I've got one in bits as well

The engine from the Mk2 is also in bits.

I'm taking a bit of a gamble and putting in an as low-cost an engine as possible. Bought a Mondeo 2litre for £225, which had 105K miles on it and low compression on one pot. Turned out to be a broken top ring, but minimal damage to top of bore, which was quickly removed with a ball hone. Bought a race steel lightweight flywheel for £90 off the bay, and was given a lightweight alloy and smaller diameter front pulley by a bloke I loaned my engine hoist to. have done some diy porting, three-angled and blended the seats, reprofiled the valves, made a new exhaust manifold, etc. Just need to swop over the cams and Webbers off the old engine. Total cost once the new wheels off the Mondeo are sold and also the massive in-car sound system, then weighed in the shell is expected to be less than £200

It will either lunch itself, or last a few seasons (fingers crossed).

Finally making progress on the replacement engine

The head work is now completed and the new combustion chamber volumes have been measured and matched. Consequently, I can now select the parts I need to rebuild it.

Just ordered a 0.051" thick Cometic head gasket from Burton. This is 0.014" thinner than the standard gasket and will allow for the increased combustion chamber volume due to the rework of the chambers, and also up the compression a little from the standard 10:1 to 10.3:1. This will reduce the piston to head clearance down to 0.045", which is a bit marginal, but should be OK as whilst the engine can cope with 7,200 (ARP con-rod bolts fitted), its not worth taking it beyond 7,000 RPM.

Also ordered new head bolts and a piston ring set, so I can replace the broken top ring on No2 cylinder. Once these bits are in I can start rebuilding the engine, and the only other bit I need is a shorter drive belt for the water pump and alternator, to suit the replacement alloy front pulley, which has a smaller diameter than the standard item. I also need a shorter one to swing the alternator closer to the block, as the Tiger mounting bracket has poor geometry and once the alternator has swung a certain amount from the block, it starts moving downwards instead of outwards and consequently the belt stops being tensioned.

So mods for this engine will be:
Swop over the fast road cams from the other engine.
Ported head to open the exhaust ports to the new exhaust manifold, and matched inlet ports to inlet manifold.
Three-angled the valve seats and then blended the throats and also the inserts.
Re-shaped the standard valves.
New super-lightweight steel flywheel, and swop the clutch and cover plate from the other engine.

This is being done on a very tight budget, and hopefully it will all work OK!

This will hopefully be the final tweek on the Mk2, and if the engine proves to be reliable, I cant wait to see how the old girl performs with the new engine and all the suspension/aero tweeks that have been done.

keeping an eye on all your zetec type upgrades

Hi Billy

just a little warning if the head gasket you have ordred is the Cometic is MultI Layer Shim type (MLS). If you have not had your block skimmed as well as your head you may have problems getting it to seal. I put one in the cosworth one and had to take it off as it would not seal

ive since found a product called wurth motor seal that was designed to be used with blocks that havent been skimmed I will have a chat with you about it on the weekend

Thanks Ian,

It is a Cometic multi-shim, so that would be a great help

Update on this engine is that it went through qualifying at the MG Relay no problem, but let go in the first lap of my stint in the race! Oil everywhere, and it turned out the filter had loosened and the seal had popped

Quick investigation showed the threaded boss was loose, but there are no flats to tighten it. Just did it by hand and for extra retention put bodge tape around the housing and filter. Got it fixed just as Ed ran out of fuel and it lasted for about 20 minutes till the bodge tape melted and the same thing happened again

Once back at home, the threaded boss has been fitted with Loctite bearing retaining fluid (stronger than threadlock) and tightened with one of Liz's best electrical plug pliers with the plastic grips. Additionally, a jubilee clip has been fitted to the filter and it has been wirelocked to the engine mount.

Since then it has done about 130 miles with some hard driving thrown in, and all has been fine. No noises and oil pressure is good

Final test will be two hours racing at Snetterton next weekend, and if it survives that then I am confident it will be fine for quite a while.

Hi Billy check this thread out the 11th post down by tel 911s ref the Oil Filter

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3469833#post3469833

Thanks for that Ian, its a problem I have never had before, but it looks as though its becoming more commonplace. Previously, I put a white line with a paint pen across the joint face and check this after every session, but in future I will retain the Jubilee clip.