Boy I'm getting tired of this cosworth

[TypeRboy]

Well for those few interested in the continuing saga of the Cortina, I finally got my valve shims ( which were 5 weeks wait and the wrong size and thickness, but were as close as Cosworth could get, and their advice was to cut them to size and hand lap them to thickness.. that was a fun couple of days!! )and put the motor back together.

Surprise surprise no oil flow to the cam carrier..AGAIN!

I've stripped this motor down and checked all the galleries as best that I can and there was nothing wrong.

So out it came yet again and apart it came yet again and I just went crazy cleaning out and blowing out the oil galleries. Re-assembled the thing today, and low and behold I have oil to the carrier.. The cams are swimming in it! Thank you mother Ford!

I'm too beat to finish it off tonight, but hopefully by tomorrow at this time I will be driving the car down the street. It would be nice to do more than just look at it like I had to do for the last year!

Oh and if anybody has a line on a pre-engagement starter for my Early Kent motor ( they are all the same with the 110 tooth flywheel ) please let me know! I have one of the aftermarket super starters but it doesn't clear the cross member, by a large amount. I really thing this car is out to get me sometimes... How could that starter fit in the tiny cramped Lotus engine compartment ( which it does..), but not in a Ford Cortina????

I swear if this messes up again I have a Zetec just waiting in the wings...

 

[Sherlock]

Sounds like some progress finally... And isn't a Cosworth a complex engine to work with anyway...

Hope you get your first drive tomorrow.

 

[kennypinkerton]

Let me know when you want to send it my way... Cheap! I'll take all those Zetec thoughts off your mind! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

 

[DrEntropy]

How different are the shims? Did Cosworth actually use a proprietary size?

 

[tony barnhill]

Ah, Cosworth....we won't talk about my '71 Cosworth Vega that blew up on me in Germany in '72....I think its still in Germany!

 

[michalotti_tr]

I had a Vega when I was in college - lost more oil than any (possibly EVERY) British car ever has! You could literally open the engine and see an oil mist around the engine! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif On the other hand, never had a mosquito problem around my house when I owned that car!

 

[aeronca65t]

Sorry to hear about your Cossie problems.

Recently I was thinking about a modern engine in a "classic" Brit car (like the Zetec), but a suitable rwd trans is hard to find (since many modern engines are fwd).

Then I realized that the 2.3 all-aluminum Duratech is readily available in recent Ford Ranger pickups (with a Mazda 5-speed trans). These engines are partly designed by Cosworth and weight less than 200 lbs but have about 150 hp and gobs of torque. I'd love to build a nice little "Q-Ship" around one of these engines.

 

[Nunyas]

I've been kind of partial to the MX-5 engine swap into a B. Same displacement, front engine/rear drive layout... never looked into it too seriously though due to funds, tools, and space limitations.

 

[DrEntropy]

[ QUOTE ]
Ah, Cosworth....we won't talk about my '71 Cosworth Vega that blew up on me in Germany in '72....I think its still in Germany!

[/ QUOTE ]

heh... who knows? I may be drinking this beer in me mitt outta what's left of it, Tony! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

Could be, Doc...the Mercedes dealer to whom I traded it tossed a little MG drivetrain in it & gave it to his daughter.

 

[TypeRboy]

Actually the trans for the Zetec are not a problem.. one of the sierra 5 speeds will work, and they are dirt cheap in Britain ( like 75 pounds from the breakers ). All the ford Kent 4 speeds are suitable also if the 5 speed doesn't get your mojo going, also any Merkur XR4TI tranny will work ( local source for Seirra 5 speeds )

My next project is to adapt the Ford T-5 trans to the Kent motor. That will solve all durability and gear ratio selection problems for good. It will require some tunnel mods in most British cars though, but well worth it.

I spent all day today modifying my crossmember and starter to get them to co-exist... I thought my starter was toast ( hence the query for any starters earlier in this thread ) but it was smacking against the crossmember, which was very hard to see, forcing it to bolt up out of alignment. The starter is not a good fit anyway, requiring the motor to come off the motor mounts to put it in. The problem is that I had to raise the block in the chassis 1/2 inch to clear the wider motor mount bosses on the block, and that drove the starter right into the crosmember. It just took me a while to figure out what was wrong.

Nothing is easy on this thing... The Delorto carbs accelerator pump rods hit both the distributor cap and..of all things.. the top hold down clamp on my glass bowl fuel pump! That also took me a bit of time to figure out why the carbs wern't opening all the way ( who looks at the pump rods under the carbs??)

Time for dinner I think, I'll have back at it tomorrow.