She's a Runner

A little over a year since we dropped the engine out of Betty with a goal of increased power and pep, and yesterday, I turned over the engine and fired it up.

Since it had been sitting a while, I pulled the spark plugs, disconnected the coil, and cranked the engine for about 30 seconds.  This did 2 things:

1.) The fuel pump filled the bowl on the new carb
2.) The Oil Pump moved oil around to all the critical bits like the bearings.  By taking out the plugs, you remove the compression from the cylinders and don't put pressure on the somewhat dry bearings.

I put the plugs back in, hooked up the coil, and it started on the first crank.  There are just a few more things to do, and she'll be ready to hit the streets.

Engine Installed with Lowering Kit

I got the engine bolted back into Betty today complete with the engine lowering kit.  It went in pretty easy, Just 6 bolts.  I used an engine hoist and a floor jack to steady it in place while I got it bolted up.   I   noticed a small oil leak from the oil pump cover plate.  It's just 3 small bolts and an o-ring so will tackle that next.

Front engine mount

Rear Engine Mount

Transmission Mount

Top Engine Mount

Top Engine Mount

Engine Lowering Kit

 I was able to piece together the pieces to lower the engine by 25mm. A couple notes about this.  There is a special spacer bolt that bolts onto the upper RH engine mount bolt and extend the treads upward another inch.

This custom bolt is built for a 10mm mount.  The US Fiesta had 12mm mounting bolt.  I was looking on ebay at the mounts in the UK, and the bolt just looked smaller, so I questioned one of the sellers and sure enough the upper mounting bolt was10mm.  So I bid on it and won it for about $8.00 + considerable shipping from the UK...although less overall than what US mounts cost from BAT.

I also didn't have both cradle spacers, so I bought a 1" square aluminum bar from metal by the foot, and drilled 2 holes with my trusty drill press.  I thought that it being aluminum, that I would be able to saw through it fairly quickly by hand with my hack-saw...wrong.  If you are going to do this,  have the supplier cut it to length.

Once I got the engine mount, the bolt was about 1/2" too long to seat fully onto the custom lowering bolt.  I just cut off about 1/2" with a hack saw.

You probably won't find an actual mount bolt, but they do make 12mm sleeve nuts in grad 5 and 8 from Granger.  This is the only really custom piece.  The rest of the parts are just hardware and could be simple to fabricate with nothing more than a drill press and a hack-saw.

This will lower the center of gravity, and level out the drive shafts, so that torque steer will be reduced.

Revised power to weight ratio

I incorrectly calculated the power to weight by using the gross vehicle weight.  The curb weight of the fiesta is quite a bit less than that.  I found this spec online for a 1981 UK spec XR2 at an online site  http://www.carinf.com/en/55b046200.html .

So while these numbers are not wrong, the don't reflect the curb weight ratio.

Power to Weight Ratio

GVW
Stock - 63 HP/2690 lbs GVW= 1 HP per 42.7 LBS of Car
Rebuilt - 105 HP/2690 lb GVW  = 1 HP per 25.6 LB of car

Curb Weight Ratios
Stock 63 HP/1766 CW = 1 HP / 28.0 lbs
Rebuilt 105 HP/1766 CW = 1 HP / 16.8 lbs

Fiesta 1.6L Kent Engine Rebuild on the Dyno

The Stock US Fiesta specs out at 63HP @5300 RPM.   With a Formula Ford Intake & Carb, we achieved 110BHP.  Sweet!  lets see what she makes with the carb/manifold that will live in the car.

When we put the Weber 32/34 DFT 9A on with an XR2 intake manifold, we achieved 101 BHP.   However, the dyno numbers showed rich fuel usage numbers.  We drilled out the air intakes on the primary and secondary jets to .170, the Air/Fuel mixture was still running rich...Hmmm.

This run on the dyno had a couple issues.  One, the fuel return line was not hooked up to a meter to subtract the fuel going back to the tank, so we are going back to the stock 155/160 air jet dimensions, and trying it again.  Also we did not have the cold air box hooked up in the dyno room, so we loose power there.  We should get a few HP back with the air box attached...I was told it could get back close to the 110HP mark, but I will assume 1/2 that gain for this power increase calculation.

Now when I took the engine in, and Curtis got it disassembled, he noticed their was a bushing issue that stopped the rotor from fully advancing the timing.  That made perfect sense since it felt like it had about 40 BHP and gave up pretty early.

When we started to examine everything, we discovered .040 of taper in the cylinder walls...so as long as it is apart, lets make it right, ohhh, and add some high compression pistons...and balance everything....and lighten the flywheel... screw it, lets just rebuild it. And so we did.

I cannot wait to get this bolted back into the car and give it a proper thrashing.

105BHP/63BHP = 66% power increase.

Power to Weight Ratio
Stock 63 HP/1766 CW = 1 HP / 28.0 lbs
Rebuilt 105 HP/1766 CW = 1 HP / 16.8 lbs

Engine on the Dyno

What started off as a valve job on a recently aquired ported and pollished formula ford head, turned into a full rebuild with high compression pistons, a GT cam, a new fuel pump, NOS Weber 32/34 DFT 9A (wrong bolt pattern), and a great engine builder in Platte City, Mo.

Farley engines has specialized in building Formula Ford Race engines for years, and was only a stones throw up the road.  What a great resource to have so close.  The Fiesta engine -- 1.6L Kent -- is basically the same engine as a Formula Ford engine and is highly tunable. Farley Engine was able to do every thing I needed done.

So here is where we are at on the dyno

Set up 1: Loaner formula ford intake manifold and carb.  I'll post the readouts when I get them. The Kent was fed a diet of 100+ octane Aviation gas during these tests...they do not have that at the Quick Trip.

110 BHP @ 6800 RPM....

Set up 2: XR2 Intake Manifold, 32/34 DFT 9A ;170 Air Jets

101 BHP @ 6800 RPM, no cold air intake

Dropping the engine

Last Saturday a friend and I tore into dropping the engine. I've read on the us fiesta enthusiasts yahoo group that it takes between 1-4 hours to perform. I can assure you it is a 6-8 hour process if you have never done it and don't have access to a lift. I think that because all the stock add on equipment is in place, also made more time consuming. The thermactor, assorted plumbing, even the clutch cable caused roadblocks and delays.The plan is to install a livelier cam shaft, check for gasket and seal leaks, and pop on the formula ford head, xr2 intake manifold and a new exhaust.