Rebirth of my COUGAR (WIP)

Finally went out and made a start tonight. Covers stripped away for access and rocker cover removed. No1 piston is sat at TDC but had to leave it at that. I'll be back out in the morning to check the current cam timing and then set in/ex valves at 110% ATDC and BTDC respectively.
 
Finally
Spent a couple of hours in the cave today fitting these verniers plus one hour looking for something to use as a extension probe for the dial guage. I ended up cutting the elbow off a 3/32 long reach allen key :cool:
Continuing on from last night when i removed the ancillary bits and bobs to get access to the pulleys etc. First job i decided to check the existing timing setup and found something interesting. TDC checked and fixed on the angle guage at the crankshaft, i checked full lift on the inlet cam at No1 cylinder and found full lift was occurring at 112% ATDC, ideal setting is 110%ATDC. Next was the exhaust cam, This is set at 110% BTDC, as i don't have a reverse angle guage i set this figure at 360% - 110% which is 250%. I found full lift occurring at an unbeleivable 117%BTDC o_O

TDC - Top Dead Centre
ATDC - After Top Dead Centre
BTDC - Before Top Dead Centre

Some piccies, i know piccies is what you want :)

Top belt Cover removed. and engine mount and cam cover removed:

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Crankshaft set #1 piston at TDC, confirmed with the dial guage (thanks Rikedwards):
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TDC proved, now check for full lift on the valves at #1 cyl.
FUll lift (intake) initial finding, as you can see, full lift is 2% advanced.
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Exhaust initial findings:
12% advanced . Guage reads 238% ATDC /117% BTDC.
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Ok, i have references, so next move is to remove the oem cam pulleys:
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Note: no locating dowel holes for the camshafts.
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On with the vernier pulleys, you can see that the Newman cams do have a locating peg/dowel hole in the end. I had no reference to drill the verniers to match this hole, so i trusted to the oem type fitting procedure. :eek:
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Pulleys fitted loosely prior to fine tuning. I set the pulleys with the timing marks opposite to full lift position of the cams, this way the marks will be at the top of the pulley for easier adjustment.
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Everything back together, camshaft pulley bolts torqued at 70nm and allen key adjustment bolts torqued, TIGHT! :LOL:
...and finally a short vidclip. :cool: I'll get a clearer clip tomorrow in daylight.


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Nice work Al.....definitely the most sorted Zetec out there (y)

What's the screaming noise when you rev it (or is that the point of the pulleys?) :eek:
 
Thanks for the comments guys. Add, the cam "dialing" sets the valve timing about as close as you can get it to perfect, minus a rolling road finish. The figures i got initially show advanced valve timing ie: the inlet valve was opening 2% earlier than it ideally should have been doing and the exhaust valve was opening 12% before it should have been doing, which is Grand Canyon in these tolerences. From these figures, if i am correct, the fuel/air mixture was going into the combustion chambers fractionally earlier than ideal, and since the ex valve was way too far advanced, full compression was in affect 14% away. Believe me, cranking the engine by hand now is hard work.
Road test tomorrow :)
 
Nice work Al.....definitely the most sorted Zetec out there (y)

What's the screaming noise when you rev it (or is that the point of the pulleys?) :eek:

Strange the sounds a condensing mice picks up. That noise is inaudible to the ear John, but it's actually the noise of the cambelt wizzing round. If i heard that noise by ear i would assume the cambelt tensioner was too tight. The loudest noise i could hear standing in the cave was the exhaust note, very nice :)
 
Cheers Rik, i'll let you know later, i'm off for a drive soon :)

Well i'm back (y):):):).
Tickover is not quite as smooth as before, but performance is noticably better (on the private road) :) I really would like to get this dyno'd again now and fine tuned on the rollers. I'll have to speak to Sean at Racebits methinks.

Very interesting this. And should tie in well with the rest of the blueprinting work already done.

Thanks Manos, worth putting the Bolton Mafias work in HERE
Btw, my old engine is the one that's now for sale out of jj's Tango :cool: