Richard Grove

This picture shows where I filed out the sump baffle. When working on the engine from underneath I never noticed the problem, but with the engine upside down on a stand I could easily see the sump was being held about 5mm away from the block. Fitting the all in one windage plate/gasket is so much easier than the twin cork gaskets.

At last - I have finally cracked it - no more leaking sump. Took the engine out again and re-fitted the rear baring cap and oil seal taking extra care to esure all faces of the bearing cap were coated with sealent. When I came to re-fit the sump I noticed that there were some intersting marks on the oil pick up pipe. The baffle plate in the sump was sitting on the pick up pipe!!!!This could have been holding the sump up enough to cause the oil leak. I filed away some of the baffle to be sure it now clears. I fitted a new Windage plate with rubber gasket already bonded to it. This works a treat. End result - a big smile. See you at Stoneliegh. Richard

Steve, I am in Willersey near Broadway, and have the very tool if you want to borrow it. Alternatively, I am sure you can get by with an eye and a finger. Richard e-mail rich.grove@virgin.net

Troy, I used the standard Vauxhall flywheel & clutch pressure plate with a heavy duty Ford friction disc which I got from Yukspeed. Yukspeed also provided the bellhousing (£160) and spiggot bush (£6) You can use the clutch release arm from an Escort RS 200 , but these are difficult to find. I modified a Sierra clutch release arm as shown in the photo. I am running the engine on a Cavalier 8 valve distributor (the cheap option) and so far it seens to run very well. Richard

Barry, Thanks for the info on Thermostats. Sump still leaking - lost nearly a litre of oil on the last run out (approx 80 miles). This was after fitting a brand new replacement sump from QED. I gave them a call and explained the problem I was having and they simply offered to exchange the original sump for a new one. I decided to take the engine out again and go back to square 1. I have removed & re-fitted no.5 Bearing Cap again and checked the Rear Crank oil seal again. I am waiting for the delivery (from Autovaux) of an 8v baffle & rubber sump gasket before dropping the engine back in. If I still have the leak after this I will ............ not sure what I'll do. Richard

Barry, Where did you get the 82 degree thermostsat from? I have been looking but have not maneged to find one yet. Richard

Jim, Yes I have the Sierra Master Cylinder with no servo. The front discs I have are vented. I was thinking about fitting some grooved/cross drilled discs and a set of higher friction brake pads but I am not sure what sort of benefit I would get from this. I am keeping my eyes open for a Sierra 4X4 rear end. By the way - still have that oil leak despite another set of new sump gaskets and a brand new sump coutesey of QED. I was loosing about a litre of oil for every 100 miles !!! I have now got the engine out again. I am going to re-fit the rear Bearing Cap and Crank oil seal and try the 8v sump gasket/baffle. Richard

Hi, I am looking for some advice on possible options for upgrading the brakes on my 2B. I currently have a totally standard 1600 Sierra set up with 14" alloy wheels. I do not want to spend a lot. Are the Sierra 2L front discs bigger than the 1600? Richard

Bryn, Burton power sell maintenance kits for carbs. Alternatively you could try your local Motor Factors for a sheet of gasket paper and try cutting out your own. Use the old gasket as a template & sharp modeling knife. Richard

Goldie, Just about everything you need to know is on the NW site courtesey of Jim. The conversion is not that difficult. The tricky bits for me were making engine mounts and finding somewhere to put the pedal box / brake master cylinder. I decided to make my own floor mounted pedals. I am still getting used to the extra power and will probably be looking at up-grading the front brakes some time soon as I keep scaring myself. Go for it. Richard

I also made my own pedal box using the original Sierra brake master cylinder with no servo. The clutch is simple cable/pivot using an escort Mk11 cable which is shorter than Sierra and has an eyelet attachment instead of a nipple at the pedal end. Richard

Well, I was/am still struggling to sort out this oil leak so I decided to phone QED and seek thier advice. WOW was I impressed with the response. Simply send the sump back to them and they will ship a new replacement sump with a set of sump gaskets included. They would inspect the original sump and let me know what they found. I received the the replacement sump yesterday, with the gaskets and a note from them saying that the likely cause of the leak is that that the sump pan had been distorted - possibly due to over tightening of the sump bolts. 10 out of 10 QED, that is what I call customer service. I plan to fit the new sump this weekend. Richard

Ian, At SVA time the examiner gave me a print out from his computer with various weights & calculations on it. According to that my 2B weighs 378 kg at axle 1 and 414 kg at axle 2. I have never been sure if adding the 2 axle weights together would give the actual total weight (792 kg). This weight was with screen fitted and a good box of tools in the boot. Richard

Mitch, I was never happy with the Sierra pedal box set up I had. I messed about with it a lot but could never find a really comfortable driving postion. So I just decided to rip it all out and start again. Removing the original chasis tube makes plenty of room for the engine/carbs but does mean you have to completely re-design the scuttle area. Im off to the garage now to sort out that sump again!!! Richard

Mitch, A lot has already been written about the Vx conversion by Jim/Simon etc. and without that information I would not have had a clue where to start (Thanks Jim & Simon) The only major difference I had when fitting the Vx lump into a 2B (with Wishbones) is that I decided to chop out the chasis tube onto which the Sierra pedal box was mounted and replace it with a straight piece of box about 10 inches back futher back. The attached phot should help. This meant that I had plenty of room for the Carbs etc. but forced me to go for floor mounted pedals. I decided to make my own pedal box. This proved to be very tricky and time consuming but I am very pleased with the end result. I had a Swirl pot welded to the bottom of the fuel tank to ensure good fuel supply to the facet pump. I cut out some of the U shaped tube that sits under the engine and fitted a steel sump guard to put some strength back and protect the forward facing oil filter. This meant I got the engine low enough to clear the bonnet, but still gives me 5-6 inches of ground clearance. On the condition that I sort out the leaky sump on Saturday I should make it to Stafford on Sunday if you wan't a look/chat. Richard

Jim, one of the things that appealed to me about the Vx engine is the possibility to tune it to deliver more BHP. You start with 150, add Carbs and you get 170-180 and from there you can easily add more. But now that I have driven mine with 170-180 BHP I am not sure if I am brave enough to want to add any more. 260 BHP - that will make it interesting to drive!!!! Richard

Jim, I obviously mis-read your question. The correct answer is No I have not modified the Cam Cover Breather. Could this be the source of my trouble ? I can't believe I spent all that money on sump gaskets & oil and all the time I was barking up the wrong tree? Richard

Remove the belt and the pump as thier not needed - save a few BHP for the rear wheels and a little weight. Richard

All, Thanks for all the replies. I have checked compression tonight and all seems OK there i.e. no significant difference across each cylinder. Not sure what the compression should be on this engine but I was getting 16 to 16,5 Bar (230 PSI) on each cylinder. I thought that I may have been over tightening the sump bolts so I nipped round to my local garage workshop at the weekend and borrowed thier low torque torque wrench. QED advise on 8ft lb so this is what I used on the last new gaskets I fitted, but they still leak. I have been to Mr Vauxhall today and bought some of thier special super duper (£5 for a tiny tube) gasket glue. If this does not work I am going to try the 8v rubber gasket/windage plate. Jim, Yes I did do the small counter sink mod to the Bearing Caps (My Dad still claims it was not needed) but at least I have peace of mind when the engine hits 7000 rpm. Another quick question - what have you got your ignition timing set at. Mine is set to 12 degrees BTC at the mo but I am planning a little fine tuning to the timing & carbs next weekend. Thanks Richard

Having spent most of the winter converting my 2B from 2L Pinto to Vauxhall 16V I re-taxed the Hood a couple of weeks ago with the aim of getting back on the road and enjoying some of the recent Sunshine. I have to admit that I am very pleased with the result - What a difference - Well woth the effort. However I am having one last really anoying problem - I cannot get the sump to seal and I leave a trail of oil everywhere I go. The Vx 16v requires 2 Cork gaskets, one goes between the block and the windage plate/baffle thing, and the second goes between the sump and the windage plate. I have now had the sump off and re-fitted it 3 times. It is costing me a fortune in Oil and Sump gaskets as well as giving me a sore neck. After every attempt the sump still leaks at the corners (flywheel end) I have checked the Engine Block and Alloy Sump mating faces to ensure they are flat. I have inspected the sump for cracks. I have had the engine right out to check the Rear Crank Shaft Oil seal and Rear Main Bearing cap. I have changed the sump bolts (slightly shorter new ones) to ensure that the bolts are tightening up properly and not hitting the bottom of the hole in the block. The only thing I have not tried is coating the gaskets/mating faces with Sealant - I don't really like the idea of all the excess sealent getting stuck in the oil pick up pipe. Any ideas? Thanks Richard

I am sure there is someone in the club who has fitted a Zetec into his hood. It was a Series 3 I think.

I should make with with the kids, but my wife insists on at least 3 star hotels and refuses to camp. I expect my Dad will tag along in his Banaham Bat as well.

Jim, I've been an Accountant for almost 20 years now and I still can't add up without the calculator. My wife still believes my Vauxhal conversion is costing £350. Richard

I'm convinced. I will play it safe and do the counter sinking before she goes back on the road. I fired the engine up for the first time this morning. WOW that felt good, it started at the first attempt and once the tapets settled down sounnded great. Thanks for the advice. Richard

And from above