Over this weekend I have mostly been ....... modifying an exhaust manifold (plus other jobs).
The Pinto Escort Exhaust manifold (and system) that I bought cheap off ebay underwent some major surgery over the weekend. The pinto exhaust port pitch is approx 4", where as the Zetec SE is approx. 3.5mm therefore something needed to be done about the manifold to make it fir. The manifold came in two parts - cylinders 1-4 and 2-3, to get it to line up the first job was to work out how to pull in the 1-4 by 1.5" and the 2-3 by 0.5". Once this was done then the offset outwards from the engine to the wing and the angle that the pipes exited under the car needed modifying. After much cutting, bending, persuading and swearing I think I have something that will work. This will need welding up in a number of places but should make for a cost effective solution.
The Pinto Escort Exhaust manifold (and system) that I bought cheap off ebay underwent some major surgery over the weekend. The pinto exhaust port pitch is approx 4", where as the Zetec SE is approx. 3.5mm therefore something needed to be done about the manifold to make it fir. The manifold came in two parts - cylinders 1-4 and 2-3, to get it to line up the first job was to work out how to pull in the 1-4 by 1.5" and the 2-3 by 0.5". Once this was done then the offset outwards from the engine to the wing and the angle that the pipes exited under the car needed modifying. After much cutting, bending, persuading and swearing I think I have something that will work. This will need welding up in a number of places but should make for a cost effective solution.
In addition I removed the rocker/cam cover, cleaned it up and gave it a coat of silver paint and lacquer to smarten things up a bit. next I started to strip the wiring loom of the parts I could use on the basis that if I use OEM parts where I can then it should look neater. Using much of the engine side of the loom will also allow me to plug/unplug bits as required when fault finding, interesting the ford wiring starts of at the plugs being colour coded but on the car side of the engine loom it all turns to black cables, that should be fun ! Final two jobs for the weekend were to fit the throttle bodies so that I can start to collect bits for the coolant system and then look at mounting the seats on some mini adjustable runner that I have purchased.
Last but not least, I got an email from the guy making the tanks - a fuel tank, approx 7 gal for the boot and a combination tank for the rad header/washer water/oil catch for the front scuttle, showing progress on the fuel tank, looking good at this stage.
So, all in all a fairly productive weekend in-between jobs, outings and gardening, just what a Bank Holiday is for.
Last but not least, I got an email from the guy making the tanks - a fuel tank, approx 7 gal for the boot and a combination tank for the rad header/washer water/oil catch for the front scuttle, showing progress on the fuel tank, looking good at this stage.
So, all in all a fairly productive weekend in-between jobs, outings and gardening, just what a Bank Holiday is for.
