Ok, I made some progress this past couple of weeks.


I finally got the oil tank and radiator mounted and not interfering with each other.


I also widened the inner fender to give the alternator a bit more room for adjustment.  The alternator bracket is "dropped", which is cool, but it makes fitting the thing a hassle.


Also, you can see there's not much room for the oil tank to clear the alternator pulley.  After lots of fiddling, it now does, with about a half inch to spare.  Now I don't have to cut on the tank...I didn't want to do that!


Here are a few pics to look over.

Looks nice.....

I've thought about having headers custom built here, but the idea of towing the unfinished car some distance and then going back weeks later to pick it up wasn't too appealing.

Paul, great project! I was in the same position with my pre-cossie twincam. Because of the super tight fit on the driver's side instead of passager side exhaust as you have, I HAD to go custom. I delivered the car and was told 2 1/2 weeks...4 months later, I got the car back. BUT, the guy did a fantastic job fitting equal tube headers where there was NO room. Your lucky you can go off the shelf. All and all, mine cost me about $800 plus a can of heat resistant silver paint.
 
71HANTO
 




 

Hanto,
 
Nice pipes!  Yeah, before I started doing my own welding, I took the Pinto to a friend's shop to do a few things.  Three YEARS later, I got it back home!  He did some great work, and the price was definitely right, but now that I'm welding I can do so much more.  If I don't like what I did, I can just redo it, no harm no foul, no hurt feelings, no wasted cash, and no settling for something that I didn't quite have in mind.
 
The headers are same story:  our first attempt didn't turn out so well.  There are pics somewhere of the headers bolted on the mocked-up engine, and although they are nice enough, the front pipe hits the alternator, and they are so close to the inner fender that I have to loosen the motor mount to fix them in.
 
The new ones are a better bet.  They fit the MkI/MkII Escorts, which have the same dimensions, frame rail to frame rail as the Pinto.  And you're right, the exhaust on the passenger side helps a lot.  My first choice was a BDA, which has exhaust on the driver side, and I'm sure it would have been a custom job as well.
 
I still have some concerns, but I think these will work with little to no mods.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.
 

Scott,
 
Different forum, but did you ever get my message about the alternator bracket?
 
Paul

Ok, Pinto'ers,


Here's an update on the Cosworth Pinto.


I got the radiator mounted for good today, as well as the oil cooler.  I had to remake the oil cooler upper left bracket because of a radiator change awhile back.  The cooler sits slightly off-center because the radiator was off center to begin with, and now it's a little more so.  I'm going to leave it that way and call it "art."


I made sure the oil tank was thoroughly clean and mounted it for good, as well.


Next is to clean out all the oil hoses and mount them up.  They've been sitting for so long I'm sure they need a bath.


Take a look at the two pics, one of the cooler and one of the carb plumbing.  The -3 hose on the firewall lip with a little yellow cap  is a bleeder hose for the internal clutch slave cylinder.  I have to get some anti-chafing sleeve so those hoses won't try to eat each other once the engine is running.


More soon...

Bigman,


The fuel lines are AN-6 (3/8 inch) from the pressure regulator to the carbs.  The fuel supply line from the cell is AN-8 (1/2 inch).


Give me a little more time to get the headers in the car before you make the trek across Texas.


The headers haven't shipped out of England yet. The guy said it'd be two weeks, and it's been a week already.  I sure hope they just fall in without any fuss.

Paul,

That is one of the cleanest engine compartments that I've seen.. ( I hope to get mine looking half as good as yours) I can't wait to see how your going to run the wiring.

Paul, very, very nice. I know that I have a road trip planned for my 72 early next Spring. So whe you here a swarm of angry hornets coming your way. Don't run it will be the YF and me coming to see that amazing Cossie.

Ranchero,


Me too!  The supplier says the outlet of the header is above the frame rail, just about even with the exhaust ports on the head.  Then the pipe that bolts to the collector follows the same path as  other headers do.  The advantage appears that no matter what kind of motor mount/starter/clutch (in right side drive England) you use, there's no interference.


My biggest worry is that the pipes may kick out a bit more and bump the inner fender shelf where the battery tray used to be.  I removed the tray (rust) many years ago, and am now kicking myself for rebuilding the shelf instead of just pointing the inner fender wall directly down to the frame.


In case you missed the pics, here are a few of the headers.  The first shows how snug they fit in an Escort.  One of the others shows an optional tailpipe extension that takes two bends follow the firewall and get horizontal under the car.  I got one of those, too, hoping I'd be able to use it.

Iread somewhere that the frame for the two cars are pretty much the same..( I may be wrong) Hopefully you wont have too much troubles.   

Quiet weekend.  Still waiting for the headers from England. But I did get into the brakes a little.  Installed the master cylinders and a little plumbing.


Kinda wish my hands were on backwards a couple of times!

Well, the headers are here and they're going to need a little work to fit.  I've already started measuring, cutting, and measuring again.  Now they bolt up to the engine, but I still need to put a little notch in the frame so they won't bump and rattle.  The inner fender step where the battery tray was is gone now.  I'll have to flatten it some and relieve the area around the header flange a little also.  This means the engine is coming out tomorrow so I can get to all the area I must cut and weld.  I worried that this might be the case and I've been prepared for it while still hoping nothing would need to be done.


If I'm lucky this won't take more than a long weekend to do.  Pics as soon as everything's presentable again.


Paul

OK, here's the latest:


I cupped out a little area that aligns with the spot where the header gets closest to the frame.  I also removed the step that was once the battery tray area, and am replacing it with a removable piece that allows me to fit the headers in over the studs.  It requires a lot more room than I thought it would, but now I can fit the headers and trim the piece to fit nicely underneath.


Also, with the engine out I went ahead and fitted the headers so I could check for clearance around the bell housing and all is well there.


Here are a couple of hastily shot pics.  Engine goes back in this week/next weekend.


Paul

Ranchero,
 
It's a Quaife-internals 4-speed Hummer, a.k.a. Rocket dogbox, with straight cut gears/no synchros.  2.04 low, close ratio, 1:1 top gear.  1st gear will feel like 2nd gear, but with a 4.11 or 4.86 (I'll try the 4.11 first), it should be fine.