Dear Diary: My journey from Xflow to Zetec... Now definitely done!

[Quinten]

And as it turns out, it does make a difference 

I continued with the engine mount fabrication until I was happy with the length and position.  Then I thought, let's have a look at the exhaust manifold...  turns out that the exhaust manifold would drop straight onto the mount .  So had a better look at the front mounted engine mount that I eventually got from the engine seller and it looks like I can make it work if I have someone weld a bigger plate on the pedestal so it has more plate at the front.

 The only thing I'm not happy about is that the front would sit on where two chassis bars meet, and I don't want to drill through that part to secure the pedestal.  Can anyone see an issue with drilling a hole underneath the rubber engine mount (so inside the pedestal) and then get it in between chassis bars?

 

The alternator is just fitting at the moment, but I had to put two spacers on the inlet side mount

 

Finally, my old Crossflow starter won't fit, so I will have to find a smaller example that will clear the sump on the exhaust side.

[B.RAD]

This may be a stupid question Q but have you checked the engine is central in the engine bay, not just level? I'd have thought that front mount should sit just right on the chassis rail, if it's not central you may need to move the existing mount outboard slightly. 

[Quinten]

7 minutes ago, BCF said:

This may be a stupid question Q but have you checked the engine is central in the engine bay, not just level? I'd have thought that front mount should sit just right on the chassis rail, if it's not central you may need to move the existing mount outboard slightly. 

No such thing as a stupid question!  The engine is kept somewhat central by the gearbox mount (which I've tightened up so limited flex sideways there).  If I move the engine on the exhaust side closer, the gearstick no longer fits in the tunnel.  And looking at my tunnel top, the gearstick seems to be in the correct location at the moment.

[B.RAD]

Cool, just thought I'd check. When Marto fitted the XE the first time the gearbox mount holes meant the engine was slightly out of centre at the front (checked with a plumbline from centre of trans tunnel to centre of front chassis cross member). It was only a small twist in the mount that put the engine about 1-2cms out at the front. Once sorted, the original engine mount holes in the chassis from the crossflow then lined up (we had the benefit of using gen Westfield engine mounts). Sounds like you might already be ok on that front though.

[Quinten]

Never thought of using a plumbline, but will now have a look next time I'm in the garage 

BTW, my engine mounts are genuine Westfield.  On the exhaust side I wanted to use the 'central' mounting position so went down the fabrication way.  This has now been abandoned in favour of the standard 2 part Westfield mounts for Zetec at the front of the engine.

[dombanks]

I did wonder with the mount.  An option would be to get a bonet exit exhaust. Added cost but possibly better flow? 

[Quinten]

23 hours ago, dombanks said:

I did wonder with the mount.  An option would be to get a bonet exit exhaust. Added cost but possibly better flow? 

I'm already out of budget, so no chance of that happening any time soon

[corsechris]

When converting from Xflow/rocket to Zetec/type 9 on ours, I worried more about balancing clearance of the major parts than getting the engine/gearbox square, central and true. It ended up biased to the left slightly, with a very slight tip as well. IIRC, I used the gearbox mount position to fine tune it, then just cut a new top plate for the tunnel to accommodate the gearstick. It ended up fairly close to the original location in the end. I had to weld plates to the chassis to carry the gearbox mount and engine mounts. Used the factory Zetec mounts.

having the whole power unit slightly on the skew offends the eye somewhat but it works perfectly well.

[Quinten]

@corsechris that is good to hear 

[Quinten]

Look mum, no hands!

Finally completed the engine mounting conundrum.  Now busy cutting a new hole to get the exhaust header out

[Quinten]

Close!

 

Not close enough!

[corsechris]

Result on the cycle wing. Ours was an interference fit.....prompted conversion to widetrack as the lack of steering lock to the left would have been comical if it hadn't been so dangerous. Exhaust, yep, looks familiar! To get us going, I made a short bodge piece to bridge that gap then took the car to a local exhaust place where the chap fitted a new section of pipe to the can to make it a one piece fix.

 

nearly there!  

[Quinten]

Haven't updated the thread for a while, but of course you're all following my blog... right?!?  

Next stop, sorting out last years spaghetti...

[corsechris]

I'm always suspicious of words made up by throwing away most of two or more perfectly good ones....always strikes me as a bit blocks.

 

 

Good to see progress is being made. Man, that's a lot of wires for a Westy......  My next project will be using a partially stripped out loom from an Alfa 166. It'll be vaguely 7-esque in some ways and I worry about finding places to put all the wires, connectors, really boxes, fuse panels, ECUs and other gibbons a car like this doesn't really need......

[Quinten]

It's taken a while (for me) but after speaking to @black st at our local meet, he recommended I'd go and see his local fabricator Armour Fabrications in Wollaston.  So I did, and he had no problem with extending my tank to "king size".  My new all-in-one fuel pump fits neatly and although I need to go back to have the filler neck moved (slight oversight on my part) I'm finally able to close that chapter...