DOHC Daily Driver.

Hi, it has been a long time since I posted about any progress on my project, too long to be honest! I have been so busy with work and a dose of pneumonia hasn't helped either, not to mention that my other hobby of stationary engines has been taking up a fair bit of my spare time.
Some significant progress has been made though. Under the bonnet is near enough complete, save for the odd minor detail. I have driven it locally and generally I am very pleased with the installation. Although it is smooth, quieter and has better low speed torque delivery the initial test run highlighted an issue that needs addressing. The car does feel more "pokey" than it was before but not by as much as I was expecting. I have owned DOHC engines before in their correct homes under the bonnets of Sierras so I know how they should perform. Despite it running perfectly, the engine in the Rover just isn't performing as it should and is down on power. After much thought (and Bacardi) it dawned on me that I may not be achieving full throttle............A quick check with my mate holding the pedal on the floor confirmed that I was actually only getting 1/3 opening. Somehow I got my calculations wrong when I made the cable conversion and the system is too low geared, I need to up the pedal ratio to increase the travel. Fortunately, I got my sums right when calculating the ratio of the clutch, that works beautifully with a smooth bite at mid travel :D
Other than that I have made some progress, the PCM is now mounted inside the glove box..
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I have made some plates to retain the bulkhead grommet as it would have surely pulled out every time the glove box was opened.
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This is how it now looks under the bonnet.
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Another issue that quickly reared its ugly head was gear lever to hand brake lever clash. The Ford lever is canted backwards whereas the Rovers is straight, today I pulled the lever back out so that I can modify it. It will be tricky as the bottom section is plastic so I will have to be careful as to how much heat is used!

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I have also got to make this.......
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Fit this....
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The sierra cable is a little bit too long as well..........

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The speedo cable will be interesting as the gearbox and speedometer end require different sized drives, not to mention the odd fitments and lenghts. I am hoping (somewhat optimistically) to get all this done in time for the Battlesbridge show next weekend! :shock:

Dan
 
I can thoroughly recommend the Dakota Digital solution, not cheap, but definitely effective. I'd also recommend using their sender kit if you were going to go down that route - I tried using a different sender with mine and couldn't get it to work properly.
 
Hi, thanks for that, the electronic route may be the way to go but I will try to see what can be done with a mechanical cable first.
I have now modified the gear stick so that it no longer clashes with the handbrake lever, I simply cut, bent and welded it so overall it is much straighter now.
Back to the speedo cable, the Ford item would be awkward to use as the rotating core is of a smaller diameter than the original, fortunately for me I have a Smiths cable left over from when I modified my Morris minor, this is of perfect length to reach from the gearbox to the speedo head. As the cable connection is on the RH side of the transmission I am bringing the cable up into the car through an unused grommet on the drivers side of the tunnel, this grommet is in the perfect position to allow the cable to be discreetly routed up under the dashboard. :D To make the Morris cable compatible with the Ford gearbox I will be cutting off and fitting the ferrule from the Ford cable, the Morris inner cable is slightly too large for the gearbox but this will hopfully easily reworked to the correct size with a file. I will post some pictures up tomorrow.

Dan
 
I have now got the speedo working using the modified Morris Minor cable. The job went far better than I was expecting.
First job was to reduce the size of the cable to suit the drive in the gearbox.
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The cable could then be attatched to the box and routed up through the tunnel into the car, the grommet was drilled and fitted before the Ford cable end was fitted. The end was secured with one of those clamps that looks like a mini exhaust clamp, I was careful not to over tighten it and cause the cable to nip up.
Apologies for the poor photography, access was somewhat limited under the car.....
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Before refitting the gearbox support, I tested the operation..............Success! :D :D :D

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To ensure smooth routing, I relieved one of the spacers fitted to the gearbox support.

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Time and a road test will tell how accurate it is but at least it works! The rovers and Sierras axle ratios were very close so hopfully it will be somewhere in the correct ball park.
I have just got to refit the centre console and instrument cluster along with modifications to the throttle cable levers to allow me to attain full throttle, so far this is turning out to be a bit of an @rsehole to sort!

Dan
 
Quagmire said:
Like this a lot! The Ford lump really looks at home in there :D Keep up the good work
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Thanks mate. I agree that the engine does look "right", despite the fact it is a Ford unit, I have tried to do this installation in such a way that servicing and repairs will be easy, that said, I do not know if the gearbox would come out on its own if ever the clutch needs attention............hopfully it will be a very long time before I find out!!!! :mrgreen:

Today I took the Rover out for its first proper high speed test, I have fitted a longer arm to the throttle lever that now gives me a much wider opening of the throttle. I am still just short of achieving WOT but I have one more trick up my sleeve that involves a simple modification to the cam on the housing. Overall the test drive was a resounding success and I am very pleased with how this car now performs. It goes very well indeed with great low down torque, much better acceleration, quieter running, it is smoother and MUCH more relaxed at high speed due to the fifth gear. The difference in the NVH is amazing, not least because the gear lever tizz at 65-70 mph is now gone :D The engine can't really be heard at these speeds, even reverse is quieter as it is synchronized. Of course, there has to be at least one fly in the ointment and my fly is the speedo accuracy, it reads just under 50% slow which is really frustrating as I was hoping that the closeness in the respective vehicles axle ratios would mean that it would have run somewhere much closer. I don't know if it is a coincidence but the KMH graduations on the speedo are now much closer to the actual speed, the engine and box came out of a French car with a KMH speedo. I need to ascertain if Ford fitted different speedo drive gears for the metric cars, I really hope so!! If not I will have the speedo head recalibrated by Speedy cables. Incidentally, the home made Frankingcable works really well and the needle is rock steady!
All in all I am really pleased with the conversion and I am glad that I have done it. The daily commute will allow me to gauge the economy Vs the original engine, I am confident that it will be better as it has fuel injection and is a more modern design.........................that said, my "modern" engine is its self 27 years old!

Dan
 
Very nice job! I wouldn't put a Ford engine in a Rover but like your flexibility in solving hick ups in a very practical way and your general high quality engineering and fabrication. Hads off!!
I did an MGB V8 conversion but for this conversion lots of items can be bought and lots of people gone that route already so you can find lots of info and solutions on the internet.
For your project, you had to find out everything yourself.

Peter
 
roverp5Bcoupe said:
Very nice job! I wouldn't put a Ford engine in a Rover but like your flexibility in solving hick ups in a very practical way and your general high quality engineering and fabrication. Hads off!!
I did an MGB V8 conversion but for this conversion lots of items can be bought and lots of people gone that route already so you can find lots of info and solutions on the internet.
For your project, you had to find out everything yourself.

Peter
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Thanks a lot mate!!

Dan
 
Big day today, I took the Rover for its MoT and got my first proper look at my work from the underside, I am always keen to get a proper view from a decent angle, rather than from on my back!
Up she goes..
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I am very pleased with the way it has all gone together and I am pleased that I didn't spot anything that I was unhappy with :D

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The MoT tester was very complimentary about the installation and how well it all fitted in which was nice. The rest of the car did me proud as it passed, this is good as basically I have not touched anything other than what you have seen here for over a year (Except for a new washer bottle and pump) He did point out that my rear pads are getting low so I have those to do.........really can't complain though as other than bleeding them out and giving them a check over when I first put it on the road I have done nothing to the rear brakes at all.
The car will now be put through its paces next week on my daily commute.

Dan
 
Glad it sailed through the Mot!
Your underside shots make clear what a tidy job you have done, especially with the bits that often get less attention.
Things like - exhaust alignment with no doglegs - the way the Mini rad fills all the available space - the speedo cable routing - all look prime.

Nice work

John
 
Nice job! I'm glad that it's sailed through and is all working well, I'm always impressed by someone who can do this kind of conversion with limited facilities.
 
dont forget to sell the original engine and box on - they're in short supply so somebody will probably snap them up.
 
Well, what can I say! I am so pleased with the nice comments, Thanks a lot! The original engine and gearbox were sold on eBay about a month ago, the guy who bought them was ironically going to put them in an identical car to mine, it was even the same colour!! They have definitely gone to a good home which is good as to have scrapped them would have been a travesty!

Dan
 
good to seem mate, could be interesting to do a comparison against my 2200TC but I can already see that yours is going to be more refined; looking forward to a go in it anyway! Good looking installation as per previous comments. Nice to see someone using everyday (Until the gritting lorries come out to play)
 
adrdyebawtru said:
good to seem mate, could be interesting to do a comparison against my 2200TC but I can already see that yours is going to be more refined; looking forward to a go in it anyway! Good looking installation as per previous comments. Nice to see someone using everyday (Until the gritting lorries come out to play)
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Thanks mate, I am on lates next week so you are welcome to have a look (and a drive) some time if you like.

Dan
 
Well, the Rover has now successfully dealt with my weekly commute :D
On the first couple of days I didn't really push it too hard until I was more confident in the installation. One aspect that was of concern was that the swirl pot would remain full at higher speeds as it is gravity fed and not pumped. I did allow for the possible fitment of a low pressure transfer pump when I chose the pump feed wire size but so far there has been no evidence of an extra pump being needed. High speeds are no problem at all and the engine shows absolutely no sign of leaning out whatsoever.
Talking of high speed running, the extra gear is fantastic and transforms the car on the dual carriageway, it will happily lope along at around 35-40 mph in top which is nice, and good for the economy too! Talking of which, the economy seems to be a lot better than before although currently I am unable to measure it accurately due to the low reading speedometer. I only put in £25 of fuel from empty on Sunday morning, fully expecting to have to top up by Thursday but it is still just out of the bottom segment on the gauge :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
When pushed it goes much better than before and as I found out when leaving work in the rain on Monday is now rather tail happy from low down in the rev range in second, the lower torque is a major boon! In the dry it handles better with much less tendency to understeer when pushed through roundabouts, it now feels far more balanced through the curves.................still leans like a tall ship though!!!!!!!!!!
The rebuilt servo has transformed the brakes too.
There has to be a negative though and for me that is the induction noise at larger throttle openings at low speed, such as when gunning it up a slip road, initially I liked the growling snort but throughout the week it started to become somewhat tiresome. I will see if I can somehow fit an airbox to quieten it down a bit and move the air intake from directly behind the radiator! I also need to make a more effective seal around the gear lever turret as road noise can be heard coming up from the centre console.
I am so pleased with it now, it is a much better daily driver than before and I no longer feel that I am abusing it every time I run at high speed on the A127!

Dan
 
Excellent news :D

I'd guess with the size of the swirl pot that it would have plenty of capacity to refill via gravity under high fuel usage, but it works so that's the main thing. It would also be interesting to know what the fuel consumption is once you've had time to average it out to compare to standard.
 
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