I've received an email from someone who is in the process of fitting a Zetec engine into a Spitfire and he has asked me a few questions so I thought I would make a blog entry to answer him that way it is here if anyone else is after the same advice!
I won't mention his name as I haven't asked his permission but if after reading this he wants me to mention him then I will. Maybe he has a few pictures of his project?
Anyway... On to question one...
1. Can you change the water pump without removing the timing belt?
No, even though the water pump is run by the outer belt, you will still need to remove the cam belt to change it. To be honest, it is a good opportunity to change the cam belt and tensioner anyway whilst you have the engine apart.
2. Engine mounts, can you buy a set that would fit or do I need to fabricate my own?
You will probably need to fabricate your own engine mounts unless you are lucky and can find some that will do the job. I didn't really look around for anything but there may be some ford mounts around than can be modified. I was originally attempting to use the left hand mount from the Mondeo and build a bracket off of that but it all looked too clumsy and the mounts I've made are perfect and neat. I am using poly bushes in them though which may make the engine vibration become apparent whilst in the car but hey this car isn't being built for comfort so what if it vibrates a bit!
3. Can I use use me full width spitfire radiator? Would I need a header tank?
I don't personally know much about radiators and their cooling abilities so I can't say for sure if a Spitfire radiator will be adequate. I do know that the Ford engine requires a certain temperature range to run well so too much cooling is as bad (probably not) as not enough. My digital dashboard will be displaying my water temperature so I'll find out if the radiator I've gone for is good enough. My main thing when choosing the radiator was one that had the inlet and outputs on the same side so my pipework was neat. I've bought a water rail that fits along the side of the engine and has it's own filler cap and thermostat housing, so I'm not fitting a header tank. If you are just going with the standard thermostat housing on the back of the engine (you'll be modifying ur bulkhead then!) then either you need a radiator with it's own filler cap like the Triumph ones or you will need a header tank.
4. What is Megabolt ignition? Can I use the standard Mondeo one?
Do you mean Megajolt? It's basically an ECU designed by the same lot who did Megasquirt but it only controls the spark side of the engine not the fuel injection. I'm assuming you would be able to use the Ford ECU but for all the other stuff it controls in a Mondeo I don't know if it can be trimmed down to do what you need. I know the Megasquirt setup is £300 (maybe different now) but it does do the ignition and the fuel injection and is completely controllable and programmable with a laptop. If you want to know about using the Ford ECU then there are loads of lads who swap these type of engines around all the time and will be able to help you. Try www.pistonheads.com
5. Can I use the standard pressure plate that comes with the 2ltr?
I changed my flywheel to one out of an 1800 so I've bought all new clutch and pressure plate but I'm sure you can get away with the one you have already.
6. Did you need to use any spacers for the release bearing?
I bought my release bearing and spacer from Burton Power but I had a mechanic mate looking over my shoulder and saying "that one will probably do" so I don't know what size spacer I needed. I think it comes down to the clutch that you use. We basically did a very rough measurement of the gap between the lever and the plate and bought a spacer/bearing setup that was the nearest. Again, a bit trial and error but most of this stuff is!
7. What did you use to plumb the oil, a kit or home made?
I'm not sure what you mean by this, if you mean the oil filter remote then that is made by a company called Mocal - I can't remember which website I actually bought it from. You need to fit the oil filter in a remote position as it is right in the way of the front turret. The pipes have yet to be made but I will be getting braided pipes from somewhere local to me. The oil cooler I'm using is just one I had on an old Mini years ago and had kicking around.
8. Did you end up with just 3 pulleys for the serpentine belt, crank, alternator and water pump? Any tensioner required?
Yes, just three pulleys. This is why you have to change the water pump for one from an 1800 because in the original setup, where it was also running power steering, then the back of the pulley ran over the pump. In this setup the belt runs the other way round the water pump so it is rotating the opposite way. The pump from an 1800 has the fins round the other way so is designed for running in the direction you need. You will need a toothed pulley for the water pump. I think Burton Power supplied mine.
I hope I have answered the questions sufficiently, if not email me again and I will have another go!
Thursday 11 February 2010
Thursday 4 February 2010
Tools, Tools, Tools... 1001 Tools to be precise!
I've invested in a professional tool chest packed solid with most things i'll ever need. It's a joy to work knowing that every tool you need is at hand.
Dual Circuit Brake System
I've bought a dual circuit master cylinder which I believe was fitted to American Spits and some European models. I fabricated a mount to hold it which works a treat but as yet I haven't taken a photograph of it connected to the pedal and working. Watch this space. The plan is to fit a bias valve in the rear circuit which will be mounted in the cockpit either down by the seat or up on the dashboard. I also want to get some inline pressure sensors which will feed the data to my digital dashboard and data logger.
Mounting a few engine bay components
The alternator was allways going to be a tight fit wherever I put it but the neates (and possibly the tightest) position is just under the throttle bodies. There is litterally a few mm of clearance so I had to design a sliding bracket for the belt tension adjustment as there was no way the alternator was going to be able to rotate like usual.
I had to buy a slightly smaller belt than the one I had already purchased but here it is fully tensioned. It's only using about 20% of it's full adjustment capability so there is plenty of head room to cater for any belt stretch
I've built an all in one bracket which holds the radiator, oil cooler, and Mocal remote oil filter. The radiator is from a Golf GTI, it has the inlet and outlet on the same side and does not have a filler cap. I'll be using the filler cap in the water rail I fitted to the side of the engine. This setup means that I don't require a header tank. The direction of flow of the remote oil filter left to right as seen in the picture from the front but to neatly plumb the pipes it would be nice if it went the other way so I may see about exchanging it. I want the oil to run from the engine, through the oil cooler, then through the filter, before returning to the engine. This means any damage to the lines or cooler resulting in debris in the system will have to go through the filter before damaging the engine.
You can just about see the clutch cable (it has a blue sleeve) in the last picture, one of my next jobs is to fabricate a bracket to convert the hydraulic clutch pedal to activate the cable - shouldn't be too difficult.
I had to buy a slightly smaller belt than the one I had already purchased but here it is fully tensioned. It's only using about 20% of it's full adjustment capability so there is plenty of head room to cater for any belt stretch
I've built an all in one bracket which holds the radiator, oil cooler, and Mocal remote oil filter. The radiator is from a Golf GTI, it has the inlet and outlet on the same side and does not have a filler cap. I'll be using the filler cap in the water rail I fitted to the side of the engine. This setup means that I don't require a header tank. The direction of flow of the remote oil filter left to right as seen in the picture from the front but to neatly plumb the pipes it would be nice if it went the other way so I may see about exchanging it. I want the oil to run from the engine, through the oil cooler, then through the filter, before returning to the engine. This means any damage to the lines or cooler resulting in debris in the system will have to go through the filter before damaging the engine.
You can just about see the clutch cable (it has a blue sleeve) in the last picture, one of my next jobs is to fabricate a bracket to convert the hydraulic clutch pedal to activate the cable - shouldn't be too difficult.
Electric Trickery - ECU and Digital Dashboard!
I'm not sure if I've posted a pic of my Megasquirt ECU but here it is in all it's spaghetti wire glory! Luckily, each wire is ;labelled and as you can see I've started attaching some of the connectors for things like the fuel injectors and flywheel position sensor.
Here's something I know you haven't seen, it's my digital dashboard from ETB Instruments.
The dash will display most of the data you need such as oil pressure, water temperature, fuel level, front and rear brake pressure, and obviously speed etc. It does a whole host of cool things, for instance, it comes with a data logger that allows you to record and display on a laptop (either live while driving or downloaded later) all of the sensor readings and settings for the dashboard. It also has an onboard G sensor and a seperate GPS receiver. When you go on track days it will log your position using the GPS as well as recording the latteral G forces along the way. All this data can be view in graphic form and you can even overlay a video (perhaps from a dashboard mounted camera) onto the various graphs and stats. All in all it looks like a mighty cool toy and i'm really looking forward to seeing it fire up! Oh one final thing about the digital dashboard is that it has a series of gear change LED's which start yellow and go through green to red as an indication of revs. The red light revs can be programmed and each yellow and green LED can be assigned it's own rev value.
Here's something I know you haven't seen, it's my digital dashboard from ETB Instruments.
The dash will display most of the data you need such as oil pressure, water temperature, fuel level, front and rear brake pressure, and obviously speed etc. It does a whole host of cool things, for instance, it comes with a data logger that allows you to record and display on a laptop (either live while driving or downloaded later) all of the sensor readings and settings for the dashboard. It also has an onboard G sensor and a seperate GPS receiver. When you go on track days it will log your position using the GPS as well as recording the latteral G forces along the way. All this data can be view in graphic form and you can even overlay a video (perhaps from a dashboard mounted camera) onto the various graphs and stats. All in all it looks like a mighty cool toy and i'm really looking forward to seeing it fire up! Oh one final thing about the digital dashboard is that it has a series of gear change LED's which start yellow and go through green to red as an indication of revs. The red light revs can be programmed and each yellow and green LED can be assigned it's own rev value.
Speed Sensor
My digital dashboard (more later) comes with a speed sensor which needs to be mounted on the propshaft or a driving wheel but must be fixed so that it moves with any movement of the prop. I have fabricated a small bracket to hold the sensor on the differential pointing at the side of the diff plate.
Next I glued two small magnets 180 degrees apart on the edge of the diff plate. The sensor has to be mounted 1mm away from the spinning magnets.
Next I glued two small magnets 180 degrees apart on the edge of the diff plate. The sensor has to be mounted 1mm away from the spinning magnets.
Rear Suspension and Brakes
I've fitted the rear part of the handbrake cable and the rear dampers. I'm still in half a mind to do a complete conversion of the rear end to a wishbone setup with coil over dampers like the front. Watch this space for my decision!
Spitfire 1500 Bonnet or GT6 Bonnet?
First thing I did once I got the car to the workshop was loosely fit the body and test fit my Dad's 1500 bonnet to see if the engine fitted underneath. The cam cover at the front of the engine is just touching the bonnet although it shuts fully so with some slight fettling a normal bonnet will be fine. The alternative was to possibly use a GT6 bonnet although I doubt the bulge would be in the right place. Luckily I need not worry so I will shortly be ordering a new fibreglass bonnet.
New Year, New Workshop, New Start
It's been almost a year since I've done any noteworthy work on the car but a friend of mine has just started a automotive fabrication and servicing garage and has allowed me a corner of his workshop for the foreseeable future to work on my car. I've also recently sold my company so have afforded myself some time off. I've been back working on the car for a couple of weeks now so get ready for a few updates soon.
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