Small update...

Completing the box sections of the mounts.






Mounted in the car with the engine pretty close to it's final resting place. I can probably drop it down another 10mm but won't know until i cut the sump - which is next on the list .

It looks great Paul I thought you said you couldnt weld...looks pretty good to me[;^)]

Thanks Phil.

It's just like riding a bike.....

Coming along nicely paul, Make sure you add an extra 10mm height to where you want it to sit to allow for 'sag' in the bushes etc, plus all the manifolds, water, oils add weight and nolathane is softer than rubber in those leaf bushes as i found out with my mk1s chassis mounted wcxm style setup.. Keep up the good work mate
Welds look ok, maybe go up slightly on the current

Yeah, you will find those welds haven't penetrated as much as they should've. Better off turning up the amp's and stitch welding, as it's less likely to burn through.

Yes, it looks like it was a little cool but I was concerned about blowing holes (2mm plate) as the material heated up along the weld. I ground a 45 deg bevel on the corners prior to welding to assist penetration - from the underside it's OK. I will dress them down prior to powder coating as for now I'm concentrating on getting the engine settled in

OK, a few hours free this morning so thought I'd tackle the sump

All measured up and ready to go!



Cut off wheel and 10 mins later produces this......



Mounted on the engine in the car. Engine position pretty close to where it will remain



Decided to move the engine a little further forward than originally intended to give extra clearance in the tunnel around the bell housing - plus the shiffer pops up in the centre of the original position. Yhis also aids clearance for the heater hoses beside the head.



What's ppls experience regarding the engine settling onto poly bushes? Should I allow 10mm of "sag" when positioning the mounts? I currently have 10mm clearance between the sump and rack.

i think mine was at the 10mm gap mark when i did mine but was only the bottom end with g/box, when i bolted the head, alternator, inlet, exhaust etc it weighed it down and sat on the x/member(just).I also lowered the rack mounts 7mm to help clearance without affecting steering bumpsteer.

One small step for man kind - one large step for the RS

The engine is in position with the modified mounts. I set it up for 60mm clearance between cross member and cut-off sump and allowing for a little sag it ended up at ummm.....60mm! Well, now allowing for 3mm plate to fill in the sump and a few mm for the sump gasket should leave me with around 10mm clearance between the bottom of the sump and the rack. I was looking more around 5 mm as I want to keep the engine low but I guess I'd rather be 5mm higher than sitting on the rack Ironically this also allows for ample room between the Focus inlet manifold and the RHS mount which was marginal in my preferred engine position (lower).

RHS mount fitted - I need to add some gusset plates infront and behind the tube section and then finish welding. Both have limited weld incase I need to adjust the heights etc.



LHS mount - again requiring additional gusset plates.



As mentioned above - clearance between inlet and mount is now adequate.



I also need to establish a position for the factory MAF sensor - I will look into shortening the OEM intake pipe from the Ford Focus (below) to feed from the MAF to the (Focus) inlet manifold. I will likely look at a pod filter to sit on the end of the MAF sensor. I just need to figure out what and where to position the parts to determine the mounting hardware.





I also managed to get a hold of the Skylne hand brake set-up to position it under the shell to operate with the R31 rear disc conversion. This all just unbolted quite easily from under the donor car. All I need is to fabricate the brackets to support the leading end of the cables going to each calliper as these were welded to the R31 shell [:(!]

Looking good Paul, will get the other phone numbers to you ASAP