Engine Rebuilds – Rebuilding a Lotus Twin Cam

[ad_1]

The Ford Lotus Twin cam, the legendary excessive efficiency engine of the sixties period. The Mk1 Twin Cam was launched as a take a look at mattress engine within the Mk1 Cortina in 1963 & adopted by the Mk II which powered the

Mk II Lotus Cortina – the identical engine that was additionally fitted to the 1968 Escort Twin Cam.

The lotus Cortina & the Twin Cam Escort have been on the spot winners each on the observe and in lots of, many rallies held all through the world. It’s typically stated that the sixties have been the golden years of motor sport, and the agency of lotus and their extremely aggressive automobiles have been held in excessive esteem. However the Lotus elan which was publicly launched at the1962 Earls Courtroom motor present was the sports activities automotive that set the motoring world alight, the elan established a popularity for fast level to level motoring, as properly racking up success after success on race circuits around the globe. Lotus was fast to construct on these success with the discharge of the lotus elan 26R, the racing model, which was based mostly on the elan S2 mannequin, solely about 100 26Rs elans have been produced by the manufacturing unit.

The run of the mill 4 cylinder ford forged iron engine block supplied the bottom on which the dual cam engine was constructed, the cylinder head was a Harry Mundy designed twin cam alloy head, which integrated chain drive to the dual over head cams, which actuated the eight valves. The engine was usually aspirated and fed by ‘twin forty millimetre Weber carburettors, that are characterised by the distinct clucking sound they made when the throttle butterflies are opened.

However regardless of the excessive energy output of this small four-cylinder engine there are two Achilles heals of this engine, the primary being the popularity for water pump failure, which is generally brought on by the engine being left standing for lengthy intervals sans any coolant within the block, on the primary crank of the engine the dry seal is ripped throughout the first flip over.

Many elan & escort house owners have additionally upgraded from the unique dynamo to a contemporary alternator for {the electrical} system, the excessive stress on the belt required to run the alternator locations extreme facet hundreds on the water pump which may result in untimely failure… the usual water pump substitute requires that the alloy twin cam cylinder head be first eliminated, this could result in a really costly mechanical restore for the non-practical twin cam proprietor

The very best repair for this downside is to put in the newer modular kind water pump, making it far simpler to take away and substitute. The opposite downside with the dual cam lotus engine is the fixed behavior of the engine of dropping oil stress on tight proper hand turns, many house owners select to disregard this downside at their very own peril, lotus twin cam

drivers have been identified to easily pay attention for the bearing rattles then’ again off, and anticipate oil stress to return…. in case you hear bearing rattle, the engine is just a few seconds away from a possible engine blow up,

From a chilly begin, bearing rattle will be tolerated in an engine as a result of it solely lasts for one or two seconds whereas the engine is at idle., however it’s a completely totally different story when the engine is revving at 4 to seven thousand revs per minute the place even a brief oil hunger interval can have a devastating impact on the engine bearings, bearing failure will not be an if, however a matter of when the engine bearings seize on the crankshaft.

However You will Be Happy to know there may be A Repair – However there are actually solely two choices;

1: In case you are into circuit racing, then dry sump lubrication is a given, it may be costly and time consuming to arrange and to get it proper, however most racers swear by dry sump lubrication.

2: Set up A Gated Moist Sump Oil Management system.

It sounds technical however it isn’t, the gated sump system consists of designing and constructing a novel equipment which is put in in the usual twin cam sump or oil pan, it isn’t costly to construct or tough to manufacture, it isn’t complicated, and most dwelling mechanics can be able to constructing the baffle in the event that they take pleasure in fabricating with sheet metallic, and so they additionally perceive how one can do a small quantity of brazing.

Nobody however you’ll ever know that there’s a particular anti surge oil management system put in within the sump of your twin cam lotus engine. However the distinction is that with the gated baffle put in, it is possible for you to take any given nook at excessive pace in your Ford escort, Lotus Cortina or lotus elan and never have the slightest fear about oil surge, the oil gauge will let you know that the proper oil stress is being delivered to your legendary twin cam lotus engine, it is about piece of thoughts and confidence with excessive efficiency motoring. Construct it as soon as, construct it proper, and you will have no issues.

[ad_2]

Source by Colin Croucher