Engine & Sump build

March 2008,

Whilst the chassis was being mock fitted and bracketry welded on the engine was also in need of attention, it was first stripped down and checked over by removing the sump and cam cover, many of the ancileries were found to be loosley fitted so they were removed, cleaned up and refitted with new gaskets, this included the water pump, thermostat housing, inlet manifold and cam cover. The timing belt was found to be in poor condition so was changed and the engine timed up accordingly.

A major part of the engine instal was the sump which would need to be signaificantly alterted to fit in the chassis. This involved removing the lower bowl section of the sump, and fabricating a new front bowl to give the sump a completly flat bottom and also extra oil capacity. This was done using strips of 18 gauge steel and involved extensive bending and forming using various equipment to ensure an accurate fit.

Once done, the plates were tig welded together and the sump test fitted to the engine. As a by product the shorter sump meant the oil pickup pipe would have to be shortened and the angle altered to ensure it cleared the new sump.

Bracket Fabrication

March 2008,

Once the car had been stripped down to the basic chassis it could be assessed to see what work need doing before being repainted. There were a number of important brackets missing from the chassis that would have to be fabricated then test fitted and welded on, in order to mount a number of components.

These included engine and gearbox mounts, panhard rod chassis bracket, steering rack & column mounts, radiator mounts, arb brackets, seat belt slugs, seat mounts and handbrake cable mounts. Much of this fabrication was done in 2 or 3mm steel and shaped accordingly using a bench cropper/guillotine/belt sander/angle grinder before being test fitted and then either tig or mig welded on.

It is important to test fit all components before painting to ensure the paint wont have to be ground off, a bracket welded on and then repainted because the item wasn't mock fitted in the first place.

Strip Down

February 2008,

The first job with the MK was to strip the car back to a bare chassis to asses the condition off it, from looking over it, it appeared the metal work had been done quite poorly and the time spent rectifying it would be worth the extra in increasing the value. This meant the entire car was stripped down with the axle, suspension and all the aluminium panel work removed. This left the space frame chassis ready to have the necessary brackets fitted and then repainted.

The engine and gearbox were then fixed in stands ready to be inspected prior to rebuild. All the parts that came with the car were also catalogued as some are surplus to requirements and so will be sold on to aid funding off the project.

A Business Deal...

December 2007,

Another aspect of our current task is to run the project as a business and therefore buy and sell cars/car parts to fund the building of our present 7. Part of our research for this included looking through local papers, ebay website, autotrader etc for anything that may be suitable for us to trade with, which after many weeks lead to the discover of another 7 type kit car for sale as an unfinished project. The MK chassis had had quite a lot of work done to it and included nearly all of the components to make a complete car bar the steering components, wiring and seats. Priced fairly competitively at £850 and located nearby at Crystal Peaks we decided a viewing was in order to asses its condition.

The viewing took place on Saturday afternoon and after being reasonably impressed with what we saw and some discussion with Jim, it was decided we would buy the car in the view to finish the build as quickly as possible with the remaining initial capital we had and then sell it on to recoup the majority of the money required to be paid back. This would allow us to finish the original car at a more relaxed pace and would hopefully make it a better car as the result of our experience gained working on the MK. This would also mean the majority of the money would be raised in one go rather than us constantly having to chase up small parts deal to recoup the rest of the investment.

After arranging a suitable time the car was picked up by trailer the following weekend and after some negotiation a further engine and gearbox were included in the sale for the original £850 asking price. Work would now be concentrated on the MK for the first part of the semester to get the bulk of the wok done with the aim to have it finished and sold by sometime in May.

Gearbox Overhaul

November 2007,

The next major component to be overhauled was the gearbox, this also originally came from a mk2 escort and this particular one is from the 1600 sport model which featured closer ratios than standard. The gearbox was purchased through eBay and collected from near Meadow hall. The first job once it had been picked up was to thoroughly clean it up and check for any damage.

The original plan then was to replace the oil seals & gaskets whilst checking over the gears and synchros as much as possible from the top of the box without removing them. This was duly started but whilst replacing the tail shaft gasket one of the clips in the gear hub slipped out of line meaning the main gear cluster would need to be removed completely to reassemble it.

This was a fairly major job but would mean we would gain a more in-depth understanding of the workings of the gearbox and meant we could check over the rest of it more thoroughly.

The job was started by rotating the tail shaft and then removing the lay shaft which would allow the second gear cluster to be lowered down into the bottom of the box and hence allow removal off the main cluster and input shaft. These components could now be checked over properly and it was then found that two of the synchro rings where worn out and would need replacing before the gearbox could be rebuilt.

Engine Overhaul Part 1

November 2007,

With the cylinder head awaiting work to the valve seats, the engine bottom end could be examined and overhauled as necessary. This involved removal off the sump and front & rear engine covers, the crankshaft and conrods cold then be checked and the torque settings on important fasteners confirmed.

Before refitting the front cover a new timing chain was fitted and the engine camshaft timing checked using a dial gauge and crankshaft timing disc. This setting can also be altered afterwards as the camshaft was fitted with a vernier pulley which allows precise alterations to the timing without removing the pulley. New gaskets where then fitted with a smear of sealant to the new covers and new oil seals where fitted to the front and rear covers. A new water pump was purchased and this was fitted along with the front cover to the engine.

The sump has yet to be refitted as it will require some further modification by introducing a network of baffles to the inner surface with the intention off preventing oil surge under hard cornering.

Cylinder Head

October 2007,

The engine we are using for this project is a 1600 crossflow originally from a mk2 escort, we have purchased the engine complete, but needing assembly. It has already had some machining work done, including a rebored block, uprated camshaft and an uprated cylinder head.

The cylinder head itself was overhauled by Vulcan engineering and is fitted with large valves, bowled combustion chambers and has been ported and polished. The work on it was done a number of years ago and hence we now need to fit unleaded valve seats to the exhaust valves to allow us to use normal unleaded petrol.

This will need to be done by a specialist machining company but first we will have to remove the valves and associated components.

This was done by using a valve spring compressor to force the spring down and allow removal of the valve collets. Once removed the pressure was released and the valve, spring and top cap could be withdrawn. It is very important to keep each valve together with its spring and collet to make sure they go back together the same way.

Once the unleaded seats have been fitted the valves will be replaced by a similar method.