ChrisC

Replace sump plug seal if you need one https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F111579550101

It’s a rubber o ring seal behind the sump bolt. Ford don’t sell them, only a complete replacement bolt, which I think is wasteful. You can find them on eBay. Ford Focus sump plug seal. Normally they can be reused a couple of times without problem, I didn’t change mine for the first two oil changes.

If you are looking at a K&N panel filter replacement, it's not the exact swap for the paper filter supplied in the kit. CC are supplying a different K&N panel filter to fit in the air box. So the paper filter (in my kit) was a Ford Part 1729854 which is for a Fiesta / Fusion (NOT ST150) 2001 - 2008. This should be replaced with a K&N 33-2853 which I purchased for my 360, but it didn't fit the air box very well so I ended up not using it. Recently a friend has a kit delivered (310) which had a K&N panel filter as standard, a 33-2036 (From Honda Civic and Nissan 300ZX) which from the photos I have seen appears to fit the air box much better.

Not 100% sure, but if you look at images of fiesta or focus sump plugs they look very familiar.

I have an ECU reading of 1.21 volts TPS idle. I don't have a WOT reading, I still need to do some work on my car to before I can get that.

I would not change to TBs to solve running problems. I would change to TB's for increased noise, looks and the extra 10bhp providing the tracks I like to visit allow the noise. There is one company Track 'n' Road in Rainham who has the Caterham version of Easymap, so they can change the locked Caterham ECU. They will be able to change the ECU strategy to TPS and map all the issues out. You will gain power and drivability.

I know there is a sweet spot for these 360/420 cars, and I know they can be improved with small adjustments with the throttle stop and vacuum. I suspect with your car there is something wrong, an air leak maybe giving the MAP sensor a bad reading, an earth problem or maybe TPS problem (maybe the start or a broken wires). Do you have access (or know a local club member) that's good with Easymap? Your not to far away if you want to drive over to Essex.

More likely to get black flagged for noise....

I will sample any car I can get my hands on, but I need to have the owner’s comments as well, like starting issues, etc. There is little point if it’s modified or custom-mapped, because it will be unique to the car. It would be about getting data that would help others get the best from their cars, in a similar way to the much-published 150 Sigma settings.

For reference what worked on my car was TPS at 1.21V, MAP 0.535 BAR It started hunting at TPS at 1.06V, MAP at 0.465 BAR, lower than that it was unable to maintain an steady idle. Remember the TPS on the 360/420 is fixed position, so no adjustment, this is only adjustment in the butterfly closed stop screw. These are only my figures, it would be nice to sample a few more cars to build up a "correct" or "best" settings from 360s and 420s that start cold without throttle and lack hesitation when pulling away. My intension is to recheck my information over the coming weeks.

Mine has been SORN as well, I have a few more tasks to complete my winter list, including doing all the work again with the throttle because I had the 420 upgrade done before winter and since then its back to its old tricks. You are right about the air bleed. I thought I could close the butterfly completely with the air bleed, but that started an oscillation that the ECU could not resolve at idle, so I had to settle with a small adjustment from that point. What year is your 360R, does it have the 2016+ plenum or the earlier bit more flexible black plastic plenum? The bungs are located near the butterfly, on the side (engine side) of the plenum. The cold starting problems also makes me think your throttle stop needs adjustment, after adjustment my 360 was perfect during cold starts, the 420 is now a nightmare.

I will add I did the same to a fellow club members 175 Duratec, with the aluminum plenum and transformed its idle and pull away, even though it wasnt the reason we where using Easymap on his car.

So your ECU/map in the standard 360R using MAP strategy to control fueling, where Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) is used to determine the fueling requirements. The Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is used to instruct the ECU as to whats required, i.e. acceleration or idle etc. You could think of the TPS in this setup as an old school accelerator pump, except it work for deceleration as well. This generally is considered the correct approach where MAP can be made to work, i.e. there is a nice plenum. It's less optimal with independent throttle bodies for example, where a TPS strategy is generally employed. Post build my 360R had exactly the same hesitance during pull away and reluctance to rev. Since I have Easymap I connected it up and found two things. 1, The throttle site was way off the throttle position. I am assuming this might be your problem as well. It seems the ECU in the 360R is permanently powered, and never resets the TPS resting position. To reset it you simply have to disconnect the battery, wait 10 seconds or so, and reconnect the battery. Doing this reset the throttle position to the throttle site on my ECU. This isnt going to be a problem if you have a battery isolator (and you use it). 2, Increasing the manifold vacuum during idle. I had a number of soft bungs, which I replaced with harder silicon items (that fitted better), and I closed the throttle to increase the vacuum at idle a little, making a more obvious change between idle and non idle. Not to much or it wont idle or cold start well, its all a bit of a balancing act really. Remember each adjustment must then have the TPS reset with a battery disconnection as above. With that my 360R was much improved, not perfect, but improved to the point I not longer thought about it. Alternatively you can take the car to someone who can alter the ECU strategy to TPS.

Given the price of rear disc, I think I would just replace them.

Recently I was lent a car, I drove it to the first roundabout, then drove is back to the lender because there was something wrong with the steering. The UJ clamp bolt was loose on the spline with the rack, and this permitted play, it felt exactly the same as top joint play your talking about. My dash vibration wasn't because something was loose, it was because the lower column resonated with the engine. Driving it was impossible to spot, but with the bonnet off and the revs raised to the resonate frequency the lower column was identified as the source.

Bolts are bolts, if they are the correct spec. If you want new source them locally and use loctite. I would guess 243, but not 100% sure, but would check the build manual.

I had a annoying dash vibration, turned out the be the steering column resonating with the engine vibrations at 2500rpm, The column didn’t touch the exhaust, so I know I had to change the columns resonate frequency some how. I did it by rotating the rack just a little putting the UJ at a slightly increased angle. Vibration sorted.

I had a gearbox that need repair under kit warranty. CC allowed me to drive until the end of the year before the warranty repair was carried out. That said I was able to avoid the problem, by avoiding high revs. Also are you comparing apples with apples? its my understanding the 620 still uses the Ford Sierra diff, where as the 420 uses the BMW.

Motul 75w140 is recommended by Titan (the manufacture of your LSD) and 75w140 is recommended by BMW so I would think that covers it.

3M Helicopter Tape

Your thinking to big. I guess the reason it didn’t have the correct code is the person loading it was distracted and then started with “Now where was I”.

I haven’t been black flagged yet at Bedford, but now my car has 420R spec it might happen. If it does I will be looking at a Raceco silencer before the CC rear exit setup, mainly because it can be repacked, unlike the CC item.

Log everything, you can always exclude the trace when viewing the results. Good luck and fingers crossed.

Do you know if the R400D has throttle bodies?

Never had a problem with my Sigma 150 decat. I also took my 360R last year, however for most to the day I was short shifting near the sound meters, only at the end of the day didn't bother and again no black flag or noise board. I have seen 420R Bedford videos on youtube, so it must be possible.