Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

[Roadsport]

Hello all.

Been reading about your nice racers so I tought to post some pics of mine.
I'm building a new Zetec SE engine to replace the pinto and I've been visiting the Zetec section frequently to get some help and to share some tips I've found out about the SE. I'm from Finland and around here the Zetec is totally unkonown to the motorsport realm. These forums have been a great help so I tought i share something.

Cheers
Markus


The first engine I raced was 1700cc Kent 150bhp



The First pinto 190bhp



The final version made 220bhp



The newest power plant Is slowly coming together

[Roadsport]

Some bits and bobs for the new engine. Sorry for the poor picture quality I wery often leave my camera home when I go to the carage and I have to settle to my Nokia.

I'm now waiting for the cylinder head to come back from the shop. And for the big end bearings to arriwe. Otherwise the bottom end is put together.

[Roadsport]

Two more pics. From my phone tough.
Fitted the piston in. Torqued the main ladder and checked the clearance for the cons. Rotates nicely. No need for any grinding. If only I'd have those big end bearings...Its been a painful process of waiting and waiting for bits to arriwe with this engine.
Pinto bits grow on trees around here compared to this Sigma.

[NorthernBloke]

Loving the photos and the car - awesome

[Roadsport]

Bored. So scanned some pics took from the races.

Earlyer had a crash with Opel kadett. Driver door damaged



Team Gulf vs. Zakspeed mk2



[ATTACH]

[Roadsport]

Loving the photos and the car - awesome

Thanks mate.

[Joe-Tait]

Great looking Mk1 mate

[dopdog]

That is one mean looking motor

[dobuy]

Very nice indeed

[360phil]

Superb looking car.

What's the spec of the suspension you're running?

[Stringpants]

Car and engines look great...what size wheels and tyres are you using?

Russ.

[NRspeed]

Really great looking car. Does it have a historic race history?

[angliaant]

thats nice mate... that SE engine build looks pukka
i bet it should make good power

[essyrwd]

love it

that B/W photo looks so right ,could of been from the 70s

[trig]

[Roadsport]

Superb looking car.

What's the spec of the suspension you're running?

Thanks for the comments guys!

Its coil overs all around in siru adjustable tca's in the fromt with modifiied RS stabilazer and compression struts.Billstein shock's

Rear is a modified mustang axle with adjustable AVO's four link and a panhard rod.

[Roadsport]

Car and engines look great...what size wheels and tyres are you using?

Russ.

These are yokohama A048 225/50/15

15 x 8 compomotive three piece wheels they costed like hell but are 10 kilos lighter than cast compos were.

[Roadsport]

Really great looking car. Does it have a historic race history?

The shell has been raced very long but no actual history.

It's an replica of an finnish Gulf team RS

[Roadsport]

thats nice mate... that SE engine build looks pukka
i bet it should make good power

This really is the firs engine I've made no compromises. Will have a heavily modified head and custom made cams. I REALLY hope it will be worth it.

[Roadsport]

love it

that B/W photo looks so right ,could of been from the 70s

My favourite too.

The only car from the 80's is the D kadet.

[Retromotorsport]

Glad to see you've posted in here, keep us all updated as teh build goes on

[Roadsport]

Yes. Thanks . I will. Have to remember to keep the propper camera with me.

But for the moment its waiting for the parts again. I have a set of STD big end bearings but I'd really put the engine together wit the super 1600 bearings. Long wait tough.

[david_white]

Great looking car, and interesting engine choice, keep the updates coming

[Roadsport]

Great looking car, and interesting engine choice, keep the updates coming

The rules allow me to take 80kg's off the car when using when going fron 2,0 Pinto to 1,6 16valve engine. And ofcourse Ford engine is the only choice for me. Now all I need to do is to get the "small black" to match the power of the Pinto Thats 220 bhp from an 1.6. Seems like I have my work cut out for me.
But if 200bhp is achieven the power to weight ratio is the same as pintos but with 80kg's less weight.

And yes I'll keep posting as the project moves along.

[david_white]

I think you will get the power you need from the zetec se, they are excellent in the racing pumas

[Moggy]

Top car Markus...great to see it coming along mate! keep us all posted.

[Roadsport]

Today was a great day. Finally got a call from Mountune that my bearings have arrived. And I got to know that my super duper cams are ready and suiting valves have been found and I need to order some larger buckets. Been waiting for the cams for 6 months now.
Buckets should arrive tomorrow.
They're the only bits by the way for this engine I've orderd from Finland. Everything else I've ordered from the UK.

So this all means my engine took a GIANT leap today and should be ready for the trial assembly to measure the true compression soon !!

Ordered spome vernier pulleys too


Once the engine timing is done I'll remove the super duper cams and get them drilled for locking pin for the pulleys.

Oh and bought an spare crank today...

What a good day.

[Roadsport]

Got the ordered parts today.
Only not so pleased with the products received. The upgraded bearings arwrong they do not fit even close. And the pulleys showed some signs of them being already bolted on to a set of cams .
Well the pulleys are 100% functional and the service at Burtons was super so these pulleys will do. Was a glad surprise that the locking pins were included .




Bearing above is the original and the lower os the Long waited super duper bearing gone wrong.

[Roadsport]

P.S

It seems like I can drill the hole for the cam pulley locking pin without removing the cams.

I've also decided to make the mein bearings on the ladder side captive.

[Roadsport]

Small update today.

I built the alternator. One light weight alternator with V groove pulley. Took two multi groove pulleys from work to see if they fit the small alternator.
They did after one hour of grinding and fitting different nuts. The other pulley was too long to get aligned and the other one was too thick for the shor alternator axle. No nut could reach the threads. After an half an hour spent sawing (I'm sawing a pulley again) 5mm of the back f the pulley it fits. Alingned the pulley with right size O- ring.

Mocked the alternator to the road engine I have as a side project. Spent a few hours to get the pulley's alignement right. Built a dowel,treid different bolts and washers and nuts but now its close enough to try with the belt later. Glad their not chain driven

And there you go 3kg 45amp "Motorsport" alternator instead of 5 kg 120 amp alternator.

The Idea Is still to build EVO II and fit 1:1 ratio pulley to the alternator. But fitting that pulley has to wait for few weeks for the pulley to arrive.
Seems to be a tight fit when the water pump pulley gets swapped for a larger one. That has to be custom built cant use existing car parts.

[Roadsport]

And forgot bad news on the performance big end bearings. After all that waiting It turned out there not available for the 1.6 sigma engine.

[Roadsport]

Fidled with the upper bracket today and tested out how the belt would go. I'm pleased with the install. Looking nice and clean. Was a bit worried about the alternator for it was clear from the beginning that I was'nt gonna use the original one.

Now that everything is in place I see there's a some trouble ahead if I install as big alternator pulley as I intended. No room for the bigger water pump pulley. I'll have to make a compromise.

[Roadsport]

Modified a pulley today to achieve the 1:1 ratio to the alternator. Meaning I have the same size pulleys on the crank and alternator.
Seems like the water pump pulley might have to left original since there seems to be no room for a much larger pulley. I could largen it a bit if I'd find a higher palce for the Idler pulley and pushed the Alternator further. We'll see. It would be nice to slow the water pump down tough..

Some pic tomorrow I ran out of batteries on my camera ...

[Roadsport]

Notided that my mock up idler pulley sits on the timing belt tensioner's place. The idler pulley sits up in the cylinder head? If it comes closer to water pump pulley it propapbly has to be left original.

Well alternator sorted now and aligned perfectly.

Oh. and pought some batteries today for the camera

Pulley fits like its ment be there all along...







Quite a change to the original pulley.Should reduce the power loss on the alternators part. And prolong the service life of the alternator.






Cheers
Markus

P.S

Hoping to get the cylinder head back soon to start on the propper engine build and fitting in to place.

[alex savill]

coorr blimey where the bloody hell has my breath gone

that is one stunning mk1
keep the updates coming

[Roadsport]

Thanks mate!

Now that I've got the side project engine pretty much put together I made a new alternator bracket to clear more room for the bigger water pump pulley. Just needs a weld seam and some finishing grinding and some sort of a coating. Do not need any more room unless one day I can find a dampened underdrive crank pulley.

[team_zi]

I predict you'l have problems with sheared mounting bolts and or brackets on that alternator. Mine would break 12.9grade bolts on the zetec-e. You need to make the brackets much stronger to prevent the alternator from shaking itself apart. And the pulley looks too large. It needs to spin very fast to produce a charge.

[Roadsport]

Really? Thanks for the head up, I'll have to pay extra attention on that one.
At the moment it's still shakes a bit. But after welding the support bracket on there I really think it'll be quite solid. And the wheel nut at the pulley does a marvelous job on centering the pulley to the alternator shaft.The enormous pulley should also reduce vibrations on the alernator. So I'm hopeful It'll hold. I'll have to do the weldings first tough.

Why did you have to use 12.9 bolts on your alternator? I've never used stronger than basic soft 8.8 grade on the Pinto I've raced. Yet the alternator was on its original bracket.Again, thanks I havent even tought of an alternator braking bolts. I think I'll be installing some nordlock locking washers under all the bolts to prevent them to come loose under vibrations.

I was thinking of leaving the alternator out completely and rely on the battery alone. The plan is to recarge the battery a bit when on track so it'll still start from the park Fermé. I think It'll charge the battery at 5000 rpm's. That should be enough since the encine will see over 5k rpms all the time on the track.

[team_zi]

I snapped 8.8s so tried 12.9s but they still sheared.

When I revved the engine, as the revs dropped, the alternator would appear blurred, Because of the vibration. Alternators with two mountings need far stronger fixings than 3 lug alternators.

If I were you, and I've spent many hours (and money) finding the right solution on my duratec, I would have a rethink about the position, brackets, and pulley size. You must have reliability, and I don't think you have with your setup as it stands. Very few people appear to have practical experience of modifying cars these days. With the fiesta, I'm in the same boat as you. We're not able to buy off the shelf parts for what appear to be standard problems, simply because we're not able to fit them due to space limitations, or what I call pioneering. Stick with it, you'l come up with a fix soon. You just need a Eureka moment.

[Roadsport]

Graham Did you mean this one?


Its now Updated as I did the new bracket. I flipped the alternator around and replaced the long bolt with the adjuster bracket and made a new upper bracket.

Lower, adjuster bracket