Project Domes shonky autos - Grand Cherokee departs, Kangoo titivation and 911 dug out.

[dome]

4 hours ago, Minimad5 said:

If you get stuck and need a engine, I have a Eunos 1.6 here with ECU. Just needs a sump but ran well when last in the car

Thanks but this is a totally different engine and box to the MK1/2 MX5s

[Minimad5]

9 minutes ago, dome said:

Thanks but this is a totally different engine and box to the MK1/2 MX5s

Yeah I was just suggesting if you end up binning it off, yet want to keep the MX5 route, then feel free to pop us a P.M as this would fit (might even have a gearbox somewhere too)

Keep us updated with progress 😎

[sutty2006]

1 hour ago, dome said:

Is there much difference in the tunnels apart from shifter location? 

This is the reason for getting an engine now, I want to see what it's going to take to make it fit before I go any further

4 speed the hole is a few inches further forward of the bulkhead as the 4 speed is a shorter gearbox. Failing that you will just have to modify the linkage or lever. There is a few folk that put the 5 speed into a 4 speed tunnel and make a weird linkage to suit. 

[dome]

So on Saturday we set out to strip down the MX5 and get everything off it that we could-space was at a premium so it needed to be gone ASAP.

I started on the interior whilst Stu started stripping panels and getting ready to drop the front subframe out with the engine attached. 

 

Pretty quickly it looked like this.

With it being so rusty underneath it was decided to forego the subframe bolts and go for a more, err, direct approach to removing the engine and back axle.

Reciprocating saw ahoy!

Up she goes, with very little left attached handily...

Believe it or not the engine and loom came out untouched. The recip saw was also applied to the rear arms as they were fucked. The diff should be worth selling on though, being an LSD. 

 

With the engine and box safely deposited in the back of the Kangoo we could continue harvesting the MX5 for anything worth saving.

I carried on with the interior. I have no idea how much loom it will take to get the engine to run so I took pretty much all of it, along with the ignition barrel and pretty much every sensor I could.

Coming out

And stripped

If anyone needs any Mk3 MX5 parts you know who to speak to!

 

Suitably stripped the MX5 shell was dragged away ready for the crusher.

 

 

 

Not a bad days work!

[dome]

Quick update on the rest of the fleet

MR2

We ended up having our first 2 track days of the year in quick succession. I gave it a quick oil change before the first one, gave it a quick check over and fitted it's new, shiny track tyres.

Here it is ready to go, along with the support vehicle

 

And at the track

 

Another pic

And it seemed to go down well at the track 😁

New coilovers and track tyres have made a big difference as has fitting a set of EBC Yellow Stuff pads, the car is now way faster than us instead of just a little bit...

I think over the 2 track days we must've done over 100 laps of Knockhill between us.  The manifold developed a slight blow after the first one, I've welded it back together and bought another 2zz manifold with a view to having another attempt at cutting and welding it to clear the MR2 subframe the same as the previous one. Hopefully I'll be able to make a better job of this one!

Manta

Talking of welding, I started assembling the rollover jig for the Manta, I was quite happy with this weld.

 

Only about 20 more to go then i can safely* hang the car off it.

I've not touched the Manta for a couple of weeks, i hope to rectify that soon. Plan is to strip down the front subframe and remove the old 2 litre engine, then trial fit the MX5 engine to the subframe and ideally back into the shell see how far off fitting it is.

I'm blindly optimistic as they are both similar sized 4 cylinder engines with the engine mounts in roughly the same place. We'll see though. The transmission tunnel will definitely need a new hole cut for the gearlever, no big deal though as the original hole was in a silly place-too far forward. 

Range Rover

This has been wafting along quite happily. I did notice a couple of weeks ago it appeared to be marking it's spot a bit more than normal so had a look underneath in an attempt to find the leak. Oil mainly, but also a bit of coolant more worryingly. 

Nothing conclusive there, just quite a lot of oil distributed all over the engine bay so it must be dripping onto the pulleys at the front.

 

I sprayed it with some degreaser and gave it a blast with the hose, I'll definitely* revisit it soon to see if the source of the leak is apparent. There's still one rocker cover gasket to go but I'm pretty sure there's oil coming out of somewhere else. 

 

Coolant wise there was some telltale signs of leaks around the lower radiator connection and also on what I think is the transmission cooler thermostat. I still have a big pile of orings from the set I bought from the US so changed over everything I could find. I can't recommend this enough to folk with older BMW engines. 

Here's one of the old orings, you can see how it's profile is no longer round

 

And the new one fitted

Much better!

Have another(bad) picture

The new green oring has been installed in the coupling ready to go back on. BMW don't seem to list a lot of the coolant hoses any more. The hoses themselves aren't usually the issue, it's these orings. 

Back together and bled and it's still using a wee bit of coolant-I'm super anal about checking it though so I've never actually had the low coolant warning come on, only dropping a wee bit in the expansion bottle. 

The aircon doesn't work which is a shame. A quick dab on the valve shows no pressure in the system. I'm not sure whether to risk regassing it or to actually try and find the source of the leak and fix it properly. Although, by the time i get round to doing it the Scottish summertime will be over...

 

[dome]

Did a wee bit of work tonight on the Mantas front suspension. 

Mr Scary long front spring, meet Mr. Grinder. 

The condition of the parts is bloody good for being 40 years old. Brake backing plates are in excellent nick and the bolts undid without a problem. Still got the other side to do, them pull the engine off and trial fit the Duratec

[dome]

Bit more done today. Firstly, the other side of the front suspension was stripped down leaving the bare crossmember. 

Then I could remove the old engine and box from it.

Once that was done I got the new engine and box out of the Kangoo and sat them side by side to see how they compared

Not too dissimilar overall.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Obvious things are sump will need changed and the oil filter may need relocated. 

Most importantly thought the gearbox fits in the tunnel, although as you can see from the side by side pics the shifter hole will need to be relocated. This was to be expected.

Duratec M8. The Manta fans are going to love* this

 

[CreepingJesus]

Keep the Mazda logos prominent, it'll be okay. The Big Bad was always lobbing a Cosworth YB in there, that would draw some breaths.

I'm actually surprised they're so similar: the side by side pic showed me what I expected, then I realised the Mazda units were on a dolly... 

Agreed about the silly gear lever position though, I always did wonder why they didn't knock up an extension. It's hardly a radical or unusual solution.

[dome]

Small update.

Options for a sump are pretty limited. £500+ for a bespoke one to fit a Duratec into a MK2 Escort which may or may not fit the Manta. Or for a fraction of that you can get a sump for a US market Ford Ranger which had this engine mounted the correct way.

Bet you can guess which one I've gone for? It's winging its way from Rockauto as we speak along with an oil pickup to match. I'll fit that to the engine and see where we are fitment wise. If it's a no-go I'll flog it to the escort boys and go back to the drawing board.

Tonight I cracked on with assembling my rollover jig. Some of the welding isn't pretty, it all survived being hit by a hammer though so I'm calling that a win. 

I've only assembled it loosely just now, I'll strip it back apart, clean up the welds and give it a lick of paint before final assembly. The Manta will only go onto it once I've sussed out where we are engine fitting wise. Then it'll be a case of bolting it up and recreating wheel of fortune with a rusty 80s sports coupe stripping back all the paint and underseal and seeing what's left😬

 

 

[dome]

Did a bit more on this today. I did a bit of stripping down the front end with a view to getting ready to make the body mounts for the jig. 

Headlights, bumper, headlight wipers and indicators removed. 

I'm guessing these aren't the original indicators-they're mint!

I decided to remove the drivers side front wing with a view to removing the valance-as you can see it's pretty rotten and has been repaired* before

Luckily all the bolts for the wing came off ok-it might look fucked (and it is) but I've had very few sheared bolts. So far.

Wing off. Carpet was covering the Duratec whilst I hosed the inner wing down.

Inner wing isn't bad. The washer bottle sits in front of the scuttle, that area will need repaired

I can now get a better view of the a pillar/bulkhead/floor area. Probably the worst part of rust on the car and the one I'm least confident of trying to fix. Where do I even start? The lower part has been patched before.

I might be able to use the bumper supports for the jig, the valance will need to come off anyway though as it's rotten, the 400 front bumper will hide most of what's under there anyway

@sutty2006 any tips on removing the front valance? I'm not sure where to chop it! 

 

[320touring]

That pillar/bulkhead/floor area looks no worse than the Oxford was.

 

We plated the two sides separately, then used a curved reinforcement strip up where the two parts meet. This was L shaped so it formed the corner.

 

@Tickman will probably explain it better!

[sutty2006]

I’ll get some pictures of mine tomorrow, do you mean the lower valance? 
 

edit. This bit? 
 

[dome]

20 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

I’ll get some pictures of mine tomorrow, do you mean the lower valance? 
 

edit. This bit? 
 

Yep, that's the one. I'll get some better pics

 

[sutty2006]

This is how a few have been done over on the Mantaclub website 

front attaches straight into the chassis legs and bolts through the bumper bracket holes

rear through the bumper holes with a strengthening bar on the inside. 
 

[Skizzer]

Loving that rollover jig. I need one for the Rancho but I’ll probably buy rather than build, as I’m a wuss. Might weld myself a new workbench though.

[dome]

All the way from the US of A, here is my new sump. It should fit the engine, the question is will the engine fit in the car with the sump on?

I suspect the answer is yes, but only after removing the brake servo and heater box. Hopefully will get a chance to find out this weekend. Stay tuned!

 

[sutty2006]

Which way round ? If the tall bit is at the front of the engine then I think you might struggle, it’s quite a deep one by the looks of it. If it’s the other way round then it should fit no mither! 

[dome]

Just now, sutty2006 said:

Which way round ? If the tall bit is at the front of the engine then I think you might struggle, it’s quite a deep one by the looks of it. If it’s the other way round then it should fit no mither! 

Yeah, the big bit goes at the back. This sump is basically the same as the posh ones you can buy for £500 to fit a Duratec into an escort, except it was $50 before tax and shipping. 

I may need to pick your brains on heater cores/servos depending on the clearance I have. At least there's no dizzy sticking out of the back like a redtop!

[sutty2006]

Yeah should breeze in! 
 

I know folk use a polo heater box, but I’ve not used one myself. The XE I fitted to my red hatch the clearance is minimal, and it’s very tight round the servo and heater box.

id be looking at mounting the engine a bit further forward maybe? To get the clearance you need. That is, if it’s a light engine to start with. I’ve seen the cast iron 6 cylinder engines mounted further back for better weight distribution 

[dome]

30 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Yeah should breeze in! 
 

I know folk use a polo heater box, but I’ve not used one myself. The XE I fitted to my red hatch the clearance is minimal, and it’s very tight round the servo and heater box.

id be looking at mounting the engine a bit further forward maybe? To get the clearance you need. That is, if it’s a light engine to start with. I’ve seen the cast iron 6 cylinder engines mounted further back for better weight distribution 

This engine is all alloy so much lighter than the cih. It'll go as far forward as it can, depending on getting the shifter in the right place 

[Barry Cade]

Just found a real pic of one of my old Mantas.. I'll just leave it here.

Sigh.

[sutty2006]

5 spoke revolutions…… my favourite, bucket list alloy for the manta. 

[Barry Cade]

😩

[sutty2006]

42k for a replica. Nice though! 

[dome]

Thanks for the prod! Cracking looking thing @Barry Cade, well worth the £500 you probably paid for it 😉

Not much to report. As expected the sump doesn't quite clear the crossmember so the next plan is to mock up some engine mounts and for the crossmember to the engine first, then I can start removing the heater box and anything else that gets in the way. 

[sutty2006]

If you’re good with the welder, depending on how much clearance you need, you could cut the subframe and channel it with some L shape section…… seen that done somewhere…. 

[dome]

32 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

If you’re good with the welder, depending on how much clearance you need, you could cut the subframe and channel it with some L shape section…… seen that done somewhere…. 

That had crossed my mind. I'm not good enough with a welder to do that, yet! 

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, dome said:

Thanks for the prod! Cracking looking thing @Barry Cade, well worth the £500 you probably paid for it 😉

 

 

I swopped it for a Polo coupe IIRC.. and not even an S...😬

Aren't there a few Caterham parts for a Duratec that may help you?  I seem to remember remote oil filters and stuff..

Or a dry sump for the Knockhill hairpin😄

[dome]

Time for an update.

Jag

This has been getting used whenever the chance for a decent drive not requiring me to carry bikes/ a small dog crops up. Most recently a trip to Glasgow.

With the Andy bracket fitted(this advances the ignition timing) it's got noticeably more shove above 3k rpm and it actually seems more economical driving it at 80(ish) mph where the engine is turning at around 3k than below that. That'll be my excuse when i get stopped in it anyway.

And I gave it a wash, it's still a 10 footer but that's fine by me

 

Range Rover

Not much to report here. With Scotland actually being warm for once I decided to see if I could get the non functioning air con to work. A borrowed vacuum pump and set of gauges were employed to try to get to the bottom of the leak-I knew from a quick dab of the valves that the system was empty. 

First things first, a foolhardy L322 owner voluntarily plugs in a code reader.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL SHOCK YOU

After I picked myself up from the floor I prodded a bit further.

The pressure sensor agreed that there was no pressure so I moved onto connecting things up

 Gauges connected to the high and low pressure sides of the system and to the vacuum pump.

After the pump had ran for half an hour or so vacuum was achieved. 

Leaving it for a couple of hours the blue gauge (low pressure I think) pressure had decreased showing signs of a leak.

I had been supplied with an adaptor to allow me to connect a spare tyre in place of the vacuum pump and pressurize the system with air.  I did this and went around every joint on the system I could see and also as much of the condenser as I could access armed with a spray bottle soapy water in the hope that some bubbles would show my leak. Sadly, nothing.

Although I did spot what looks like a coolant weep from the radiator, so I've got that going for me...

I'm not sure what to do next. Until I find the leak it would be a case of firing the parts cannon at it which I'm not overly keen on. I may pull the condenser out and see if there's any sign of a leak on it but other than that I'll live with no air con for the time being. 

[cort16]

My BMW had a slow aircon leak. It would hold a vacuum but after 2 weeks all the gas escaped. They put that UV dye in it and it still didn't show up so the put more in and eventually it could be seen in the bottom corner of the condenser. 

It usually is the condenser. Not sure what it's like on the RR but on my BMW it's front and centre to get smacked in the face with every rock that comes up off the road.