Hayden I haven't read your thread for a while. I noticed you were going to use the sump off your 1300 on the 1600 engine. I did that once and it was a bad move. The longer throw of the 1600 crank brought the rods into contact with the sides of the 1300 sump. What it resulted in was not evidence while turning over the engine by hand. Once it fired up though was a rather loud (and embarrassing) banging noise. I had to remove the engine, take off the sump and relieve the sides of it to allow for clearance. Just make sure you don't fall into the same trap I did. You might be better off getting a sump off a 1600 engine. It may well be that on the later 711M engines the same sump was used for the 1300 and 1600. Just make sure of things before you put the engine in the car.

Well, you won't believe it [V]

I put the motor in 2 nights ago, set up all my manifolds and plumbing etc. Fired it up yesterday for the first time and there was this very loud screeching noise. It's had me completely stumped. I thought it might have been the starter motor because when I turn the crank by hand I could hear the gears were still meshed. Turns out it's just the old pre-engaged lucas starter so I think that's normal. So I'm guessing after your comments Eric that it could be the sump! Oh dear. I'll be an expert engine fitter by the end of this.

At least it's a different sound so maybe not the sump? Keen to hear how this one goes, hope you get it sorted with minimal hassle...

Thanks Timmy, so do I! It sounded great when it fired up,, there's nothing connected after the extractors [88]

Hayden, It is unlikely to be the sump if you have a screeching noise. The sump problem I had was more like banging a bit of tin with a hammer very rapidly. As I said previously, I don't know whether the later 1300 and 1600 711M engines share the same sump. If they do, then you're probably safe. Perhaps someone can advise in this regard. I used the 1300 sump from my 1970 Escort on my 1600 and had to take the engine out again.

The 1300 sump I used is from a 1970 aswell. Was yours an auto sump or manual? My 1300 sump was with an auto and had the two support bolts at the base. It could be different, because like you said I haven't heard any banging.
I had a bit of a win today, adapting the metal tag on the rocker cover to hold my downshift cable, turned out very nice. Changed a couple of hoses and spark plug leads which neatened things up a lot. After the throttle cable is attached (I need a smaller size ball at the point of attachment) I'm going to paint the rocker cover in Ford blue. But for now, I'm just going to speak to a few auto electricians about my starter to see if it could be the problem and try to track down replacement.

I took the starter into the local auto leccy today, ends up the starter was okay, but hahahaha, the clearance to ring gear has changed slightly. So I spaced the starter with spring washers and wallah! No screech. What a relief. So I'm gonna run the gauntlet tomorrow over to macs mufflers to put a 2" system and triflow muffler on. Then old mate Wayne at Perry engineering (the guy who did the head) will check the timing for me.

Got ahead of myself. I took 3 hours today removing the motor and changing the sump over from 1.3 to 1.6. It was quite obvious where the rods had been hitting. But it was a very subtle noise, not a loud banging like others have described and the scoring on the sump was rather minor.

So the motor is mounted back in the car and bolted to the auto. all that's left to do is fix the drive plate to the ring gear, bolt on the manifolds, starter, generator, radiator, etc. Not much really. I might get back down there tonight and finish it off. At least I know now that everything is sorted and I can just get on with driving the beast. Can't wait!

Well done Hayden. Glad you got things sorted.

Thanks Eric. Unfortunately I'm not out of the woods yet. The kickdown cable has become sticky from the heat off the extractors. There was about 40mm clearance but obviously that wasn't enough. There's also a drip from the rear seal on the sump- my fault for not following the manual and using jointing compound to seal it properly. The timing was looked at today and is all sweet. But the biggest problem I'm still trying to fix is my starter motor. Even though I have spaced it and there's no rubbing after start up, it continues makes contact when I'm off throttle. I'm struggling to know why it needed to be spaced at all. It worked fine on my 1300. I put it back together the same, I've checked it against the diagrams in my manual. AAArrrggghhh [x2x]