Ford Ka RS Turbo Project

Late Christmas presents?

2012-01-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

Winter really does seem to halt the progress on projects, not to mention the holday season included in there.Not much in the way of progress can be seen (yet), but I have recently acquired a couple of treats for the engine. While my brother is gas flowing the head in his spare time it shouldn't be too long until it's ready to be rebuilt. With this in mind I have purchased an ARP head stud and nut kit as well as a new Kent CVH36 kit and Adjustable pulley. Needless to say I'm very anxious to get the head rebuilt as soon as time allows :)

The cam kit includes new hydraulic lifters, valve springs and valve stem seals. Not to mention a bit of lube.

Engine out

2011-09-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Another quick update and a couple of photos for you all. Today we spent a couple of hours finishing off last weeks prep to drop the engine out. Little bit tricky in the confined space but it went without any major problems! Essentially we had a big hoist and some chain secured to the engine and dropped it to the floor and then lifted the shell up and pulled the engine under it and out of the way. It was suprisingly clean in the engine bay but still a little bit grubby so a pressure wash is in order at some point. We can keep both the standard engine mounts in the hope that they will come in handy for mounting the RS lump when the time comes. Here's a couple of photos, nothing fancy and the photo of the Ka pointing to the sky once the engine was removed didn't come out so well but hopefully you'll get the idea ;)

A long break.

2011-09-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

Evening all, a long time since my last post but hopefully we will keep some momentum and get some more work done shortly. Todays task was to try and get the Ka engine out. We set about removing anything unnecessary from the engine bay and disconnecting the multitude of hoses that would prevent the engine from coming out.

After that the driveshafts were removed and that is where we've had to leave it for now. Next step is to drop the engine off the mounts and then lift the car over the engine.

Quick photo of the engine bay after everything had been removed.

New EFi Head and a blasted inlet manifold

2011-04-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

As the title suggests I have recently purchased a new cylinder head. WE were going to machine the original but this would have required quite a bit of fabrication. We found an EFi conversion kit on eBay and I won that for a very nice price. Came with literally everything we need to get the top end of the engine running all bar the cam we want to run etc. I stripped the head down and then gave it a nice clean up with some lovely smelling solvents :) everything came out well and I'm very happy with its overall condition. My brother also very kindly grit blasted the EFi inlet manifold down to bare aluminium, looks lovely and I think I'll keep it that way! I want to colour the EFi lettering the same colour as the block to keep things co-ordinated :)

Here are the pics taken throughout the day, enjoy!

Grindy Grindy.

2011-03-21T16:20:00.001-07:00

Well I have this week off to help get the shell prepped for when the engine is ready and to also have it seam welded and ready for the roll cage to be installed. Task for the day was to remove as much sealant as possible. This was done with a wire brush attachment for a Dremel. If anyone has done this before you will know full well how shitty a job it is. Fortunately the sealant comes away pretty easily revealing bare metal. I called it a day with about 80% of the sealant gone, there are some bits I can't get to with power tools so it will have to be done manually this week when I can bear to look at the stuff again :) Couple of Images of the Ka itself and the piles of sealant that I collected.

Also the steering wheel appears to be harbouring intelligent life. Daren't touch it without gloves on :)

Progress, Progress, Progress..

2011-03-19T13:48:00.001-07:00

Today me and Wayne spent a few hours applying the final touches to the bottom end of the engine. We fitted the oil and water pump and also cleaned up and fitted the oil pickup. The oil pickup has attempted to be cleaned before by leaving it to soak in petrol for a couple of days but it didn't fully remove some of the crap oil that had been left to harden inside. We decided to cut it open to properly get at it and the had it Tig welded back up. We then sat the sump gasket in place but the sump itself will likely be fitted tomorrow as it is currently being painted (I'm told it will be pink but I shan't hold my breath :)).

Here are a couple of images from the end of the building day.

Brief update

2011-03-14T08:09:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Building up the bottom end was delayed as we decided to have bushes installed into the small ends of the con rods. This aids oil flow and should hopefully prevent premature wear and overheating.

The bottom end was built up on Saturday but took longer than expected due to the spring clips being awkward bastards! Eventually the pistons were attached to their rods and the crank was installed followed by the pistons and rods. Plenty of oil was used in the bores and the bearings to hopefully prevent any premature wear when it comes to starting the engine first time.

All that is left to complete the bottom end is to attach the oil and water pumps to the block.

For now here's a couple of images of the assembly for you :)

ARP Con-Rod Bolts

2011-03-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

Just a little photo update, got a set of ARP Con Rod bolts for the engine build. Just making sure the pistons don't try and make a bid for freedom out the block :)

Bottom end ready

2011-02-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Good evening.

Today Me and Wayne spent a few hours making more mess and making more progress.

We measured how much the piston protruded from the block deck at top dead centre. It was approximately 0.75mm so we removed that amount from all 4 pistons. This will give us our 7.68:1 C/R and concludes pretty much all the work that needed doing to the bottom end. All that's left is to assemble it with plenty of oil and then we can begin modifying the cylinder head to accept electronic fuel injection. Hopefully the bottom end will be assembled tomorrow morning and another small update will follow! for now here's the block setup with a DTI guage.

Getting there,,,

2011-01-30T16:08:00.000-08:00

Another couple of hours were spent at the workshop today to make the measurements required to the cylinder head to allow us to calculate the compression ratio. First of all Wayne machined a new angle into the exhaust ports, making a step from ~30° to the standard ~45° as opposed to the exhaust gases charging right into a 45° angle. This will just help everything flow and hopefully make the turbo more efficient. After this the outer edge of the combustion chamber is given a bit of vaseline and a squared piece of perspex with a tiny hole is placed on top. The vaseline is used to provide a seal so a liquid can be poured in with use of a burette, and thus we can measure the capacity of the chamber. The chambers turned out to hold 53cc and this figure was than used to calculate alng with the swept volume, the compression ratio with a flat piston. The end result was 7.68:1 which is pretty much ideal for our application.

Anyway, here is a photo taken today of Wayne making a mess, and making noise while blending in the valve and combustion chamber.

Next on the to do list is to find a suitable cam for the engine...

A brief, green and shiny update

2011-01-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

Good evening all.

Today Me and my Brother spent a couple of hours dummy building the bottom end. A matter of putting the main bearings in with the crank and attaching a piston and rod to it so we can make accurate measurements to work out compression. Everything went together nicely and with a little oil everything moved smoothly. Next up we need to get the head to the workshop and measure that too. The pistons are +1.5mm so the overall capactiy will be 1659 - the additional torque over standard 1597 will be very welcome.

Small-ish update

2010-10-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

Good evening all.

Again it's been a while since anything has happened to the project, but it's still alive. Main delay was my brother Wayne getting married and as a result him being incredibly busy. Unfortunately I don't know alot about this sort of thing so have had to sit tight and do what I can.

Tonight I finally got round to start stripping the new head I got a few updates back. I don't have a valve spring tool so the valves and springs are still in place but everything else has been removed. The head appears to have been rebuilt recently as there was fresh grease and most bolts were little more than hand tight.

All looks good so far and everything looks in good condition. The head will be gas flowed as soon as possible to help everything breathe. Hopefully I can get hold of the valve spring tool soon to get it completed and another task checked off!

A couple of pictures with the progress made. Fortunately it took about half an hour and was compeltely painless!

Painted Block

2010-08-13T01:11:00.001-07:00

Another small update for y'all.

My brother very kindly gave the block a final rinse with a pressure washer and gave it a lick of paint in prep for dummy building.

It shouldn't be too long until it all starts going back together again and testing for compression ratio etc.

I'll let the pic do the rest of the talking. It's defintely a bright colour, but in the (unlikely) event of an oil leak, it will make it easier to trace. I only know the colour as "Brunswick Green".

Shiny, Dark Wheels.

2010-07-12T01:39:00.000-07:00

Another small update. This one is for the aesthetics of the car..

My Dad has very kindly asissted me in spraying the wheels I got a few weeks ago. I decided on Matte black but he also sprayed one in Gloss to compare. I defintely preferred Matte and I'm sure you can see why...

It's been a while Pt. 2

2010-06-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

No news for a little while but there has been a little progress here and there.

It turns out the new block we picked up was just as bad as the old one. Also we would have needed to fab an oil feed for the turbo, not a massive problem but extra work.

We have decided to rebore the original block and get some new pistons. Well the new pistons have arrived today (Accralite Forged +1.5mm). This should allow us to safely run h igh boost levels if we wish to do so. We still intend on running approx 1bar/14psi.

The Ka is pretty much all stripped out and we installed one seat to test fitting with the Fiesta subframes. We will need to make a small spacer for one of the bolting points but otherwise they fit fine.

I have also since picked up a Sparco 6 point roll cage and Magnex full stainless system. The cage has never been used and is still mostly unpainted.

Also I have just purchased a new OMP WRC wheel and MOMO boss kit along with a fuel swirl pot and some Goodridge brake lines. My shopping list also includes some braided fuel lines and a fuel filter, injectors and pump.

All in all a bit more to go but still alive and progressing :)

I'll leave you with a picture of the lovely pistons...

It's Been A While

2010-05-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

As title really, it's all been a bit slow - but a few things to report while I have a few minutes!

I've been acquiring parts here and there so here goes.

Well the crank has been reconditioned at Ivor Searles and is ready to go with new bearings. When the block was taken in to be washed it appears the bores are worn and needed replacing. We decided to get a different block. I have purchased another from eBay which i'll be receiving shortly. the block is from a non-turbo 1600CVH so the bores should be in good condition (due to turbos running a lot of fuel, this washes oil from the bores and can cause excessive wear).

I picked up some Cobra Clubman seats a couple of weeks ago. These have Fiesta Mk5 subframes already fitted - not sure whether these will fit in the Ka or not. They could do with a little TLC, but the main part is they work!

Still in search of some wheels for the Ka. Ideally going for some 6inch wide steel wheels in 14" diameter. Peugeot wheels may be a good option as these are 4x108 so will fit the stud pattern and also have a lower offset (Ka is approx 30-40mm and Pug is 15-25mm) which will bring the track out and make the car more stable at speed.

Well that's mostly it. Some Pictures for your viewing pleasure of the new bits:

Minor Update

2010-03-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

Time for another brief update. Well hopefully tomorrow evening the Puma is being picked up buy it's new owner which is good news. In the meantime I picked up a new head for the engine which is shown below. Its been lightly skimmed and pressure tested by the previous owner. Looks very clean and in much better condition for that matter. It needs a new cam which is on the shopping list anyway.

I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking. Hopefully the next update will include the Ka which will be used :)

Valvey Goodness

2010-03-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

Another small update here. We took the cylinder head apart last night to see what sort of state it was in. Not good is the verdict. We removed the rockers, lifters, valve springs and finally the valves themselves. The lifters whilst looking fairly new - were very coarse around the bottom edge. The barrels/chambers they sit in were also scored (1 quite badly).

All the valves look fine and the stem seals will be replaced when it comes to piecing it back together. Unfortunately the cam also took a bit of a beating and some of the hardened outer has worn away - this will want replacing too.

We may require a new head (it's looking quite likely) though we will get a second opinion from Dave before we do so.

If we do get a new head then we will get an EFi version as this is the route we want to go down.

Valves all lined up after removal:

All in all it was a little disappointing but certainly not the end of the world!

Small update...

2010-03-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Just a brief update today. Spent an hour at most just making final preparations to the engine before it goes for a clean. This wont happen until either A) I sell the Puma or B) I come into some money. The former is certainly more likely!

Basically a couple of bolts sheared while we were taking apart the drive pulley/timing pully which we heated up for a couple of minutes using a blow torch and then using grips to twist them out. We also took the water pump off and removed the headgasket.

Another task at some point is to take the head apart to examine the cam and likely give that a clean up too. I took a quick picture of the head today in it's current state - nothing terribly exciting but it makes the page look more interesting until the good stuff starts happening!

Basically you're looking at the rockers and valve springs. The cam pulley is toward the right of the picture (as is the water pump to the far right).

So it begins..

2010-02-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well I decided to start seeing as a little progress has been made.

Basically the idea is to take a Mk1 Ford Ka and turn it into a track toy. This would include stripping most, if not all of the standard interior and fitting it with a roll cage, bucket seats and the appropriate dials. It will remain road legal to get to track days with minimal hassle.

As of Saturday the 27th I have the engine from an Escort RS Turbo complete with T3 turbo and gearbox. The bottom end and turbo have both seen better days but it is far from a wreck. With plenty of help from my brother over at WayneAshfordRacing we began taking the engine apart to find the cause.

Once the pistons were out of their cylinders it became apparent what had went wrong. The main bearings had been mixed up and put at the wrong points along the crank which likely would have caused the crank to not run true. The bearings all had score marks with the ocassional small piece of copper bearing still floating around. The crank also has some light scoring which will be sorted before it all goes back together.

The gauze inside the oil return was also clogged with thick black sludge and pieces of bearing which would have caused poor oil pressure. I have spent today cleaning up the pistons, block and oil return before the block itself is hot washed.

I have no photos as of yet but will provide the ebay image to give a rough idea of what we're working with!

The engine will want to be converted to EFi so we can give it the Omex treatment for much greater flexibility.

That's about all I have to say that's interesting and will remember to take some pictures at my next opportunity!