Joining the Engine and Gearbox

New clutch release bearing fitted to the clutch fork.  Lubrication applied as instructed in the clutch kit.

Engine and gearbox fitted together.  New cap head bolts, thread locked and torqued up to the correct amount.

With the Tiger ERA sump fitted the gearbox mounting holes in the lower crank case are no longer present.  Only the upper five bolt holes can be used.  Two dowels are still available to ensure gearbox alignment.  Next job is to crane the engine into the rolling chassis and make good the engine mounts.

Flywheel and Clutch

To add the new ring gear to the Tiger lightened flywheel the former was put in a hot oven and the latter in the freezer.  Once fitted the ring gear was held in place with weights until both had returned to room temperature.

Comparing old (Focus) and new lightened (Pinto) flywheels.  On the scales the Focus weighs in at 9.8kg and the Pinto at 5.8kg.  Hopefully this will give a good performance boost in terms of acceleration, along with a more responsive throttle response.

The flywheel bolts were shortened so that the same amount of thread (15mm) showed through the rear of the flywheel as in the original Focus installation (the lightened Pinto flywheel is thinner - no prizes there).  All good so far.  However, the edges of the bolts clash with the tapered edge of the flywheel.  Also the socket fouls on the flywheel.

Plan B was to use another, original length, set of flywheel bolts and use washers as spacers.  Two washers were needed for each bolt to compensate for the thickness of metal removed from the flywheel.  The washers nearest the flywheel needed filing down (from 5mm to 3mm) on one edge.  Okay, the edge was not there until I filed it!

Flywheel bolts installed with thread lock.  Each was marked to show that it had been torqued up to the correct value.  In the centre is the spigot bearing fitted.  Pushed in just flush with the outer edge.  It would've gone in further, but here it should provide maximum support for the gearbox input shaft.

Fitting the clutch using an old borrowed gearbox input shaft as a centring tool (Thanks Pete).  This made it very easy to get the perfect alignment of the clutch plate.

Floor mounted pedals mounted

I am fitting the Tiger floor mounted brake and clutch pedals. First to do is the brake. The brake master cylinder had been mounted previously so, after inserting the pushrod, it was relatively easy to establish where the floor bracket for the pedal would go and hence where the holes needed to be drilled. The pushrod seemed a little long, so in order to maximse leg room in the cockpit I decided to shorten it. In the end I only removed about 5mm. This was to ensure that the pedal still had it's full travel, i.e. the master cylinder bottomed out and the back of the pedal did not foul the bulkhead. Also as the pedal swings the pushrod does not move in a perfectly horizontal plane. It arcs slightly and as such the pushrod cannot be too short or it fouls on the slides of the master cylinder plunger.

The clutch pedal was mounted next. Before drilling the holes this was lined up with the hole in the bulkhead where the clutch cable passes through.



The chassis now needs to be turned over so that larger holes can be drilled in the aluminium floor to allow the nuts to be added to the pedal mounting bolts. Finallly the lock nut can be added to the brake pushrod connector and the stop can be fastened under the rearmost bolt on the brake pedal bracket. This prevent the pedal falling towards the driver and the pushrod falling out of the master cylinder. Not what you want whilst driving!