cossieglen

Indeed, the quick rack basically has a smaller pinion that runs along the rack, therefore making the wheels change direction faster, making it easier to control in a slide for instance. You can get them in either 2.9 turns, or 2.4 turns lock to lock. I have a 2.4 turn, but I use my car in competition so need it for when I'm on the raggedy edge Either will make the car feel a lot better and more responsive, just up to you which you'd rather have. When driving, they're not too bad weight wise, it's just stationary that it becomes pretty weighty, esp with wide wheels and a 2.4 turn. That said, you could always contact my brother cossie matt and get him to make you a power steering column for your car

Now I'm presuming they're the same as a MK2 escort here, but Rally Design do them for £91.50 +vat Quick racks are always worth it in my opinion, but they do make the steering heavier. http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_in ... ts_id=7310

No mate, I bought all the components off Ron Harris, it was just easier to get Steve to do the piston machining for me. It will still be a Harris Pinto

After another late night at Retromotorsport, the next step on the build is now complete. We achieved what we set out to do once again, and that was to ascertain whether or not my pistons would need pocketing...... Started by putting on the flywheel and measuring TDC again with a DTI and marking on the flywheel with some white paint... Then assembled the head to the block with just No1 followers and piston in..... Then we set the cam timing up by setting the lift at TDC to kent figures, then measuring full lift position on the protractor to make sure the cam was in the right place.... Took a bit of adjustment, and we made sure we did several turns to take up belt movement before it settled down.... Don't have any more pictures after this as we were running low on time, and wanted to get it all finished. Conclusion was that we ended up with 0.053" clearance on the inlet side, and plenty more on the exhaust (didn't warrant measuring as it was about 2mm). Going to need 0.030" or so deep pockets on the inlet to make sure I have plenty of clearance should I buzz the engine at some point, and will also give me loads of room to swing the cam about when timing it up on the rollers. UPDATE: Pistons back from Steve at Vulcans again, and he has put 0.080" deep pockets in to give me plenty of scope in the future for taking more off the head etc. That's all for now, got to get everything weight matched and balanced next, it's going to Dermot at Power 4 Peanuts for this. Just need to make up a stepped washer so I can use a pinto pulley set for the pump/alternator, this is because the cossie crank has a longer nose in case you didn't know. Thanks for reading, I shall be back with more updates once the next step is complete

It has been a long time coming, but finally the new engine is on its way to being built!!! Went down to SBD to use their workshop as they have all the right gear available, and I wanted to use their cleaning tank to clean everything up removing any swarf from machining. The purpose and goal today was to get the short engine assembled to measure the amount of protrusion on the pistons, in order to let Steve at Vulcan know how much needs to come off each face to achieve the 0.005" - 0.007" final protrusion, to achieve the compression I want. First step was to set about cleaning the bearing surfaces of the main caps, scraping any built up crud they had and scotchbrighting them to give a good clean surface to put the new bearings onto, I'm using ACL race bearings on this engine. Crank and polished caps together... One of the polished main caps.... Cleaning up the mains block side... Nice and clean... After that I put the mains bearings in place in the block first.... Then in the caps... Then dropped the crank in, just nipping up the mains without going too tight as we were only dropping this all in in order to measure the piston protrusion after all..... Next I assembled the pistons to the rods, but didn't secure the gudgeon pin in place with the clips as we needed to get them apart again. We also left the rings off, as the pistons require two stages of machining yet... That done, we started dropping them in, ensuring we'd lubricated the bores thoroughly with engine oil to stop the pistons from snagging due to the lack of rings.... After that, we got the digital DTI out and found perfect TDC on each piston in turn.... Once we'd done that, we used a height gauge to measure the total protrusion from the block, so we could work out how much material needed to be removed... After that, we took it all apart again and took the pistons over to Steve from Vulcan, who was kind enough to give me his home address in order to drop them off, so a big thanks to him for letting me do that. Just one last photo of the completely rotten core plugs that were in the block, they were all original mind you so it was to be expected, 2 of them had actually rusted through in a couple of spots, and were very thin indeed!! (the big holes were where we punched through to extract them if you didn't already know). I will be making sure I use the Toyota oil based coolant on the new one to preserve such components. It's not cheap, but it makes for a very clean and healthy water jacket..... Next step is doing the plasticine build to work out piston pocket depths. Felt great actually making some more progress, really looking forward to getting this baby in now.

If it's lucky enough to have a coscast head (which I doubt in a calibra) it's worth a fair bit, as they're rare and the best heads to have. If it has one of those, ask £750

Sounds like a bent throttle shaft then to me, if it doesn't close by going right back on the carb when it's on its own. If it's being held off by the adjustment screw then you're ok, but if it simply isn't returning to closed by itself then I'm afraid it sounds like you need a new throttle shaft for it.

needs adjusting on the centre screw where the carbs link then, adjust that either way until you get uniform opening on them

if they're still on the inlet manifold and joined together, chances are you just need to adjust the screw in the centre where they join to make them open up an equal amount. Either that, or the one that doesn't open as far has a bent throttle shaft.

Me too Ed, just don't use them for engine seals, foooookin ridiculous!!! £15 a seal they wanted to charge me!

Here's Gavin Rogers in FLY

Cheers mate! I've always been around, just been posting less of late. That'll be set to change once my own car is finished however! Cheers Ian, glad you're all enjoying the video, it was sheer OSF porn watching those boys racing at the weekend. Yes that engine is very strong indeed, and to win by nearly half a second on its first ever outing shows its potential. Epynt next in 2 1/2 weeks, up against a truckload of rally MK1's and MK2's, I'm going to be in heaven!!

Front spring rates or axle roll centre need adjusting we think Kev. Been running 350's on the front all this time with the heavier lumps, now it has the duratec, and a new cage sticking all the weight further back it has changed the chassis dynamics a fair bit it seems. Certainly wasn't lacking in grip, just could be a lot better

2.4 YB as far as I know Gaz. Serious horsepower and torque.

Cheers Jon, was a great weekend

What a great weekend!! Was great to see Windy, Cossie Matt, and GavinR all out in the escorts at a very hot and sunny Pembrey on the Saturday (not so sunny sunday, but stayed dry). We all got sunburnt, and watched/competed in some very close competition. Saturday saw the first outing for Cossie Matt in his MK2 since the new rebuild, and brand new installation of his Duratec. First runs showed that it wasnt going to be a walk in the park for either Windy, or Matt, as they had a rather tasty MK1 breathing down their necks with a very capable local driver behind the wheel. After the first runs they were all within half a second of eachother, with the MK1 of Mike Griffiths taking the honours that time out, with Windy coming in Second, and Matt just behind, having gone out with a completely new car to him, and new tyres. What it did show was that it was going to be close all weekend. Second Practice, and they all improved, Matt coming out on top this time round with a stonking 2 second improvement on the first practice, Graham also improving by 0.2, and the MK1 improving by about half a second. First competitive timed runs saw Matt just on top by a tiny 0.05s margin from the MK1, with Graham not far behind at all, it was all going to come down to the last timed run of the day. They all set off one after the other, everyone listening out for the split times of the first lap, Graham 54.56s, Matt 54.22s, Mike 54.54s, holy crap they're close!! Graham comes flying by and puts in a great finish lap 123.4s, Matt comes by, then wait a minute he's coasting! What's wrong?! In the meantime Mike finishes and puts in a lap of 123.03s, 0.14 faster than Matt's first timed run, arse!!! Get back to the paddock to find Matt pushing his car back, with fuel absolutely everywhere!! Turns out the regulator at the end of the fuel rail had snapped off, pumping Shell V-Power into his engine bay at high pressure!! Matt said it was the first time he'd been scared in that car, handheld extinguisher in hand pin pulled and ready for action!! Fortunately it didn't need to be used. Car repaired, and running fine again, and everyone/thing in tact, with a slightly heavy heart at losing out to a broken component when he was on for a winning run, we packed up and headed back to the B&B until the next morning. Sunday morning, and back to the circuit, with good weather again, despite being cloudier than Saturday (thankfully, we were all nursing sunburn by now). Go to get the car off the trailer, start her up, WONT IDLE!! Ah crap, we have a bit of a problem. Instantly we look at the throttle position sensor, being right in the firing line of yesterdays fuel incident, it's prime suspect! Thankfully Steve Broughton and the SBD clan were all there, so we get the car over to Steve and he plugs in the laptop; sure enough, no signal from the throttle pot, not to worry Steve has spares!! New throttle pot on, and a smooth running car again, we get back to Matt's pit and get ready for the days event. First runs, and again it's very close, MK1 Mike topping them after the first run, with Matt very close behind again, knowing he can go much quicker, just a little nervous after the day before's mishap! Second practice, closer still, Matt only 0.1s behind, with Graham 0.4 behind him. First competitive run, and Matt drops a little, 0.23 back from Mike Griffiths, and Graham still posting very consistent times in 3rd. So again, it's all down to the last run, and Matt pulls out a stormer, clocking the first sub 54 second time all weekend, coming in at 53.88s, with Mike Griffiths best time of 54.17 from the first run being the closest, and Graham coming in 3rd with a great performance all weekend giving away a fair bit of horsepower to both the other cars. With smiles all round in our camp, after a great weekend, topped with the ultimate cherry being a win, we pack up, and head home with a new 1st place pot in tow. Well done to Graham for showboating his way around with some magnificent displays of sideways Escort driving, and to Mike Griffiths, who certainly knows how to pedal that MK1 around, he had us all with hearts in throats all weekend! Congrats must also go to GavinR who had a great consistent weekend himself, coming in 2nd place behind a very useful Lotus Elise. Below is a video of Matt and Graham competing. I do have footage of Gavin as well, but due to the 10min limit on youtube will have to do another video with Gavin on soon. But for the time being, here's Matt and Graham...

I get the same thing on the snowboarding forum I use. There's another site, and there are members that prefer one or the other more. It will always happen where there are conflicting interests, you'll never satisfy everyone, and some will prefer one more than the other. I personally am another dual user, and get equal amounts out of either site. I think it's a bit sad when people start slagging either off, they're only internet forums for christs sake, and we all love the same thing at the end of the day. Oh and for the record, sigs are back for non-subscribers on TS.

And Jaguars engines! Zero telerance! It's coz it's a Ford engine Toby

Yep, you can feel it in the car, as soon as you're over say 3750 it just loses all go, change gear at 3500 though and you can pedal them along pretty swiftly once they're going, just a pain when you're pulling off, first gear lasts about 10 nanoseconds!

Just got back from a rolling road day at Track and Road. Stuck my Jaguar X-Type 2.0D on the rollers at the end as a placebo to prove the accuracy of the equipment there. Manufactuers data for the 2.0D engine in my car is: 133bhp (130ps) 243lbs/ft (330nm) My car made: 133bhp (130ps) 243lbs/ft (330nm) Below is a scan of the graph and data for proof. So I think it's fairly solid evidence that the rollers at Track and Road are supremely accurate!

Fantastic pictures, would have loved to have seen a close up of the black x-pack MK2 though

Thread ressurection! Sam mate, this engine has more potential in my honest opinion. Noticed your peak power came in at 7250rpm, Matt was revving his to 9000rpm on the standard crank and rods. He had intruder pistons to raise the comp, do you have those too? Rather than spending more money getting a turbo lump, why not invest in a few more bits for that engine? Like for instance some fuel injection, a tony law manifold (if you don't have one already), bring the revs up and swing the cams? I reckon there's gotta be another 20-25bhp in there. Just some thoughts

Just needs a nice aftermarket cam cover, the cosworth one looks nice with the carbon plug cover. It wont be long.

Ok Gaz, whatever mate.

Gaz mate, do you actually read people's posts properly? Because I'm pretty sure it said on the article I pasted that SBD's standard engine kit will produce 203bhp with corrections? Bit more than the 180bhp if you're lucky that you're stating. That kit plus a donor engine is going to cost you about £2800, it's not going to cost another £2200 to transplant it in. I would estimate £4k to get it in place. Now I'm building a Pinto as you well know, with the best parts Ford and the amazing Harris clan can muster, and so far that stands me in well over half that, to produce what I anticipate will be less horsepower and torque, with a considerably heavier engine. Not the £1500 you said. £1500 will barely get you 130bhp in a Pinto these days mate, you of all people should know that championing the engine like you do.