A Busy Sunday

[Guest lucavigg]

I spent the whole of Sunday getting the Zetec in exactly the right position, centrally mounted so that the starter motor could be fitted.

 

My question is, how close can the starter motor mounting lug get to the chassis rail before I need to worry about it knocking?

 

At the moment it's about a gnats nadgers (less than 10mm) away from the bottom rail.

 

Thanks

 

Luca

[Guest scrabster]

hi,i had the same problem fitting the pinto in,it was either move engine away from chassis a bit or grind a bit of the starter and bellhousing.i wanted the engine dead centre so i got the grinder out and took about 5 or 6 mm off.it only catched the chassis going over pot holes and hasnt done it since.hth.

jess.

[Guest lucavigg]

hi,i had the same problem fitting the pinto in,it was either move engine away from chassis a bit or grind a bit of the starter and bellhousing.i wanted the engine dead centre so i got the grinder out and took about 5 or 6 mm off.it only catched the chassis going over pot holes and hasnt done it since.hth.

jess.

 

Thanks Jess

 

The engine is dead centre at the moment. I guess I'll have to see how much movement there is once the engine is started and grind off a small amount if I get problems.

 

Luca

[Guest boggybogstar]

My Zetec with a type 9 is ever so slightly off centre, you cant really notice it unless you really look hard.

 

This is one of the problems with the chassis design, make sure you grind as much as possible of the bellhousing behind where the starter sits. The housing on mine probably sits about 10 to 15mm away from the chassis rail and it's never hit since ive been driving it.

 

I guess the only strain would be on the prop shaft uni joints but i reckon it's not much, ive made a rule to grease the nipples more often than normal