My Essex V6 Transplant

[RustWidow]

My old van happily hit 100 with the essex in
Even the pinto did, but the essex got there loads faster hehe
On a private road of course ahem

Well of course you wouldn't do that on public roads

[Leeday]

My old van happily hit 100 with the essex in
Even the pinto did, but the essex got there loads faster hehe
On a private road of course ahem

I`ve not up-rated my brakes yet, still got old, un-bleedable pinto brakes, fitted new master cylinder 8 months ago, but could not bleed front callipers - no fluid would come out of them even with the bleed nipple removed but they work , but with the weight and speed of the Essex I might get from 0 - 100mph quite quickly but 100 - 0mph might need a couple miles of road and a parachute

[robbie.cee]

My old van happily hit 100 with the essex in
Even the pinto did, but the essex got there loads faster hehe
On a private road of course ahem

I`ve not up-rated my brakes yet, still got old, un-bleedable pinto brakes, fitted new master cylinder 8 months ago, but could not bleed front callipers - no fluid would come out of them even with the bleed nipple removed but they work , but with the weight and speed of the Essex I might get from 0 - 100mph quite quickly but 100 - 0mph might need a couple miles of road and a parachute

dont be fooled into thinking any brakes will stop you now mate, nearly took mvm out on way to weald last year, was coming off a127, up the slip , braked, nothing!
you HAVE to use the gears now to help you stop. its simply there is so much torque, the essex just says to the brakes "bollocks, im still gonna spin" to the point that you cant actually stop a speeding essex and van unless you starve it of gas for about half a mile heheheh
seriously tho you need to change driving style to match, especially stopping due to weight n torque

ps what timing gear do you have, nylon or steel teeth?

[limitedblack]

Just use the clutch? Engine won't do anything with that pushed in

[robbie.cee]

true but engine braking means your not relying solely on front wheels to stop you then!

[conrod]

dont be fooled into thinking any brakes will stop you now mate, nearly took mvm out on way to weald last year, was coming off a127, up the slip , braked, nothing!
you HAVE to use the gears now to help you stop. its simply there is so much torque, the essex just says to the brakes "bollocks, im still gonna spin" to the point that you cant actually stop a speeding essex and van unless you starve it of gas for about half a mile heheheh
seriously tho you need to change driving style to match, especially stopping due to weight n torque

ps what timing gear do you have, nylon or steel teeth?

sounds like you have a problem with your van, maybe if your throttle is not closing properly, or your brake booster is not connected or functioning correctly, otherwise engine braking should be as normal for any petrol engine. Weight of the Essex is similar to the diesel engine, and about 40kgs more than a Pinto, so shouldn't present any problems there either.

[robbie.cee]

Foot off gas, throttle shut mabey brakes were just crap but sure felt heavier n nose down more once the essex went in!

[Leeday]

Van has been running well until Monday when the noisy starter motor failed completely, so as usual no one on the island could supply one so found a refurbished one from a company near where I used to live in Daventry, purchased and sent via 24 hour courier



old one top of picture, new one below.. fitted new one and all is well again ... and quitter starting

Today fitted the new electronic kit I purchased:



Condensor out, points out, new bits in .... turned the key ... no start slackened off distributor, turned it about a few times and van started, connected my strobe light, set timing to 10 degrees BTDC, van running sweet again, played with idling screws on carb, got tickover down to 900 rpm and engine ticks over with next to no vibration revs smoothly

Next job is to fit the correct prop-shaft which has the centre bearing in the correct place to bolt to the van`s original centre mount cradle BIG thanks to MinorMatt for supplying this correct prop-shaft for free and for meeting me on my way home from Northants:



Had the rear tailgate strut top mounting pin / ball shear off, so tailgate is suddenly heavy, so big thanks to hitman for supplying me with 2 replacements for free and posting them to me:



More things to do on the van, so will be updating this thread as I complete the jobs

[Leeday]

Latest news ----

My new starter motor has started to get noisy during starting over the past few days
Today the van would not start, starter motor is just spinning but engine is not turning over

So, out with my spanners and removed the starter motor, took some measurements to check engagement of starter motor cog and ring gear, the cog moves out and fully engages with the ring gear in its forward and back movement, so measured starter cog to edge of mounting hole and ring gear to mounting hole and the starter cog is missing the ring gear.... looked closer at the flywheel ring gear and noticed it is badly worn







So it looks like gearbox out, clutch off, flywheel off, purchase a new lightened flywheel ( New Genuine Lightweight Flywheel/Ringear Ford Essex V6 Free UK delivery (conditions apply) Price: £139.99 ) .. fit new flywheel, re-fit clutch, re-fit gearbox, re-fit new starter and hopefully up and running again.
Awaiting total price with courier charge to the Isle of Wight and can then order it, await its arrival then start the removal / re-fit process.

[conrod]

EDIT: I don't think the ring gear is your problem. A bit of rust, but not badly worn, the teeth are all still there.Looks like maybe the tops knocked off, but should still work.

I reckon the starter is not in the correct position.

Get one of the original thin steel sandwich plates for an Essex V6 and overlay over your gearbox adaptor:





Looking at your pics again, I don't think the starter pinion is meshing full depth, rather it is running on the very top of the teeth and has knocked them off.

Conrad

[Leeday]

Hey Conrad,

Thanks for the input, didn`t even give it a thought the hole in the adaptor plate maybe out of place, does make sense as where the starter motor cog teeth end is exactly at the point where the heads of the ring gear are, so as you say its not engaging into the full depth of the ring gear, this would probably account for the noisy starting of the engine as well. this also poses another problem in the fact its a 10mm adaptor plate that has been laser cut and is impossible to get to or work on with the engine / gearbox in situ, so may have to remove gearbox and somehow modify the adaptor plate.

[conrod]

If the starter is in the wrong position, it would have been very noisy from day one, sort of a loud growling noise as you crank it over. If that is the case, the only way to remedy is to remove the adaptor plate, grind the inside edge of the opening, and reposition the holes for the bolts (or slot the starter end bracket holes) to allow the starter to move closer in mesh. Needs a bit more of a closer look IMO before you go throwing any money at it

Conrad

[dieselhead123]

Hello Lee, is the tooth damage all the way around the ring gear? The ring gear teeth do appear to be 'missing' the tops of the teeth

I will pop out the the workshop later and take a pic of another flywheel and post it up so the teeth shape can be compared but the teeth on yours do seem to be damaged.

TIM

[Leeday]

If the starter is in the wrong position, it would have been very noisy from day one, sort of a loud growling noise as you crank it over. If that is the case, the only way to remedy is to remove the adaptor plate, grind the inside edge of the opening, and reposition the holes for the bolts (or slot the starter end bracket holes) to allow the starter to move closer in mesh. Needs a bit more of a closer look IMO before you go throwing any money at it

Conrad

Hi,

Starter motor has definitely been noisy from day one and killed the one that came with it, bought a new one for £130 and now that one has damaged teeth on the cog.
Took measurements of everything and can be seen in drawing below, starter has never meshed fully (depth wise) with the ring gear:

[Leeday]

Hello Lee, is the tooth damage all the way around the ring gear? The ring gear teeth do appear to be 'missing' the tops of the teeth

I will pop out the the workshop later and take a pic of another flywheel and post it up so the teeth shape can be compared but the teeth on yours do seem to be damaged.

TIM

Hi Tim,

Can you also measure diameter across flywheel (edge to edge) and across ring gear (tooth edge to tooth edge).
I am now guessing one of two things, if you measured for the starter motor hole to be cut to allow for the starter motor cog to fully engage with the ring gear then my flywheel is smaller in diameter than the one you used as a template (by approx. 20mm) or the hole in this template is in wrong place.

I will have to remove gearbox whatever happens so I can measure my flywheel. I know that the ring gear was not this badly damaged when I installed the engine so this has happened since installation.

Cheers.