Upgrade Progress - final post of 2013

So the upgrades are taking their time but the weather hasn't been too good so no significant loss of drive time.

First of all the clutch - fundamentally 2 primary options for most Ford engine/gearbox combinations 220mm and 240m both with a 23 spline.  The original blacktop had a 240mm and the TTV light weight flywheel needs a 220mm, I could have returned the flywheel as there is a 2.0L blacktop version which would allow retention of the 240mm clutch but it's heavier than the 1.8L one I've got so I decided to keep it.  £80 bought a 220mm clutch but I could only get one for a MT75 gearbox which meant that I needed to get a new Release Bearing.  Basically needed a CCT132 rather than the CCT133 that was originally fitted to give an extra ~10mm of clearance unfortunately modern auto factors struggle with part numbers so it took a couple of goes (and ~£20) to get the right one - so now have the original CCT133,  a CCT134 as fitted to an Escort Mk1 (right offset but too small inner diameter), an MT75 one and the CCT132 (RS2000) that is now fitted to the car.  Still on the positive side I now know a lot more about clutches and how to measure offsets and have a clutch capable of supporting 220+ bhp so more than I reasonably expect to get out of the engine.

Christmas turned out too busy to allow any progress on returning the engine to the car but the Dorset WSCC Christmas Dinner was a real success with all who attended seeming to enjoy themselves - many thanks to Malcolm for all his efforts.

Myles and I fitted the flywheel (using ARP bolts) and clutch to the engine the release bearing to the gearbox just before Christmas but the garage was too cold and we had too much to do to make any really progress with the engine refit.

Weighed new flywheel at 3.7kgs versus 9.7kgs of the original Ford item.

With Christmas over and constant rain keeping temperatures in double figures James and I ventured into the garage.  First task was to replace the sump gasket, fairly straight forward and we did an oil change while we were at it.  Next we removed the engine mounts and made the finally preparation for reinstalling the engine. The actual installation was straight forward but we needed to jack up the gearbox bell housing as the gearbox mount is well forward and the only thing that holds up the bell housing is the engine.  Once the engine and gearbox were mated and bolted together and the engine mounts refitted the rest of the installation was a repeat of the original built with the only minor difference was significantly less access as the bodywork was now fitted especially for reconnecting the throttle cable - luckily Myles has long skinny fingers.







Fitting the new radiator presented a small problem with the temperature switch being in a slightly different place. James marked and cut out the fan mount to provide the clearance and we fitted the radiator.

Finally we fitted the new carbon fibre exhaust but will need to manufacture a rear bracket for it as the one from the original exhaust isn't suitable and I need to keep it for MOTs.

Once we'd checked everything was connected we started the engine and bled the cooling system - no leaks so far!

Just need to refit the front ARB, do the final torque checks and then wait for some decent weather in 2014.