Focus Cosworth
16-09-2006, 01:29 PM
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Focus Cosworth
Good morning all..... Thought I would share a little tale of what has been going on in my life for the past year or so. But before I do I must say a bigh thanks to Jason "Jasesapphy". Without him the engine you are about to see would probably still be pissing oil and petrol all over my garage floor. Anyway, Jason - Thank you ! ! ! ! 
Right, where do I start ?. Well this started when I saw on Ebay a 4wd Fire damaged Cosworth Engine. I thought to myself that it was a bargain at £1700 and parted with my hard earned cash !. It was local to me at Poole so arrived home fairly quickly. It arrived when I was at work and when I got home all excited I opened the Garage door and thought "Oh my fookin god".
This was my new Cossie -
Is anyone else thinking "What the fook ?"
Well I have no history of this engine or the car it came from. All I did know at the time was the Saph it came from was a 92 and it caught fire. But I wasn't worried, a friend of mine said his Mrs worked with a bloke called Jason who would be interested in having a look. I went to see Jason at his work place and pretty much at gun point (private joke, but almost reality) asked for a hand. And being the nice bloke he is Jason said yes ! ! ! 
So after a few weeks of scuttling round in the garage the engine, with the addition help of Ratty was stripped to its bare bones. Most of the fire damaged stuff was binned as it was all beyond repair and I got to think what am I going to do with this. I had a chat with a mechanic friend who said my project was ill conceived and lacked research but I prefer the trial and error approach to things. I wanted a Mk1 1963 Cortina but a decent one would be difficult to source and there were other issues relating to power output and shell strengthening so that idea was binned.
I then decided I wanted to put it in a Focus
Anyway, whilst I pondered the Focus Idea my engine sat in pieces on my garage floor whilst I hunted an elusive engine builder. People kept telling me he existed but it took a while for Jason to come up with his details. Anyway, when he did his name was Nick, and he owns Advanced Automotive in Bristol. And what a top bloke he is.
I took my engine to him like this -
It wasn't in bad shape, little bit of Piston Kissing going on but nowt major. Or so I thought
After a several month wait and a top rebuild my engine was returned to me with the following spec -
GOETZ Rings
ACL Main Bearings Heavy Duty
ACL Big End Bearings Heavy Duty
ACL Thrust Washer
ARP Big End Bolts
2 Kent BD10 Camshafts
1 Aux Shaft - Plate - Bearing
1 Two Wheel Drive Oil Pump
1 Belt Tensioner
1 Timing Belt
2 Vernier Pulleys
1 Ajusa Head Set
1 Ajusa Converion Set
1 Group A Ajusa Head Gasket with Uprated Firering
1 Copper Decompression Plate 1.2mm thick - 7.62 Compression Ratio
1 ARP Head Stud Kit
16 Hydrolic lifters
Cylinder Block degreased, crack tested and honed. Crankshaft crack tested and polished. Conrods crack tested and checked for distortion. Pitons measured for excessive wear. Degrease plus crack test cylinder head and debur caps and rails. Cylinder block surface ground 0.2mm from main face. Cylinder head surface ground 0.15mm. Reseat valves and fit new valve seals.
After all that my engine is home and eagerly awaiting its new car
Obviously the Rocker Cover needed sorted at this point but the engine is ready to built back up. The only thing I didn't like at that stage was my 200 Block has a 1ml overbore. But the head was in excellent condition so at somepoint later on I will probably replace the block and pistons. This engine is good for 350bhp - 380bhp. Eventually I may want more but that will do to start.
Anyway, thats all for now people. More to follow very soon. Chris[/img]
Right, where do I start ?. Well this started when I saw on Ebay a 4wd Fire damaged Cosworth Engine. I thought to myself that it was a bargain at £1700 and parted with my hard earned cash !. It was local to me at Poole so arrived home fairly quickly. It arrived when I was at work and when I got home all excited I opened the Garage door and thought "Oh my fookin god".
This was my new Cossie -
Is anyone else thinking "What the fook ?"
Well I have no history of this engine or the car it came from. All I did know at the time was the Saph it came from was a 92 and it caught fire. But I wasn't worried, a friend of mine said his Mrs worked with a bloke called Jason who would be interested in having a look. I went to see Jason at his work place and pretty much at gun point (private joke, but almost reality) asked for a hand. And being the nice bloke he is Jason said yes ! ! ! So after a few weeks of scuttling round in the garage the engine, with the addition help of Ratty was stripped to its bare bones. Most of the fire damaged stuff was binned as it was all beyond repair and I got to think what am I going to do with this. I had a chat with a mechanic friend who said my project was ill conceived and lacked research but I prefer the trial and error approach to things. I wanted a Mk1 1963 Cortina but a decent one would be difficult to source and there were other issues relating to power output and shell strengthening so that idea was binned.
I then decided I wanted to put it in a Focus
Anyway, whilst I pondered the Focus Idea my engine sat in pieces on my garage floor whilst I hunted an elusive engine builder. People kept telling me he existed but it took a while for Jason to come up with his details. Anyway, when he did his name was Nick, and he owns Advanced Automotive in Bristol. And what a top bloke he is.
I took my engine to him like this -
It wasn't in bad shape, little bit of Piston Kissing going on but nowt major. Or so I thought
After a several month wait and a top rebuild my engine was returned to me with the following spec -
GOETZ Rings
ACL Main Bearings Heavy Duty
ACL Big End Bearings Heavy Duty
ACL Thrust Washer
ARP Big End Bolts
2 Kent BD10 Camshafts
1 Aux Shaft - Plate - Bearing
1 Two Wheel Drive Oil Pump
1 Belt Tensioner
1 Timing Belt
2 Vernier Pulleys
1 Ajusa Head Set
1 Ajusa Converion Set
1 Group A Ajusa Head Gasket with Uprated Firering
1 Copper Decompression Plate 1.2mm thick - 7.62 Compression Ratio
1 ARP Head Stud Kit
16 Hydrolic lifters
Cylinder Block degreased, crack tested and honed. Crankshaft crack tested and polished. Conrods crack tested and checked for distortion. Pitons measured for excessive wear. Degrease plus crack test cylinder head and debur caps and rails. Cylinder block surface ground 0.2mm from main face. Cylinder head surface ground 0.15mm. Reseat valves and fit new valve seals.
After all that my engine is home and eagerly awaiting its new car
Obviously the Rocker Cover needed sorted at this point but the engine is ready to built back up. The only thing I didn't like at that stage was my 200 Block has a 1ml overbore. But the head was in excellent condition so at somepoint later on I will probably replace the block and pistons. This engine is good for 350bhp - 380bhp. Eventually I may want more but that will do to start.
Anyway, thats all for now people. More to follow very soon. Chris[/img]
16-09-2006, 02:09 PM
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Ok, am suitable refreshed so ready to keep typing. You will have to bear with me as I have been working on this for over a year now so the updates will come through in fits and splurts.
Right. Whilst the engine was being rebuilt Jason and Ratty knew of a bloke who was selling 2WD Cosworth Running Gear. Obviously all my stuff was 4WD but it is heavy and weight kills everything. Also the 4WD stuff is not quite as robust as the 2WD. So the 4WD stuff (Most of which was fucked anyway) was binned and I purchased for a very reasonably priced £700 notes a complete 2WD Cosworth Running Gear. This included, rear beam, hubs, diff, drive shafts, prop shaft, T5 Borg Warner box, front hubs, cross member and 2WD sump. The funny thing was, I own a Ford Escort Car Derived Van and had to transport this stuff from Chippenham back to Bournemouth. So I loaded the old girl up and she wasn't a happy lass. Milk floats go faster than we did on the way home and lets not even discuss the 1st gear zig zag hill incident
Anyway, once home I went to work on stripping the running gear down. It has now all been shot blaster and either powder coated or hammerited.
I don't have photo's off all the stuff during it being refurbed but am sure you get the idea. It is all now Silver and looks as good as new. All my rubber bushes have been polybushed and I have new bearing ready to be pressed in.
On the way up to Cambridge recently I dropped my Gear box and Diff into Bernie at Competition Transmission Services. The Diff is now ATB and I have had a big tooth gear set upgrade so as not to knacker the transmission with the increased power. Photographs of all this will follow shortly.
Anyway whilst all this little stuff was going on this little beauty popped up on Ebay -
Anyone remember seering her ? Well she was Left Hand Drive but that didn't matter to me. The Important thing was she is a Genuine Ford Focus RS Shell. And well all know how important that genuine bit is don't we ? I rang the bloke up and after some delicate negotiation she was mine ! ! ! !
You can see whats coming here can't you ?
Chris
Right. Whilst the engine was being rebuilt Jason and Ratty knew of a bloke who was selling 2WD Cosworth Running Gear. Obviously all my stuff was 4WD but it is heavy and weight kills everything. Also the 4WD stuff is not quite as robust as the 2WD. So the 4WD stuff (Most of which was fucked anyway) was binned and I purchased for a very reasonably priced £700 notes a complete 2WD Cosworth Running Gear. This included, rear beam, hubs, diff, drive shafts, prop shaft, T5 Borg Warner box, front hubs, cross member and 2WD sump. The funny thing was, I own a Ford Escort Car Derived Van and had to transport this stuff from Chippenham back to Bournemouth. So I loaded the old girl up and she wasn't a happy lass. Milk floats go faster than we did on the way home and lets not even discuss the 1st gear zig zag hill incident
Anyway, once home I went to work on stripping the running gear down. It has now all been shot blaster and either powder coated or hammerited.
I don't have photo's off all the stuff during it being refurbed but am sure you get the idea. It is all now Silver and looks as good as new. All my rubber bushes have been polybushed and I have new bearing ready to be pressed in.
On the way up to Cambridge recently I dropped my Gear box and Diff into Bernie at Competition Transmission Services. The Diff is now ATB and I have had a big tooth gear set upgrade so as not to knacker the transmission with the increased power. Photographs of all this will follow shortly.
Anyway whilst all this little stuff was going on this little beauty popped up on Ebay -
Anyone remember seering her ? Well she was Left Hand Drive but that didn't matter to me. The Important thing was she is a Genuine Ford Focus RS Shell. And well all know how important that genuine bit is don't we ?
I rang the bloke up and after some delicate negotiation she was mine ! ! ! ! You can see whats coming here can't you ?
Chris
16-09-2006, 02:56 PM
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I had read on PassonFord about Andy Gallagher and his Focus Cosworth Conversion. I spoke at length with Jason about the best way to do the conversion and each time we came back to the idea of sending the shell to Andy Gallagher to be done. Jason said he was in Northamptonshire so it shouldn't take too much to sort out. I got his number and gave him a ring and two things struck me as odd...
Firstly - Andy Gallagher has probably the strongest scottish accent I have ever heard. Not bad for a bloke who lives in Northamptonshire I thought.
Secondly - The long silence that followed my question of "Whereabouts in Northamptonshire are you ?". I should have guessed it, he was nowhere near Northamptonshire. He was in Scotland, East Ayrshire to be precise. Fooking miles away from the South Coast of England where I live !
After much piss take out of Jason, and I refuse to let him forget, the shell was shipped up to Andy where it remained for several weeks. After several phone calls and text messages later I got that call to say it was ready for collection. An evening job if he had have been in Northamptonshire Anyway, both Jason and I travelled up to Scotland in a hired 4x4 (U-drive are crap by the way) with trailer. An overnight stay in a travel lodge before the day finally arrived.
Several days before this road trip Jason and I had stripped the running gear from a scrap Sierra just so we had something to sit the car on for it's journey home. The running gear I have refurbed is not quite up and running yet.
Anyway, I spent that Tuesday morning beaming from ear to ear at the sight of my new Focus Cosworth. And what a stunner she is ! ! ! !. So thanks Andy......
As you can see, she is now RHD and ready to be built up. Next I need to sort out some bodywork issues but I will update you on them very shortly.
All for now. Chris
Firstly - Andy Gallagher has probably the strongest scottish accent I have ever heard. Not bad for a bloke who lives in Northamptonshire I thought.
Secondly - The long silence that followed my question of "Whereabouts in Northamptonshire are you ?". I should have guessed it, he was nowhere near Northamptonshire. He was in Scotland, East Ayrshire to be precise. Fooking miles away from the South Coast of England where I live !
After much piss take out of Jason, and I refuse to let him forget, the shell was shipped up to Andy where it remained for several weeks. After several phone calls and text messages later I got that call to say it was ready for collection. An evening job if he had have been in Northamptonshire
Anyway, both Jason and I travelled up to Scotland in a hired 4x4 (U-drive are crap by the way) with trailer. An overnight stay in a travel lodge before the day finally arrived.Several days before this road trip Jason and I had stripped the running gear from a scrap Sierra just so we had something to sit the car on for it's journey home. The running gear I have refurbed is not quite up and running yet.
Anyway, I spent that Tuesday morning beaming from ear to ear at the sight of my new Focus Cosworth. And what a stunner she is ! ! ! !. So thanks Andy......
As you can see, she is now RHD and ready to be built up. Next I need to sort out some bodywork issues but I will update you on them very shortly.
All for now. Chris
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16-09-2006, 10:05 PM
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i have just bought a focus shell to do the something similar with .. unfortunately mines not a rs shell, how much did it cost you to convert the shell to run the cossie set up.. if ya dont wanna post here please pm me .
17-09-2006, 01:38 PM
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DAMN COOL
A RWD Focus RS
will be a very cool car.
hope that you will come down with it to the Nürburgring when its ready.
Really looking forward to more updates!!!!
A RWD Focus RS
will be a very cool car.
hope that you will come down with it to the Nürburgring when its ready.
Really looking forward to more updates!!!!
17-09-2006, 04:26 PM
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Looks like its all coming together now Chris
Colin mentioned the gun thing as well 
Good luck with it If you need a hand, let me know...
Colin mentioned the gun thing as well
Good luck with it
If you need a hand, let me know...
20-10-2006, 02:06 PM
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Good to meet you today Chris.... (and with no gun 
) Hope you liked my variation on the theme 
Should have a few toys for you over the next week or two....
) Hope you liked my variation on the theme Should have a few toys for you over the next week or two....
20-10-2006, 04:32 PM
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Paul, cheers for today, it was nice to meet you. I was impressed with your motor, it is coming on very well. Hope mine turns out as well. Shall look forward to having those bits from you. Hope making those spacers up isn't too much of a nightmare.
I will post an update on here very soon. Just a few little things to top and tail.
Chris
I will post an update on here very soon. Just a few little things to top and tail.
Chris