Adrian Jefferies writes >
> My father has a ~82 Escort
> with a 1600 OHV engine, and the water pump has failed. The pump
> is driven by the cam belt, and access to the bottom cam pulley/lower
One of the dumbest designs I have ever seen on any car. I had one of
these. The suspension sucked, too.
> Its really, really tough to get in there. Anyone got a similar
> car & done this?
Yes. Unfortunately I cannot remember exact details.
> The Haynes manual shows a slightly different
> model & the obstructing lower cover is not part of that design.
Yes. The later 1900 (I'm talking USA models) was much easier, from the look
of it, but I never had to do one. A friend of my wife's has one.
> Plus their engine is on a bench!
That is the key. The whole job is bolt-simple if the engine is out of the
car.
> Essentially, the bottom pulley needs to come off to reveal
> the lower-cover bolts,
Getting this bolt out is a poser. I had to buy a large socket (44mm?
Can't remember, you had better measure it.), but it was too long to clear
the bodywork. So I had to HACKSAW the socket shorter (damn, I wish I had
a lathe!). To get access to everything, you have to remove the right
motor mount and raise the right end of the engine. We used a come-along
winch to the garage rafters.
> but that means disturbing the timing;
Don't worry about this part. There are marks on the cam sprockets that
are easy to line up. Look at them at TDC, you will see that they are in
line. Just duplicate that at TDC when you refit.
The important thing on this engine is you MUST replace the timing belt.
They have a disturbing tendency to fail, taking the valves out and often
causing severe damage to the cylinder head. When mine went, I was told I
was lucky that I only lost all the valves and guides, and was not required
to junk the head. The machine shop had a head ready and exchanged it on
the spot. This failure is so common that they keep one they have repaired
in stock!
In fact, you already have been lucky. I am told that in many cases, the
water pump fails by seizing. This quickly breaks the belt and causes all
the damage.
I am told that belt failures on my K-car are rare, and the engine has full
clearance, so no damage occurs. The RWD Mazda 626 I have has a chain, and so
does the Europa (Renault), so I feel somewhat immune to this particular
disaster.
> requires
> removing the starter to jam the flywheel to get the pulley bolt out,
> and so on. Just ridiculous ...
Since the halfshafts were still connected, I just put the car in top gear
and had an assistant stand on the brake pedal with both feet.
> My TR4 is (usually) much easier to fix!
Certainly
> On a different tack; I've been following the Midget gearbox
> replacement saga with interest. Why a Spit gearbox?
Because the car is a rubber-bumper model, which came from the factory with
the Spitfire 1500 engine and gearbox.
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