Chopping steel sump

[alga]

I lucked out and found a Sierra with a dead 1.8 CVH being broken. I got a sump, a starter, and the indicator switch for ~13 quid.

I just wanted to share a good tip I got on a local chat on checking that the sump is oiltight after welding -- smear the seams with chalk and fill up with water. Within a minute or so all pinholes will reveal themselves as small spots of damp chalk, and larger leaks will wash down the chalk around them. It took me 3 or so iterations to get the sump completely watertight. One extra feature is that chalk residue does not seem to contaminate welds. Calcium is often intentionally used in steels.

Speaking of the CVH sump, it's not an ideal fit for Zetec, but can be made to fit. It touches the oil pickup post in the front and the rear bearing cap in the rear. The Zetec's splash guard plate had to be persuaded with a mallet not to touch the sump, too. The sump's shallow end had to be cut out in order to accomodate Zetec's oil pickup pipe. Also the mounting holes had to be extended ~2 mm to the rear. Here's a photo of the final result:



For the progress pics, take a look at my LT thread:
http://locost.lt/viewtopic.php?p=2423#p2423
http://locost.lt/viewtopic.php?p=2428#p2428