Man with spanners - thinks he's a mechanic

[ChrisL]

And the most important thing

[Dick]

Yes agree 100\% all cars should have a fuel gauge . never had one of the other ones

[ChrisL]

It’s 1000% better than the wooden stick I used to use!

[ChrisL]

Getting there, wiring done. Still need to do the HP fuel system, find an alternator belt that’ll fit and tidy up the wiring.

[Fury1630]

Still need to ........ find an alternator belt that’ll fit .....

This might help?

https://www.gates.com/gb/en/power-transmission/micro-v-belts/automotive-micro-v-belts/c/104

That'll get you a part No. You used to be able to search on the part No. & it told you what car it fitted, I guess you still can somewhere on there.

[ChrisL]

Thanks for the link Tony, I measured and bought a belt that's a bit too short. Going to try and get a range of belts (and some more fuel line) and, hopefully one will fit. If the last bit of the airway turns up next week I could be looking at an attempt to start next weekend

Also I seem to not be able to post pics or get notification emails ATM...

[ChrisL]

Well's there's good news and bad news, the good found a fan belt that fits, a 5PK1610, if you're interested! And I cranked the engine over for the first time, no sign of starting yet though.
The bad, the alignment of the SC and idler pulley is out, the belt moves inward and tries to climb over the SC and idler pulleys, so I've pulled the engine out to get half a chance of getting it all lined up proper, I suspect the SC was Ok if one groove too far forward. it's a 6 rib so that was ok but whomever put the idler on was p1ssed with the engine out I'll fit she ARP conrod bolts. Not entirely sure of the fitting procedure, some say tighten 3 times to 35 lbs or 25 lbs some say tighten and slacken 3 times?

Also will be replacing my clutch; looks like I have a 1.8ST Zetec flywheel going the a 23 spline Type 9 gear box. Looks like the current clutch is either a 220mm or 215mm not entirely sure where to measure it (see pic below). Will give Burton a call later today and discuss.

On the good/bad news front I discovered one of my engine mounts failed, but that gives me the opportunity to re-make with the TIG so at least the welds will be better.

Thanks to Mark for getting the pic upload working again, so some boring pics below

[Tony B]

good work Chris, but should we start to get worried yet with the trip timings??

[ChrisL]

At this rate I'll be taking the MX-5!

[Fury1630]

Jees - yes, that's an engine mount failure

Do you want any help with the design? Engine mounts can be odd things they look like a rigid brace, but because of the rubber mount they are a cantilever, I can send pictures of the ones I designed & made if it helps.

On the other subject, I got my flywheel re-drilled to take a pinto clutch cover. Allegedly with fords RWD clutches, a lot of the leverage is done in the fork / clutch cover, but in the FWD clutches it's done in the pedal, so using a RWD pedal with a FWD cover gives the worst of both worlds & a heavy clutch. But that's just internet wisdom & not necessarily true. Can't say I noticed the pedal getting a lot heavier when I put the Mondeo clutch in the Rickman, or a lot lighter when I converted the Fury's flywheel, but that's what they say, but there's a lot more options for Pinto clutches through Burtons so I thought it was worth doing.