My chassis build

[HandyAndy]

here,s another photo that might help....

[geeman]

Originally Posted by HandyAndy

here,s another photo that might help....

thanks for the photos, i should be able to fabricate my engine mounts soon now.

i still cant believe what i was trying to do earlier.. i even tried putting bricks behind the rear wheels to stop it moving, and i pushed on the engine as hard as possible to try to move it.

[HandyAndy]

no prob,

in the above photo the only part of the engine/box that is lower than the bottom chassis rails is 25mm of the gearbox bell housing, the sump of the engine is flush with the lower chassis rails, but i have used a shortened sump from a zetec engine, so it all depends on how much your sump is shortened by, to how much clearance you have below the engine.

when fitting the engine/box..... try to keep the output shaft of the gearbox level with the center of the diff flange .

cheers
andy

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by geeman

Thanks for those pics, it made me realise why i couldnt get the engine to fit just right. I completely forgot to cut out the bit between the u7 and u6 uprights in the chassis. No wonder the gearbox wasnt going in all the way ! im just laughing at myself right now as i spent half a day standing about thinking why the engine wouldnt go in fully and only just realised that i forgot to cut that bit out hahaha, i cant stop laughing at that

Don't you just hate it when things like that happen

I fitted my engine & box in as a single unit.
Just couldn't manage to roll the chassis forward as I was gently lowering it all down.
Spent ages looking for snags, then noticed I still had a wheel chock under the back wheel.

[geeman]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

Don't you just hate it when things like that happen

I fitted my engine & box in as a single unit.
Just couldn't manage to roll the chassis forward as I was gently lowering it all down.
Spent ages looking for snags, then noticed I still had a wheel chock under the back wheel.

the worst one for me though was i was trying to weld and as i have a hf start tig, the little hf spark happens at the beggining, and if you dont connect an earth lead to the workpiece you act as the earth to the workpice and you get a nice little shock. what was funny though is i didnt realise i hadnt connected the earth lead for ages, i kept trying ajusting gas, doing stuff to the welder, but only after about 30 min oof thinking..ahhh, im going to have to get this welder repaired... i realised id forgotton to connect the earth lead..

[geeman]

well today i half gave up for the day, firstly i cut out the bit i forgot to cut out for fitting the engine. I then started reaming the bottom of the front hubs to fit the ball joints, after about 35 min of continuous reaming and a VERY painful arm i stoppedd and left it for a few hours, i then weled on the shock bracket on the lower front wishbones but only just realised that it was meant to be 300mm from the centre of the bush tubes, not 300mm from the end of the wishbones, so will grind off the welds tomorrow and re weld them on. i also stared putiing on all the front running gear, but wasnt sure which way around the mushroom insert was meant to go, but i think the hole in it is meant to be as far in as possible. I then treid to fit the steering rack extensions, but they wont go on all the way as the rack starts spinning then. how do i stop the actual steering rack arm from spinning? today has been abit of a pain as most things that could go wrong went wrong!!!

[HandyAndy]

the reaming should tke approx 10 mins per upright, just keep checking that you don,t go too far with the reaming.

as for steering extensions, are they the ones that are too long?
mine are from Rally Design & fit like a glove,
check the internal depth of the thread in the extension in relation to the length of thread thats on the actual steering rack, they may not be matching.

the mushroom is to sit fully into the upright with the offset hole towards the front of the car.

hope this helps.

andy

[geeman]

Originally Posted by HandyAndy

the reaming should tke approx 10 mins per upright, just keep checking that you don,t go too far with the reaming.

as for steering extensions, are they the ones that are too long?
mine are from Rally Design & fit like a glove,
check the internal depth of the thread in the extension in relation to the length of thread thats on the actual steering rack, they may not be matching.

the mushroom is to sit fully into the upright with the offset hole towards the front of the car.

hope this helps.

andy

thanks, i got the rack extensions from rogue engineering(the company from ebay that selss the bosses for the top wishbones). the depth of the tread is long enough, and the extension moves on the rack freely, but as i bought a used mk2 excort rack, the part of the thread that previosly didnt have any track rod ends on is abit stiff so its hard to screw the extension on any more as the rack arm just spins as well then.

ok, ill rotate the mushrooms tomorrow and hopefull put the front wheels on and engine mounts in. Thanks!

[HandyAndy]

if the extensions you have are made to book spec then i think they are too long, if i remember correctly when you fit them & put the wheels on then the wheels will be pointing outwards instead of straight on , not 100% sure but somebody else had a similar problem,
what total length are your steering rack extensions?

andy

[geeman]

ok my rack total extension is 185mm, the thread depth of the extension is enough to go over the whole thread of the mk2 escort rack.