C20LET Westfield Project

[Giles]

What I would say re tourqe wrneches is that you do get what you pay for. Or at least stay away from teh really cheap ones.

I've got a set of Sealey ones to cover all tourques. Nice middle of the road brand. Very acceptable quality and as my mate was a sealey dealer very good prices. lmao

Bear in mind too - if you need a wrench that does small amounts of tourque you are probaly doing up things that will break/distort etc if you go a little too heavy handed. Therefore an accurate wrench is even more important.

[Neil Adams]

I've set up a website to keep track of everything I'm doing now. It's the first website I've set up properly, so there may be the odd bug or two. But feel free to be nosey and if you spot anything amiss could you let me know.

Cheers

www.FW500.co.uk

[EY]

The web sites excellent, just sat here for 25 minutes watching the slide shows, so thanks.

[Stupink]

Mixed feelings to see this thread Neil, but certainly looks like you're enjoying yourself and will be a lovely car when finished. Have often thought about making a little lightweight single/twin seater of some form based around the let, but would like to make all the chassis etc too, and just don't have the time/commitment to actually do that so maybe a project for a few years time when i'm too fat to actually fit in it when finished. As always any extra hands needed or if you ever need to use the pit just give me a shout

[Neil Adams]

After a trial run, sticking my LET into the Westy to make sure it all fits, I removed the engine again. The plan is to stick in a simple XE to get the car through the stringent SVA test.

So this weekend I decided to get on with things.

First of all I ground off the lugs on the gearbox to allow me more room inside the tunnel - the box would fit but the lugs touched the chasis which would probably have given me some annoying vibration.



I picked up a bargain early Coscast XE for £160, got it cleaned up and sprayed to match the LET.



I was going to use the standard flywheel and standard Vauxhall / Cossie clutch assembly but the Cossie friction plate ordered from ebay failed to arrive on time so I decided to use the LET's setup.



The flywheel I'm using is a Blingy lightened billet item from vxlgsi on Mig. I sold my Fidanza to pay for it and had a few quid change lol.



A little bit of loctite on the ARP Bolts



ARP advised a torque setting of 58lbs. As you can see, jammed into the crank is a spiggot bearing - this is to support the input shaft of the gearbox, not necessary with the F28 / F20 etc but essential when running RWD.



Sticking to what I know, I'm using a helix 4 paddle clutch. Thats a LET cover plate with Cosworth 1in 23 splice paddle.



Aligning the clutch was a pain with a cack Draper Tools alignment tool



Just bolting up the cover plate



Then got the gearbox on and dropped it into the chasis



I even managed to get the standard inlet manifold on which I was told wasn't possible.



As you can see it's a tight fit, and getting it gives me less space on the exhaust size but there looks like just enough space to fit the turbo so I'm not too bothered yet.



I got started on connecting up the loom but got bored and called it a day.

[Drizz]

Awesome!

[coolamasta]

I was thinking about how this was coming on the other day Neil, looking sweeeeet though, will deffo be looking forward to seeing it in the flesh sometime

So XE to pass the SVA test then in with the LET for some serious sideways action ay! lmao

[Brett]

wow its great to see an engine in it Neil. What were the reasons for the XE for the SVA test, it must be harder with the LET but how/why?

[Neil Adams]

The main reason I went for the XE is that if you stick in a pre '94 engine you don't have to have a cat. Emissions for the MOT are then just a visible smoke test.

For the LET I also have to run a charge cooler so that's money I could put elsewhere to get the car up and running - I can worry about buying that after the summer. I want a dry sump on the let too so there's another grand or so that can wait.

[Brett]

**** son!!! going to whole hog on the LET then!!

[DarrenH]

looking great !

may i recommend you check the flywheel bolt clearance. the heads are thicker than standard bolts and bring them that much closer to the clutch drive plate springs.

also, got any pics of the gearbox adapter ?? i've never seen one

[Trig]

Have you thought or talking to Beardy about an inlet manifold?
Also I've got the chargeCooler setup if you want from Matt's old Cav if you want..

[matt_mph]

Holy cow nice project mate :P love it

[Adam]

so neil u recks this mofo be at 10 of the best this year? lol

great work matey i thought u had stopped doing the project!

[Neil Adams]

looking great !

may i recommend you check the flywheel bolt clearance. the heads are thicker than standard bolts and bring them that much closer to the clutch drive plate springs.

also, got any pics of the gearbox adapter ?? i've never seen one

Er bugger - I didn't check the bolt clearance. Will have to check them I guess.

What do you mean by gearbox adaptor mate? I've quite a few pics so I've prob got a shot ofwhat you're after. Do you mean the T5 - Vauxhall bellhousing? If so...

Have you thought or talking to Beardy about an inlet manifold?
Also I've got the chargeCooler setup if you want from Matt's old Cav if you want..

Yep - I'm waiting on the prices. They'll definately be perfect for the LET setup but using one of those manifolds on a standard XE would probably make it run a bit cack I'd have thought.
I'll hold off on Matts old charge cooler for the moment cheers mate, I've got my heart set on a PWR unit as people seem to have a lot of good stuff to say about them and they're bleddy compact too.

[Neil Adams]

so neil u recks this mofo be at 10 of the best this year? lol

great work matey i thought u had stopped doing the project!

lol - next year maybe mate!

[jollysoutherner]

Keep at it Neil. Where you up to now?

Cheers
Mark (from boardroom)

[Neil Adams]

Hello mate (Mark Boyce?) Boardroom is down so couldn't do the usual Monday morning catch-up!

I pulled the engine back out and ordered up all the bits to build up a hydraulic clutch assembly. It all arrived before the weekend but being American it came with some unusual connectors so I had to wait until this morning before I could get the right adaptors.

If I've bought the right ones I may start fitting it this evening.

I've just bought a few more bits such as a shallow wet sump (I'm not going to go mad on the XE and they seem easy to sell on), so I really only need to sort out the rad and the exhaust on the engine side of things now.

What have you been up to - I guess it's been too wet to have too much fun? I watched those vids and thought they were awesome - It looks like a really enjoyable track. Absolutely loved the mini-corkscrew! Where abouts is it in the country?

Neil

[jollysoutherner]

Hi Neil,

Yep you guessed correct

Ive been out for the odd run dodging the rain but have failed on each occasion and got soaked.

It is the new Anglesey circuit. Drive through north wales and keep going and you eventually get there, about 5 hours from Cambridge. Video was of the costal circuit. Corkscrew is a little mickey mouse in some respects and I probably prefer the full circuit which misses out the bottom bit of the corckscrew. (you turn left where the cones are on the top half of the corkscrew). No complaints however, they have done an amazing job and I can see it becoming one of the best circuits in the country once the kerbs are in position.

Suck egg mode....Dont forget you will need a different clutch release bearing for the hydraulic clutch release and also a pedal stop for the clutch pedal so you don't over-operate the clutch and push the piston out past it's seal. Otherwise the engine will be coming out again! An M6 bolt will do the job as a throttle stop as there should be a nut welded on the pedal box assembly to take it.

Next job on mine is to try and lean out the fueling at cruise as it is currently very rich when off boost. Fingers crossed for some dry weather this weekend.

Cheers
Mark

[Neil Adams]

Next job on mine is to try and lean out the fueling at cruise as it is currently very rich when off boost. Fingers crossed for some dry weather this weekend.

Cheers
Mark

...and you're not liking the pop-pop-pop sound then? I got my mapper to add that for me lmao

I think I've sourced everything now - I've got a hydraulic bearing, and I'm using a suspension bump stop for the pedal-stop. I've just been out to pick up a couple of O-rings missing from the clutch assembly pack. I got some of the installation done last night and will post up some pictures once I've got it finished.

[CraigGreen]

Sounds as though you are cracking on Neil? You answered the XE question I was going to ask too (why?).

Look forward to hearing more.

[Neil Adams]

When I went to hook up the clutch cable I noticed the pedal assembly was a hydraulic unit, so instead of swapping the pedals I decided to ditch the cable clutch and install a hydraulic system.

The bellhousing being a half cossie half vauxhall affair would mean buying something a little more bespoke than some standard Ford fitment so the first thing I had to do was measure the difference between the face of the transmission and the cover plate's 'fingers to determine what mounting depth the piston would need to be.



Armed with all the dimensions I ordered a Tilton kit comprising of a mounting base plate, hydraulic piston bearing assembly and all the hoses and fittings.





The mounting base is supposed to be a direct replacement so off with the old...



... unfortunately the direct replacemend boss didn't fit into the bellhousing so I had to have 1mm lathed off.



The piston screws onto the boss...



...and to determine how deep I need to screw it (ooo err missus) I test fit it into the belhousing.



Once happy I lock the piston into place with the anti-turn screw.



Mount it to the face of the gearbox



Attach connectors for the feed line and the bleed line.



Make up some aeroquip pipes from the components supplied and fit to the piston connectors and master cylinder. I've run the bleed line to an easilly accessible point just in case I need to bleed it again at any point.



I fitted a pedal stop to avoid overstroking the piston. I used a polyflex bump-stop for this but have a neater ally block on order.



Before the engine goes back in I decide to install a SBD shallow sump. I plan to go dry sump for the Turbo, but the XE can make do with the cheaper option.



Swap the pickup pipe over



With over 20 speed bumps to navigate into and out of my street I need this extra clearance!



So hopefully, *touch wood*, the engine can go back in and stay in!

[Trig]

Mmmm coming along nicely there chap

[jollysoutherner]

Looking good Neil

[coolamasta]

Looooking sweet mate

One day I want to build one of these so am watching your progress