Fitting New Seats, Lights And Cigarette Lighter

[tomturd]

Right...

Started preparing the car, or should I say were now making the preparations for preparing the car for the rally..

Basically I was wanting to know, does anyone happen to know of (comfy) front car seats that are compatible with a mk1 fiesta? Maybe out of an escort or something... I really dont know. We went looking today for some replacements around a few scrap yards, but they were all closed, apart from one which had some nifty ones in a metro up there. That would obviously require making a bracket to mount them into the car though. If its unlikely that we will find some comfy ones that'll just slot straight in we'll have to make a bracket anyway..

The cigarette lighter we've got a good idea on how to fit.. but any ideas about spot lamps? Do they just hook up to the battery, with a wire going through a switch mounted to the dash? Or is it harder than that?

[Bucky]

Mk3 fiesta si seats should fit if not get something and swap seat runners over.

Cig lighter if it doesnt have one just take a live wire from somewhere in the dash and whack a fuse somewhere.

For your fog/spot light, take a live from sidelight or headlights stick a relay in and a switch on dash.

or go to halfords/motorworld and get a wiring kit for £24.99 with instuctions and all wiring needed.

hope it helps.

Bucky

[trials_pimp]

The best seats you could get for a MK1 Fiesta would be a set from a MK1 S model.

Or if the subframes from a MK3/4 RS turbo will fit, you can stick 90% of all recaros in.

Cigar lighter does just need a 12v Live, fused, and an earth.

And as bucky says, get a ready made wiring kit.

Tip: Older seats, if you can get them in good nick, are alot more comfortable then newer, harder seats.

I personly would use a set of Recaros from a RS Turbo escort, but they can be pricey. Recaros From a Capri would be a very close 2nd, and are better priced/available.

[Si-man]

Tip: Older seats, if you can get them in good nick, are alot more comfortable then newer, harder seats.

I personly would use a set of Recaros from a RS Turbo escort, but they can be pricey. Recaros From a Capri would be a very close 2nd, and are better priced/available.

very comfy seats, mate has the original ones in his series 1 escort (20 years old) and god theyre comfy!

[Trials Punk]

Get some wipacs on the front.

Something semi decent. Last thing you want is dragging the exhaust behind you after not seing a huge hole in the road in the night.

You should really be calling the spots a saftey device.

Have you got a roll cage aswell?

If not try and get someone to make sopmething up for it. You could get a nice one but your looking at £400 min.

Edited July 2, 2006 by Trials Punk

[tomturd]

Mk3 fiesta si seats should fit if not get something and swap seat runners over.

Cig lighter if it doesnt have one just take a live wire from somewhere in the dash and whack a fuse somewhere.

For your fog/spot light, take a live from sidelight or headlights stick a relay in and a switch on dash.

or go to halfords/motorworld and get a wiring kit for £24.99 with instuctions and all wiring needed.

hope it helps.

Bucky

You were spot on with the Mk3 fiesta seats (not SI ones though - just normal ones), they look wicked. And I managed to fit them in a couple of hours with the help of a drill Not bad for £30 with a free fag lighter chucked in.

Can you explain the relay bit a bit more? We've got some lights, and a wiring kit, theyre attached to the bumper and everything but not wired in yet. Just been scratching our heads wondering what on earth to do. The diagram that comes with it assumes you want the lights to come on when you put the full beams on, but we want to only have them come on when you switch the switch. My knowledge of electronics is poor to say the least.

The wiring kit came with a relay, switch, wire, bits and bobs.. I'm confused as to whether we actually need the relay with what we want? Would a simple circuit, as in the diagram do (dont laugh)

[attachmentid=5802]

Have you got a roll cage aswell?

Have we f*ck.

Cheers for the advice, I think a roll cage is out of the question really, theres no chance it'll go fast enough for it to end up rolling and way out of our price range! And we've sorted some lights too, errrr... theyre the cheapest we could find but they only have to last 4 weeks before the car gets ditched/auctioned off.

[Danny]

If you wired them up like that the switch would just end up melting. Most switches unless there some big heavy duty things cant take the current that the spots will be drawing. The relay acts as a kind of remote switch separating the low and high current circuits.

[nmt_oli]

You will need the relay, and some beefy wiring. dont forget spare builbs and fuses.

Heres a diagram, hope it makes sense.

sorry its so small, any Qs just ask.

Edited July 4, 2006 by nmt_oli

[Gavyn.]

slightly off topic but is a car wired in series or parallel. and should your earth not go back to either the chassis or the neutral

also is a relay a small magnetic switch which converts a small voltage into a larger voltage cuircuit?

in physics we made the car headlamp cuircuit for a small model car and we used a capacitor to let the bulbs fade between on off instead of blowing them every time we switched them.

[adamtrials]

Why would anyone in Mongol want to buy these modified and clapped out cars that have just driven thousands of miles? Thats the bit i dont get about this whole rally thing...

[Trials Punk]

Well you don't have to sell them, just push em off a cliff maybe. Find a lake, or a fire.

[nmt_oli]

slightly off topic but is a car wired in series or parallel. and should your earth not go back to either the chassis or the neutral

Depends which bit your lookign at wheather its series or parralel, but nominally paralel. And the earth does go back to the battery negative, the bodywork of the car is connected to it.

also is a relay a small magnetic switch which converts a small voltage into a larger voltage cuircuit?

most relays have 4 terminals, 2 inputs, 2 outputs. one set is for the low current 'signal', the other set for the high current 'application'.

the signal current triggers a switch inside the relay, switching on the application current.

Is very useful, as you dont have a high current going through a switch directly, and means a shorter route for high current wires.

Why would anyone in Mongol want to buy these modified and clapped out cars that have just driven thousands of miles? Thats the bit i dont get about this whole rally thing...

They dont get a lot of our cars over there, so it is novelty/better than what on offer.

[JTM]

I can also confirm that mk3 SI seats are comfy and have uprated side bolsters

[Danny]

Something like this 'should' work

[attachmentid=5806]

When you complete the low current circuit (i.e. press the switch) the coil in the relay turns into an electromagnet and latches the switch inside the relay.

[tomturd]

You will need the relay, and some beefy wiring. dont forget spare builbs and fuses.

Heres a diagram, hope it makes sense.

sorry its so small, any Qs just ask.

That looks good. I can understand that In 'real size' does it have the numbers for the relay? I can see somethings written around it but cat quite make them out. Can anyone else confirm it'll work?

Why would anyone in Mongol want to buy these modified and clapped out cars that have just driven thousands of miles? Thats the bit i dont get about this whole rally thing...

My cars only on 77,000 miles, will be on about 86,000 id guess by the time we get there. So not exactly as if it'll be totally buggered. Plus people over there are generally poor and cant afford cars. Auctioning off 150 relativly new to them cars will let people who otherwise wouldnt be able to afford cars to buy them. I'll take a couple of pictures of the kind of cars out there and you'll see that the cars they have already are pretty shit.

Plus its part of the contract we signed that the car has to be in good order when we hand it over, IE no ripping the back seats out.

I can also confirm that mk3 SI seats are comfy and have uprated side bolsters

Hmmm uprated side bolsters? Ours kinda have sticky out bits on the sides... not sure if they came out of an SI though.

EDIT: nah, just found some on ebay, ours most definatly are not the Si ones.

Something like this 'should' work

[attachmentid=5806]

When you complete the low current circuit (i.e. press the switch) the coil in the relay turns into an electromagnet and latches the switch inside the relay.

I have no idea what that diagram is meant to mean

[adamtrials]

Something like this 'should' work

When you complete the low current circuit (i.e. press the switch) the coil in the relay turns into an electromagnet and latches the switch inside the relay.

Theres no resistor on the switching circuit, so the current will be the same on both sides

But yeah, i think that should work with a few corrections...

[Tony Harrison]

Just out of interest, will Mk4 Escort seats fit in a Mk3 Fiesta?

Sorry, I won't ask anything else!!

[tomturd]

Ok ignore my last question, its all sorted! Wohoo.

Not sure how, but with know knowledge of cars at all, in 3 days we've managed to sort out the seats, fag lighter and driving lamp things. Well happy.

Cheers for the help everyone

No doubt i'll be back for more...

[trials_pimp]

Now all you need to do is make your car look the part.

Get a roof cage.

Have 4x Spot lamps on the front of it

2x Spare wheels in it

Bags at the back of it.

Fuel and water cans on the sides

2 more spot lamps at the front, bellow the bumper

Massive Nudge bars accors the front and rear of the car

Get the Tallest Tyres you can fit under your arches

Raise the suspension by about 2"

couple of numbers on the doors, and 1 on the bonnet

Sponers stickers Neatly placed

Have your wipers going all the time

Make sure the car is nice and muddy

Have a toolkit in the boot, another spare wheel, jack, stands, spare gearbox in veiw in the rear window

And the last spare wheel on the bonnet.

Your car will Look PROPER rally.........

[tomturd]

Now all you need to do is make your car look the part.

Get a roof cage.

Have 4x Spot lamps on the front of it

2x Spare wheels in it

Bags at the back of it.

Fuel and water cans on the sides

2 more spot lamps at the front, bellow the bumper

Massive Nudge bars accors the front and rear of the car

Get the Tallest Tyres you can fit under your arches

Raise the suspension by about 2"

couple of numbers on the doors, and 1 on the bonnet

Sponers stickers Neatly placed

Have your wipers going all the time

Make sure the car is nice and muddy

Have a toolkit in the boot, another spare wheel, jack, stands, spare gearbox in veiw in the rear window

And the last spare wheel on the bonnet.

Your car will Look PROPER rally.........

Haha sounds good in an ideal world, but we lack the knowledge/money/will to do most of that stuff We've been specifically told the car must be 'considered crap', if you make it too easy for yourself the organisers may fine you/make you donate more to charity.

We've got a proper roof box.. kind of a shame cos its a bit of a pansys way out, but its free and my mates parents were only gonna bin it anyway. Its got 2 extra 'driving lights' on the front now which should be plenty really. Tools, spare tyres and jerry cans are all sorted and will go in the boot, clothes, sleeping bags etc in the roof box. Dont particularly want jerry cans strapped to the side of the car, that would be a recipe for disaster if we crashed!

One of about 20 teams who made it all the way to ullanbator didnt even take a spare wheel with them. Lots bought the car a few days before they left, and fixed it while waiting to get on the ferry, and lots of people say that it seemed to be the teams who prepared the least who made it, and the ones who applied loads of mods and put loads of effort in didnt make it all the way. So yeah, less preparation = more fun, thats my theory

Speaking of bigger tyres... we've been offered 6x 13" tyres for £40. We've currently got 12" ones on. Would putting the bigger wheels/tyres shag it in the long run? Or would they be alright? Again... we really have no idea

[trials_pimp]

wider tyres would make the journey safer, and more comfortable.

You would have better road holding, and greater vibration damping.

but, you have to makre sure they wont foul the car on full lock, and full suspension travel.

Also make sure they are the right rims for the car. Stud Spacing (PCD) Offset, ect

[nmt_oli]

DO NOT go for low profile tyres though. you dont need to worry about handling really, sa your not going to be thrashing it the whole time. you want reliability and availabiity. std wheels wheel be a lot more available to replace. plus the higher profile tyres will give more comfort than lower profile ones as they will have more give.