Robin Hood 2b - Pinto to ST170 Zetec\Duratec

[Stonky 62]

Help!

I did something on the spur of the moment and bought a part disassembled Robin Hood 2b as a project to do with my son – whilst I’m fairly handy with a spanner, I’ve not tinkered with a kit since owning a Pilgrim Sumo many years so I’m reaching out to those of you at RHOCaR who might have the know-how and time to give us some much needed advice and guidance on how to put this project back together.

We bought the 2b as a body-on rolling chassis as the previous owner had taken out the old Pinto and type 9 box and bought a ST170 Zetec\Duratec from a Focus to drop in. The kit came with new engine mounts from Great British Sports Cars, a new bellhousing and new clutch. All we needed to do is put it all back together!

Needless to say, we soon found it this was not a simple engine swap (for us anyway) so I’m hoping someone out there might have done this before and can give us some much needed advice! 

Any pointers on some basics to start with would really help:

·        Fuel\Electric system

Can you keep it simple and re-use the original fuel injection system or is the bike carb option the only\best way to go?

Can you re-use the ECU from the Focus donor if we can re-use the EFI system or is an aftermarket unit the better option?

·        Cooling

Is the Retro-Ford water rail the only option to re-route the coolant or are there alternatives?

·        Clutch\Bellhousing

The car came with a new bellhousing to couple the Sierra Type 9 box to the ST170 but it doesn’t fit! Does anyone know a good supplier?

The kit also came with a new boxed up clutch package for a Mondeo 1.6 – I’m doubting this is the right unit to work with the original ST170 flywheel \ Type 9 box as the clutch release bearing in the package certainly doesn’t fit the clutch fork? If not, any ideas for the best clutch\flywheel options?

Might the prop need shortening?

I’m sure I haven’t even thought of half the things I should have to get this powertrain back up & running so I would be really pleased to hear from anyone who can give us some pointers on our re-build.

Thanks for reading this post and hope to hear from someone soon!

All the best,

 

Steve & Harry  

[nelmo]

By luck, one of our members is telling us all about his conversion right now - take a look here:

 

 

[Sparepart]

I just did a quick search for (2b AND Zetec), loads and loads of hits .... many of no use to you right now, but one thread is from someone in your position from a while back, some photos of the conversion, etc.

 

Link To Thread

[DeanRudkin]

I have one in my 2b without seeing your pedal  box set up it’s hard to say whether you can use fuel injection or not 

Edited December 29, 2020 by DeanRudkin

[theduck]

Despite being badged duratec, the st170 engine is actually a Zetec and is not the same as the later duratec engines that the above thread is about. 

[Stonky 62]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post yesterday with links to earlier threads on this - much appreciated.

Dean - thanks for the edit earlier - it had me a bit confused before! Here's my pedal box set-up (such as it is!):

 

 

[DeanRudkin]

Ok so the servo won’t work there I got rid of it I don’t know if others have managed to make it work I ordered a pedal box from gbs and welded it in 

[Stonky 62]

Thanks again Dean - sounds like I'll need a new pedal box if we're going to drop the ST170 in. I presume we'll need a new master brake cylinder that sits over the pedal box?

I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has managed to install an ST170 with the original EFI set up.

Cheers,

 

 

[DeanRudkin]

I used the original master cylinder I’ll get some photos when I’m over at my car next or check out red seven automotive engineering on Facebook my cars on there it may have some useful pics 

[Stonky 62]

Thanks - look forward to seeing those pics!

 

 

[MarkBzero]

I went from a Ford crossflow to ST 170 in a GBS Zero but kept weñt down the twin 45s route because they sound awesome and it was easier/cheaper at the time.

[DeanRudkin]

This was from when Chris helped me do my pinto to zetec on bike carbs conversion 

[Stonky 62]

Thanks for the pics Dean - they're really useful.

Thanks also to MarkB - I'm working my way through your build blog to pick up some more tips! I see you were working in Basingstoke during your build - i'm just up the road from there!

Been looking at ECU options to run the VVT on the ST170 - the ME100 looks a decent option but its not cheap....

 

 

[shaun_tomo88]

I know this is a old post…. Just looking through for some tips with my conversion, in the picture here I’ve added in off deans post, there’s a pulley above the water pump isn’t that to direct the pump in the right direction, where could I get that from