Well, after sacking one engineer because he was a wang (tried to s**t me one too many times on basic engineering principles) then finding another more professional one ive decided this project is not possible to do it the way i want, as it turns out you can pretty much only do bolt together projects yourself these days or pay workshops to do ALL the work for you, Vicroads seems to want a standard of construction and design that not even the manufacturers put into the original car, the VASS engineers and any machine workshop you approach are all scared of liability, so it ends up blowing the cost out of the water (40G was his estimate on completion costs) around only 10 of that being to actually build the car, the rest being finite element analysis. intuition,gut feeling and field proven methods unfortunately do not cut it, which completely f**k the idea and spirit out of even doing this car.

SO:

its going to be completed and used for autocross style events at geelong motorsport complex!
(wish i hadnt sold the rally tyres that came on the escort wreck). progress will be quicker as i dont have to stop and ask and wait for a reply each time i want to scratch my a*** while working on this car.

on a side note, if i convert my car to straight gas and bang the powerdyne kit i have on it engineering that is very straight forward, one $35 emissions test, and engineering costs and its done.

Damn dude, that sucks, but on a side note, why don't you just go with your last idea - go straight lpg injection, stick the powerdyne on it & pass that one test, then engineer & have some fun!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

still plugging away at this, i decided i would do it all the illegal way and just get the basic conversion engineered then do the front suspension afterwards

got my water rail made up just have to tap it for the temp sensor and make a heater outlet



Had to make a crazy shifter handle up as the location of the shifter hole in the box was waaay to far forwards and having it cranked back so far was putting a large rotational force on the bush the bit coming off the front is located between two bits of angle (at the same height as the pivot on the ball) this allows forwards and backward movement and rotational (in X axis) but none around the Z axis. this is only a prototype and will be replaced with something better later on (probably)


And lastly this is the intake manifold i got from the UK its to suit an early fiesta XR3 with a 130HP 1.8l engine (has HO on the back rather than SO) it clears everything much more nicely than the plastic manifold and is plug and play with the mondeo loom.


Currently im working on the flywheel/clutch i got a mondeo flywheel and had the lip machined off it and it re drilled/doweled to suit a 2.0 escort/cortina clutch (not as big as a transit / mondeo one but 1/3 the price!), have to make up a new holder for the throwout bearing as the original transit one wont reach anymore (flywheel/clutch is 20mm thinner)

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Thats a very nice project mate. love the conversion.

Cheers

james

Nice to see the progress.

Can i ask where you were getting that cheap emissions test if you were to go lpg? I've got emissions issues i need to address with my Mighty Boy turbo conversion, and i don't feel like paying a huge amount to prove it passes on petrol, so i'm thinking i'll be going LPG injection to minimize issues.

I know that if i keep the afr between 13 & 14.5:1, keep the factory egr & canister, and fit a cat as the car didn't originally have one & still to this day isn't required by LAW to run one, i can easily pass emissions, but the engineers are not wanting to sign off on it unless i get that expensive test. Which is really silly because basic reasoning is all it takes to figure out i'll be producing less emissions than a standard F8b, carby fed Mighty boy or Alto!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

its just the rules - and the engineers are too scared to do what they are paid to do and actually make an informed decision on anything (or give advice on how to do anything) they are a total waste of time and money in my eyes.

its a much simpler test for LPG cars, thats why its only $35

task for today was to build the new clutch throwout bearing holder as the modified mondeo flywheel with escort/cortina pinto clutch is around 20mm thinner than the original transit one (so there would be excessive clutch pedal movement)

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Wow, that's getting full on, new throw out bearing holder!

Thanks for the bit about the LPG. I've already invested in almost everything i need to get the engine running petrol EFI, so i'll probably do that conversion anyway, as i plan on getting the efi sorted before turbocharging the mighty boy. When it comes time to turbo it, i'll change the petrol gear for LPG gear & pass that test for $35, then get my certificate.

It really sucks that engineers don't want to do what they are paid to do. It's simple enough to make a reasoned decision & if the vehicle was pulled over, the epa should test it for free, and give you 30days to fix any issue found or then fine you. Otherwise the test should be much cheaper so there is less chance of people running around with non complying vehicles!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

Yes, engineers will be C*** when it comes to signing off where there has been fabrication other than by someone qualified to do that fabrication. I studied it for 2 years before realising I hated it, so can see where they come from, but from the (very basic mind you) work I did in the field know that a lot will quote ridiculous prices as they aren't prepared to put themselves out for liability without making sure they have covered their a*** in every conceivable way.

As you said, makes life hell for those who want to do the work on street driven cars themself

engine/gearbox mounts have been finalised,

Couldnt find a radiator to suit the car/engine (that wasnt $700) so i modified the car to take a focus radiator
BEFORE:

AFTER:


as you can see i removed the two pieces from either side of the radiator opening and fabricated a new pair out of 2.0mm sheet, a piece of 20mm angle runs across the top and has had the upper rad support folder around it.

im still waiting on a tailshaft - its been "ready tomorrow"for at least a month now

im ditching the big a*** long shifter handle and making something remote mount out of the bits from a mondeo remote shifter systems.

electrics are to be done but will be comparatively easy compared to the rest of the work ive set out for myself

after all this crap is done it will be mobile again, then i can move onto the next stage

ive measured up a focus front end and its 161mm wider than the cortina BUT 140mm of that is in between the TCA/wishbone mounting points on an escort crossmember so combine focus uprights + wishbones on a custom crossmember using an escort rack and the front track only increases 21mm (but this will come much later as i need to get the "formalities"out of the way before doing the crazy s**t like this)

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update for the weekend:

Got the radiator in and mounted, engine back in (will sit a bit flatter once i add a couple of spacers to the gearbox mount)

there is a good 80mm of space between the thermo fans (focus ones to suit the radiator - just gotta adapt the focus plug to the mondeo loom)

Thankfully i had just the right hos in my collection for the upper hose, its a standard mondeo upper hose that fits perfectly in between my water rail (with ED upper thermostat housing) and the focus radiator. this was totally and accident as i thought id have to make a frankenhose like the lower one, its made from a mondeo lower, a length of aluminium pipe and a bit of an ed lower, all spliced together as the lower rad hose has to cross infront of the radiator as mondeo's (being FWD) have both inlet/outlet to one side.

and i finally got my tailshaft last week, only a month late $200 over the first quote and not quite the standard id expect for the money i paid for it, but in the end it will work fine.


As you can see in the photos im halfway through stripping out all the junk i dont need from the mondeo loom, thankfully most plugs reach where they need to even though the loom has been turned 90 degrees to the engine - only had to lengthen half a dozen or so parts to reach the coilpack, the spedo sender and the reverse lockout switch, im going to wait untill its running before i actually remove anything (at the moment stuff like ABS, EGR, has been peeled back to the main loom plugs) otherwise i might remove something it still needs to work.

after a quick look at the cortina fuel tank it looks like a falcon wagon fuel pump/cradle will fit in the opening, this is much easier than trying to fit a high pressure EFI pump to the old cortina cradle.

i can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now!

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awesome work Jose'!

Wow! That's great work & news there mate!

I've found an engineer that will talk to me about my turbo mighty boy project, going to see him later this week. Previously all have said get that emissions test then talk to them. So i went digging thru the ADR's & found i don't have to comply with any ADR's for exhaust emissions, once i told the engineer that, and most of the other bits such as intake & exhaust manifolds are factory gear from other car's, he was keen to see the ute & speak with me, as there is very little fabrication work involved. I'm also going to run a closed loop fuel system, EGR system & a cat, just for good measure & to make sure my project doesn't pollute any more than it has to.

I only need to fab up front bumper mounts, intercooler supports, pipe work, airbox supports & a new top coolant pipe, pretty basic really. I will find out about brakes when i speak with them but the interesting thing is a 86 swift has the same size brakes ( front disc are vented Vs non vented on the ute ) & they are about 350kg heavier & about 2x as powerful as what the ute will be turbocharged, so i should be ok with good standard brakes.

Keep it up, you will realize your dream!

Cheers

ToranaGuy

lol that doesnt surprise me, isnt the idea of these engineers that THEY tell you this, not the other way around?

RE brake upgrades - if the engineer decides that your brakes may not be up to the challenge - they will test the cars braking by doing a few hard stops from 100kmh, if the brakes cant pull it up in the right distance or get severe fade it doesnt pass. so you dont need 400mm carbon ceramic brakes with 12 piston calipers on most cars, but most engineers will try to send you to hoppers stoppers to buy a kit so if something goes wrong its not their fault. Power has ABSO-DIDDLLY nothing to do with barking (on a road car) as you can only get up to the speed limit anyway (which the car should be able to do before you stuffed with it)

A braking system consisting of vented rotors, with decent pads will probably suffice, unless you go adding a heap of weight.

Yeah, it's funny about the engineer's, they seem to not do a hellova lot in regards to research to earn their folding do they? Not to mention when you speak with them on the phone they usually seem very disinterested in actually sitting down & properly planning a project with you so you can achieve it legally, maybe not quite like you have in mind, but at least legal!

Regarding the brakes - The ute stops on a dime from 100kph 5 or 6 times over without any noticeable fade, and the turbo bits will probably only add about 20kg weight to the vehicle if that. Hoppers Stoppers don't have a kit close to what i require, but they can make me custom stainless lines, which i will probably need as the original hoses are getting rather old now. Swapping to vented rotors is rather easy, but i'm not sure if that will change my track width at all or not. I'll need to take a measuring tape to a swift & see won't i?

Other's have been engineered without brake upgrades so i'm hopefull.

Cheers

ToranaGuy