, I'll change the o/s wishbone for the OEM zetec one and see what difference it makes.

Al

Hi All,

Rain has stopped play for last few days as far as getting this wishbone changed.

Whilst I know theres issues, I've noticed load clkonk when I come down off speed bumps, even at low speeds, so thought bump stops might be in order.

Managed to strip 1 of the oldshocks, but on the other one the top nut was siezed solid

resorted to grinding through the top and bottom coils ( with the spring compressed ) then removing the spring and grinding through the shock shaft.

Hey Presto, bits I need free



They look a bit grubby now, but I'm sure they will clean up ok

Hi All,

Had loads of plans for today, stripping shocks out, fitting bump stops & gaitors, replacing o/s wishbone but then realised that whilst I'd polybushed the n/s wishbone, the o/s was OEM so if I had fitted it I would only have to strip it out again in future.
So,
stripped out the OEM wishbone bushes from the "correct" Zetec wishbone


Believe it or not this is a "new" wishbone and it did clean up ok.
Checked out the diminsions of the rear wishbone mount - I was really hoping they wre the same, as the mount thats on the car that I've polybushed was off an ST.
They look identical so I can just use the mount thats already polybushed.

fingers x'd it all goes ok tiommorrow.