Anyone ever fitted an Ashley competition 4 branch and had problems with it hitting the engine mount and crossmember?
using a standard crossmember and rs2000 metal mounts with the correct size rubbers. Manifold almost touched the rubber of the mount, and then hits the crossmember (where the rubber mount slots in) before its sits down completely on its mounts.
Is it the Ashley 3 piece Group 2 manifold? If it is I am sure it's designed to be used with a World Cross member and mounts.
Last edited by Forest_rallying; 10-06-2020 at 17:30.
It is the 3 piece yes, if that’s what it’s designed for it’s news to me. Didn’t mention anything like that when I bought it.
Last edited by Millar; 10-06-2020 at 17:41.
Only way I can see round it, without changing the manifold or getting a new crossmember, is to trim the top off the crossmember mount until it fits. But hardly seems like an ideal solution.
maybe they didnt, probably because that piece of information has got lost in time, but it was the same situation in 1985 when we first sold these, you can make them fit with a standard x member but you will need the use of an angle grinder.Originally Posted by Millar
Yeah I thought that would be the case, definitely cheaper than the other options too! Just another thing to add to the list of things that don’t fit on this car.
to be honest, we are talking about 40-50 year old cars which have been hacked about and modified right left and center and aftermarket parts you shouldnt really expect anything to fit!
Well that’s true, I don’t think a single thing has fitted so far. And now that I have it sitting on its mounts, the alloy sump is catching the crossmember.
The 3 piece Ashley manifold is a competition manifold so I suppose it made sense to design it around the fitment of the WCXM, the standard engine mounts are pretty pants for hard off road driving. I remember fitting one in the 80's on a car with a chassis mounted engine and the fitment was touch and go on that even with slight modifications.
They did a smaller bore single piece manifold that was made for std x member and mounts, maybe you'd be better off with one of them.
There aren't many parts that are aftermarket that are a straight fit, sometime you can spend the best part of a days work making the simplest of things fit correctly. Welcome to the world of modifying, tuning and restoring old cars, I seem to have spent the best part of my life doing just that.
I’ll be honest, I never really thought about it being a competition manifold, I just wanted the outlet to be 2-1/2” as I have a retro ford exhaust lying about. Will see if I can just make it fit for now.
Haha yeah I know, I have spent most of my life doing it too, it’s just the first time I’ve worked on my escort for a long time, and I forgot just how bad they were for fitment issues! Might have to space up the engine mount a little and trim a little off the back of the crossmember. Also dropped the starter and smashed it, so having one of those particularly good days!
Glad there are good communities like this around though.
Don't worry we all have them sort of days, more bad ones than good sometimes.
Can you put a spacer under the rubber between X member mounts on both sides to lift up the engine? Then trim the corner off the X member that fouls the exhaust and you might just have enough clearance. In the photo is the manifold bolted onto the head fully or won't it allow it to?
If you do get everything to fit don't forget to shield the engine mount rubber from the exhaust manifold heat otherwise it'll just melt.
Manifold is fully bolted on, and have trimmed the corner and it’s fitting now, but will definitely need to remember to wrap the engine mount as there is only a few mm between it and the manifold!
Definitely going to have to space up the mounts a little as the alloy sump is touching the crossmember, but only on one side.
Would swapping the engine mounts round help with my clearance issues? I currently have the shorter mount on the exhaust side, drivers side (rhd car). Is this even the correct way around? The internet seems to have varying opinions.
Have you tried lifting the back of the gearbox or is it as high as it can go? I would have thought by swapping the engine mouts from side to side would make matters worse but you have nothing to lose if you give it a try. Have you tried liting the front of the engine yet?
I have a 3 piece Ashley on my Pinto with WCXM. The engine mount had to be ground back to a bit of a half moon shape, so they dont foul.
Flexi steering couple was also very close, but that's now been recently swapped out for a stainless steel U/J with no flexi coupling.
Have managed to get the manifold to clear everything, chopped the top of the crossmember mount off, luckily already had a u/j steering coupling fitted and spaced the engine mounts up a little. Gearbox is lifted up as high as it will go and the sump is still touching the crossmember. But going to try changing the box for a type 9 anyway, so will see if that makes a difference. As the type 2 seems to be stopping a lot of things from fitting.
I can't see fitting a larger gearbox's going to be the answer to your problems. Is the bellhousing fouling on the transmission tunnel of the car which in turn won't allow you to lift the engine any higher?
That’s how it should sit. I have type 9 fitted with alloy bellhousing and rs engine mounts. I do have an auto tunnel fitted now but it did fit before.
well i did put on a picture, honest
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Last edited by wildo105e; 12-06-2020 at 18:55.
I am mostly having to change to the type 9 because there doesn’t seem to be a starter that works with the pinto flywheel and the type 2 gearbox, one takes a pre-engaged and the other an inertia.
Gearbox was fitting nicely, as it’s quite small, had the tail of the gearbox right up against the top of the tunnel (which is an automatic) and still the sump was touching the crossmember as shown in the photo.
Thanks wildo, a picture of someone else’s setup would be quite handy to see. Which mount do you have on which side?
Have spaced the mounts up with a nut in either side, which has taken the sump off the lip at the bottom of the crossmember, but it’s still sitting against the back of the crossmember like the back of the engine need to come up.
The shorter mount is on the drivers side
These are some pics if it helps of RS mounts and sizes to compare to your mounts
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I have the shorter mount on the driver side also. I’m using burton steel rs2000 mounts with 52mm rubbers.
Picture didn’t work again unfortunately.
The longest one is 130mm from the face to the edge of the rubber and the shorter one is 120mm.
Thanks. Will measure them tomorrow.
Mine seem to be about 10mm shorter on each side, which explains why I have had to space them up.
Waiting on the new gearbox arriving, went for a rocket to try and give myself as much room as possible to lift the box up.
You have done well if you have located yourself a genuine Rocket box at the right price, there was one on here a couple of months ago and it sold for £2500.
I should really say it’s a type e, have always just called them the rocket, but yeah it’s not works competition box.
Oh you mean a Cortina gearbox. Are you using the std cast bellhousing? You should be okay once you sort the engine mounting problem out. All the Pinto engine cars I have had have either had WCX member or chassis mounts so I am sorry I can't be of more help.
The gearbox that was in rs2000’s and the mk2 Mexico’s. It doesn’t have a bell housing on it, so going to use an alu rs2000 one.
I do have a set of chassis mounts lying around, so if I can’t get the engine to sit right on these then it’s an option. Though I was keeping them for mounting another turbo engine in the future. But might not need to if I turbo the pinto.
Not at all, thanks for your help.
Yes as Forest rallying says a Cortina gearbox. There's nothing special about those boxes the only one that's special is the rocket box and that's only special because of it's ratios, it's still a standard casing.
I never said it was special, I just happened to call it the rocket because they are the same style and fitment.
Only thing special about it as far as I’m concerned is that it will fit! Since it’s what came on a pinto in a mk1.
Just got wiring to sort in the mean time, I labelled everything when I took out the last pinto, but unfortunately I wasn’t very specific, got four or five wires that all say coil and the same for the starter, will definitely be sure to label them + and - next time.
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