I am first time locost builder of a Haynes roadster and the (only) sierra donor car I could find has a 2.0 ltr DOHC Efi engine with aluminium sump. I have completed the frame and removed donor engine and gearbox complete; now practice fitting to position engine mounts. The engine has aluminium legs and rubber supports which I have fitted onto the standard engine mount boxes in the book. The difficulty I have is that when the engine mounts are supported on the base rails the gear lever position is not far enough into the transmission tunnel and sits just under the cross member. If I move engine further to the rear, the mounts fall through the base rails. Can any one help?

Should I use/ or make, different engine mounts? or alter transmission tunnel? Also, how can I reduce depth of aluminium sump? I only have a MIG welder.

Thanks.

Ford 2.0l DOHC/MT75 in Haynes Roadster

Recommend that you position the engine as far back as you can and fabricate new engine mounts to suit. I had to relocate the alternator to the nearside to miss the steering shaft. I chopped off 38m from the ali sump and found someone local to TIG weld new bottom plate for beer tokens.

I 'm in Okehampton, you are welcome to visit/ look over mine. U2U me if you want to follow up.

Cheers
John W

I would recomend not fitting the DOHC engine its a very heavy lump and not much tuning potential

Definitely consider making your own up as it will help not only getting the engine/gbox in the correct forward/aft position but will allow you to tailor the height to suit ground or bonnet clearance, which ever may be more important.
Use the search function as engine mount design ideas have been discussed a lot.

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Originally posted by austin man
I would recomend not fitting the DOHC engine its a very heavy lump and not much tuning potential

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Originally posted by austin man
I would recomend not fitting the DOHC engine its a very heavy lump and not much tuning potential

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I'm also building a Haynes, although with a Pinto, and have also found that the 'Book' engine mounts are not appropriate (in my case they foul the steering column). I think that the 'having to make your own solutions' step is going to come sooner or later with a build that isn't really a 'kit', so you may as well bite the bullet and design a part which solves your problem...!


Good luck!

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Originally posted by deezee

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Originally posted by austin man
I would recomend not fitting the DOHC engine its a very heavy lump and not much tuning potential

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Great bit of pub talk there.... I assume you can tell me the weight of a DOHC? Most people just chuck bike carbs and a better exhaust on the engine anyway, which can be done on any engine. Its not like all engines need to change the cams and pistons to put them into a kitcar.

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Plenty of good reasons for fitting an old engine

Cost
Availability, You have it
Age, easy for emissions

So just get as far back as possible, do not worry about steering column as you can add an extra UJ and dodge around stuff.

Pay attention to leaving space for your pedals and clutch/starter motor issues so drop in built up.

When you have the engine where you want it (on blocks of wood) then knock up some strong brackets, series land rover mountings will provide a nice easy rubber mounting at a locost price

What I would consider is the cost of an exhaust manifold, if you want a tubular affair as not a common fitment this may cost more than expected, it is always a good idea to bolt the exhaust to the engine when positioning.

Regards Mark

I had exactly the same engine in my old kit car and you can very easily cut through the gearlevel "cradle" and add an extension to give an extra bit of length to the assembly. This should clear the problem rail and still allow the engine/gearbox to sit on the necessary brackets. If you go down this route though, be sure to not only lengthen the top, but also put some rigidity in the sides, so as the mechanism doesn't flex.

If needed drop me a U2U and I will try and dig out some pictures to show you what I mean.

I am using the DOHC engine as it came with my "unfinished project"

Heavy, possibly?

8 valves, yes

Having done my research it does seem to be the unpopular cousin in the kit car engine world! But I going to use it for the time being!

After a great deal of thought I have gone the bike carb route, the standard throttle body is 50mm, the ZZR 1100 (40 bucks of ebay) are 4 x 40mm.

Using a cut and shut original plenum that I had tigged up for £20 beer money and half hour gas flowing and matching the "new inlet manifold" I am sure it will work.

The mentioned waterways and thermostat housing were not affected, so what is the problem there? No need to re route anything.

The carbs were split for direct flow, none of this crap flowing angled cheating stuff. This was a really simple excercise.

Few people on here seem to mention "head work" or "gas Flowing". I have a spare engine and the heading is being looked at by a very accomplished engine tuner, one mentioned on here many times.

I know it won't go breaking any records but at 123bhp out the packet with bags of torque if I get 135/140 out of it it will make a very quick car.



Hope my pic works!

JF.

Thanks for all your help. I have decided to press on with what we have got. I have bought Landrover engine mounts and will make a suitable bracket. We will modify the transmission tunnel to fit the MT 75 gearbox, as at present the clutch cable is too tight. With all this done it appears that the gear cradle will sit within the tunnel at the correct level missing the cross bar. So only remaining challenges will be the aluminium sump reduction, new alternator position and how to reduce top height of the engine. Thanks for the advice about the carburettors (although I didn't really understand all the technical info), this is probably what we will have to do as the EI unit is very high. Plenty to do before we get there though. I'm sure I will need further advice on carbs in future.

I have a TIG'd up modded sump fitted to the car and a standard spare one.

I will the measure the difference for you as a starting point.

The engine is tall, granted, get it as low as possible. . Lower centre of gravity, not just looking pretty!

JF.

Thanks for the offer I would be interested in these measurements as a guide. Did you make extra capacity like in the book to compensate for the lost sump depth, or just cut off deepest part only.