1994 - Ford Escort Cosworth - power steering fluid tank

My fittings turned up, so finished the clutch hose and fitted it

P1080096 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

then back onto the catch can.

I added a closer with a few holes drilled in it for the vent tube. I managed to over heat the thin ally and melt it as well....

P1080097 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080098 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I bought some stainless scouring pad and cut it up to put it in the vent tube to make sure only air / gas gets up to the vent filter.

P1080098 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080100 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Way to get engine breather discharge into the catch can, check
Way to get air minus oil vapours out of the catch can, check
Way to get gunky breathed oil out of the catch can, not check.

On with that than.

these bits will sort it

P1080101 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

some lathe action happened (and photos taken but they have corrupted...) leaving these

P1080102 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080103 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

go together like so

P1080104 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

goes on the end cap like so

P1080105 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080106 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

welded on

P1080107 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080108 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

When I need to drain the gunk I undo the bolt.

P1080109 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

needs a mount to hold it to the car

P1080111 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080112 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

its tight for space, but I can hang it from this cage tube and have it nicely out the way.

P1080113 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

using some scrap tube to dress the bracket to shape

P1080114 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

needs some tidying up still

P1080115 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

goes here

P1080116 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

lid welded on

P1080117 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080118 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

bracket welded on

P1080119 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080120 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

sits in here

P1080121 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080122 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080123 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080124 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Almost there. Needs a bracket on the front to stop it rotating

P1080125 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080126 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080127 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

But I ran out of time so need to make it next time... which may be in January.

Hmmm. Radiator

trying to work out what hose boes where

P1080146 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

header needs to be here

P1080147 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Hmmm.... bit of a leap of faith for water there

P1080148 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

that lines up

P1080149 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

with the radiator fan switch....

P1080150 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

one of these should be the right one

P1080151 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080152 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

goes in here

P1080153 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

like so

P1080154 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Manky as anything, i gave it a quick clean up

P1080155 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

camera didnt work

P1080156 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

fitted

P1080157 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

clears the bonnet

P1080158 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I'm surprised this fits, but it does and saves me one job in not having to make an expansion tank.... at least not yet

What I do need to sort is this

P1080159 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Sierra xr4x4 radiator.... but it looks like nothing is where i need it to be for the water connections for the BOA engine.

P1080160 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080161 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080162 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080163 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

some work with hacksaw, grinder, multitool, and files lead to

P1080164 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080165 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080166 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080167 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

recovered the fan switch boss

P1080168 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Next step will be filling in the holes, making new holes, and then checking the radiator doesnt leak after I weld it...

I needed to put a barb on the end of some of the tube so made a dodgy contraption.

P1080177 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080178 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

which worked

P1080179 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

cut some tube and started welding it together

P1080180 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080181 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

trimmed

P1080182 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

end swaged

P1080184 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080185 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

will go in like so

P1080186 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

gives good clearance

P1080187 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Nice work on the cooling system. I'd advise you to keep an eye out for fatigue cracks on the welds as you've got a lot of pipe sticking out trying to shake those welds to bits. Same on the catch tank as well. It might not be an issue at all, just something to keep on top of.

I made a tube support bracket

P1080206 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080207 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080208 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Which should take a lot of the load off it.

Having welded something that will be pressurised in use, I need to do a pressure check on the radiator to make sure there are no holes.

some bits

P1080209 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

roughly turned up an adaptor I can tape 1/8 BSP to fit a guage.

P1080210 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Its a light inteference fit so pressed it in.... which cocked over a bit. doh.

P1080211 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

welded on the bits that needed welded

P1080212 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080213 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

assembled

P1080214 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

setup

P1080215 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

pressurised it to 18psi (cooling system should be 12-14psi in normal operation)

pretty successful, only one minor issue point.

P1080216 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

cleaned up and you can see i've contaminated the weld and got some porrosity going on.

P1080217 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

cleaned it back up, and re-did the weld, then re-set up the pressure test.

P1080217 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

guage scale is completely wrong for the task, but I was using my tyre gun to set the pressure and this is just an indicator.

P1080220 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

in 2hrs the pressure didnt drop at all. Success.

welded on the support bracket

P1080221 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080222 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080223 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

and re-pressure tested it

P1080224 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

no issues

P1080225 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

checked the radiator fitted ok.. again

P1080227 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080228 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080229 by jono_misfit, on Flickr



then on to mounting the fans / shroud

turned up some nylon spacers

P1080226 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

fitted some hard rubber at any risk contact points and foam tape on other points

P1080230 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

need something to hold the litte radiator hose that goes across the front of the rad

a piece of cut tube

P1080231 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

will go here

P1080232 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

brackets made, welded to the tube and rivetted in

P1080233 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

fitted the fans / shroud and clipped in the hose (albeit temporarily as the radiator needs to come out again)

P1080235 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080236 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I need to do something this end to keep it all clear of the power steering pulley.

P1080237 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I may change this all together. I don't really like the hose. I may make an ali tube on the bottom of the radiator and cut / re-route the hoses top this to sort it out. It just all feels like a bit of a Ford bodge as it is.

Looks great though. And as others said elsewhere, the workmanship is to a very high level!

You may have explained this and I may just have missed it in your story, but with you looking to go into rallying why not use the escort?

Its been a busy few weeks. Buyibng a rally car, doing my BARS test, and shuffling all the garage / storage content.

The C2 rally car was off for its MoT this weekend, and I went and picked up a C2 VTS road car as a little run about to also get used to them.

This afternoon i had a bit of time so did some bits on the escort.

Machined up some larger nylon spacers / mounts for the radiator. Mainly as I could make it rock a bit on the others.

P1080310 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080311 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

fitted them

P1080312 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

had to trim them a bit to fit past some features on the legs

P1080313 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

holds it rock solid now.

also did the job i didnt really want to do... trim the bonnet for clearance to the engine. I started out small and had to make it a bit bigger to clear as it went lower. very tight, but has clearance now.

P1080314 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

rough trimmed, then cleaned them up

P1080315 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

Then started making a mount for brake / clutch fluid reservoirs. This will mount between the roll cage at the strut tops and the bulkhead to hold them out the way. They just fit on when mounted direct to the master cylinders, however looking at the exhaust routing I'm concerned it may head soak the fluid, so this moves it further away.

Did a template

P1080316 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

sits them like so

P1080317 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080318 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

transfer to a sheet of ali

P1080319 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

started shaping and run out of time

P1080320 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I've cut it from 3mm ali, and I'm thinking its a thicker than it needs to be. I may re-do it in 1.5mm.

nice bit of progress there jonomisfit

Didn't realise that the EsCos bonnet doesn't clear the BOA manifold though

I need a header tank for the power steering, and a mount for some of the engine vaccum sensors / switches. May as well combine them.

I'm going to squeeze in here.

P1080364 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

after looking about I found my remaining piece of alloy sheet

P1080365 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I've got a power steering pump from a Xr4x4 with the integral tank, so measured that up and then added a bit of margin on the volume.

tank marked out

P1080367 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080368 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

seams welded up

P1080369 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080370 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I'm going to mount the sensors / switches onto the tank so need something to mount them to. I've also decided to get some practice on the mill.

Cut some 10mm ali plate, squared it on the mill, then started adjusting for the mount. Just thinning the edges where it'll be welded as welding 10mm onto 1.5mm is a recipie for me blowing holes in it.

P1080371 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

I actually managed to cut it all parallel to within 0.02mm which I was surprised at.

P1080372 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

will sit like so

P1080373 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080374 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

will weld on here

P1080375 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080376 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

welded on then started mount for vac vent switch

P1080377 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

P1080378 by jono_misfit, on Flickr

will fit like so

P1080379 by jono_misfit, on Flickr