CVH will it fit?

[Grizzlee]

Well actually no it didn't 

One of the biggest challenges when trying to fit the CVH engine into our project car was, would the bonnet go on afterwards.

Obviously we spent hours meticulously measuring and comparing the position of the engine in the chassis with my other car "Marilyn", before the body was reunited with the rest of the car, only to find out we were about 20mm high right at the front of the engine.  

To cut a long and stressful story short, because we didn't want a power bulge in the bonnet, a company called Fibet came to our rescue. They manufacture Isolation Mounts in all shapes sizes and specs for automotive as well as industrial use . I contacted them via their website explained the issue and what we were trying to do. To my surprise they responded almost immediately explained that the item we needed was out of stock, but they would be doing a production run in the next two weeks.

True to their word two weeks later I get a package in the post with the new engine mounts supplied completely free of charge including p&p... Fantastic!!!

Who said customer service was dead, it's alive and very well at www.fibet.co.uk for sure

After getting home from Stoneleigh on Sunday parked the two cars in the drive next to each other for the first time. Now it's easy to see why we had so much trouble when you compare the project car to Marilyn in the background.

All worked out well in the end.... anybody looking for a nice 1989 SEi only covered 1600 miles from new

G. 

[John K]

That's a noticeable difference?

How come? And was any angle grinding part of the rescue plan..? 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

2 minutes ago, John K said:

That's a noticeable difference?

How come? And was any angle grinding part of the rescue plan..? 

The one in the foreground has a Narrow Lowline nose and bonnet, whilst the newer white car in the background has the Hi-Line Nose and bonnet.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

What Mark said!

Lowlines are quite rare now, but were originally designed in the days of compact overhead valve engines being popular, well before sticking modern chunky 16 valve twin cam units, that were that much taller became the norm.

[John K]

Learned something again... Didn't know there were nose variations (as well as 'rear ends')

So for a Lowline, I'm guessing a 4 barrel Holley carburetor and filters won't fit without the use of a jigsaw...

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Er, let me think....

NO!

To be fair, even the old standard quick Ford, Webber 32/36 carb didn't fit either! They used to make a little accessory bonnet scoop/bulge if you wanted to fit a regular downdraft carb, rather than twin Webber DCOE's

[John Dolan - Wirral & North Wales AO]

The Lowline has the Westfield independent rear end, using an English diff in a Westfield casting. The alternative was a 4 link live axle. The Sierra diffs came in with the SEiW, the first of which used standard Sierra half shafts making the rear end really wide, before Westfield produced narrower drive shafts, reducing the rear track by the best part of 75mm, or nearly 3 inches in English money.

 

At least I think that's right.

[Grizzlee]

21 hours ago, John K said:

That's a noticeable difference?

How come? And was any angle grinding part of the rescue plan..? 

No angle grinding , we managed to get hold of an RS1600i rocker cover to replace the standard pressed steel one, and Trafford Collage very kindly machined off the fins in a tapered pattern, but it was still too high and that's when Fibet came to the rescue with the engine mounts. 

We really didn't want to cut the bonnet, but it was increasingly looking like we were going to have to. 

 

[Mark Stanton]

Mr BBill

Just to add more into the mix the high line bonnet first came out in 1987 to allow for CVH installation rather than X-Flow - this was the first SEi Wide that came into being with the WSC diff housing pre sierra diff option - in installing the CVH it came with lowered engine mounts and also a very shallow inlet manifold to allow use of twin webers and filter without the need to cut the bonnet

[John Dolan - Wirral & North Wales AO]

Grizzlee's lowline is 1989 registered, does this mean the kit was purchased before the high line was introduced in 1987, or was there a choice of bodies? Also was there a choice of narrow or wide, independent or live? Thought the wide only came in with the Sierra diff.

Presumably the Westfield diff casing is quite rare as they must have cost a fortune. It would be interesting to know how many were produced. There are two in this area and both are in maroon cars - spooky.

[1960dave]

I have a 88 Burgandylowlone with Westfield IRS currently putting a 4age in it. I don't want to cut holes in my brand new bonnet though 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

31 minutes ago, bollockybill said:

Grizzlee's lowline is 1989 registered, does this mean the kit was purchased before the high line was introduced in 1987, or was there a choice of bodies? Also was there a choice of narrow or wide, independent or live? Thought the wide only came in with the Sierra diff.

Presumably the Westfield diff casing is quite rare as they must have cost a fortune. It would be interesting to know how many were produced. There are two in this area and both are in maroon cars - spooky.

The timeline went something like this.

7 - Live Axle

7SE - Live Axle

Narrow - (Standard Body) Lowline Live Axle

Narrow - (Standard Body) Hi-Line Live Axle

Narrow - (Standard Body) Independent Axle (Westfield Diff)

Wide Body - Live & Independant Axle (Westfield Diff) both introduced around the same time 

Wide Body - Independent Axle (Sierra Diff)

Production of Wide body Live axle stopped around 2008.

 

 

[Greggs]

Mines an 88 independent narrow in red, originally it was a low line but unfortunately i had to change it to a high line to fit the zetec in.. shame as i like the look of the low line cars better..

[Mark Stanton]

There was a few years overlap between low-line and high-line bodywork - from an old fading memory the high-line was first seen around 1987/88 at the time WSC Ltd were exporting a lot of ready built cars (SEi wide) out to Japan fitted with the CVH and hence the introduction of the high line body-work.

Low-line bodywork was still readily available up to around 1989/90 - it was also available for a few years after as special order for repairs, more common when used in narrow body format both SE and SEi format (i being independent). When Chris Smith owned the company in those earlier times he was more attuned to providing a purchaser with their specific kit requirements and format - hence such variables - only in recent years of Potenza ownership has more standardisation of kit specifications become the norm.

[SootySport]

I have the Fibet catalogue filed on my laptop, large range of mounts, bobbins etc. and bought quite a few from them.   Good service as you say.