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.

Tiger ERA Sump

Time to replace the tall original Focus sump with the shorter ERA sump from Tiger.  On the later Black Top Zetec engine both the steel sump pan and the alloy lower crank case need to be removed.  Here is the engine with just the sump pan removed.  Visible is the plastic oil pick-up pipe.  This cannot be shortened so will be replaced by a earlier steel pick-up pipe that has been modified by Tiger (chopped, shortened and welded).

 The lower crank case removed.

Four bolts in two of the main bearing end caps are replaced with Silver Top Zetec bolts that have a threaded stud on the top.  Tubular steel spacers are added to allow the windage tray to be at the right height.

The windage tray, again from an earlier Silver Top Zetec, is bolted on to the four studs using thread-locked M8 nuts.  The modified pick-up pipe is bolted on using a new gasket.  This pipe is attached to one of the studs via a mounting bracket.  Washers were used as spacers to get the right height (8-10mm from bottom of new sump).  This was checked using a ball of Plasticine.

 

On trial fitting the ERA sump fouls with the oil pump housing.  This means the sump bolt holes do not line up.  A curved recess is present on the original lower crank case (seen lower left).

A similar recess was made on the ERA sump using a round file.

Sump mounted using a new gasket and the original bolts tightened to the specified torque.

Once the car is on the road I'll think about adding some baffles to the sump to prevent oil starvation when driven hard, e.g. on the track.

The next problem is one of the engine mountings.  I had previously trimmed this to make if fit around the water pump housing.  Now with the new sump on the engine mount hits the sump edge before being flush with the mounting holes cast in the engine block.  If tightened in this state the engine mounts will 'push' the sump sideways and the large engine loads will be transmitted through the sump - not good.  Next job then is to trim a little of the lower edge of the engine mount.

Rolling Chassis!

Lovely day for a first ride out in the Tiger.

Gearbox and Bell Housing

Here is the Type-9 gearbox and bell housing as bought secondhand from ebay.

Before separating the the two the clutch release fork was removed.  To do so required that the clutch release bearing be removed.  The bearing was destroyed during the process.  No problem as a new one is provided in the new Pinto clutch kit.  Once the gearbox and bell housing were separated they cleaned with lots of rags and lots of white spirit.

I attempted to remove the reverse stop from the gearbox, but in the end I gave up as it did not seem to want to move and I did not want to damage the gearbox housing.  I tried my Rally Design remote and it functions fine with the original reverse stop still in place in the gearbox.  There is a replacement reverse stop in the gear lever end of the remote.

Bell housing cleaned and degreased, ready for painting with Hammerite.

The oil seals on the input and output shafts were replaced.  The sleeve for the clutch release bearing has to be removed to change the input shaft oil seal.  Upon refitting a new cork gasket is fitted.

Here is the gearbox, repainted, with new oil seals.  The only oil seal that I could not change was the one on the speedo drive shaft.  I removed the side access plate, but when I looked inside you can removed the speedo drive shaft, but it looks like you can't get to the oil seal on the other side without completely dismantling the gearbox.  Something I don't plan on doing!  Fingers crossed this tiny oil seal doesn't let me down once the gearbox is in the car.

A new gasket was fitted between gearbox and bell housing prior to mating the two.  If this is not done the gearbox will empty its oil via the hole that the gear selector rod exits through.

Gearbox and bell housing bolted back together, torqued up as per the Hayne's manual.  The clutch release fork will be reinstalled, along with the new clutch release bearing, at a later stage.

New gearbox mount was trial fitted prior to putting the whole assembly aside, to wait for the engine to be tidied up.

Front Suspension, Hubs and Brakes

Here are the very sorry looking Cortina uprights, discs and calipers bought from ebay.

These were dismantled and the discs discarded.  The uprights just needed the rust removing with a wire brush attachment in the drill before they could be masked and painted with Hammerite.

After cleaning the hubs I attempted to remove the outer bearing races.  Unlike the rears, which were easy to remove, these would not shift.  The task made harder by the fact that they need to be pushed from the opposite site, i.e. a tool was needed to get through the centre hole of the hub, from the other side.  In the end it looked my efforts were going to risk damaging the hubs, so I admitted defeat and took them down to my local engineering shop.  They removed the races the same afternoon for a small amount of beer tokens.

Here is one of the hubs with the new outer bearing races fitted and the wheel studs repaced for longer versions.  These are to accommodate the alloy wheels instead of steel.

The hubs were then painted.  After fitting new discs the centre of the disc was masked for painting, the part that is not swept by the brake pads.  The idea here is to prevent this from going rusty and looking unsightly behind the alloy wheels.  Time will tell if this area gets too hot for normal Hammerite paint.

The bolts that fix the discs to the Cortina hubs normally have locking tabs fitted.  Two were missing.  I fabricated two new ones from some thin sheet steel by tracing round one of the originals, cutting with a jigsaw and then finally filing in the vice, with the new and old clamped together as a guide.  Spot the difference?

Hub and disc ready for fitting.

Upright fitted to car.  Upper ball joint not fully torqued until the camber has been set.  This will be done at a later stage.

Hub assembly fitted to upright, using a new wheel bearing kit.  This was then torqued to the correct amount, as per the Cortina Haynes manual.  As one of the hub grease caps was missing I bought two new aluminimum ones from Rally Design.  They were not cheap, but are very well made.  Shame they won't be seen behind the centre of the alloy wheels.

I entertained the idea of renewing the calipers, but in the end it seemed too much effort when new ones can be bought from Rally Design for a very competitve price.  The old ones will go back on ebay.  Here are the new calipers fitted, along with a set of new EBC Green Stuff pads.

All complete, barring the fitting of the brake flexi hose.  This can only be done once the body shell is on.

Visit to Tiger, Revised Avon Body

Yesterday I took a trip to Tiger to collect some more shiny parts to bolt to my chassis.  While there I got the chance to look over a (nearly) finished Avon that was fitted with the newly revised body.  I was very impressed with the changes and I am fortunate that I have not bought my body yet so I will be able to get this new shape.

As you can see in the pictures there is now a proper boot locker with a locking lid.  Inside the boot is just a continuation of the single piece body - nothing to fabricate, just the hinges to mount!  No cutting is needed around the mounts for the roll bar either.  The fuel filler has been moved to the top (from the rear panel) and this now means that the inside of the boot space does not need cutting.  There is a revised alloy fuel tank too to fit this body - I think it is just filler neck moved further to the side.  The fuel tank is very neatly attached from below the car.  Fitting a braced roll bar might be more of a challenge than previously as the diagonal braces would come down where the filler now is.  I will rethink whether I want to fit a braced roll bar initially.

Apparently the non-symmetrical wheel arches should now be fixed too.