My Essex V6 Transplant

[Leeday]

Today I decided to have a look at the adapter plate which will mount the MT75 gearbox to the back of the Essex V6 (adaptor plate courtesy of Tim - dieselhead123). The adapter plate was made to fit a car variant of the Essex V6 with Granada manifolds, my engine is from a mk3 Ambulance with Transit manifolds.
So first up remove the flywheel:





Bolt the plate onto the gearbox:





This modification to the gearbox to allow the starter motor to fit had already been done for me by Tim, so slotted starter motor in to check and it fits perfectly, next to look at exhaust clearance, so temporary aligned gearbox to back of engine:







Put exhaust pipes into place to check for clearance:



Due to different manifolds to the Granada manifolds Tim used to make the adapter plate, I have had to grind away a different part of the gearbox and some of the adapter plate:












However one problem I have is that 3 holes in the adapter plate that holds the plate to the engine using 1 countersunk bolt and 2 normal bolts are unuseable as my engine does not have the threaded holes in the block to use them, where as the donor engine Tim used to make the plate obviously did have the holes:







Plate still has 8 other bolts and 2 dowels holding it in place so I don`t think it will separate or twist with the Essex V6 torque and power doing 0 - 60mph in 3 seconds
So bolted the adapter plate onto the back of the engine:




Also M8 x 170mm bolt arrived today (to hold alternator to its mount) but its a part threaded bolt that is to long making the thread to short, so decided to make my own, got my M8 threaded rod, welded a nut to the top of it, ground it to a nice shape, cut it to the correct length, the 2 bushes I made to move the alternator forward on its mounts are M10, so with the M8 bolt through it allows the alternator to twist, so drilled the 2 (thick) bushes out and inserted 2 lengths of M8 steel tube, this then gives me a good thick bush that will fit tighton the M8 bolt and prevent the alternator twisting:

[Leeday]

Not a lot done today as went out for a meal, a drink and a nice chill out Sunday afternoon.
So in the morning cleaned up and fitted alternator spacers and home made bolt:

[robbie.cee]

Good job matey

[Leeday]

WEEK 2

Whilst climbing in and out of the engine bay I noticed that the chassis front leg, just in front the gearbox cross-member looked to have a ripple in it, thought it was a lump of under-seal, upon looking underneath I could see the chassis was "dented" as if someone had tried to jack the van up with a bottle jack direct on the chassis. Decided to remove all under-seal and investigate





OOOOHH chassis has a split in it .. I have had the van 5 years and never noticed it. So out with the grinder and cleaned up all of the offending area:
Sat the van on a trolley jack at the front drivers side corner, so all weight was on the jack, 2 heavy lump hammers, hitting both sides of chassis at same time and so re-flattening the bottom bulge and checking continuously that the chassis leg stays straight.
Welded the split:







Then welded plates either side of the chassis:







Then a nice coat of under-seal ... and as good as new

[Leeday]

De-rusted the mk5 MT75 Cross-member and gave it a nice coat of Black Hammerite:










And then FORD`s phoned and said "your shock absorbers have arrived from Germany" so dived in the car and went and got them:

[Leeday]

Anybody know what transit model these shorter shocks fit? as no good to me now so brand new pair will be up for sale:

[Leeday]

Decided to fit gearbox into van rather than lift the Essex and gearbox together.
Who said its a 2 man job what does that Haynes geezer know, 2 trolley jacks and a strap and a van well up in the air:



Jacks to lift it, strap to steady it:









Chuck the bell-housing onto the front cross-member and jack up the back, put gearbox cross-member in and job done:





One Man and his Van
My next problem is the mk3 prop from the auto-box is to short and the mk5 prop-shaft (to MT75 box) is the right length but has the centre bearing to far forward, so unless I can find a mk3 SWB prop that fits the MT75 box (as fitted to some mk3`s I will have to cut the front of the mk5 prop off, cut the front of my original mk3 prop off and weld the front mk5 bit to my original mk3 prop
Cutting both props -- Easy,
Welding both props : Easy,
Keeping the prop straight and aligned whilst welding - Hard,
Balancing the prop - Impossible with the equipment I have







Still, the van for the first time in its life has a manual gear-stick:

[bobdragon12]

[quoteMy next problem is the mk3 prop from the auto-box is to short and the mk5 prop-shaft (to MT75 box) is the right length but has the centre bearing to far forward, so unless I can find a mk3 SWB prop that fits the MT75 box (as fitted to some mk3`s I will have to cut the front of the mk5 prop off, cut the front of my original mk3 prop off and weld the front mk5 bit to my original mk3 prop ][/quote]

Looks like your having fun , silly question regarding the prop . Would it not be easier to weld a new centre bearing mount rather than messing with a prop that fits ?

[Leeday]

[quoteMy next problem is the mk3 prop from the auto-box is to short and the mk5 prop-shaft (to MT75 box) is the right length but has the centre bearing to far forward, so unless I can find a mk3 SWB prop that fits the MT75 box (as fitted to some mk3`s I will have to cut the front of the mk5 prop off, cut the front of my original mk3 prop off and weld the front mk5 bit to my original mk3 prop ]

Looks like your having fun , silly question regarding the prop . Would it not be easier to weld a new centre bearing mount rather than messing with a prop that fits ?[/quote]

Like this idea, and will considering this, but would need to weld a cross-member in as well, as where the centre bearing would need to be only has floor pan above it.

[Leeday]

[quoteMy next problem is the mk3 prop from the auto-box is to short and the mk5 prop-shaft (to MT75 box) is the right length but has the centre bearing to far forward, so unless I can find a mk3 SWB prop that fits the MT75 box (as fitted to some mk3`s I will have to cut the front of the mk5 prop off, cut the front of my original mk3 prop off and weld the front mk5 bit to my original mk3 prop ]

Looks like your having fun , silly question regarding the prop . Would it not be easier to weld a new centre bearing mount rather than messing with a prop that fits ?

Like this idea, and will considering this, but would need to weld a cross-member in as well, as where the centre bearing would need to be only has floor pan above it.[/quote]

Can anyone post a picture / photo of the underside of a mk5 2.5 diesel with MT75 gearbox, need a photo of the prop-shaft centre mount and beam its attached to, looks like on mine it will be close to the handbrake, want to see how it positions etc, if its do-able then that may be the answer to weld a new centre bearing mount / beam into mine from a mk5.

[Leeday]

Today fitted new suspension and components to passenger side:
New lower ball joint, new coil spring, new shock absorber and new track rod end:









Then the postman turned up with a package containing my 6 new flywheel bolts from Burton Power, so re-attached the flywheel and fitted clutch (this is a 2.0 Pinto clutch cover and new 2.8 capri pressure plate:

[Leeday]

Found a scrap yard today which had a mk4 2.5 diesel tipper transit in it (mwb I think) , so removed from it prop front bearing mount that bolts to chassis, throttle cable, power steering reservoir mount bracket, clutch pedal return spring and all that cost me ... £5.00 WOW loving that scrap yard:









And also went to a metal / fabricators who sold me a 3 foot x 2 foot sheet of 2mm steel for £10.00

So have decided to make my own prop centre bearing mount.
First bolted the MK5 diesel prop onto my van to see exactly where the centre bearing will sit (my original centre mount brackets for my prop can be seen just behind):





So firstly need a plate between the two beams to support everything (cut up some 2mm plate)





Try it for size, having to allow for the handbrake mount and mechanism:





Clamp and pack everything to keep it all from moving:





Now the mount I purchased from the scrapyard this morning needs to be modified as it is from a different vehicle, all I want is the 2 mounting points (where the centre bearing bolts to) and the base to be flat. As I will be cutting it down the cut line is higher than the centre point which means I will end up with two separate mounting points which is no good, so before cutting I need to weld a plate into the mount above the cut line:







Plate welded in, now time to cut the bracket down to the size I want:







So the bit I am left with now fits onto the plate I have cut and onto the props centre bearing:









So far so good, it has now got dark, so that`s it for today, tomorrow will weld bracket to plate, on the other side of the plate will be 1" square box welded to reinforce the plate and stop any twisting and then the plate welded onto the van, hopefully this will solve the prop-shaft problem.

[robbie.cee]

High 5 and a blue Peter badge that man. Proper job!

[jay]

least doing it with mk5 prop if in future you need anything it will be easy to find and fit and no need to cut anything..
Can see this being a thing for mk6 vans in the future as well

[dieselhead123]

least doing it with mk5 prop if in future you need anything it will be easy to find and fit and no need to cut anything..
Can see this being a thing for mk6 vans in the future as well

Essex in a Mk6

Now where did I put that CAD drawing

TIM