Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

[duncan]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

great thread keep the updates coming very interested in what the final power will be

will sure save you some weight over the pinto thats for sure

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

The engine is put together again. And this time hopefully I do not need to take it apart again for a while.

Only things remaining on the to do list are installinfg the sump and find a suiting eccentric timing belt tensioner pulley. Last but not least is again the dial gauge timing session.

But now I can pretty much say that I have the hardware put together

Next is the engine installation to the car.

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

great thread keep the updates coming very interested in what the final power will be

will sure save you some weight over the pinto thats for sure

Thanks Duncan.

The regulations allow me to lightetn the car by 80 kg's. When going with 1600 cc 16 valve engine instead of 2.0 8 valve engine.
And most of that weight loss is achived with the engine swap itself.

I'm quite curious about the power too. This is quite ambitious project to start with since my pinto was not bad by any means. And to top that with a smaller block

[duncan]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

yes very unusual to see anyone swaping for a smaller cc engine, but i can see why you would want to.
what do you think the weight of the car will be once the engine swap is completed?

cheers
duncan

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

Yesterday, again, I noticed a potential problem when test fitting the head gasket to the head.
The volume of the combustion chambers had increased just enough to reach over the head gasket. Thus leaving a slight portion of the gasket in the conbustion chamber.
Thin metal gasket would've certailny glowed red hot and most possibly caused detonation.

So had to gring a couple tenths of a millimeter off the gasket edges and now it seems to fit just fine.

Most of my time with this new engine has been spent measuring and test fitting bits together. But hopefully all that time is time well spent and not wasted. I hope I've now found all the bugs in this assembly.

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

yes very unusual to see anyone swaping for a smaller cc engine, but i can see why you would want to.
what do you think the weight of the car will be once the engine swap is completed?

cheers
duncan

According to the regulations the car has to weight 870kg's
And getting to that weight is not going to be a problem.
I now carry 80kg's of led as extra ballast. The Zetec will be 60 to 70 kg's lighter than the Pinto so in addiotion I'll just drop off some of that ballast weight to hit the 870kg mark.
I'll get the led out !

Would be fun to weight the car with small battery and without the ballast. I recon it could weight somewhere around 800kgs. With the bulky mustang rear axle

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

Yesterday the sump went on. I have to it really looks nice on the engine ! And I think it'll be quite easy to install to the bay. As for the oil reservoir I've not decided where to install it. I've read some debait on other threads on where to put it but I'm not convinced yet. Weight of the plumbing is not an issue in this build. And I'm tempted to get the weight from front to back. Alltough I've seen it done many times I'm not yet convinced on the advantages of installing to the engine bay. The correct level of the reservoir would be easyer to achieve in the bay . And I guess the oil would be better at hand for the pump.

I'll make the decission later... But if someone with a strong point should read this please advise.

Its on there.







And the cross member is de-rusted now. I' have to say the citric asid is a life saver. It's quite a change to the previous photos I posted earlier.
Tough a bit slow process it would've been a nightmare to sand all the rust from this one. Now, on to s the more rapid part of the modification the cutting, grinding, drilling and welding bit .

[owlscastle]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

I have built several of the 1.7 versions of this engine. I used a solid adjustable cam belt tensioner originally designed by Swindon Race Engines as the plastic ones are useless. I think you be able to buy one from Birkbeck Rallysport who have all the Puma S1600 parts bought from Ford. Expensive though, around £300.

You could try a Puma head gasket which may have a bigger bore, not sure. I have an old one that I can measure if it would help.

With te dry sump kit does it clear the Mk1 Escort Xmember OK? I would love to put one of these engines in an Escort as they are cracking (I have fitted them to Westfields and Caterhams)

I used a Daihastu tiny alternator in the Caterham using the original mounts with some minor mods from what I remember, worked fine.

Ritchie

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

The 1.6 has 79mm bore and the gasket has 80mm hole.
The 1.7 has 80mm bore so propably it'll have bigger hole.
I guess the thicknes cant be very far off either.
Now why did'nt I think of that. Thanks for the tip

I've grinded 0,5mm-1mm off from the four corners of the gasket. Behind the valves. It clears the combustion chamber now and did not puncture the wrinkle that seals the bore so I hope for now this will hold. But for the future this is one clue to investigate.

300£ for a tensioner pulley?! Thats too much.
I'm now looking at Audi and Peugeot tensioners. Peugeot uses a funny adaptor stud. Its a 10mm stud with 8mm threads and bolts to the block. This allows the use of a tensioner with 10mm hole.
But I'd rather use a tensioner with 8mm bolt without. I know Audi has some eccentric tensioners with 8mm hole.

I'm not 100% sure how well It'll clear the cros member. I've only made hasty measurements but according to those measurements It should clear with no problems (knock on wood). Soon we'll see.

[owlscastle]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

If you can find a decent eccentric pulley I have a sample mounting plate to hold it which I could measure, photograph etc for you if you want to copy it.

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

Mounting plate for the tensioner? Do I need one?
Doesn't the cam belt tensioner bolt to the block in the Puma engine. As it does on the older Zetec SE's.

Mine is the newer one where the tensioner bolts to the waterpump. I was thinking of simply bolting the eccentric tensioner to the waterpump housing.

[owlscastle]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

I can take some pix of mine if it will help. I thought the 1.6 and 1.7 were basically the same block and water pump etc.

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

I can take some pix of mine if it will help. I thought the 1.6 and 1.7 were basically the same block and water pump etc.

Please. It would help.

In Puma's days they we're near identical. But after the Puma's production has ended the Zetec has had some minor updates since. These are the timing belt tensioner pulley and the water pump.

The older tensioner bolter to the block eith two 8mm bolts. These new tensioners bolt the waterpump housing with one 8mm bolt.

[RETRO_AL]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

Very nice car and build,keep up the good work

[Roadsport]

Re: Race Escort Zetec SE (engine build)

Very nice car and build,keep up the good work

Thank you!
It's now moving along nicely once I got all the major parts.
Engine only now needs to be mounted to the car. And a little bit of water, oil, petrol and electronics

Oh , oh and a gearbox...