www.stonefisk.com :: Berlinetta :: engineout.php
In wanting to use unleaded fuel and have the luxury of a 5 speed gearbox, the 18th of December 2003 was deemed engine out day.
The old Cortina 1600 pinto and 4 speed box was replaced with an unleaded 85 specification 1600 emax pinto and 5 speed (N type) gearbox. The donor car for this project was a Ford Sierra 1.6LX "F reg". A 2.0 Litre pinto would have been an ideal choice but I had great difficulty sourcing a complete and unleaded unit with 5-speed box.
No matter what they tell you, that statement is never true. I had done my research and knew there was at least one major factor to overcome before the engine would "drop straight in", but there was another issue that took me by surprise.
A new propshaft had to be commissioned. The reason for this is that the splined final drive of the 1.6 litre, 5 speed gearbox is larger than that of the 1.6 litre, 4 speed. It is actually the same size as the 2.0 litre splined end.
Obvious now, but at the time my research was mostly based on the experience of other Berlinetta owners, and they all happened to be 2.0 litre based cars, thus no mention was made to propshaft differences. I would not have encountered this problem if I was swapping out an old Cortina 2.0litre and 4 speed.
After much messing around I had to face up to the fact my propshaft was no good, and a new one had to be sourced. The cost of new propshaft was £145 plus VAT from South Wales Propshafts located in Newport.
The second, but previously known issue was the modification of the chassis cross member to allow mounting of the N type gearbox. Based on other owners experiences this mod could be achieved several ways. I elected to cut a section out of the cross member, shorten the mounting arms and weld it all back up with the addition of a strengthening bar.
Other than the issues stated above and shortening of the gear stick by four inches, oh and a new starter motor as the old Cortina one was of a different type to the sierra, and not forgetting the speedo cable will now no longer fit..... the engine replacement was a "drop straight in mate, no problems" job.
The following procedure is taken from my own car maintenance manual. It was written on the fly during the engine replacement project. It is of course totally biased for my car and is rather unlikely to match up to any other Berlinetta. It is not a modification guide but a plain engine removal procedure as one would find in a book such as the Haynes series.
Note: At this stage the front of the wings are no longer supported, so care must be taken not to place a load on them... no leaning!