Exhaust

Been waiting on a stock of exhausts to come into Kitspares so it was good to receive this new exhaust through the post earlier in the week, together with the exhaust mounting bracket.

Apart from some exhaust paste (thanks Halfords!) before you can fit the exhaust to the manifold you will have to saw two slits into the manifold pipes approx 4cm long. This will enable the manifold to contract when you slide the exhaust onto the end of it.

Once you have the exhaust in position you can mark where the exhaust bracket fits relative to the exhaust outlet, take it all apart and then.... realise you will have to also take out the passenger seat to drill the holes!

Initial pilot holes from underneath then opened out from above. The bracket fits into place with Nyloc nut and bolts. remember to apply the nut from underneath in the unlikely event it comes off the bolt will still remain in holding the bracket on!

Put the passenger seat back in, re-fix the seat belt - what a faff, something else to add to the growing list of "Don't get too far ahead without seeing whats coming down the line to fit" list.

Apply the exhaust paste, push the exhaust onto the manifold and clamp in with the exhaust clamp wiping away any excess paste. Apply the exhaust spring to the bracket, exhaust outlet and hey presto one exhaust fitted.

Looking more like a car now!

Clutch cable fitted

Recent trip across to GBS garnered a few purchases including the clutch and throttle cable. I'll come to the throttle cable later however the clutch cable is a nice easy fit.

Reading several builds and talking to GBS, "notching" a nyloc nut seems the way to go in terms of fitting the cable to the bell housing. whilst the end of the cable slips over the clutch fork that extends outside the bellhousing.

the other end, passes through the pedalbox and connects to the clutch pedal via a "fork" connector - Note the pedal hole will need opening up  and whilst hindsight is a wonderful attribute I wish I had done that before the pedals were fixed in!

As you can see from the photo below, the initial line up of the cable through the pedalbox is skewed to the right hand side of the panel - not wishing this to start binding on the panel I subsequently opened up the hole a little more to remove any risk of it binding and causing any friction. 

Engine Wiring loom

Focus continues on getting the engine bay completed.

Next step is the engine wiring loom which follows similar principles to the main wiring loom provided by GBS i.e plug and play, easily labelled etc 

The electrics on the car has filled me with dread and it is the one aspect of the build I am least looking forward to, so anything which makes this job easier is a tick in the box for me.

The main challenge is routing the loom and working out where to cable tie to the chassis, its worth spending some time on this as we all want it to look professional and neat. That said, there is plenty of slack provided on the loom so you can be quite creative in the routing.

'Erring on the side of caution, I have left the loom loose on the passenger side whilst I get a better feel for where other electrics fit, plus I still need to Finish off the battery loom run from the alternator round to the starter motor.

I could not resist placing the plenum in position to see how it all fitted...

Water rail kit

Following the recent open day at GBS I acquired the GBS in-house water rail kit which is a full kit of all the parts required to install the water rail to the engine

Whilst visiting I also acquired the Hose-kit and overflow header tank so basically everything needed to connect the cooling system together between radiator, engine and overflow.

First task is fitting the thermostat housing elbow which is a simple bolt onto the engine job, however it is extremely important the external surfaces are flat and smooth to avoid pressure loss and leaks. This was achieved using some sandpaper and rubbing the elbow on a flat surface to remove the powder coat and achieve a smooth flat finish.

A gasket also fits between the housing and engine block which was held in place with a dab of gasket seal. 

This is then all bolted to the engine with three bolts...however on reflection i would recommend this is fitted BEFORE the engine is installed, getting to a couple of the bolts with the engine installed whilst not impossible does require some spanner dexterity plus the distributor will need loosening and moving away in order to get the top right hand bolt in:

So with the elbow secured to the engine, I added the alloy thermostat housing onto the top, again using a gasket as a seal between to the two parts, two Allen bolts hold the housing place, followed by the thermostat and cap - all straight forward.

Next, the water rail is fixed to the side of the engine. Before that can be done, you will need to remove some surplus to requirements heat shield from the engine block, this will expose some holes which the water rail bolts through:

Like the other parts, the water rail is held in with a couple of hex head bolts and washers, again all straightforward.

Last piece of the water rail jigsaw is fitting the 90 deg blue pipe to connect the thermostat to the water rail - as you can see from the the pictures this will need cutting to size which is a simple task using a very sharp knife (see my next post on a dead easy way to achieve a clean cut). Once cut to size its all held in place with jubilee clips.

So part one done - next step is to fit the "plumbing" between the water rail and engine.

Alternator

Now the engine is in situ in the chassis, I can turn my attention to start fitting the ancillary components such as alternator, water rail / cooling circuit, plenum etc. First job on the list, alternator.

GBS do a nice kit with all the parts needed to fit the alternator, all to the very usual high standard of manufacture although it did prove to be a bit of jigsaw to work out what goes where when you open the box up!

I spent approx half an hour sorting out out all the bits and working out what goes with what and where each bracket fits to the engine and cross referencing other builds as a guide, hopefully the photos show what goes where...

I also took off the powder coat on the alternator brackets where the alternator mounts into the brackets in order to provide a solid earthing point

Once the components have been identified its a simple case of bolting to the engine.

There is no right or wrong way to fitment however I fitted the top alternator brackets first (will need the engine lifting lug removing) followed by the bottom bracket, which includes a spacer bracket which goes between the engine and bracket. (Note the lower bracket utilizes an existing bolt mounting point on the engine).

 

The final bracket to fit is the tensioner pulley bracket which again uses an existing bolt/mounting point on the engine block, together with a spacer for the side mounting position.

The tensioner pulley was also fitted at this stage and kept slack ready to take the belt.

Once all the brackets are installed it is a simple case of 

mounting the alternator onto the upper/lower brackets and taking a straight edger between the alternator pulley and the tensioner pulley to check the belt will run square, several space washers were need on the lower bracket to get the two pulleys square with one another.

All good, the final fit is the belt which is held in position by adjusting the tensioner pulley to apply sufficient tension to the belt to prevent it slipping and coming off.

 

Overall a relatively quick job. Main time is spent working out where the various bits go!

Engine install, tidy up

Back in the garage Wednesday evening.

took the opportunity to check the centralization of the engine in the chassis , all good:

I also removed the thermostat housing in readiness for the GBS water rail kit. In hindsight I would recommend you remove this BEFORE the engine goes in. It is held on by three bolts of which the bottom one, is dead level with a cross member on the scuttle. There is just enough room to loosen this bolt and for the thermostat housing to come away, so not a big showstopper by any means but on reflection, easier to do before the engine is dropped into the chassis

I also checked the bellhousing against the transmission tunnel - you do need to ensure some of the bellhousing is cut away before dropping the engine/gearbox in. Although the picture does not show this too well, thankfully I had judged how much to cut away late last year and there is enough space for it not to snag  (picture below middle right shows the cutting which has to be made)

I have not yet, drilled and bolted the engine mounts into chassis as there may still need to be some slight adjustment left/right depending how ancillaries are fitted and routed in the engine bay. It is not moving anywhere fast and is solid in the chassis so I am happy to leave it for the interim. Once I have get better comfort on the ancillaries i'll get it drilled and bolted.

The radiator, steering column and oil dipstick were also put back in place.

Some pictures of the installation as it currently stands:

Engine is in!

I used the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend to get the engine installed into the chassis. So cry for help went out across South Manchester with the bribery of bacon rolls, sausage rolls, tea, coffee on offer to willing attendees!

A good turn out of family to which I am eternally grateful to and I will give a shout out at the end of this post. Photos were provided by my Niece Jessica and I hope they encapsulate the team effort on the day.

Before the engine, gearbox was dropped in on the Saturday morning prior I had fixed the correct engine starter onto the bellhousing. All straight forward, three bolts hold it in although the bottom bolt near the sump can only be tightened when the engine is in position in the chassis and you can get underneath the car to access the bolt.

Although I had prepp'd the engine bay with padding earlier in the month, I took the opportunity to also remove the front radiator, steering column and move away loose wires on the wiring loom to avoid any potential damage.  

Time to take a deep breath, stand back, go have a cup of tea, have a think, have a read and work out the approach to take in dropping the engine in.

So the approach I had mapped in my head was:

1. Install from the drivers side
2. Winch up the engine/gearbox
3. Guide it round and over the engine bay (from the drivers side)
4. Tilt it and drop it into the chassis, 
5. Push the draft shaft into the gear box and locate on the gearbox mount
6. Fix on the engine mounts
7. Centralise left and right on the centre line
8. Drop down onto the engine mounts which sit on plates welding into the chassis.

Simple eh!

Before all that could be done, we had to re-locate the whole chassis further back into the garage which entailed lifting the rear with the engine hoist and using heavy labour on the front to shuffle the chassis back to enable better access to the engine bay.

I also elected to stand the front of the chassis on one axle stand centrally located to allow for better access by the engine hoist and it not to snag on two axle stands.

Once all that was done, time to apply the approach detailed above...

Too be honest, it worked as described, the challenges were:

• Guiding the engine up and over the chassis and controlling the drop on the hoist gently enough to not bash the chassis and drop the engine too rapidly - plenty of helpers to guide the engine over and judge the rate of drop  

• Getting enough tilt and forward movement on the engine to point it down and under the scuttle, I cannot recommended enough that you invest in an engine tilt / loader leveler, this will help no end in getting the gearbox pointing down sufficiently, then use some muscle to push it under the scuttle into the transmission tunnel.

• Use a trolley jack underneath to support the gearbox at a level which allows for the driveshaft to push on cleanly and level. It is then a case of jiggling, pushing the engine, gearbox onto the driveshaft and locating the gearbox into the rubber mount whilst controlling the drop on the hoist. It was hard to see if the gearbox had located into the mount and too be honest it was more a case of feeling with fingers to establish it had located successfully.

• Once the engine/gearbox has successfully located onto the driveshaft and it is still supported by the hoist, fix on the engine mounts and tighten to the engine, then while judging the centre line / centre of pulley are lined up, drop the engine down on its mounts onto the the chassis plates.

Overall i would guestimate it took around an hour to complete start to finish. It went way better than I expected and feel this is huge milestone in the project finally getting the engine into the chassis
 

With grateful thanks to (in no particular order):

Sue, Alice, Neil, Vicki, Jess, Becky, Alex  - what a team :-)

Bits N Bobs engine and gearbox prep

Grabbed a quick couple of hours in garage yesterday.

First job, fill the gearbox with oil. 1 litre of SX75W-90 GL-4 semi synthetic gear oil fed into the gearbox.

I was going to fit the starter motor, however hit a snag with that one. Purchased the Lucas LRS707 after extensive research only to discover the pinion on the motor does not meet the flywheel on the engine. So more research and it now transpires I need a Lucas LRS543 (or equivalent) when mating a 2.0 Zetec to type 9 gearbox...

need to put call into Direct Auto Electrical in Manchester to a) see if they have the LRS543 and b) will they exchange for the LRS707 I bought not so long ago.

This is one of the frustrations where some basic clear and concise guidance would be appreciated, just saves aggravation in the long run and adds a further delay...

So, with that idea parked, I turned to the engine bay and got that prep'd ready to accept the engine. Foam padding round the exposed powder coating which might get bashed with lowering the engine in, some paper put on the engine mount points to allow for the holes to be marked/drilled and moved some exposed wiring harness out of the way which may get caught with the installation.

I also marked a centre line on the lower cross frame to act as a datum/centre line when lining up the engine in the chassis.

Gearbox to Engine

I think we are ready to mate the gearbox to the engine...

Feel this is a bit of landmark as the I edge ever closer to the day of installing the engine into the chassis.

Just a case of manhandling the gearbox to the engine and easing it into position. 

The new ATR lowered sump provides a level surface for the engine to sit stable on the floor, so in terms of additional packing under the engine and gearbox to get everything level, very little is needed apart from some blocks of wood under the gearbox mounting point.

The gearbox is fixed into position with 5 bolts and tightening them in pulls the bellhousing closer to the engine. As per Haynes manual torqued to 45lbs

One thing I need to check is the clutch release lever/clutch bearing. I'm not too sure how slack, loose, tight this should be - gut feel moving the clutch release lever it feels too loose, need to do some reading up on this to understand what i should be looking for. <update, all good! realised pulling it wrong way, rookie error, Doh!>