zetec engine in lotus chassis on 2+2

[c42]

Hi Bud

Yes, I made the manifold as a mock up but I have now decided to use it until it rusts away/cracks and then I will use it as a pattern to have a new one made. I am currently messing around refurbishing the handbrake assembly and sorting the original gear lever to fit onto the MT75 gearbox. Very shortly I will have a trial fit of the bodywork to see if I have to make any adjustments in the engine bay, after that I fear I will be on bodywork duty!

Regards
John

[Bud English]

Ceramic coat them and you may be surprised at how long they last. I'm sure something like this is available where you are. http://www.performancecoatings.com/headercoatings.html

I've seen homemade headers where the welds were ground down smooth and coated. They look as good as any professionally made units out there.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi Bud,

I've just picked up on the Photos of your concentric clutch installation.
It seems that the hydraulic fluid bores in the die casting are pointing down towards the four or five O'clock position.

Is that the makers recommended installation position?

I only ask because I think that with that position some air may remain trapped in the cylinder &/or housing bores, making bleeding difficult.

Cheers
John

[Bud English]

John, thanks for that. Long ago I had a math teacher that would start his most complex explanations of problem solving with "It's obvious to the most casual observer that..."

I missed that. You are correct, on the Focus the inlet and bleed connections point upward to about the two o-clock position. Even if I pre-bleed it on the bench and get it installed without entrapping air, which is unlikely, it could be a real pain later.

I'll have to rethink this. ...but not today. It's about 10?F in the garage. We haven't been above freezing since before Christmas which is very rare here. We've been about 20? below average for about a month. It's that Global Weirding at work. I'm spending my time building my fuel EFI/Ignition computer and getting the basic maps loaded.

Thanks again. All input graciously accepted, especially if anyone spots a blunder such as this one.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

That's OK; pleased to have been of help

[tablets32]

Hi,
It's he been a while since I posted, I have been looking at alternative ways to fab and fit my engine mounts. I have been talking to graham at Chester sports cars. He is making the mounts from a kit I bought from retro ford. The kit is made for fitting the zetec into Anglias and mk 1 cortinas. You get two steel plates that bolt onto the engine, two tubes which can be cut and shaped and two circular rubber mounts in steel sleeves. The car is at his place now and I will post some snaps when it is back here. Hope your projects are going well.

Keith

[Bud English]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to the pics of what you've come up with.

The weather here has been keeping me out of the garage. To pass the time I've built my Megasquirt ECU and have it programed up to the "start the engine and get it to idle" stage. Without a motor installed that is now also on hold.

...but Spring is right around the corner (Def: Spring- When the afternoon temperature in the garage reaches 44.2?F for a period of two hours or more .

[Bud English]

Here's a quick update on my concentric clutch slave. Somehow my previous post on this subject was deleted in it's entirety (not by me). It's just as well because, as John pointed out above, I was making a real mistake. I appreciate his input on that.

What I ended up with is a modified (anyone surprised?) 95-02 Ford Contour/Mercury Cougar slave cylinder and not the Focus piece I started with.

95-02 Ford Contour Mercury Cougar Slave.jpg (26.95 KiB) Viewed 3853 times

I removed both the input line and the bleeder. The bleeder hole is drilled out and tapped for 1/8-27 tapered pipe thread to match the 3/8-24 adapter I got from Summit.

The input nose has been shortened...

...an aluminum adapter fabricated and installed with cap screws that go through the adapter and have nuts w/lock washers behind the adapter. The cap screws are snugged down to hold the adapter in place. The nuts are then torqued to spec to hold the nose with bearing and seal as normal. The cap screws are sized to provide the same thread length as the original bolts...

...The new slave is bolted in place and plumbed. I used hard lines from the slave to outside the bell housing. You have to love cunifer brake line in tight places. I think you really could tie it in a knot without it kinking. I have a SS braided line for a remote bleeder and will use hard line to the clutch MC.

John, Does that look a bit better?

[Julian]

Hi Gents

I have been reading your posts and noticed that most of them concern actually getting the engine in the car. Are any of you doing anything to upgrade/ improve the chassis to cope with the extra power (brakes suspension etc). I am also interested to know why you opted to go with the original chassis rather than the Spyder conversion. The reason for asking this is that some time ago I bought a '68 body shell (and V5) with the intention of doing a Spyder Zetec conversion. I have got the paint stripped and need to start the grp repairs. I have an old chassis for it but it is not complete. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot really justify the cost of the Spyder conversion, but I have thought about a good standard chassis with some sort of improvements, maybe using MX5 front uprights, ball joints, hubs, brakes etc in some new wishbones. Infact, using lots of MX5 parts to help keep the cost reasonable.

Any thoughts.

Thanks

[Bud English]

First off, welcome Julian, you've come to the right place! This forum will be a great help to you resurrecting your +2.

1st thought- Nothing will keep the cost reasonable. No mater how "reasonable" you think it will be, at least double it. Really.

I can't answer for the others but a spyder chassis here in the US is way out of my budget. Shipping from the UK adds to the cost even if you source one from a US supplier. You wouldn't have that expense. I chose to do the AVO inspired reinforcements (search the forum for AVO) to my good condition original chassis and use the money elsewhere. As you can see in the posts above there are not many changes you need to make to the chassis for the zetec install itself. Other than the AVO mods and relieving the front cross member I only beefed up the area around the motor mounts.

Budget was the main reason for staying with the original transmission as well. Again shipping drives up the cost of almost all of the reasonable alternate transmission conversions. There aren't too many choices here in the US. We build some amazing 5 and 6 speeds, but they're huge! Again you won't have this cost.

I'm building a car to drive on the street, not a racer. A stock zetec motor with bike injection and headers should have about the same power of a good hot twin cam motor. Fresh stock brakes, fresh suspension components, stock size 13 inch tires, and not being stupid should see me through. Well, we'll have to see about that last part.

As for all the Miata parts, I think that they will be a mixed blessing. For the most part I think they will be heaver but not necessarily stronger. Only the later turbo Miatas had any horsepower. You will also have to deal with mating the zetec to the Miata drive train. If you don't use the drive train you'll have mix and match hubs, front to back.

The only other down side to it all, IMO, would be that you seem to be bent on modifying one of the best parts of the car. I doubt that a Miata enhanced suspension will come close to the performance of the stock suspension, either in handling or ride comfort. I really don't hear any of the spyder zetec owners raving about handling improvements either. They do have the advantage of being able to use bigger wheels and tires but I don't know if that's a handling plus or not. I've never driven one. I'm sure someone will chime in with an opinion.

Hope that didn't come across as negative. What it really boils down to is that it's your car and your choices. No matter which way you go have fun and see it through to the end.

...and we like lots of pictures!

[Julian]

Hi Bud,
Thanks for your thoughts, and I didn't take them as negative .

That's an interesting point that you are making regarding the benefits of the Spyder Zetec chassis. It would good to hear what others who have experienced both have to say.

The though process behind using MX5 parts were many and varied, firstly I have a supercharged one sat next to my +2 in the garage (not a donor vehicle), and it looks it should fit without too much re-engineering. It is rear wheel drive already, so no redesigning sumps, water rails etc, it has a sweet little gearbox and it is easy to tune. As you say, the geometry would need to be the same to keep the handling characteristics, so new wishbones would be needed. But, that is not to say that I would ignore the good advice of others if this is unfeasible or a better route is available.

However, there is a lot of work to do to the body before I get there, repairs and repaint, and put a new section of roof in where someone has fitted a Webasto(!).

[Bud English]

Yeah, turns out the body prep is a whole lot more work than the engine and drive train and not near as much fun. I haven't itched this much since the last time I worked with fiberglass. If you get that part done first you'll feel like you're home free!

[Julian]

Hi Bud

That was my thoughts also, preferring mechanicals to body work, I thought i would tackle the body whilst in the honeymoon period. I have removed most of the paint, but the dust!! It gets everywhere. And it has only taken four years...rapid progress.

Very impressed with your engineering on previous pics. Your car should be quite something when it is finished.

[tablets32]

Hi,

Update on progress so far, the engine was fitted by Graham and Duncan at Chester sports cars. The first exhaust system used a modified focus manifold, joined up to the original lotus back box. It was sort of wrapped around the water rail as well as being too close to the underside of the bonnet.

So after some discussion I had a new complete system made by Powerflow. As you can see it looks good and is very well made. Hopefully the rewire will be finished in the next fortnight. Headlining and glass will go in next week. Then MOT and on the road hopefully in July.

I hope your projects are going well.

Keith

[graham]

Hi Keith looks great
Would it be possible to get photos of the engine mounts and any mods needed to the chassis for them to fit

Graham