So started collecting bits a couple of months ago for this, but have only just got around to starting a thread - actual swap won't be until winter so this is going to be a long one!

My Haynes Roadster currently has an 1800 Pinto - this was a conscious decision and allowed me to use a single donor and get an age related plate so no need for a cat in future. Car has been on the road for 7 months now and is great fun, but feels a little underpowered. At a guess, the car must be somewhere around 85-100bhp at present.

The Plan

I looked at various options for the swap, I wanted something that would be tuneable in future and would reach 200bhp with some work. Considered Zetecs etc, but the exhaust/intake would be opposite to what I have now so while I might save money on bellhousings, I would need a whole new exhaust. So the challenge is to build a 'cheap' Duratec - I would be more than happy with 150bhp to start as that would be a good hike over the Pinto. The Pinto is running a Megajolt and ZX6R carbs, with a zx6r fuel pump so the plan is to use these on the Duratec. Budget - well always a tough one - I would like to think sub £1k for the swap - everyone says it is not possible - am I a fool - we will see what evolves!

Current Status
Collecting bits started a couple of months ago -

All started with a Bellhousing and slave cylinder on ebay - £200 for both. Had planned on going with a cable clutch, but when I looked at it I would need a different clutch arm etc and with my discount bell/hyd slave the cost would be about the same.

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Also picked up an ST150 Starter


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To be continued .....

Hi good luck with the build i had 1.8 pinto and have gone duratec went fuel injection and bodies and when i think about it thats were most of the money is so good luck with it and lets see how cheap you can do it.
Cheers ALI

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Originally posted by ali f27
Hi good luck with the build i had 1.8 pinto and have gone duratec went fuel injection and bodies and when i think about it thats were most of the money is so good luck with it and lets see how cheap you can do it.
Cheers ALI

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Picked up a new VCK726 clutch - from one of the older mondeos


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Also picked up an exhaust manifold plate from a forum member -


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Then onto the engine. I had followed various engines on ebay for a while. Spotted one that was up for £250 - from a 2001 Mondeo that had failed MOT on brake lines - car had done about 80k miles. A few hours before the auction ended I decided to make the guy a cheeky offer - he was never going to accept it - £140 - imagine my surprise when he accepted the offer! I decided worse case I have a mock-up engine and spares - but no reason why she shouldn't be fine. So the next day I found myself in an industrial estate in Wolverhampton. Turns out the guy ran a body shop and did banger racing in his spare time - he decided the mondeo was too good to wreck so was parting it out.

Picked it up in the back of the ZR

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He had left loads of bits on it so I started stripping the bits off
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Make sure you put a bolt in your bell like pick below, stops the layshaft falling out


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Layshaft retaining bolt [/img]

[Edited on 27/7/14 by big-vee-twin]

i would advise a strip and check because i was getting hard up budget wise i put mine in un checked and it burn oil ran like a bag of spanners etc when i took it back out and stripped it bores were good but rings were blocked with gunge and coke so i hone the bores cleaned it and fitted new rings etc runs perfect now should have done it first be careful buying parts make sure bellhousing will work with clutch etc and in answer to the other question i doubled my bhp so imagine the differance i was all over the pinto but have to have my wits about me now on the road anyways.
Was going to put high com pistons and steel rod cams etc this winter but think the extra pwer would spoil it as a road car.
We also have a 2.3 durtec in our hillclimb car wins when ever mark drives i am getting a bit old i think love the engine but it would be to much for a road car.
Big v twin helped me alot when i was building
Cheers Ali

Thanks big-vee-twin - that's on my list of reminders, along with the crank shaft end bearing.

Ali- I'm torn as to whether to crack it open or not. Out of interest how much did sorting the rings cost you? I'm guessing head gasket and ring set - do you have to change the head bolts?

Out of interest have either of you done a compression test or know what sort of reading you should get? Was thinking of doing a cold compression test.

Cheers

Dave

I picked up an ST150 flywheel - it was described as having a light covering of surface rust, looked terrible from the pics, but seller assured me it would clean up - worth a punt for £20 and it came with all the bolts.

Here it is before cleaning up and the VCK 726 clutch

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Now when fitting the clutch - it wouldn't fit over the dowels - I had expected this so simply opened up the holes a fraction of a mm and it all fitted nicely.
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Decided it was time for a quick test fit -

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Then on with the bellhousing and starter

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The slave needed to be compressed about 20mm to get the bellhousing on so fingers crossed this combo will work. I believe the bellhousing is from Retroford and has no spacer behind the slave like most others.

Whipped the cam cover off to have a look - everything looks fine under there. The engine oil was relatively clean, water was spotless and it even had Iridium plugs fitted!

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Then it was onto the engine stand and to meet it's future-


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And fitted the EGR blanking plate - no fancy motorsport plates - just a £3 laser cut plate from ebay.

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Decided to get the bits for a sump laser cut and the inlet manifold plate. Had a few prices -£190, £160 etc all ex vat then contacted a place called Doncaster Laser Services -£65 ex vat in delivery.

Seemed a great price so decided to take the opportunity to also get some engine mount plates and some bits for a DIY water rail cut. Cue lots of paper prototypes and Mrs M cutting them out for me and after 4 or 5 iterations we were there. Added the extra items and price went down by £1.30

So in the end - Total cost inc vat and delivery was £76 - that's for sump, inlet flange, engine mounts and water rail bits.

After TNT tried to lose them - got my hands on them on sat - 4 days after paying!


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Also picked up some Landrover engine mounts -

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And would you believe the cheapest place to buy a mechanical thermostat is from Caterham!

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"sub 1k..."
Since you are reusing your megaJ and bike bits it might be possible, but my own experience tells me different...

I had an xflow and converted to Duratec last year. My total came to about 2.5k, All stuff is more expensive here in Norway, but still.

I found all the small parts really added up. My biggest issue was with fitting the cluch slave, but then again I also did a tranny swap at the same time..
You can see my thread over at Pistoanheads: Lotus Seven S4

As for the carbs and megajolt. Don't you think you are loosing a bit of bhp here? Any thoughts on this?
I used GSXR throttles and Microsquirt. Easy, reliable and easy to tune. Even fun to learn

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Originally posted by Kghaas
"sub 1k..."
Since you are reusing your megaJ and bike bits it might be possible, but my own experience tells me different...

I had an xflow and converted to Duratec last year. My total came to about 2.5k, All stuff is more expensive here in Norway, but still.

I found all the small parts really added up. My biggest issue was with fitting the cluch slave, but then again I also did a tranny swap at the same time..
You can see my thread over at Pistoanheads: Lotus Seven S4

As for the carbs and megajolt. Don't you think you are loosing a bit of bhp here? Any thoughts on this?
I used GSXR throttles and Microsquirt. Easy, reliable and easy to tune. Even fun to learn

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Sounds like a good plan.
150bhp should still be fun.

I guess I am at 160 at the moment. With proper exhaust, velocity stacs and raising the redline i guess I will be getting about 180 but that is the future

Good luck on your project.

should easily get above 150 a silvertop zetec can do 165 on carbs set up correctly

Time for an update - Had a crazy couple of months at work that stopped progress but just had a couple of weeks off so got back on the engine work.

Treated myself to a nice little 45A alternator


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Then turned my attention to cleaning up the engine - first removing some of the gunk around the outside with some degreaser. Then attacked the block with some wire wheels.

Half way through one side


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And finished


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Having decided to strip the engine - next job was to fit the flywheel and make a locking tool so I could remove the crank pulley


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Then the timing tools in, lock the flywheel and off with the front pulley and cover


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Off with the cam caps


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And out with the cams


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All the buckets/followers removed and positions/thickness recorded and then off with the head


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Lots of oily gunk / coke around, but all looked the same across all the cylinders. You could still see the original honing marks on the cylinder bores.

Then I moved onto removing the piston and con rods.


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The crank looked good and the pistons were generally good but the rings were gummed up and the oil control rings were stuck on a couple of pistons.

Now as it happens I had these in my back pocket


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Picked up from an engine builder - stripped from a brand new crate Duratec - only £39 for the set.

Luckily all the piston sizes matched up with the grades I had fitted, so the only question was on the crank/big end fit, so onto fitting and out with the Plastigauge


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And the good news all were within spec when fitted


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Looking at the tensioner, it was using 7 of the available 9 teeth for adjustment. The guides had some wear at the ends and some pitting in a couple of places. So with the engine so far stripped I decided to bite the bullet and change all the timing gear as well.


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Machined some injector blanking plugs for the head.


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Back to the head, I stripped all valves and gave the exhaust passages a decoke and a general cleanup.


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Before I started valve lapping, I fancied a bit of fabrication so moved onto the sump.


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Having a CNC mill also gives me the chance to do a bit of multitasking while I get on with other jobs. So I spent a few evenings designing an oil filter adaptor and set about machining it.


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Just about finished the oil filter adaptor - just needs a clean up and drilling for the oil pressure sensor


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Originally posted by davidimurray
Machined some injector blanking plugs for the head.


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Got a couple of hours in the garage this afternoon so did some more work on the sump. Started by bending the bottom plate to fit and tacking it up.


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Then a test fit onto the engine


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Comparison between the original and new sump


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Got the outer platework all welded up.


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Machined up a boss for the sump plug to reuse the original Mondeo item and tacked it in - just need to fully weld then fit the internal baffles next.

Hi just wondered how you were coming on

Sump is all done except for the dipstick tube, waiting to get the engine together before I finalise the position. Head has been fully stripped, cleaned and decoked. Valves have all been lapped in and reassembled with new valve seals - just working out which new followers I need to buy at the moment. Front cover has had the mount machined off, cleaned and painted, as have the rocker cover and front pulley. Fitted the new oil pump chain, gears and tensioner tonight complete with diamond washer.

Must do a proper update sometime with photos.

Update time

So I finished welding up the sump, then added the gated baffles


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Then finished it off with the windage plate. Still need to add the dipstick but will need to fit it to the engine first to work out the best position.


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Then it was onto the head, stripped all the valves and valve seals, then decided to lap all the valves in - a slow and tedious process


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In between lapping valves, I made a start on cleaning the front cover and then onto the mill to remove the front engine mount.


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And drilled the oil filter adaptor to take the standard ford oil pressure switch


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After the valve lapping, I cleaned up the gasket faces and then put the head in the dishwasher to get it nice clean.


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Then I fitted all new valve seals


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Then all the valves were refitted


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I carefully put all the buckets back in their original positions, refitted the cams and then checked the valve clearances. Inlets were pretty good but almost all the exhaust were out, which is not surprising considering the amount of lapping required. I popped the figures into the commonly use spreadsheet, and with some juggling of buckets I only needed to buy 4 new buckets - these are on order with Burtons.

I had decided to change all the timing gear as a precaution. So bought a kit with everything in. Started on the oil pump drive. Also bought a new crank bolt and diamond washers, surprisingly Caterham were the cheapest supplier.


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Removed the crankcase oil breather, drilled out the bottom of the elbow and released the little valve inside.


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Decided to move the coilpack under the inlet.


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Refitted the cylinder head.


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And had a quick mock up with all the bits fitted on the inlet side


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Been busy painting as well.


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Well - I can actually say I have a bit of Cosworth in my engine - valve followers/buckets arrived today.


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That meant that I could the exhaust cam back in and fit the new timing chain.


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Been busy doing some more work - made up an inlet manifold to suit the zx6r carbs - was quite a fabrication challenge!


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Then made some brackets to hold my little 45A alternator. Surprised to discover that I couldn't copy the cosworth kit as the block casting is different and there is a lug missing compared to later engines.


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Alternator install looks very good. Do you have any more details i.e. Which alternator and do you have a sketch of the brackets?

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Originally posted by ceebmoj
Alternator install looks very good. Do you have any more details i.e. Which alternator and do you have a sketch of the brackets?

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Catch up time again.....

Decided to make up a new water rail for the back of the head.


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Then on with refitting the repainted covers and crank pulley


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Took the car out for a last blat with the Pinto on the penultimate weekend in November, then onto SORN and time to start stripping.


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On getting the tunnel top off, I discovered that the top of the reverse switch had been knocked off on the side of the tunnel. Need to change the original sierra mount for something stiffer - have a Cortina one to go in there.

Then it was onto taking the engine out, Brother in law came over to help and within a few hours it was out.


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Some more progress to report

Split the engine and gearbox before removing the bellhousing.


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Then had a look at the front of the gearbox. The old release bearing sleeve does not fit through the hydraulic cylinder, and is no longer required so I cut it off.


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Then onto fitting the bellhousing to the gearbox, complete with hydraulic cylinder, hoses and layhaft securing bolt.


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Then it was time to get the engine off its stand, fit the flywheel, crank bearing and flywheel


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Then time to mate the engine and gearbox.


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Made a guard to cover the opening under the bellhousing


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The original Type 9 gearbox mount was too flexible and had allowed the gearbox to move and damage the top of the reverse switch. Fund tat the Cortina HD mount is a popular alternative, but has different hole centres and is higher than the sierra item. I didn't want to modify the chassis so I made some adaptor plates.


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Before I fitted the engine I wanted to modify the pedalbox while I could get into the engine bay. The old clutch was cable operated, so I needed to fit a master cylinder and then a bottom mounted pedal to operate it. Without removing the scuttle/ steering column, access is limited, so I decided to make a bolt in frame for the new pedal.

First job was to remove the old bits, and drill the holes for the master cylinder.


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Then it was onto cutting out the bits in the pedalbox - an absolute pig to get access involving angle grinders, saws dremels etc


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Then I made up a frame to bolt through the bottom of the pedalbox and master cylinder to act as the pivot. Used a Haynes brake pedal with a couple of minor mods


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Then it was time to go for an engine fitting. Roped the brother-in-law in again to help. Got the engine on the crane, halfway in and then realised the jib wasn't out far enough to get it all the way in - out it came for a re-rig and back in again.

A few bits were tight and the water rail, oil filter and starter had to come off. After 2 hours of work the engine was in. Now to look at the engine mounts. Hmm - the first problem. The sierra mounts sat on a turret above the chassis rails, for the duratec these were too high. So out came the engine, the turrets were chopped off and plates welded across the chasss rails - that took a couple of hours messing around!


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Then it was back in with the engine. Followed by lots of careful measuring, setting and lining up. To my surprise the engine was further back than I expected by about 15mm. This meant that it would be touch and go if my homemade water rail would fit. Only the plus side it can only be good for weight distribution!

With the engine all setup I then made the engine mounts


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And to finish off the engine sat in its new home


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Looking good, your engine bay looks huge compared to a Striker

Time for another update.

With the engine in I popped the bonnet on and it fitted nicely under the bonnet


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Then I stripped the old carbs and separated them ready for test fitting.


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Popped them onto the manifold I made a while back and all was looking good.....


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Then on with the bonnet and oh c*ck! The bonnet was resting on top of the carbs and still had another 10mm to shut.


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Time to start again. Cut the runners off the plate and then made some new horizontal runners with a kick up to get some angle on the carbs


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Made up the first runner as a test and all was good.


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A day of cutting, welding, grinding and new manifold was done ...


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Meanwhile I fitted my 'homemade' water rail which fitted over the top of the bulkhead with the pipe underneath just clear of it. I will have to re-engineer my header tank mounting.


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Another area I had been worried about was my homemade oil filter adaptor - no cause for concern as there was plenty of clearance.


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great progress

Looking good, how do you think you are doing budget wise?

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Originally posted by theduck
Looking good, how do you think you are doing budget wise?

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No rest for the wicked so I've been ploughing along over the Christmas break. Not many exciting developments but lots of important jobs done.

Got on with painting the engine mounts and mods to the chassis.

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Then fitted the clutch pedal, master cylinder, and finished making up the hose so I could fill the system. I back filled the system with a syringe from the bleed nipple. It must have worked as not much air came out during bleeding .... or there is still loads in there! I had a slight panic while bleeding as fluid started coming out form the bottom of the bellhousing apparently this is common. I've pumped the pedal until my leg goes dead and there is no sign of any leaks.

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I had also taken the opportunity to fill the engine with oil and remark the dipstick for the new sump. Unfortunately the next day I noticed a small oil patch on the floor. I actually found a couple of problems. The first was the dipstick tube, it was the only weld I hadn't tested for leaks and there was a tiny pinhole in it. Secondly I found a small weep from the sump to front cover joint. Finally I had used flanged bolts and discovered that a couple of them were catching the edge of the weld, I chucked these in the lathe and reduced the diameter. Sorted all those problems out and everything is now oil tight. With all that done I also filled the gearbox up.

Then it was onto the wiring, I sourced new plugs (quite a few free ) for all of the connectors. The alternator and crank sensor are on opposite side to the Pinto, so first job was to pull all the wiring back and get it on the correct side. I cut off the old crank sensor plug and replaced with the new one. Also pulled out the oil pressure switch wire and fitted it to the switch with a new plug.

The alternator was a bit more troublesome. Connected the battery and light terminals up. Then had to find a switched live, which I took form the opposite side of the ign light and ran a new cable down. Connected this up and then the diagrams I found showed a sense terminal for monitoring battery voltage. I powered the car up and the ign light was off without the engine running. Lots of research later I discovered that my alternator has a P terminal which is an output to indicate engine running. Disconnected this wire and the light came on.

Last bit of electrics was to extend the coil wires down to the new coil location and hook the starter up.

With all this done it was time to turn the engine over and check for oil pressure. Plugs out, key in and after 30s of worried cranking the oil light went off - phew. I also checked for spark at the same which was present.

Meanhwile I have been working on the carbs. Built each individual carb onto their respective runners, then made some aluminium spacers and long bolts to hold the carbs apart.

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For the fuel rail, having a CNC lathe comes in handy. Made two new outer fuel rails in aluminium and the centre tee in brass. The tee was made in two pieces and silver soldered together.

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The choke bar has also been respaced and the throttle levers modified to their new lengths - just need reassembling now. With the carbs on the bench I also took the opportunity to clean all the jets.

Today I've been working on the cooling system, being from a front wheel drive car, all the cooling pipework is on the inlet side so things are very crowded - will make jetting and carb tuning tricky. Got the basic layout setup


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Also got the header tank re-mounted, whih should have been simple but involved new brackets, modifying bits etc etc

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We're slowly working towards that first start ...... gulp!

Just a quick update.

After mocking up the cooling system I finished the aluminium tubes by swaging them then connected everything up. Filled the system with water ................. drip .....drip .........drip ........... Bugger

I could see a small drip under the back of the head. The most likely culprit was my homemade water rail so I stripped the header tank off then, disconnected the various hoses, then removed the water rail. No obvious witness marks but I decided to pop it on the mill anyway to make sure the flange face was perfectly flat and then refitted with some RTV before rebuilding the cooling system.

Popped down the garage to refill the cooling system, all lovely and then drip drip drip. Looks like it is actually the EGR blanking plate leaking!! Oh well back to work...

Really good progress! Some small setbacks is part of the progress! Good luck on the startup, shouldt be to far away

Bit slow updating...

So after a bit of research I discovered that the EGR is water cooled. So off with the water rail, off with the EGR then lots of RTV and all back together. Refill cooling system and bingo - no leaks

This is how the cooling system ended up - as you can see very crowded!


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Then made the final tests of the inlet manifold. I made some brackets to hold the carbs to the head. Simple aluminium strip bent around. I had the carbs try and come off on the Pinto so added these as belt and braces.


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I got a thick inlet manifold from DanST.


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Then everything was fitted up, carbs on ignition leads fitted. Looks pretty nice even if I do say so myself


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I've been waiting for some exhaust tube to arrive to start the mods, but in the meantime I couldn't wait to try and start it. Previously, I had turned the engine over to check oil pressure and spark. Before fitting the carbs I balanced them on the bench with a bit of flattened welding rod and then would them until there was just a crack of light showing through.

Then the moment of truth ......

http://youtu.be/BecyQL0T1-Y

Yeeehaaaa. Was really surprised at how quickly and easily it started - i'm more used to 5 minutes of chugging, splurting and coughing!

looking good, keep up the good thread

Time to get on with the exhaust. I had planned to do this over Christmas, but I was let down by two separate suppliers trying to get some tube, so when I finally got some I took a couple of days off as I knew I would run out of welding gas part way through!

First job was to cut off the old flanges and offer the tubes up to the new engine.


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Hmmm - that doesn't look good. The port spacing wasn't that different, but as my engine was sitting slightly further back, I needed to decide what to do. I could move my complete exhaust back, but then my silencer would be very close to the rear arch and I would have to open up the bonnet hole. Instead I decided to leave the exhaust position as is and modify the runners to reach the head.


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A couple of days work doesn't look like much in a few photos!


Now onto my next challenge - an airbox. With the carbs mounted, there is very little space under the bonnet for a filter. If I did manage to fit one it would be tight up against the of the bonnet and probably quite restrictive. I didn't want to cut a hole in the bonnet and stick the filter out so my only option was to make my own airbox - I'm a fibreglass virgin so this should be interesting.

Started by buying a filter element from a pipecross airbox. After a bit of head scratching and googling I worked out how it fits.


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Got a sheet of Celotex insulation from wickes and started carving


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On with the filler next.

How are you getting along? Are you upp and running?
A lot of nice fabrication in your thread...

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Originally posted by Kghaas
How are you getting along? Are you upp and running?
A lot of nice fabrication in your thread...

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Forgive me for I have sinned ......... It has been a long time since my last update. A promotion at work means some of my car time has disappeared so I've been spending time working on the car rather than updating here.

So to start with the airbox. It has been quite a big learning experience!

I took the foam body and following the advice in a book I have I watered down some polyfilla and brushed it on. After numerous days of filling, sanding etc. Was all looking great, then the problems started. The filler formed a shell over the foam, but then started to break up and come off in chunks. At this point I decided to switch to proper p38 bodyfiller.


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I fitted the mould to a board to form the flange. After a few weeks of sanding, filling etc we were just about there. There were a few little pin holes so while in Halfords I grabbed some holts stopper. Applied and all great until back in the garage to find large blisters over the mould - aaaaarrrrgggghhh. Seems some form of reaction had taken place so I had to scrape loads out and start again. Eventually getting closer and closer


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In the meantime I also made a small test piece to experiment with fibreglassing. Came out quite well.


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Then it was back to the main job, firstly making fences then covering everything with mould release agent, before removing the fences and laying up each section in turn


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With that all done it was left to harden before all being separated. The parts of the mould came apart surprisingly easy, but the original foam mould broke up in the process. I trimmed up all the edges to get rid of the excess material.


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Time to take the plunge. Made the female mould up, coated in release agent then laid it up. Trying to do the tube section was very difficult as it was hard to make sure I got resin everywhere and got the air out.


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Trimmed up. Finish is not perfect but will be fine with a bit of filler and paint.


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And with pipercross air filter fitted.


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And finally test fitting to the car


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It's not jus all about the airbox.

The back of the car was stripped down and fuel tank removed.


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This allowed me to do some CAD (cardboard aided design) for a new fuel tank. Old tank was small and tall, so aim was to go lower, wider and get more capacity.


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K4Kev over on the Haynes forum then made an aluminium tank to my design, complete with sump.


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I've also wrapped the exhaust headers under the bonnet. After wrapping I tried spraying them with the special wrap coating you can buy to try and keep it tidy.


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With the new fuel tank fitted I hacked the top cover into pieces and have made a start on a boot box. Part of this work also includes moving the fuel filler to the top of the tub - I'm fed up of dribbling fuel in at every fill up.


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And last but not least the car has moved under it's own power. After a few setup issues - will get onto them later I even went as far today as taking it for a spin around the block.


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I bet it was great to drive around the block