DO IT ONCE DO IT RIGHT
So, I’m driving the old RS2000 Escort the other day. Having a lovely time I was, too, after a run of outs that started with a radiator dropping its guts and ended with jumped teeth on the camshaft belt (my own stupid fault). But this particular morning, I was enjoying the car as nature intended, and, as I approached the MBC with about 50 kliks under its wheels, the RS was humming. Beauty, I thought, I’ve finally made a trip without a melt-down of some sort. The little bugger is finally sorted. What is it they say about pride…?
Within seconds of uttering my silent victory speech, the needle on the oil pressure gauge flickered and headed for the basement. What the! The oil pressure never dropped completely away, but it was sure as hell lower than it should have been; that much I knew for sure.
Next morning it’s out with the spanners and tear into the thing to find out where the oil went. The Exxon Valdez epicentre seemed to be around the T-piece that exits the block and mounts the capillary tube and the sender for the twin oil pressure gauges I run. So I removed that and started to have a feel about down there. Funny, I thought to myself, that thread has a sharp edge on it. No it didn’t. But the two-dollar-coin sized hole in the block sure did.
Still dunno what really happened, but when we pulled the motor down, the rear cam-retaining bolt was AWOL. Maybe it found its way down an oil gallery and managed to get jammed between the crank counterweight and the block (‘cos that’s where the hole got punched). Academic, really, so what to do?
Mates reckoned I could get the hole patched and be done with it on the cheap, but since I’d always had my doubts about the motor (like, what’s even in it?) I bit the bullet and bought a second-hand long-motor. From there, my small-Ford genius mate Tim took over, pulled it all down, sent the block to a machine shop for the crank to be tested (it was fine) and the block bored 020 thou for new slugs. Then the rotating assembly was balanced and new everything from welch plugs to water pump was fitted. Finally, Tim bolted the recently reconditioned head back on, dialled in the cam, bolted it back in the car and hit the key.
And it’s a ripper. Despite not being any more tuned than before, the new donk is definitely smoother (that’s balancing for you) and seems to be more awake than ever before. And with about 600km on it so far, it’s getting better with every new kilometre.
But more than that, I now have a brand-new engine in my otherwise mint RS2000, so it’s like the final piece of the puzzle has been put in place. On GT’s advice, I’ve reverted to the standard cooling fan and shroud (which has made a difference) and the only thing I’m chasing now is a rattling baffle in the (only) muffler on board. If I can be bothered.
I’ll admit that at first, when I got the estimate, I was a bit spooked by all the zeroes, but in the end I’m glad I went all-new rather than a patch-up. I don’t want to be lying awake at night, looking at the ceiling, wondering what’s going to go bang next. Which is kind of where I was with the original bitsa motor. I suppose I’m lucky it’s just a four-cylinder, single-cam engine and not something fancy like a quad-cam V8 or a Cosworth. Either way, I reckon the old do-it-once-do-it-right thing applies here.