Bad news - after 650 miles, my exhaust system cracked! It split at the front of the silencer, just before it enters the rear of the collector pipe. I phoned Quantum, who said that mine wasn't the first car to suffer this problem. Steve sent me a new silencer, a new rear tailpipe with a much bigger and stronger mounting bracket, a bigger and stiffer rubber bobbin and a pair of Quantum's custom engine mounts. The new engine mounts greatly reduce the amount of engine movement compared to the original Sierra items. Mark at Quantum believes that the amount of engine movement with the Ford mounts contributed to the failure of the exhausts. I've had no further problems with the new components, but I'll be keeping a very close eye on them!
I've recently decided that I'd gone a bit over the top with the amount of plastic spirap in the engine compartment. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it now looks rather plain and tacky. All the rubber fuel hose and its spirap were removed and replaced with new hose, which is covered in a smart stainless-steel braid. My cheap plastic fuel filter was already beginning to look a rather dirty yellow colour, so that was replaced by a new chrome and glass Pro-Fuel item. Some red Goodridge Pro Clamps finished it all off neatly. I also bought some stainless-steel over braid to fit over the wiring looms between the headlamps and nose cone, then modified some panel-fit fuse holders to make some bezels for the looms where they exit the nosecone.
The next items I didn't like anymore were all the visible cable ties and pop rivets, so I drilled out as many pop rivets as I could and replaced them with small stainless socket button screws, washers and nylocs. All the cable ties in the engine bay were then replaced with P clips, secured with more stainless screws and nuts. When I originally planned the specification of this car, my priorities were to make it safe and reliable, without paying too much attention to any "show car" detailing, so I'm rather surprised to find myself spending time and money replacing perfectly good components, simply because they aren't pretty enough! Several people have told me that a kit car is never finished. They were right!
Some more shiny new parts have been added to the rear bodywork. I eventually managed to find someone locally who could make some stone guards to fit the front of the rear wheel arches to protect the gelcoat. They're made from 20 gauge stainless-steel, with a brushed satin finish which nicely matches the side panels. We did experiment with taller guards that went further up the arches, but they just didn't look right, so the inner edges are exactly the same height as the side panels. They fit perfectly and I'm really pleased with them - they fit so well that they only need to be secured in each corner, which is just what I wanted. As all four sides are different lengths, plus the bottom edge is curved, it would be difficult to use more screws or rivets and keep an even spacing around the guards.
At the end of March 2001, Rod and I took the Xtreme up to Interpro Automotive at Thornbury, for a rolling-road tune-up session. All went well, with only a few minor adjustments needed - the points gap was slightly too big, the ignition timing was slightly retarded and the carburettor needed rejetting, especially in the mid-range where it was too rich. The outcome of all this was a power output of 108HP - exactly what I had been told to expect. Apparently, a standard 2.0 carburetted Pinto puts out 100 -105HP, if everything is working properly. My extra few HP are due to the less restrictive air filter and exhaust. Dave, the rolling-road operator, suggested that the maximum power may creep over 110HP with some more miles on the engine. As the test and corrections took slightly less time than usual, Interpro didn't charge me for the replacement jets. I must admit that seeing, hearing and feeling my pride and joy being worked very hard on the rollers was rather disconcerting. The power runs were done in fourth gear, with the speedo reading well over 100MPH at times. Thankfully, the engine builder had done a good job, and all the oily bits stayed where they should be!
Unfortunately, on the way home, the car broke down! Exiting a roundabout, I heard a metallic "tinkling" sound from the engine. After another 50 yards, the engine abruptly stopped. Attempts to restart it only resulted in a lot of coughs and backfires. We whipped the bonnet off, and soon deduced that there was no spark at the plugs. Further investigation revealed that the rotor arm wasn't going round! The cam belt was still on and everything else was turning. We concluded that it wasn't anything we could repair on the spot, so I rang the AA. Fortunately, the car stopped next to a very wide stretch of pavement, so we were able to get it off the road while we waited. Luckily, I had taken the whole day off work and Rod (who's now retired) had nothing planned for the afternoon.
After an hour's wait the AA man arrived and immediately removed the distributor. He soon found that the drive gear on the bottom of the distributor wasn't turning the distributor shaft - the roll pin which connects the gear to the shaft had sheared clean off! He didn't have any replacement pins, or the tools to remove the broken bits of the old pin, so he said he would tow us home. He then realised that the Xtreme hasn't got any towing points! As there was nowhere for him to connect the metal towing bar the AA uses, he called for a recovery truck and went on to his next job.
Having waited for another 45 minutes, the truck arrived. It was one of those amazing lorries on which the whole bed of the truck moves backwards and then tilts down to meet the ground. As there was nowhere to attach the winch, the three of us managed to push the car up onto the bed. The truck driver soon had it strapped on securely, so off we went. We eventually arrived home at 3.30pm. Needless to say, several of my neighbours were working in their front gardens and witnessed my ignominious return!
With the car back in my garage, Rod found that when turning the distributor shaft, it suddenly locked solid. After taking it apart, all became clear. One of the screws that held the baseplate in had come out, fallen though the hole in the baseplate and jammed between the advance weights and a projection in the distributor body, locking everything up. Obviously, something had to give and that something was the roll pin. The tinkling sound I had heard just before the car stopped must have been the screw bouncing around in the distributor. After drifting out the broken bits of roll pin and straightening the advance weight pivots and spring mountings, we managed a temporary repair, so that I could attend a local Quantum owners' meeting that evening. I drove the car very carefully there and back and on the following Saturday I spent several hours driving all around Bristol trying to find a replacement roll pin. The irony of it all is that I fitted the fully reconditioned, points-type distributor for greater reliability! It's my own fault - I should have checked the tightness of all the screws in the distributor when I fitted it to the engine. It would only have taken a few seconds. What a lot of delay and bother caused by a poxy little screw! Still, it could have been worse - at least I wasn't far from home and it was a dry, sunny day.
The old rear exhaust mounting bracket...
...and the new.
The new shiny fuel hose and fuel filter.
Headlamp loom braiding and polished mounting brackets.
Stainless steel stone guards.