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