Longboarder

Most starters (in the olden days) had two long screws which hold/clamp the end plates onto the central body. Usually the slotted screw heads are on the 'free' end and the screw threads into the plate at the bellhousing end. They should be very tight. Impact screwdriver often needed to undo them. Loose is 'not right'! Tight as you can.

Brilliant madness. So I watched a few more and got to this. Unbelievable skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnyrA2x6MTU

I suspect what you already have is not the correct part, dimensions are wrong, strength wrong, etc and that's why both have failed. Not cheap I know but they are the correct part. Sierras were not renowned for rear mt75 mount failures! If you want to substitute look at some of the simpler bobbin style engine mounts. They should be up to the job. Exhaust bobbin? Rubbish.

Further bit of info. Pre 94 the ECU didn't have immobiliser so key and barrel not needed. Talking zetecs here. ST far more complicated and in my opinion its a bit of a disappointing engine. Much easier to go with a blacktop.

 

Also helps slow you down

I drive like Miss Daisy these days.

Quick search. Seem to be getting hard to find. Plenty type 9 mounts.

Westfield have them. https://parts.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=719

I carry a spare wheel, jack & wheelbrace. Not used it in 15 years. Car doesn't look right without it.

You tube is your friend. Lots of vids showing ballcock replacement.

The oil pickup should be well clear of the sump without any chance of touching. The witness marks suggest yours was touching and all the way round its perimeter. Difficult to imagine this quite sturdy pipe moving enough to cause a rattle. It does raise the question has the pickup been able to suck enough oil to maintain full oil pressure. Certainly needs shortening. I remember cutting and re-welding the pickup on one of my zetecs when fitting a shortened sump to give clearance of 5mm. I would have liked slightly more.

Listening to your video again I imagine I can hear a flutter/tinkling rattle, not machine gun style which reminds me of piston slap rather than big/little/main bearings. Going back to the beginning of the thread running rich/bore wash was mentioned. Very tempting to think that's the problem. Zetec does have jets to spray the underside of the pistons but if oil pressure was down a bit these might not work well.

What to do? You could remove the engine and strip it, check all bearings, mike up the pistons, measure the rings, bores, etc etc. Perhaps buy a secondhand engine and slap that in for the rest of the summer. (And get it rolling roaded.)

Or shorten the oil pickup, put it back together. Do a compression test to see if significant bore/piston/ring wear has taken place. If not then borrow a decent oil pressure gauge and check that.

Both bore wash and low oil pressure can kill an engine and trying to diagnose it over the internet is near impossible. Spare bolt rattling in the ashtray?

Is it from a soldered joint? Is it from a screwed joint? Is it from a compression joint? If from a screwed joint then dissassemble and add PTFE tape to the male screw threads (or Boss White goo). If a compression joint then dissassemble and a new olive. If from a soldered joint then solder.

Another point is where are the drops going? If into the tank then relax a bit, check the overflow is water tight. You can take your time over the repair. If outside the tank then drip container and you need to fix faster.

Self amalgamating tape will never resist water pressure. It stretches and lifts.

Usually the leak is from the compression joint just outside the tank where the existing house pipe ends with a soldered bend and a short length of straight pipe, nut and olive. Remove the old olive, clean up pipe with fine emery or wetndry, new olive and do up nut. You can put a smear of Boss white or silicone under and over the olive but it shouldn't be needed.

You seldom have to solder repairs unless you want to. Most soldered fittings are available as bolt up fittings with compression olives.

This thread on Locost Builders has usefull information and also further links to help install factory ECU. https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=208318

 

I thought that the foot wells were sealed or one piece............?

They should/can be. That's the way they were designed. It's up to the builder how effectively how well the bulkhead is sealed.

The car produces a lot of hot air under the bonnet. Anything you can do to reduce the production of hot air or assist its escape from under the bonnet will help.

There are a series of checks to go through to discover which part of the system is causing overheating problems. I personally have no confidence in the 'design' of the raceline water rail. I did buy one ten years ago but couldn't design an effective cooling system around it that would make the operation of the thermostat effective. I never drove with it and sold it on at a loss. Looks nice but remote thermostats are suspect IMO. A quick test to see if the rail/thermostat is the problem is to take the thermostat out and drive like that and see how the running temperatures go.

Can you draw up a schematic showing the pipes, connections, radiator, block of your system. Also roughly measure your radiator matrix dimensions and thickness?

Here's mine. Radiator size not shown but it is four row. I use the standard ford mondeo thermostat. I have a heater but without one the yellow pipes just link rather than go through the heater rad.

New cable time. You will be amazed. Mines wrapped in heat protector sleeve as well to avoid heat damage.

Only just linked this thread to the sump thread. Doh! Re read it. Listened to the video. Even with my hearing aids in I can't clearly hear the rattle. I can only suggest you go round all the brackets, pulleys, ancillaries and anything else bolted to your engine (manifolds) and check they're tight. Then find a proper garage, hole in the wall/ been there 30 years type and let a genuine experienced mechanic have a listen.

The red arrowed black bit is the lower cam belt cover but it is bolted to the oil pump. Oil pump sits round the front of the crank,and is ally. With the sump off a lump of wood between the crank and the block should stop it rotating as you remove the crank pulley bolt, pulley, cam belt drive sprocket and so on to get to the oil pump housing.

Having said that I think you're on a wild goose chase having failed to identify a rattle which with a non running engine you can't now reproduce. I've never heard an oil pump rattle. Its full of oil and running direct of the crank, no gears. If it tried to make a noise the oil would damp it. I would put the sump back on ( having increased the bend in the scraper plate or even hacked off 5mm each side). Put oil and water back in it and continue hunting the rattle until someone has a good idea where it's coming from. For instance have you run it without the alternator belt to rule out the alternator and water pump. Been round the alternator mountings water pump mountings, and idler pulley bolt? Run it with the cam belt covers off to see the tensioner and idler pulleys at work? You have to have a good idea of whats making the noise before you strip down.

Can you go in from below the plate (oil drain hole?) with some bits of wire coathanger, push them into the 'gap' towards the front and back of one side. That might let one side slide.

Blimey. Who'd have thought. Like one of those chinese finger puzzles. The harder you pull the tighter it holds.

Does it have a windage tray held on the second and fourth main bearing extended bolts. If so then one way would be to drill four holes in the lower surface of the pan big enough to get a socket through to undo the four nuts. Should then be removable. Four 1" holes in the pan should be easily repairable by an ally welder so it wont write off the sump.

Bike carbs go easily on focus ST170 plastic manifold. They just need respacing.

1.8 zetec clutch and pressure plate is marginal at about 160bhp. Some slip, some don't. I had two slip on my blacktop. Drilling the 1.8 zetec fly for a 2.0 pinto pressure plate and using an organic disc (plus using the pinto release bearing CCT132) has easily taken 200bhp for the last 5 years on mine.

Looking again at the sump, you say sides are free but you can't get the front or back to move downwards. So I would guess that there is a compressive force, front to back holding it. Perhaps put a jack under the bellhousing to support some weight. Partially undo the ?6 'bellhousing to block' bolts. Slowly lower the jack a little. This should allow the lower part of the block to bellhousing joint to gape but shift compression to the upper part of that joint. That should release any compressive force holding the sump up (if there is one!). I know the sump on my ST170(posh zetec) has to be flush with the flywheel end of the block (bellhousing front face is the same plane) but I can't imagine what can be holding the front of the sump.

Sump is two piece. Ally bit that bolts to the block is five bolts each side. None hidden although the rearmost 2 bolts are up a tunnel in the ally upper sump. Steel lower part has 16 bolts and moulded on gasket. All visible.

There may be up to 6 sump to bellhousing bolts. 6 if using raceline sump to type 9. Don't know about MT75.

It all seems to point to inadequate electrical power. Not just to the fuel pump. Go through battery connections and battery to engine, battery to body earths cleaning all contacts. Check alternator output. Check battery condition and charge.

 

All kit cars and amateur built vehicles first used before August 1998

The significance of Aug 98 is simply the introduction of SVA. Prior to that date you built a car, MoT'd it and mostly kept the donors identity and registration. Plenty of sevens of that era were described in their log books as cortina or escort or jag.

In the '3.Special Notes' on the front of my V5C it says declared manufactured 1985.

In '4.Vehicle details' it says date of first registration 02.5.2000.

In exhaust emissions it's blank.

Make of it what you will. I suspect/hope my MoT garage will test it just the same as always.

Wow. So you are saying the latest MoT rules can change the category of a vehicles emissions. Mine passed SVA and was registered in 2000. There is no emission standard given in the V5C. It's been tested for 17 years to that standard.

If I presented it today for IVA it would be CO<=4.5%, HC<=1200 but if I present it for MoT it would be fast idle CO<=0.2, HC<=200, lambda 0.97 to 1.03, idle CO<=0.3. It doesn't have a lambda sensor. I sincerely doubt that it will be or is intended to be tested to 2000 standards or that there is any intention to change its emissions limits. If the new MoT regulations have done that I would be very surprised and a bit miffed!