Limited Budget Essex Engine for the Novice
Discussion
OK so there have been lots of requests for help with the standard Ford Essex engine.
What would you do to rebuild one on a limited budget ?
Where are the best places to spend your money to gain reliability and/or performance.
Where can you source parts at a reasonable price ?
Just thought it would be a good topic to "Ask the Panel" :-)
What would you do to rebuild one on a limited budget ?
Where are the best places to spend your money to gain reliability and/or performance.
Where can you source parts at a reasonable price ?
Just thought it would be a good topic to "Ask the Panel" :-)
Adrian,
I have reached the same conclusion. Pricing up new pistons, bearings etc then the machining a DIY rebuild doesn't look too attractive.
Pistons seem to be horribly expensive compared with V8 pistons ??
I am looking at a road going very mildly modified engine to meet regulations (the 3.4 option is illegal)
The spec I have decided to go for is :-
+60 overbore
full bottom end balance
tuftrided oil pump drive gear
steel timing gears
lightenend flywheel
3 into 1 exhausts
Oil cooler
Questions
Heads
Do you need to go for unleaded inserts on a low mileage (2k miles p/a) engine ??
If you use bigger valves do you run a much bigger risk of heads cracking ?
Exhaust
What length should the primaries be and what diameter pipes for the exhaust ?
Camshaft
What is the best Ford cam available for this engine ??
Chris
I have reached the same conclusion. Pricing up new pistons, bearings etc then the machining a DIY rebuild doesn't look too attractive.
Pistons seem to be horribly expensive compared with V8 pistons ??
I am looking at a road going very mildly modified engine to meet regulations (the 3.4 option is illegal)
The spec I have decided to go for is :-
+60 overbore
full bottom end balance
tuftrided oil pump drive gear
steel timing gears
lightenend flywheel
3 into 1 exhausts
Oil cooler
Questions
Heads
Do you need to go for unleaded inserts on a low mileage (2k miles p/a) engine ??
If you use bigger valves do you run a much bigger risk of heads cracking ?
Exhaust
What length should the primaries be and what diameter pipes for the exhaust ?
Camshaft
What is the best Ford cam available for this engine ??
Chris
Looks like the only option is Blueprinting,hence the 60tho overbore allowance.
So, it's the dremmel, polishing kit and swiss files for you then.
On a limited budget, because Blueprinting is so labour intensive, doing it yourself has to be your option.
What about a cold air box around your carb?.
John
So, it's the dremmel, polishing kit and swiss files for you then.
On a limited budget, because Blueprinting is so labour intensive, doing it yourself has to be your option.
What about a cold air box around your carb?.
John
Tuning the Essex V6 is worth a 
- looks like it lists some known areas of potential trouble to check for when rebuilding and also a couple of things to tidy up to get better reliability.
I hadn't realised the engine was originally designed for the Transit, and also was also designed to be both diesel and petrol. Quite a testament to the design that it went on to appear in so many "more interesting" cars.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my Taimar is missing it's engine/g'box, so I have somewhere to fit my spare 302
Nick
- looks like it lists some known areas of potential trouble to check for when rebuilding and also a couple of things to tidy up to get better reliability. I hadn't realised the engine was originally designed for the Transit, and also was also designed to be both diesel and petrol. Quite a testament to the design that it went on to appear in so many "more interesting" cars.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my Taimar is missing it's engine/g'box, so I have somewhere to fit my spare 302
Nick
..and also found info on fitting roller rockers at M.Fix and an offering from the Ford Crapi Laser site about camshaft drive gear being a common failure and a suggestion to avoid it.
Big valves will make a big difference. With standard size valves my John Wade motor makes somewhere between 185 and 200bhp at the flywheel with the valves as the limiting factor - the 38DGAS will flow enough air to support well over 200bhp.
Inlet temp is well worth attention - lagged exhausts and a box to bring in cold air from the base of the screen or a high-pressure area on the front of the car.
Inlet temp is well worth attention - lagged exhausts and a box to bring in cold air from the base of the screen or a high-pressure area on the front of the car.
If you want more than 200bhp on a single Weber, you really have to look at air-in and exhaust out.
I reckon the GAjon exhaust is worth a good 15-20bhp in the midrange upwards. I also had a custom K&N filter with extra deep veins that would in theory flow up to 235bhp yet still fit under the bonnet.
I assume you can't run HC pistons.
Can you run a 40DFI instead of a 38DGAS, it is a period carb, but throws more fuel at the engine or can you bore out the 38DGAS?
My engine big valve heads, Kent fast road cam, Powermax HC pistons fully balanced bottom end, matched manifold, 40DFI produced 140bhp (at the wheels) at 4500rpm on the rollers before we had a fuel starvation problem on the day, say a few extra bhp for another 1000rpm and adding in for the flywheel I could have been looking at 190bhp at the flywheel. But one man's rolling road is different to another.
My engine was out together as a background project by someone who built rally engines to club rallying in the 70's. He's no longer in business.
But the change to the GAjon exhaust was very noticable!!!
Hope that helps
davidy
I reckon the GAjon exhaust is worth a good 15-20bhp in the midrange upwards. I also had a custom K&N filter with extra deep veins that would in theory flow up to 235bhp yet still fit under the bonnet.
I assume you can't run HC pistons.
Can you run a 40DFI instead of a 38DGAS, it is a period carb, but throws more fuel at the engine or can you bore out the 38DGAS?
My engine big valve heads, Kent fast road cam, Powermax HC pistons fully balanced bottom end, matched manifold, 40DFI produced 140bhp (at the wheels) at 4500rpm on the rollers before we had a fuel starvation problem on the day, say a few extra bhp for another 1000rpm and adding in for the flywheel I could have been looking at 190bhp at the flywheel. But one man's rolling road is different to another.
My engine was out together as a background project by someone who built rally engines to club rallying in the 70's. He's no longer in business.
But the change to the GAjon exhaust was very noticable!!!
Hope that helps
davidy
Electron said:
Adrian,
I have reached the same conclusion. Pricing up new pistons, bearings etc then the machining a DIY rebuild doesn't look too attractive.
Pistons seem to be horribly expensive compared with V8 pistons ??
I am looking at a road going very mildly modified engine to meet regulations (the 3.4 option is illegal)
The spec I have decided to go for is :-
+60 overbore
full bottom end balance
tuftrided oil pump drive gear
steel timing gears
lightenend flywheel
3 into 1 exhausts
Oil cooler
Questions
Heads
Do you need to go for unleaded inserts on a low mileage (2k miles p/a) engine ??
If you use bigger valves do you run a much bigger risk of heads cracking ?
Exhaust
What length should the primaries be and what diameter pipes for the exhaust ?
Camshaft
What is the best Ford cam available for this engine ??
Chris
Chris I have reached the same conclusion. Pricing up new pistons, bearings etc then the machining a DIY rebuild doesn't look too attractive.
Pistons seem to be horribly expensive compared with V8 pistons ??
I am looking at a road going very mildly modified engine to meet regulations (the 3.4 option is illegal)
The spec I have decided to go for is :-
+60 overbore
full bottom end balance
tuftrided oil pump drive gear
steel timing gears
lightenend flywheel
3 into 1 exhausts
Oil cooler
Questions
Heads
Do you need to go for unleaded inserts on a low mileage (2k miles p/a) engine ??
If you use bigger valves do you run a much bigger risk of heads cracking ?
Exhaust
What length should the primaries be and what diameter pipes for the exhaust ?
Camshaft
What is the best Ford cam available for this engine ??
Chris
I build my own engines, but stick to 30yrs of silly rules that apply ... simple things do not come easy, even if you buy pistons with ring sets these days you still need to buy the correct rings to give you the correct ring gaps! Lead indium bearings are hard to come these days, heads require unleading BUT the spec of valve insert that is required is not the norm (that's why I pay John Wade to do my head work, I know the spec. but trust John to work his magic) I build my own engines (that way I can do the silly things that take time, like remove all the excess flashings) and use John to source all the parts, There is no substitue for the quality that he supplies.
Adrian@
My engine was built to comply with 'standard' regs in the RSSOC championship, so here's a slightly more comprehensive list, from the top, as it were:
Cold air duct to std air filter housing with K&N element
'Improved' 38DGAS
Flowed & port-matched inlet manifold
Electronic ignition & Magnecor HT leads
Distributor advance matched to cam profile
John Wade unleaded heads - flowed, ported etc
Bronze valve guides
Pinned rocker posts
'Improved' tappet adjusters
'Improved' standard diameter valves
Balanced combustion chambers
Lagged, port-matched SS exhaust manifolds
John Wade 290 cam
John Wade lightweight steel timimg gear
'Improved' block with increased compression ratio
Balanced standard pistons & rods
ARP rod bolts
Baffled sump
Plus all the usual sensible jobs, like radiussed oilways, removal of stress raisers from castings and replacing or reconditioning everything else, which soaks up a lot of expensive time. I did anything that could be done with a spanner, John did everything else.
Without the electronic ignition all that gave 170bhp at the wheels on a 'static load' test with the aircleaner off and 155bhp at the wheels on a 'rising load' test with the aircleaner on and the bonnet shut - which prompted me to do the cold air feed and to lag the exhaust manifolds.
Since then it's done fifty or sixty hillclimbs and about twenty thousand road miles and appears to be as strong as ever: the flipside is that the cost of building another like this now would be between £2,500 and £3,000, even if, like me, you did the build-up yourself.
A decent 'standard' engine like this requires as much work as a 250bhp big-valve triple-carb number, all you save is the cost of the carbs and their manifold: it's only when you get to changing pistons - for bespoke ones, not Powermax, increasing capacity or switching to Ric Wood heads that the costs really rocket for a 'non standard' engine.
Cold air duct to std air filter housing with K&N element
'Improved' 38DGAS
Flowed & port-matched inlet manifold
Electronic ignition & Magnecor HT leads
Distributor advance matched to cam profile
John Wade unleaded heads - flowed, ported etc
Bronze valve guides
Pinned rocker posts
'Improved' tappet adjusters
'Improved' standard diameter valves
Balanced combustion chambers
Lagged, port-matched SS exhaust manifolds
John Wade 290 cam
John Wade lightweight steel timimg gear
'Improved' block with increased compression ratio
Balanced standard pistons & rods
ARP rod bolts
Baffled sump
Plus all the usual sensible jobs, like radiussed oilways, removal of stress raisers from castings and replacing or reconditioning everything else, which soaks up a lot of expensive time. I did anything that could be done with a spanner, John did everything else.
Without the electronic ignition all that gave 170bhp at the wheels on a 'static load' test with the aircleaner off and 155bhp at the wheels on a 'rising load' test with the aircleaner on and the bonnet shut - which prompted me to do the cold air feed and to lag the exhaust manifolds.
Since then it's done fifty or sixty hillclimbs and about twenty thousand road miles and appears to be as strong as ever: the flipside is that the cost of building another like this now would be between £2,500 and £3,000, even if, like me, you did the build-up yourself.
A decent 'standard' engine like this requires as much work as a 250bhp big-valve triple-carb number, all you save is the cost of the carbs and their manifold: it's only when you get to changing pistons - for bespoke ones, not Powermax, increasing capacity or switching to Ric Wood heads that the costs really rocket for a 'non standard' engine.
I am just finishing up the essex v6 rebuild for my scimitar se6a and I think I have probably spent about 2grand but then I haven't gone mad with it. I have stuck with largely original internals as the where all OK. However I have done all the time consuming jobs like poleshing the inlet manifolds internals. And smoothed out and opened up the exhaust ports to match my stainless manitolds. But I have replaced pistons and rings new big ends and mains. New alloy timing gear and a fully electronic ignition system cold air induction kit is next pluss a long list of other little bits as the norm with a rebuild. It's pretty much like new inside and out now. Just waiting on a few final bits to finally be able to fire her up and get her tuned in and running sweet again.
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