Ti Motorsport

Revival

Our C2, which has languished in back of the workshop for far too long, has come in for a bit of attention. With our original R2 shell gone, the plan is to convert the 1400 car to full GpA/R2 spec, using the parts from our original car.

The interior has already been stripped ready for seam welding & the fitting of the weld in cage. Today, it was the turn of the engine & gearbox to get the heave ho.

We will be fitting the R2 competition loom, so all the existing wiring will all go.

There is quite a lot of welding to do in the engine bay. Not only the seams, the engine mountings but the adjustment plates for the front struts.

Hand Brake

With a little bit of unexpected free time, [waiting for the adaptor block for the Peugeot 16v throttle body] it was a chance to make up a bracket for the hydraulic handbrake on Jonny Banisters 1.9 205. We will use the Willwood cylinder from the original system but it's not possible to use the mounting bracket, hence the new one.

Fuel Feed Mods

The original plan had been to use the same fuel rail that we fitted to the 8v engine. All very well untill we actually tried to bolt it on. Slight differences in the shape of the underneath of the plenum meant that it would not fit. Back to the drawing board.

The solution has been to fit a remote pressure regulator & 'T' into the feed line. It does of course mean that we now have a standard fuel rail as OE.

The wasted spark coil has been mounted on the thermostat housing. The leads are from the 8v & are then covered by the standard Peugeot cover.

All that now remains is to fit the throttle body with it's adaptor plate.

Then it's all down to sorting out the DTA ECU. 

Engine Installed

With our cam timing sorted, the new covers were fitted, the bottom part requiring spacers to clear the wider cam belt. With the covers on, the bottom pulley went on & we tried to fit the alternator belt. A bit of an alignment problem, again the result of the wider cam belt. Luckily the packing on the alternator allowed us to get the necessary adjustment.

Next up, the gearbox was fitted before fitting engine & box into the car. We have managed to retain all of the original mountings , although we will monitor the drivers side mount because of the amount of modification we have made.

The water pump hoses are exactly the same as before, the top hose will however need altering.

The exhaust manifold is 4 branch & fits directly onto our system.

The inlet is from the C2 1600 GT.

 

The fuel feed/return is retained from the 8v, as we are running a return fuel pipe, unlike the C2 system which regulates the pressure within the fuel tank & hence does not need a return line.

Cam Timing

Having got our TDC lift figures from Pipercross, the last bit of the build could go ahead. 1 dial gauge on the inlet cam follower, 1 on the exhaust & 1 reading the piston height.

Fine tuning was done with the vernier pulleys.

Now we can put our new covers on, bolt on the gearbox & start fitting them into the car 

 

Cover Up

Not being fond of uncovered cambelts, I decided to try & make up some form of covering. The original ET3 16v head is much narrower than the 16v version fromthe 1600 unit. A cut & shut on the ET3 &TU 3 covers seems to have done the job on the top half. Replast doing the joining in this case. Although it looks a bit untidy to start with, you can sand it down once it's gone off. Who knows, now that we have a pattern, we could get one made up in carbon fibre. The bottom part is from the TU3 but requires spacing out to clear the wider 16v belt.

Belted Up

It seems that all the calculations over belt length have worked out OK. We have been able to use a belt from the Peugeot parts book & were then able to check all of our various clearances. Just making sure that those lovely new valves don't say hello to the new pistons. Now there is just the matter of cam timing & as I want to time them at TDC we are waiting for Pipercross to get back to us with the figures, otherwise it will be back to the degree set up.

Cracking Up

Not me, but coming in on Monday to find our trailer had been nicked might have made me, no it's our trusty 1800 MG ZR. We noticed some cracks appearing around the rear shock mounts last time out, so a bit of extra plating has been done.

We are out with the car this weekend at Down Ampney for The EMCOS Red Dragon Rally, where Tilly Powell with team up with Eliot Retallick once again.

Weight Watchers Success

Having treated the flywheel to a session at weight watchers we ended with a weight loss of just under a kilogram, obviously done with a lathe rather than a diet but ready to fit. We have used the 1600 clutch to handle the power.

 

The final piece in the jigsaw is the cambelt. A very helpfull guy at ContiTech has come up with what we hope will be right.

Assembly Issues.

For such a small word, issues, has massive repercussions. That was certainly the case when we popped the head onto the block & started looking at some of the ancillary parts.

First off, it  was the water pump housing, it didn't fit. Initially it looked like we just needed to take a little off the housing but it soon became apparent that there would also be a major problem with the engine mounting. In order to be able to change it, should the need arise, without taking the head off, we had to slot the mount. So far so good, it just allowed the mount to foul the cam belt pulley, not a good thing. More action with the grinder. Trial fit, nowhere near enough,more grinding & then still more. Much, much later we had enough clearance.   With the water pump housing & engine mounting sorted, it was time to look at the belt cover rear plate. Once again a bit of chopping was required. It was also necessary to accommodate the tensioner, which then allowed us to try to work out the length for the new cam belt.

Continuing the assembly process, the inlet manifold was next & will require a little more modification to the engine mount to give enough clearance for the bolt that is directly underneath  it. 

Most of the problems now seem to have been sorted & with a little luck, there is a standard cam belt from the Peugeot range that will fit the bill