Project Car / Motorbike thread. Let's see 'em.

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Welds look good. In relation to the "plates welded onto the chassis by the previous owner", will you pick them up on the inside with the cage or otherwise reinforce them? Those old chassis are typically so flexy that a seriously non-compressable piece like your gearbox crossmember may be the strongest thing across that part of the car. Big thick plates welded onto thinner pressed steel can often lead to cracking at the HAZ (esp. if the previous owner was not meticulous with his cleanup before welding).
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Previous owner was a panel beater and built the body to rally spec, seam welded and chassis is reinforced and all solid. If I wasnt happy I would have plated the ploor and made a shorter mount but it is all very strong.

He was planning on a turbo YB and Sierra Cosworth 5 speed. The location of the plates is almost perfect for our combo which was nice.

I might be onto an early YB myself, not that I would put it in this. Too late now.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
A spare? Where did you find one...

View attachment 351612
I gave three Pinto engines away. They were the 2L OHC engine sold here in the Escorts but I guess you mean the whole thing. Horrid, horrid engines. Cast iron everything and cam lube is via a thin copper tube that gunges up and ruins the head. The block though was the base for the YB. You can buy an alloy Pinto block now.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
On the subject of Cosworth engines, this doco is worth a look:
The Minardi 2 seaters have the V10 Cossie engine. I have a conrod, valve, timing gear and finger follower. Amazing engine with pneumatic valve springs and motorcycle like engine speeds. There are a few articles breaking down that engine and looking at the technology. Pretty amazing. I have a fair idea of the basics of this current era but the detail would be stunning.
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
Watching an old Harry Metcalfe vid & decided to cyberstalk his house location based on landmarks & shops he drove past. Because fun & creepy.

here
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Engine mounts done and gearbox mount completed. Relatively straight forward. Tube notched the pipe to suit the mount outer section and weld in place. The pipe also looks like seamless rollcage tube so probably a low Cr low Mo steel. Air cool rather than quenched. Pressed in the mount and the fitted that to the frame that was welded up. The only tricky bit was cutting the pipe to length at the right angle. For that I used the notcher to cut some 40mm pvc pipe and then trimmed that back and forth until it was the right length and then one more measure and cut the pipe support. Happy to sacrifice that than cut the support too short!

Lie under the car and tack weld in situ and remove to weld out. Once the engine mounts were done the gearbox was centred finally and the last piece of that mount tacked. This bit is interesting because there is not a lot of space under the middle of the car for me and a helmet. Anyway all done now. Need to trim a little more off the crossmember flange but that will only take a few minutes. Final positioning of the chassis mount and a stiffener to be done. Will try and get the front suspension fitted up tomorrow and then spin the shell around to concentrate on the diff. First to swap the 5.1 gearset out for a more useable 3.89:1 and then work on the Watts linkage and trailing links. Diff is a heavy bastard of a thing.







The tape drive belt is holding up well.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Me again. Fitted the engine we will be running to finalise ancilliaries and locations for mastercylinder reservoirs, catch can, evaporation and expansion tank etc. Fuse box and wiring in the engine bay will also be fitted. Dip stick tube has been bent and fitted but I still have to check levels. The engine and box will come out to paint the engine bay then final engine fitment and exhaust. Changing the crownwheel and pinion and then mounting the diff and links will be the next step. Injector holes will be plugged and the rail removed.



Changed the dome filter for a box, much better fitment. Still have a good 45mm above the inlet trumpets.



This gives an idea how far back we can run the engine. The centreline is about 100mm behind the front axle line. The normal heater bowl sits through the block and head!



These are stock XR4 headers, compared to



These.

Next project is lined up too, will look a lot like this



Rwd or awd is the question...
 
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