mk1 non bullnose diesel conversion,...if it works!!

[oldskooler]

any updates on this?

its a familar story this, sat in the bodyshop for ages waiting to be painted but has been recently finished. so im thinking ill have it back soon to get stuck into the conversion.

[oldskooler]

just started back at this one, pics to follow once i figure out why i cant post pics on this thread for some reason. ill have a go again later on.

[marian212]

Hallo !

Great project, no visible external changes !
I will do same in my Transit soon - did You tried to put 1,8 TD Ford "Kent" engine (Escort Mk2, Mondeo MK1,MK2 ? Intercolled version has 90 HP and very nice torque. If You did not consider this engine - could You please let me know the lenght of the Isuzu engine that You going to put ?

Thanks
212

[oldskooler]

time for a long overdue update on this one. its actually finished ages ago but i havent been able to post pics on here for the last year or so for some reason. anyway it seems all is good now so heres my account of the project.


some of you may remember me playing with the idea a couple of years back of converting a mates mk1 van using an izuzu 1.7td engine while keeping flat front and not touching the bulkhead. well after the project being on ice for some time now due to lack of time ive just made a start back into it again. i done a similar conversion on my mk2 escort van a couple of years back using one of these engines and although it was a difficult conversion it has worked out an awesome job with great power and mpg. what drew me to these engines originally was theyre unreal reliability and the fact theyre a good 2 inches shorter than a pinto.
i done a trial fit into a scrap mk1 cab i have a couple of yrs back and it was looking possible. but as with any of these projects i discovered a couple of possible difficulties........



anyway, heres the latest!!





well im figuring you all thought this one has gone off the radar at this stage, lol!! but ive finally got round to taking her in to have a proper go!!

i have been anxious to check it out for the last while as i only realised a few weeks back that this van being the early one has the shallower bulkhead than the later ones, so the trial i did on the later scrap cab before didnt count for as much as i thought.


got her in ready for sugery.





and promptly got the v4 and box out.








this is a real sweet old van in really good order so im going to approach this conversion in a way that it could be reversed down the road and put back to original if needs be so no severe chopping or cutting etc. although i have to agree with my mate who owns the van in saying if it works out as well as my escort van did, it ill have this engine forever more!

so rather than removing or bending the original gearbox hanger out of the way i just dangled the engine alone in the bay for a gander.



pretty tight fit.







not much to spare round the turbo but i reckon id just get an intake elbow on.







r/h side dont look bad at all.







i reckon to free up a bit of room ill cut down the inlet manifold and air intake assembly same as i did on the escort van and run the air filter somewhere else.

















will be tight enough for a rad to fit but id imagine flat front pinto conversions would be as tight as this??? comments welcome??

if i used a pretty wide rad i could offset a slimline fan to one side id say.














it looks pretty sweet in there if i could get it all to work.








still a lot of bits to figure out before goin ahead full steam!!
next job is to get the box bolted on, bend out the original hanger tabs for the moment for clearance, and check is the the gearstick location too far forward in this van with the shallower bulkhead sending the engine further forward. it was working out fine with the later bulkhead.

[oldskooler]

bit more progress.

i made up a blanking plate for the back of the head where the original thermostat housing lived.







and ill be cutting back this tapered down fitting on the side of the head for this bit of 30mm alloy tube to be welded on to take the "new" top hose. ill run an in line thermostat from a range rover to keep the heater decent. works fine on my mk2 van anyway.





i drilled and tapped the blanking plate to take a fitting for the turbo cooling hose and the temp gauge sender as they lived in the original thermo housing.





ill get the engine sitting an half inch further back by cutting and shutting the heater return steel pipe a little too.







even so i still needed to get the gear lever back another half inch to be dead central in the hole to take the original rubber and look spot on. so the solution was found by spacing the box back from the vaux/ford bellhousing which will be done with this bit of scrap alloy plate. ill have to drop it to a machine shop to get it cnc milled to fit spot on so everything ill be in line. for the moment i used 4 large nuts to space the box back for mocking up.





i also checked inside the bellhousing after spacing that the splines ill still catch the ford disc when fitted and it should be fine.






so after this bit of messing i craned all back in place and the gearlever was spot on centre with mms to spare from the bulkhead, result!!!





very little to spare between the fitting at the back of the head and bulkhead but just enough. i may give the mint bulkhead a wee subtle bang of a rubber mallet to gain a couple more mm but only if i need to,.lol!!





next i started on making engine mounts. rather than hogging the lump in and out i pulled in a scrap block i had sitting so i could make up plates on the floor for that.

r/h plate on with piece cut out to clear starter as i learned before!!






and l/h plate fitted on van.







from my experience doing my mk2 escort van before with vibration at tickover etc i ended up using nissan silvia s14 mounts which worked very well. very strong mounts but allow a nice bit of movement too. the layered plate design seem to help bigtime getting rid of vibration.

so i got my hands on another pair for this project.







i dont want to weld anything to the chassis legs so ill be using strong plate sections bolted up to the original v4 crossmember mounting holes. i may run a brace across under the engine tying the two plates together afterwards if i feel it necessary.


bits for the l/h mount cut out and tacked up. will need to be braced up for strength when i take it back out for welding fully.






thats as far as ive got for the moment but all is lookin good so far!!

[oldskooler]

i just spaced the box back from the vauxhall to type 9 bellhousing im using with 4 large nuts where it bolts on for the moment so i can crack on with making engine mounts etc. im going to get a proper spacer plate made to go between the box and bellhousing.

heres a pic.






it left the gearlever position spot on.

[oldskooler]

latest report, engine mounts now done.



















always nice to see an engine hanging without the crane!!!!





i left the front panel on to some more sussing for a rad.








ive this rad sitting around from another project and i think it should do the job. it needs re coring and the pipes ill need moving around but i reckon it ill squeeze in nicely.







and i should just about squeeze a slimline fan in front of it behind the grille if i tilt it back on top a little. will be nicer to have the rad in the middle rather to one side to try and get a fan on the back of the rad.







and still looking good at the back of the head. looks like there ill be no rubber mallet touching that lovely bulkhead after all!!!







next job is crack on with a gearbox crossmember.

[oldskooler]

rest of the thread to follow soon!!

[BigMonty]

[oldskooler]

wee bit of progress on this one. got the gearbox crossmember done and been having a go at sussing out the clutch setup.




i used a heavy duty type escort mounting and made up a cradle to pick it up and bolt to the drop brackets for the spring hangers.



















spigot bearing fitted, clever izuzu boys leave crank hole just right to take 32/15mm standard bearing!!! happy days.







the disc size on these engines is just 200mm, not huge by any means. for my escort van i just used a 190mm 23 spline 4 spd sierra disc as used when fitting a type 9 to a crossflow. so far its been fine but id like to use something a bit beefier for the transit if possible. for the moment to set up everything i just cut the centre out of an old scrap xflow disc i had lying around.









had to file a wee bit out of the vauxhall to ford bellhousing to let the t9 fork back fully.






all good.











this old girl is the early model with the pendant pedals coming up through the floor and originally ran a mechanical rod linkage to operate the v4 clutch rather than a cable on the models that followed. i wanted to stick with the plan of keeping everything bolt on rather than cutting and welding original parts.





i thought about going with a similar rod linkage setup but decided against it worried that it may vibrate and rattle on idle etc.

so instead i went for a cable setup using a new cortina cable i had lying around. first i made an add on bracket for the pedal to hook onto the cable end.











still have to make a (adjustable) bracket to mount the cable off. it will mount off the bolts on the r/h engine mount plate. i had this old rose joint which ill use as a holder for the cable which should allow it to self align when the clutch is pressed!!












still plenty to do but gettin there!!!

[oldskooler]

its been a while since ive updated but ive been doin a bit!!

ive basically been mocking up and making all the bits with the engine and box in place. once all this is done the engine and box ill be removed and cleaned up etc ready for final fitting hopefully.


few pics.



i got the clutch setup finished when i got the piece of flat steel back with a nice slot put in it for adjustment.








it seems to be working fine with a nice soft pedal. may have to fit a stop to the pedal to prevent overtravel on the pressure plate. gonna leave this till shes running.














also got the throttle setup sorted. i wanted to keep the original pedal inside rather than modding the bulkhead for the later type hanging pedal.







i got away with keeping the v4 cable after a bit of modding for stroke etc.








next i moved over to the exhaust side starting with the turbo manifold setup. i had to cut and shut a steel coolant pipe to gain bulkhead clearance for a start.










with the manifold left back on it can be seen that the boost outlet originally faces down on these engines. so i used a trick that worked well on the escort before and spun the compressor housing around 180 degrees to save on complicated pipework and give a more natural run for the boost pipe to the inlet manifold.










now facing in a better direction!







next it was time to make up an exhaust system. i kept the bore the same size if not bigger than the cavalier system and coupled up to the back half of the v4 system which was in good nick and almost the same bore so it should be ok.



started from the manifold back and fitted a new flexi joint before starting making the front section. i had to keep the front pipe well up in line with the bottom of the bellhousing out of the firing line of the axle as it hits the bump stops.







normally with this light engine there wouldnt be a chance of the van hitting the bump stops,.....but as she ill be running on pretty deep banded steels i think it may be rude not to give the springs a nice healthy press!!!!!



ready to rock!!












i used a cavalier flange type joint on the front pipe for easy dismantling.







fitted a mk2 tranny centre box i had in stock and all was done.












next job was to sort an alternator. i wanted to avoid using the izuzu one as its a jap 4 wire job with separate charging relay etc so the plan was to stick with good old henry for simplicity!! i still needed a vacumn pump to operate the remote servo the van is fitted with so ended up going for a mk4 transit one i had sittin on a scrapper in the yard.


for a start i had to spin the housing to convert it from right to left hand mounting and as it had a ribbed pulley i got an old izuzu pulley to fit with a bit of spacing and messing.












i knew to get it fo fit id have to mount it well away from the engine for clearance from the bottom coolant hose and the extended oil feed and return for the vacumn pump. it might look a bit mad but theres loads of room in that area so why not if it works ok. it will be easy to access with the front panel on the van anyway!!










i made up an extension bracket coming off the original alternator mounting bracket. looks a bit agri but should do the job grand!!







still have to make up an adjuster bar when i get a slightly shorter belt.








the vacum pipe is working out grand. will have to get a oil feed hose made up with an izuzu fitting on one end and a tranny one on the other and all should be good.








thats all the progress for now. next job is to start hacking up the inlet manifold!!

[oldskooler]

latest news!!


got alternator setup finished. even managed to retain the original izuzu oil feed pipe to work with a bit of messing.







also cut down the inlet manifold to fit a bit better and make room for the top hose to pass around it.








i made up a blanking plate which ill be alloy welded on to where the original boost pipe went to. there wouldnt have been room for it to go there.







it would have been tempting to just get the new inlet welded down onto the threaded section on top where the over boost valve screws into and run a pipe across the cam cover to the turbo but i figured it would be tidier to put the fitting at the front and make up a pipe to run around the cam cover instead.









just about enough room to clear the rad when its fitted but should be fine and will look better.







originally a heater hose outlet, my new top hose take off which needs to be cut back for the 30mm alloy pipe to be welded onto.








and room for it to pass now that the manifold is cut down to clear it.









so with the alloy bits away for welding i turned attention to the clutch setup. as i said before the std gm izuzu flywheel only takes a 200mm disc which seems fine in the escort van but for the tranny i wanted to go with something a bit more heavy duty as it may tow the odd escort on a trailer or whatever and the van itself is a lot heavier than an car.

so after a lot of online research i discovered that mid 90,s mazda 323,s which were also fitted with these engines run a 225mm clutch setup even though the splines in the disc are different. so again good old google told me that a mitsubishi l200 4x4 jeep runs a 225mm disc but with a 23 spline centre same as a type 9, result!!

so after sourcing a flywheel and pressure plate from a mazda i set about sizing it up to see if it will work.





the flywheel is more or less the same diameter but the pressure plate bolts to the outside of it rather than inside it like the gm one.








i knew this would be a problem when it came to bellhousing clearance as its a nice bit taller with the pressure plate on.








the gm setup doesent have much room to spare in the bellhousing as it is.







the ford release bearing should work fine with the mazda pressure plate so i decided to on with the rest.







mitsubishi disc sits and clears fine.







ring gears are different but can be swapped over so the starter is sorted.







so by my calculations, if 9mm is machined off the faces where the disc and pressure plate sits the assembly should just about clear the bellhousing. the mazda flywheel is a lot heavier than the gm one as its so much deeper. im figuring it should weigh bout the same when its machined back. ive it left to the machine shop to be done and hope it ill work out ok and be worth the effort!!










i also got the rad mocked up, marked up the positions for the pipes and fan sender and ive it away to be recored and modded.


as i was checking the rear diff ratio and brakes i just had to offer up one of the banded steels for a look. i reckon theyre gonna look well sweet when theyre shod and the van is sitting nice and low on them!!















thats all for now, more updates soon .

[oldskooler]

latest update, nice bit done since the last post, got the lump and box out for final fit up and clean before final fitting.

got the bigger flywheel and clutch to fit (just about!!) had it running tempory with jumpleads etc and all seems ok.


few pics.......


got the flywheel and gearbox spacer plate back from the machine shop, and also got the inlet manifold and hose outlet back from alloy welding, and got em fitted when i had the engine and box out.
















i was still a bit tight for bellhousing clearance from the flywheel/clutch cover. i was figuring there would still be a wee bit in it but didnt want to take any more than the safe 9mm off the flywheel. so i got away with taking a wee touch out of the bellhousing. i marked what needed to be removed by spinning the engine over on the floor with the starter and leads while the housing was nipped up against the flywheel. worked out grand.










subtle touch of the grinder, lol!!








everything assembled up ready to back in.








this originally ran a drum brake setup up front so the plan is to fit a single wheel mk2 disc brake axle setup. the mk1 brake fittings are imperial thread where as the mk2 setup is metric. so before refitting the engine i made up pipes to run out to the front hoses with mk2 fittings on the ends.






back in place and started to fit up all the bits.













fuel system sorted.









next i made a start on plumbing up the cooling system, i got my modded rad back with outlets fitted at slight angles to suit the hoses etc. i knew it was going to be tight to get the rad and slimline fan in there but had calculated that they id just go! i gained an extra bit of room by getting the outer unused rib of the crank pulley machined off to gain a few mm.




made up rad brackets.












started with the back heater hoses, very tight but i had to leave it that tight back there to make everything go up front.






like the escort van i used a range rover remote thermostat setup to feed back through the heater rad. it took a good bit of scavanging to find the right shape hoses to work nicely!!






rad and fan mounted using struts i made up that attach to the lower crossmember and front panel. it makes it really easy with the removable front panel.







front panel to fan clearance is bare minimun but just enough!!











also got tyres fitted on the banded steels and must say they look the bizz, im getting keen to get her sittin on them for a look!













next job is to tackle the engine bay wiring.

[transitandy]

[Luke]

8)

wot he said

and those wheels are perfect