Engine rebuild
This month sees the trusty Pinto engine being restored to it's former glory - well nearly!
The engine was completely stripped down to the bare engine block and cylinder head ready for cleaning and re-furbishing. It's important to pay attention here and make good notes of where bits and pieces go and which nuts and bolts hold them there. I did reasonably well at this, but could have done a lot better as I discovered when putting it all back together. Two books I found essential for this part of the build were....
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Haynes Manual for the Ford Sierra 4-cyl Petrol (82 - 93) up to K (Manual No. 0903) ISBN 1859600905 Haynes Publishing |
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How To Power Tune The Ford SOHC Pinto engine by Des Hammill ISBN 1903706106 Veloce Publishing |
The crankshaft, conrods+pistons, cylinder block and cylinder head were sent to Owslebury Crankshaft Services to be chemically cleaned, checked and measured....
- The crankshaft was found to be OK, just requiring a minor polish of the journals.
- The block bearing tunnel/main caps were found to be OK, but the cylinders needed re-boring.
- The conrods were found to be OK, but were fitted with new gudgeon pins, pistons and piston rings.
- The cylinder head was fitted with new valves, seals, followers, ball studs and standard camshaft and oil spray bar.
The bare block has been painted with Halfords high temperature engine enamel, which is not good stuff! I gave it 2 coats, but probably should have done 3 as it is a bit patchy close up. Once painted, the block, crank, and pistons were re-assembled with new bearing shells and copious amounts of fresh engine oil and guidance from my Dad. As you can see we didn't have a proper piston ring compressor, but this 'DIY' tool did the job perfectly.
The cylinder head, pulleys, belts and pumps have been re-fitted following the sequences given in the Haynes manual, using new gaskets throughout. The original flywheel was in good condition, so this was re-fitted to the crankshaft, with new bolts and threadlock. The original clutch was OK, but for the cost of a replacement I decided to do the job now rather than risk having it go once the engine and gearbox are fitted in the car.