Iritating The Neighbours

This week I ar bin mostly - driving round the block.

There was a reason.

Since the Zetec went in the car it's had an annoying trait. There was a hesitation as the throttle was pressed & the engine came off idle - not every time, but occasionally as I perfectly clipped an apex & squeezed the throttle to exit a sweeping bend (it must've happened once I'm sure) the engine would bog down for what seemed like an age, but was more likely a split second. The problem also showed up when bimbling along in fifth, the engine would "rock" between on & off throttle.

My intention had been to take it for another rolling road session to have it sorted, but I'd never accumulated £300 before something else needed fixing. Then in a flash-of-the-bleedin'-obvious I sent the map to OMEX (makers of the Fury's ECU) & asked if there was anything obvious wrong.

I have been astonished by the response. So far I have had the map modified twice & advice on changing the settings on several other occasions, always with patience & helpfulness. so I've been driving round the same route each evening with the laptop data-logging the ECU, then send the log to Omex & within a couple of hours it's been analysed & changes suggested. Brilliant service, but then I guess that's what I paid the £800-odd for.

It appears to be running much better. Not quite right yet, but the man from OMEX said there may be a few things causing the symptoms, so I'm hitting them one by one.

Also on the subject of neighbours - it's the HollyBlatt this weekend. On Sunday a small but intrepid (not to say peckish) cadre of the SKCC will meet "somewhere in the south of England" at really early o'clock, drive round for a bit before appearing outside my house, where my wife & youngest daughter (possibly daughter-the-elder too in an all to rare show of "doingsomethingforsomeoneelse") will present them with a full English in return for donations to Holly's going-to-Kenya-to-help-the-children fund (not sure if anyone's consulted "the children" on whether they actually need help). In all seriousness it is a good thing. Holly is the sort of person who will just get on with it, & will make good use of her time there, to the benefit of both her & the children she meets.

So, come Sunday morning my small cul-de-sac will be the reluctant parking place for up to a dozen brightly coloured kit cars clogging up the exit to the main road. Fingers crossed.