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What is the 2B
[Or, dietary tips for Sierras]

The Build Diary
['99 - Aug. '00]
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[January '01]
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[July '01]

The SVA
[Did my 2B pass?]

On The Road
[Whats it like then?]
[And now it's been improved!]

New for 2003
[Suspension Mods]

New for 2002
[Engine Mods]
[Fuel Filler]
[Custom Instuments]
[Rear Shocks]

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On the road - part two
May 2002.

September 2002 - At an RAF Station in Norfolk

This year the 2B has reached new popularity with the buying public, who seem to be getting a much more sorted car for their hard earned readies. Wishbones are now only £150, you get a purpose cut bit of angle steel for the seatbelt mounts and all sorts of spring coiled around some shocks that at least look more the business. At only £50 a go I intend to fit a pair of these to replace the truly awful things on there at the moment, an item on that should appear soon. The front end of 1403 remains sliding pillock (as Hoodies seem to have christened them ) as the cash wasn't available this winter. Hopefully next one will see the new set up on there, though I am not sure what to go for yet. Probably I will end up with a set of Locost type wishbones, RHE's coil-overs and Sierra rack and hubs, but we will see. Expect a thrilling tale of hack-sawing, welding and cut fingers next year!

To continue the road test however, this year sees the car a very different beast. The reason is simply the new motor. As it has only clocked 600 miles at the time of writing I haven't yet been able to really floor the throttle, but even restricted to about 3500 rpm to run in, it goes like the proverbial faeces from a manually operated earth restructuring implement. It has not been set up on a dyno as it runs so well that I don't yet feel the need for the extra ponies this may well bring. (Update - November 2002 - Now fully run in, the engine displays a fairly typical pinto abhorence for revving, but is impressive enough up to about 4500 rpm. It is still an improvement on the stock motor at these revs, but really needs a different cam and carbs to breath better.)

The engine mods described elsewhere have resulted in a very smooth running (for a Pinto) motor that picks up revs quicker than standard and pulls very hard from idling speeds upwards. The freer breathing, now with a proper ITG foam type air filter, gives every indication of continuing past the current rev limit up to about 5800-6000 rpm, which is the normal Pinto maximum, as I haven't lightened any bits like pistons or rods. It also idles very cleanly, needing only a tweak on the DGAV's mixture screw to sort things out.

Plugs seem to burning a good colour, so I assume the fuelling is about right at the revs so far used, including a 300 mile high speed ( 70-80 mph ) motorway run in mid April. The only problem was caused by the temperature sensitive vacuum valve on the inlet manifold, which was sticking shut again after it warmed up, resulting in full advance all the time and no idle. This was soon sorted by bypassing it Cortina style!

Overtaking is now an effortless exercise in terms of 4th and even 5th gear roll on times, but if you give it some stick in 3rd then 70 or more mph arrives very fast indeed. Wheel spin out of roundabouts and junctions is difficult to avoid if you want to leave fast, especially in 1st, so I guess more rubber will be needed soon as well. All this on the first choke of the carb too, I don't think I've opened the second one yet! First and second gears are too low for such a light car, but that would be a bit awkward to change, so I have to live with it. When I get new tyres I will try to raise the overall gearing a little that way. The quick shift gear change is great though, if you have Cortina/Sierra box on your car, give this a try, much quicker and more precise too.

One area that did concern me was the engine temperature, but it seems just as stable as the 1600. It is a little lazy to warm up but once there stays steady until the traffic gets slow and the sun shines ( not often enough! ) but then the fan takes care of things so no worries on that score. Talking of temperature, it gets very hot under the bonnet, so it a good idea to have either your air filter sticking out into the breeze, or do something like I have done, and use a piece of the old Sierra heater duct to feed fresh air around the carb when the car is moving. This colder air is much denser and thus contains more O2 per cubic foot of 'air' which obviously helps produce more horsepower. This is why your car runs so much better on a cold frosty night and worse on a hot sunny day (Note - altitude is also a factor but since not many of us will be using our 2Bs in mountain climbing expeditions there is not much point in worrying about it!).

I can't give any figures yet, but if the 1600 version was a bit slower than a typical GTi, in terms of 0-60, then the 2060 one is a good bit faster. A theoretical time of around 5.8 seconds has been suggested by a little programme I found which takes into account engine characteristics, tyre sizes, drag, gearing, weight, layout, etc. Top speed from the same source was 107 mph which seems a little low but then the Seven is not an aerodynamic car to say the least! Wind blast at 80+ is an effective limit anyway. Talking about figures, the fuel consumption was a surprising 45+ mpg on the aforementioned m-way trip, I suppose the engine is just more efficient now and the 2B is not a heavy car to drag around.

The new rear shocks, detailed elsewhere, are a lot better, the 320 LB springs seem to suit the car a lot nicer than the Lux-o-ride affairs there before. These Zemmeride thingies are standard on the 2B now I believe. Quite right too!

Windscreen, heater? Maybe soon!