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Thread: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

  1. #161
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    i dont see how 20 degrees could cause you a problem.

    re cooling in at the bottom out the top makes most sense, but i dont see the other way round being a deal breaker either

  2. #162
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Yes 20* is going to cause a problem generally turbo manufactures don't recommended more than 8* iirc. Best to keep it straight up and down and avoid any 90* fittings as well.

  3. #163
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Luckily, I've been able to mount the turbo almost perfectly, with oil feed in at the 12 O'clock position. I made up this temporary turbo support arm with and drop link with spherical joints at either end. This is just to get the manifold sorted, and then I'll replace the arm with a proper one.






    I did seriously consider making the manifold myself using heavy gauge pipe. Maybe just a log type one. But the more I thought about it, the more I reckoned someone else could do it better and in 1/10th of the time it would take me. This project has already taken up too much time.

    I showed a picture of a lovely looking Civic manifold to Hayward & Scott and asked if they could do something like this...




    So, for the first time in 4 years the Cortina has been dragged out of the workshop into the sunlight for a trip to Basildon.




    Here it is with a set of horrible Focus slave alloy wheels. The rear suspension has been raised 50mm with steel spacers that I knocked up and with the coil-overs wound right up for maximum ground clearance to get it on the back of my mates trailer without trouble.





    A week later Hayward & Scott have fabricated the manifold. space was a little too tight to have the full equal length runners I wanted, but with a turbo engine I'm told it makes little difference. This work would have taken me for ever, and my welds would look nothing like this.






    Hayward & Scott did the down pipe too. Its a 3" pipe that runs down to a 'Y' piece that then links to the original two 2.5" pipes from the Cortina's V8 days.


    That's a lot of progress made in one month - albiet a wallet lightening way to go. Next step is to make up some boost pipes and sort out an intercooler.
    Last edited by beeRS; 29-05-2019 at 10:04.

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  5. #164
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Sooooo effing cool....

    Great stuff!

    Matt

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by Matt75 View Post
    Sooooo effing cool....

    Great stuff!

    Matt
    Thanks Matt, I must get round to posting some more progress updates.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Wow how time flys ,remember when you first started this originally,although I don’t come on here as often now.So is it all up running and driving? Looks very well put together worth the wait pal��

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    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by terry View Post
    Wow how time flys ,remember when you first started this originally,although I don’t come on here as often now.So is it all up running and driving? Looks very well put together worth the wait pal��
    Thanks terry. Not up and running yet I'm afraid. I'll post some updates soon.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    When I pulled this project out of storage in 2016, I thought I'd get it finished before I turned 50. Well, that didn't happen. I've owned this Cortina since I was 24 years old. What the heck! That's more than half my life now. My new goal is to finish this before petrol becomes extinct.

    Sorry - it's been a long time since I last posted any progress, but the project has been moving forward in small increments.

    Some new Image 3-piece wheels. At the front I have 15" with 195/50x15. At the rear I have 16" with 245/45x16. Toyo Proxes R888R all round.










    This is my first go of making a turbo support bracket...










    I really was not happy with this design. I just felt it was too bulks, so scrapped it and started again. This is my second go...














    I also decided I did not like the bonnet hinges that I fabricated more than 15 years ago. I was inspired whilst watching Project Binky on YouTube and pinched their idea of using Porsche Boxster hinges. These are much better I think. They still needed cutting and shutting to fit and work properly. Nothing's ever straight forward.












    Some goodies arrived from Forge. This took the best part of a year from ordering, simply because I did not want their default black or purple colours. The good folks at Forge did a special run of clear anodising just for me!


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  11. #169
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Before fabricating the intercooler pipes, I had to establish the space available. So fitting the brake/clutch fluid reservoirs to the bulkhead was next. I made a couple of simple brackets from 3mm aluminium.










    Next, I've ordered some silicon hose which will be used for coolant and intercooler pipes. 32mm OD for the coolant, and 76mm OD for the intercooler.










    I used cardboard templates to figure out what sections of the bends to use and where to cut. The long cardboard tube in front of the radiator, shown in the picture below, represents the space where the intercooler will be fitted.










    The K&N air filter arrived. This was required at this stage so that I could mock up for the aluminium inlet pipework which would be TIG welded at the same time as the intercooler pipework.




    The designs for the intercooler which I drew up and sent to ProAlloy.






    And 8 weeks later this is what they sent me. They do a lovely job! The did a 'brushed' aluminium finish with clear powder coat - the same as they did on the radiator.






    Next up was to position the dump valve. This was placed on the cold side of the intercooler pipework, after the intercooler and just ahead of the intake plenum. I used a paper template to mock up the neck, and of course made sure it was horizontal.




    The neck for the intercooler is supplied from Forge, and needs profiling to suite the pipework shape/size that it will be welded to.










    Back to cutting and profiling intercooler pipework. I'll be honest - this was a real headache of a job. If I were doing this again, I would simply use 'pie-cuts' of straight tube. Working out the angles and where to cut the bends had me going crazy. You get one chance to cut. You cannot scratch the aluminium, and its difficult to hold in a vice. Each cut has to be perpendicular to the radius of the pipe and the gaps all needed to be a constant 1mm-1.5mm otherwise the welds will look rubbish.








    With all the cuts completed and everything mocked up in place. I labelled each piece for sequence and orientation, and sticky taped them together. This is the final mock up before pulling apart for welding.










    I'm still a beginner with TIG welding, and I have not yet even tackled aluminium, so I let ProAlloy weld up all the pipework for me. 6 weeks after mock up, they returned these to me.










    If you're wondering why progress is so slow, here's my RS2000, which I finished restoring in 2014. One of the many, many reasons I get distracted from work on my Cortina.


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  13. #170
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Nice work Beers, it all looks very expensive. I'll look forward to reading further updates.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Nice to see some progress

    the RS still makes me go green with envy!
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    great work !
    And the RS2K is not bad...

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Great to see an update on this, very nice build this

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by Forest_rallying View Post
    Nice work Beers, it all looks very expensive. I'll look forward to reading further updates.
    Yes - it can get a bit scary when you start totting up costs. It helps that its spread over such a long period of time though.

    Quote Originally Posted by mexicotait View Post
    the RS still makes me go green with envy!
    Quote Originally Posted by Mkdu View Post
    great work !
    And the RS2K is not bad...
    It was great to get the RS2000 out for a blast last summer. Its running twin IDFs now.

    Quote Originally Posted by SimonD View Post
    Great to see an update on this, very nice build this
    Thanks SimonD.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    After a lot of research and head scratching. I decided to fit a vacuum brake servo, but just to the front brake circuit. I don't think I've ever seen this done with a bias pedal box, but in theory it should work. The problem with a servo is locating it, and finding enough vacuum. I didn't think there will be a reliable vacuum supply from the engine, so I decided to use a vacuum pump and mount the lot in the boot. Firstly, I fabricated a complicated bracket to mount all the components.
















    The completed bracket.




    The bracket/platform is to mount all the parts for the servo neatly in one place. I've used a Hella UP32 vacuum pump, a kit car remote servo unit, and fitted the arrangement with an adjustable vacuum switch and non-return valve. This should mean that the vacuum pump only engages when triggered by a signal from the brake pressure switch and the pump only runs for as long as is needed.








    The assembly was mounted above the rear axle, in the most out-of-the-way place I could find. This will mean running a brake line from the master cylinder to the back of the car, and then return them to the front. This is not ideal. I just could not think of a simpler or better way. I did not want the servo at the front, or inside the car. This will add about 3.5m of pipe length and I wonder if this will have a knock on affect with the feel of the pedal. I guess it's just one of those things that I won't know till I try. At worst, this lot will come out and I'll bypass it with pipe directly to the front brakes.








    Next up is the fuel tank. Originally, I had intended to place this under the boot floor in the way the original Cortina item would have been mounted. I decided against this and went for a boot mounted option instead. It's an awkward shaped space, due to the non-original floor, so nothing off the shelf seemed to work for me. I drew up designs, and sent them to ProAlloy.






    Some time later, they sent me this! The tank comes with an internal swirl pot, pump and sender unit.








    To mount the fuel tank I needed to fabricate some mounting points.






    That's the fuel tank fitted and ready for plumbing.




    I'll post more updates as/when I have time.
    Last edited by beeRS; 05-01-2022 at 08:48.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    'Binky Brackets' - the boys would be proud. I wouldn't worry about pedal feel with the additional pipe length - once bled, hydraulic oil is non compressible so you could add 100m and you'll still get the same pressure at either end. Its the bleeding that'll be the biggest headache!

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    Cool Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    I'm pressing on with the build. There's been lots of little jobs done. I cut some slots into the top of the dash for screen de-mist. The original Ford dash had two big vents in the middle. These could not be re-used.



    Fitted a small heater/blower under the dash. There's no room for the original Cortina item because of the new bulkhead.



    Made this little aluminium bracket...



    to mount a Forge Intake Pressure Compensation Valve. You can also see in this pic that I've re-located the vacuum manifold to the front of the block.



    This leaves space against the bulkhead for an oil catch tank.



    I've made up a kind of temporary bracket to mount the three vent controls. The controls are all push/pull cable - so very low tech. They work fine though.



    Made up some braided brake lines.



    Got a solenoid operated line lock.


    Made these aluminium brackets for mounting copper/nickel brake lines.



    Completed the floor skin over the trans tunnel with 1.2mm aluminium sheet. Made a new gear lever that uses an old suspension poly bush as an isolator. I've no idea how well this will work - its an experiment. The gear knob is an old Ford Puma item that I spun on the pillar drill to look like a machined finish. The red bit is a silicone chimney gasket to seal where the gear lever comes through the floor. Its functional - not pretty.



    Running brake lines and fuel lines all inside.


    Had to open up and re-tap some of the ports in the Duratec water manifold.




    Radiator top pipe in aluminium 32mm tube.




    Whilst researching about the plumbing for a water cooled turbo I found that the water inlet to the turbo needs to be slightly lower than the outlet. Apparently the theory is that cool water rising will generate it's own flow through the turbo after the engine is turned off and the water pump stopped. To achieve this the turbo needed to be rotated a little. Originally I had the turbo at a 20 degree angle. Then managed to fit it dead horizontal (with oil inlet at the 12 O'clock position). Now I'm moving it again to achieve about 10 degrees.


    So, this means I'm tweeking the turbo support bracket for the third time. Luckily, it is only a small change required.




    The knock on effect is that the oil drain pipe now hits the chassis tube, so a slight re-design was required here too. I've simply cut it in half, rotated 180 degrees and welded it back. I also had to put a slight bend in the wastegate actuator arm.






    Made a rear view mirror by combining a kit car part with the original Cortina arm. The prices of original Cortina Mk1 mirrors on eBay are eye watering!



    Got some new power tools. I love tools.



    Fitted wiring grommet in rear bulk head.


    The front bulkhead get a grommet too, plus a power connector in preparation for the ECU which will sit behind the passenger side of the dash.



    Got a standard Duratec starter motor.



    I'm getting very close to finishing the 'dry build' now. I'll soon be at the point where I can tear this down to fully weld the cross member and paint everything you'll see under the bonnet. I may paint the inside at the same time. I'm not sure if I should build the wiring loom before tear down yet. Maybe I'll do that after.

    And of course, I'll soon be ready to open up the engine. Time to start thinking about pistons and rods!

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    Spanner Monkey SimonD's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Great update on the car mate, I love your Project Binky skills on this part

    Quote Originally Posted by beeRS View Post

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Mate,
    This really is something special.
    I have never seen such a clean workshow either.
    Keep going..Your nearly there now.
    And keep up the high standards.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Mate,
    This really is something special.
    I have never seen such a clean workshow either.
    Keep going..Your nearly there now.
    And keep up the high standards.

  25. #181
    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by SimonD View Post
    Great update on the car mate, I love your Project Binky skills on this part
    Thanks - I was quite chuffed with that bracket-thingy.

    Quote Originally Posted by fingersnfumbs View Post
    Mate,
    This really is something special.
    I have never seen such a clean workshow either.
    Keep going..Your nearly there now.
    And keep up the high standards.
    Thanks. The workshop is one half of my place of work, so I have to keep it kind of respectable.

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    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Workshop time is hard to come by, and when I do find time I tend to just plough on. I know I need to take time out to share, so here goes a very long overdue update...

    For the overflow tank, I'm keeping things simple. This is just a Lucus tank as used on many Triumphs (I think). The lid looks a bit basic, but I knew I could do something with that.


    To mount the tank, I needed to make a bracket. this is an aluminium strip cut to shape, and I bent it around a fire extinguisher that happens to be about the right size.




    I keep a box full of old bits and pieces. Sometimes not even car parts. I have old aluminium bathroom fittings, curtain rails, bicycle part just because I think I may use them for something. Usually, this hoarding behaviour is just annoying, but every now and then I turn up something great. I found an aluminium cap - I have no memory of what it was or where it came from - but its the perfect fit for the top of the overflow tank!
    The aluminium tube that goes in the top reaches all the way down and stops about 2-3mm from the bottom of the inside of the tank. This should mean that when coolant expands and overflows into it, it can then get sucked back as the system cools down and contracts.


    Another one of the jobs I wanted to do before tearing down the engine was the bonnet latch. I did not originally intend on having one - instead just relying on the two pins. I had second thoughts about this and decided to fit a latch. I'm just doing the hook part. Below is the original Cortina part, and next to it is a reproduction Mk1 Escort item found on ebay.



    Fitting the latch to the slam panel meant covering up the engine with dust sheets and cutting holes in the fibreglass




    By now it's around November 2022, and a black Friday 20% discount code came up on ebay. I already knew the exact ECU and power distribution unit I wanted, so when they became available at the discounted price I had to shell out for them. Another big spend out the way.
    This is an ECU Master EMU Black, and their 16 channel PDU unit



    One more problem to sort out was the throttle cable routing. This took ages to sort. Firstly at the throttle body side you can see that the way the cable is angled goes straight into the bottom of the fuel rail The cable has to be angled quite sharply to run it one side or the other. It really doesn't look too bad in the pictures, but in reality, it was.


    To fix this it was not just a case of bending the bracket. Its 4mm stainless steel and even if I bent it, the positioning is all wrong. I'll simply make a new bracket I thought. Below is stage one. I made this from 4mm mild steel. I was not about to bend that in a vice, so I made it in two halves and welded them together at the correct angle.


    Then with a bit of grinding and filing, I have the bracket you see below left. The one on the right is the original stainless steel one. How long do you think it takes me to make a bracket like this using simple tools? It's hours of work, and one of those many un-seen jobs that makes progress so slow sometimes.


    From the throttle pedal, the cable goes straight forward into the area where the off-side front wheel well would be. It then has to perform at least three 90 degree bends to get to the throttle bodies, which are on the other side of the engine. That's quite a tortured route. I would have loved a drive-by-wire set up, but I don't have space for the actuator underneath the throttle bodies, and it would have been another big expense. Instead, I decided to re-design the quadrant at the pedal end an engineer it so that the cable pull is directly up/down. This means I can run the cable vertically from the pedals and in one sweeping bend hidden behind the dash it comes out into the engine bay on the other side. Bingo - no cable running under, over or behind the engine! For anyone making custom Bowden cables, I can thoroughly recommend Venhill. They sell all the components individually for any custom build.
















    A little bit out of sync, but these next few pics show everything in place (before the throttle cable was sorted). This around February 2023.








  27. #183
    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    This is the sump guard. It's 5mm thick aluminium plate. I din't have the facility to bend this, so I drew it out and a small local engineering company made it up for me. This was the last job to be done before the 'dry build' was completed. It had to be done with the engine in place.


    I made a steel frame to hold the back of the sump guard in place. These were the two plates that form the feet of the frame and bolt on to the chassis. I hate making slotted holes in steel. I wish there was a easier way of doing this. I had to drill two holes side-by-side then file out the shape. I've done many slotted holes and they always take such a long time.




    This is the completed assembly. the sump guard with the frame. This is shown upside down here on the bench.


    With the sump in place under the engine (I forgot to take a picture!), I could measure out the location of the adjusting screw for the oil pressure adjustor. I then cut a hole so that I don't have to remove the sump guard if I ever want to access the adjusting screw.


    And finally the engine comes out.



    With the engine out, I was able to get on with cleaning up this mess. You can see the cross member and engine mounts that have just been tack welded in place. There's a lot to do here.


    Whilest I got on with that, the engine went off for a re-build. I didn't fancy doing that myself. I ordered a set of pistons and rods from Esslinger back in December 2022, and discussed an engine build with Paul at Dunnell engines. By now it was March 2023 and no delivery from Esslinger! I took the engine to Dunnells for them to make a start anyway.

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    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Whilst the engine was away being worked on, I cracked on with other bits. Firstly, I modified the sump with a weld in bung. This will be for a screw in fitting for the turbo oil to drain in to.





    This is the header tank support bracket before clean up.


    And this is the header tank support bracket after clean up - ready for paint.


    This is one of the lower radiator suport brackets where I am adding lightness by drilling a hole!


    Flash forward a few weeks and these parts are back after being blasted and powdercoated at Maldon Shot Blasting Ltd





    Looking again at the mounting point for the anti-roll-bar. I was never really happy with this and so it had to go and be tackled in a different way. A much simpler mounting set up, 25mm lower down with a simple aluminium spacer block was designed.









    I also had to make a tweek to the drop links at the end of the anti-roll-bar. Being straight would be okay most of the time. However, if I adjust the bar for maximum torsion (ie attach the drop link closer to the pivot point) and simultaniously steer to full lock, either way, there is a interference problem with the track rod ends. For this reason, I modified the drop links with a slight bend.



    Second round of powder coating and the cam cover done in 'chrome' effect. Damn my photography skills - it's really hard to capture the finish on camera. The pictures don't show the cam cover as it looks in reality.




    The engine and gearbox mounts were powdercoated in a zinc base coat only. This was bound to get scratched whilst pressing in the bushes, so a top coat of black will be done (probably with a 2K paint) after the bushes are in and masked off.


    This is the Dunell water rail. Again, these look a different colour in the pictures. They are a bit more silver than this in reality. In the pictures they look a bit grey!



    I'd been chasing Esslinger for my pistons/rods and there always seemed to be a delay. I started thinking about asking for my money back. I'd paid in full, in advance last December. By now it was summer 2023 and still no delivery! The engine was stripped down and waiting in storage at Dunnell's, but they could not progress without the parts. Then, in late July I got a teaser picture from Esslinger... wow my 89mm 10.5:1 pistons had finally been manufactured. Now all they need to do is package them up a with the rods and FedEx them to me.


    With customs, and shipping it was early August by the time the pistons were in my hands. My gosh - that took nearly 9 months! Could have delivered a baby in that time.





    For anyone interested, this is what Esslinger call their 'Long Rod' kit. see it here

    I went for the 10.5:1 compression ratio. Paul at Dunnell used this as a starting point with an aim for 10:1, which he felt was about right for the type of turbo application I wanted. Esslinger do a 10.5 and a 9.5. I was told it was better to start with the 10.5 and lower the compression ratio, rather than go with the 9.5 and increase it. Also, the 10.5 was $150 cheaper. Theres a lot more other work that was done to the engine, but more about that later.

  29. #185
    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Another update.
    I got some parts bright zinc plated at a local company. They tied everything to a wire. I've never seen it done this way, but maybe it’s because it was a small batch. The downside of this was that there is a small part of each part that is not properly plated - where the wire is wrapped around. I think next time, I will wait till I have a larger quantity and they can put it all in a wire basket. I think if you supply enough pieces it warrants a dedicated basket and they can plate parts loosely without the wire.



    I never felt entirely comfortable with the idea of this car not having any inner arches. On an original Cortina or an Escort the inside of the inner wing is affectively a splash guard. Here, I have nothing. So, I came up with the idea of making an inner wheel cover from fibreglass. To mock this up, I began by making a pattern from cardboard.



    I worked on this idea for a while and just couldn’t get my head around it. Sometimes you just need to step back and re-think a problem. I found a pair of trailer arches that seemed almost perfect for the job. They would cover the wheel inside the arch and stop the majority of road debris hitting the inside of the wings and the bulkhead. They are made from a flexible injection moulded plastic - absolutely ideal to take a few knocks without damage. There was some trimming involved and I had to check clearance with the front wheels on full lock and with suspension in full compression. I also had to trim to make them a neat fit inside the wings and make sure they can’t be seen from outside.













    With that done, I was able to strip the front suspension off and tackle the clearance issue with the bulkhead. The way I had positioned the Duratec in the bay meant that the back of the cam cover was very close. There was no way reaching behind - even to access the cables running against the bulkhead. I began by cutting out the area directly behind where the cam cover would sit.











    As soon as this part was removed, I hit a bit of a problem. You can’t see it in the picture but the area just above the cut is warped. There must have been a lot of residual stress held in this panel and it was being held in shape by the lower return edge. I am no good a shrinking steel, so I cut vertical slots in the steel and used clecko fasteners to hold in a 3mm steel strip acting as a brace. I then made up the new filler panel from 1.2mm steel sheet. With this tack welded, I could release the clekos and the panel was held in the correct shape with the correct curve.













    I made up filler pieces from 1.2mm steel sheet to plug these redundant slots. These slots in the bulkhead were cut in when I originally made some very basic bonnet hinges – 20 odd years ago. I'm now using Porsche Boxster boot hinges for the bonnet and they work much better and don't need any holes in the bulkhead.



    Time for a new toy! I had to get a new MIG. This is an inverter type. I can't believe how small it is compared to my old transformer MIG. Still capable of welding 6mm steel.



    Here I'm making a template for cutting a small section of tube to join the top of the suspension towers to the upper chassis tube. This was not initially needed with the chassis design, but when moving from the V8 to the Duratec the chassis cross-member had to be lowered, due to the Duratec dimensions. Cutting the end of the tube so the profile is just right was quite tricky and that’s where the paper template helps.















    Some extra bracing for the engine mounts on the chassis.








    That’s all for now.

  30. #186
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by beeRS View Post
    Another update.
    I got some parts bright zinc plated at a local company. They tied everything to a wire. I've never seen it done this way, but maybe it’s because it was a small batch. The downside of this was that there is a small part of each part that is not properly plated - where the wire is wrapped around. I think next time, I will wait till I have a larger quantity and they can put it all in a wire basket.
    I think if you supply enough pieces it warrants a dedicated basket and they can plate parts loosely without the wire.
    Surely sitting in a basket - the parts will be a) touching the basket & b) touching each other, so I see no benefit?
    Its just a downside of plating - there will ALWAYS be somewhere that can't be plated!

  31. #187
    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by katana View Post
    Surely sitting in a basket - the parts will be a) touching the basket & b) touching each other, so I see no benefit?
    Its just a downside of plating - there will ALWAYS be somewhere that can't be plated!
    I guess that makes sense. I wonder how they plate the commercially available bright zinc nuts and bolts that I buy? Maybe there’s a different process for them, as I’ve never noticed any inconsistency with their coverage.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    When they are in a basket they can be agitated to move them around which gives a reasonably consistant plating.

    Cheers
    John

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  34. #189
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by c42 View Post
    When they are in a basket they can be agitated to move them around which gives a reasonably consistant plating.

    Cheers
    John
    makes sense, i have a DIY plating kit which actually works quite well but always wondered how the pros would do it, i guess if you have a basket made of the right material the plating wont try to stick to the basket?

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    Mechanic beeRS's Avatar

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by Graham View Post
    makes sense, i have a DIY plating kit which actually works quite well but always wondered how the pros would do it, i guess if you have a basket made of the right material the plating wont try to stick to the basket?
    That sounds interesting Graham. Where did you get your DIY kit from?

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by beeRS View Post
    That sounds interesting Graham. Where did you get your DIY kit from?
    ebay, theres loads on there, well there was, ive not looked lately

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Dunnel have finished the engine build and then dyn'd it as a N/A engine. Paul wanted to do this to be 100% sure everything was right and to run the engine in. He tested a couple of different cam combinations before we settled on the final spec. I saw the engine on the dyno and watched in rev up, but there was strictly no photography allowed . I'll share the full spec of the build later. I managed to squeeze this into the back of the E36 Compact for the drive home. This was November 2023.














    With the old paint stripped off the bulkhead and all unnecessary holes welded up I brushed on a coat of zinc phosphate, thinking this would stop any flash rusting, but it almost immediately did the opposite . I've used this stuff before on small components but only under POR15 paints. I stripped off the paint from the entire front end using a combination of paint stripper and strip/clean discs on an angle grinder. This job literally took me days, because of the awkward shape.








    Paint materials delivered from Buzzweld. 2K epoxy primer and raptor bedliner.
















    So, that's 2 coats of zinc rich 2K epoxy on. I've not sprayed 2K for a long time, and I forgot how messy this stuff can be when you don't have a booth. The overspray (dust) has settled everywhere within a 5m radius. I thought I had masked the surrounding area well, but it was not well enough. This post brings us right up to date, as of December 2023. It's fairly mild (7-9 degrees), so not too bad for painting at the moment, so maybe the raptor will go on before Christmas. Let's see.

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    This should have been the last update of 2023, but I only just got round to downloading images from my camera. Got black raptor paint mixed up. This is the un-tinted default colour - satin black. In the pot it's very much like the Gravitex I used for my RS2000. You can spray this stuff with a Schutz gun, but I used a cheapo gravity fed gun with 1.8mm nozzle.



    I had to hand brush paint some of the inaccessible areas first, as I knew the gun would not get to them very easily. This job took ages as I had to let it flash dry and then brush on a second coat, then let that flash off before I could even begin spraying. I don't have a spray booth, but this job was done on those exceptionally windy days we had just before Christmas. With doors and windows open I had great airflow! The black is very opaque and made me realise I put more effort into the primer coat than necessary. Despite using a spray gun instead of a Schutz gun the finish still came with a texture, but I'm fine with that.









    The following day with the Raptor painted area masked off, I got high-build 2K primer on the top of the scuttle area. I gave the high-build a few days to harden off whilst I got Christmas out of the way. Then in-between Christmas and New Year (a great time to get out of the house), I flatted it back before getting the Ford Ermine white on.










    And that's it - paint stage done before New Year’s Eve. It's not very often that I manage to hit the targets I'm working towards. Glad this stage is over as I hate painting really. Now I'm ready to start bolting things back together .

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  41. #194
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    This looks fantastic! Excellent workmanship and attention to detail... I love it!

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  43. #195
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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Looks brilliant

    i have been looking for a new mig would you recommend the one you got?
    Hexham and District Motorclub

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    Re: My mad Duratec 2.5 instalation - Cortina Mk1

    Quote Originally Posted by mexicotait View Post
    Looks brilliant

    i have been looking for a new mig would you recommend the one you got?
    Thanks mexicotait.

    The Mig machine I bought is an R-Tec180 item. No point getting any bigger with 13amp supply. I can't even actually use the full 180amps unless I have a 16amp supply anyway. It's a great machine and the first time i'm using and inverter type. It's a quarter the size of my old transformer machine and it's the space saving that is most important to me - having a small workshop. It does everything I need it to; 1mm to 6mm thick steel. The controls are easy, but the display is pointless as it only shows the voltage as you are welding! R-Tec are great for customer service too.

    How's things going with your Escort? Will we see it racing with an Atlas axel this year?

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