Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

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Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby DJMattyT on Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:41 pm

I just write this in word, I can email the document on request. Hope you lot enjoy it. My way of sayin thanks for everying else!

Anyway, heres the guide!

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Fiesta Mk3 CVH 1600 Engine Conversion Guide
By Matthew Thorne, LSU Motor Club, Loughborough University


Introduction
This guide assumes that you have a running Fiesta Mk3, that is, it has an engine, i.e. 1.1 CFi, 1.4 etc. The amount of parts required will vary depending on the current engine.

This conversion guide is written as advice only, and is based on my own experience with changing my engine over. My car was a base model 1.1 CFi Fiesta Mk3, and now it runs a Weber carbed 1600 CVH engine from an XR2 Mk2.

Be sure to notify your insurance company of ANY modifications to your vehicle, as failure to do so can result in your insurance being void.

I take no responsibility for any outcome concerning this guide.

Without the help of several members of the Loughborough Students Union Motor Club, the XR2 Forums (http://www.xrtwo.com), and the FiestaTurbo Forums (http://www.fiestaturbo.com), this guide would not exist. Thanks to all.

What You Will Need
You are going to need to source these parts to get the ball rolling. Most can be bought from a scrap yard or eBay. I will give a rough guide to price next to each item.

Fiesta Mk2 XR2 Engine + Gearbox £100
Make sure it is all in good condition. Usually you will get the intake and carb with it, as well as the Exhaust Manifold. If you can get hold of a rust bucket XR2 for £200, then do that! That’s what I did!

CVH Alternator £15

Fiesta CVH exhaust system incl down pipe £25

CVH Pump . .read down to see what type £5 (or free :p)

CVH Radiator (Xr2i etc work ok) £45 New (Tanvik)

CVH Top engine mount (offside) The gearbox mounts are the same.

You will need all the hoses that come in a CVH engine’d Fiesta, with exception of the header tank to radiator hose and top hose. The reason for this is that the CVH engines have the water hoses on different sides, and also have a water heated choke on the Twin Choke Weber Carb. Expect to pay around £80 for the lot (new), or if you find a decent CVH donor Fiesta Mk3, get them from there :)
(This includes the engine to heater matrix)

The standard drive shafts in a fiesta are not up to the job, and the Mk2 ones are different. To get round this you can use Zetec Fiesta ones, or, so Ford part numbers tell me, Escort Mk5 CVH ones. . . hmm

I was lucky and had a donor Mk3 1.6s at the local scrap yard so took them off there. Think it was £30 for the pair.

Any Fiesta hubs will work with this conversion, but you will need vented discs and brake calipers as the splines on the shafts are slightly longer, and you will need some decent stopping force either way.

Ford Ka calipers work as well if you cant source Fiesta ones, but that is unlikely.

For the discs, there is a shop on eBay that sells these:

I paid £60 + delivery, so not bad at all really 










If you don’t mind using s**t ones, then just get them off a Fiesta Si, or bigger engine’d Fiesta. (Anything above 1.3 I would of thought.)

Stage One: Getting the old engine out and in with the new!
1) Take everything off, but leave the loom alone (disconnect obviously). This Is because you can just reconnect the starter and alternator to the same connections.
2) Take out the radiator etc.
3) Remove the hubs and pull the shafts out. Just give them a good tug.
4) Fiesta engines need to be dropped out the bottom. Get the front end of the car as high as possible on axle stands, and use and engine crane to support the engine. I suggest removing the bonnet if you haven’t already done so
5) Undo and remove the exhaust.
6) Remove the gear linkage assembly from the box.
7) Undo the rail under the car that supports the gearbox. Not the gearbox mounts, but the rail from the car.
8) Undo the top mount. The engine is now free.
9) Lower the engine onto the floor, in an aggressive manner, as to completely crack the sump, avoiding pussying out and returning to your 1.1 :P
10) Once the engine is on the deck, if you cannot get it past the base of the car to remove it, relocate the engine crane to the front chassis rail cross member and lift the car a good few feet, then hull that old engine out the way.
11) Meanwhile, get someone to attach your CVH top mount to your XR2 engine. If the engine already has a mount attached, and it looks identical. Its not. So change them anyway (trust me).
12) Now take that entire gearbox support rail you took off your 1.1, attach this to the gearbox on your new engine.
13) Fitting is the reverse of removal (Haynes anyone?). Just lift the car, slide the engine under, support the car, lift the engine, and secure 

Now that’s the block in, we have to focus on wiring, fueling and running gear.

Stage Two: Fueling the beast!
For this to work, you might as well understand why we are changing bits.
The way the old system worked was the electric fuel pump in the tank would fire for a second or so to charge the line with petrol, and then fire again when it detected a pressure drop in the CFi unit. We are going to use the mechanical fuel pump to send a decent pressure to our carb, and maintain the electric one to get the petrol in the area. For this to work, you must use a multimeter and find which wire under your back seat bench turns on for a second when you turn the ignition on (using the key remember, as the ECU etc are all still in place.) It will be one of the thick ones, there’s a hint, but I can’t remember which one. (Or use a Haynes.)
After you have found the correct wire, run a decent length from it as to reach the engine bay/battery area.

Now the fuel lines. The actual fuel runner lines are all ok for this, what you have to get right is the fuel pump.

This really is engine specific, but I got mine off a Mk5 1.6 CVH escort. It is located on the back of the block at cam-shaft height. Nick it/bargain with the scrappy, and bring it home. When you take it off remember which metal pipe fits to which fuel hose. One has a red Circle on it, the other has a white one, and the other is standard fuel hose to the carb.

Exchange this pump for the one on your 1600, and reconnect the fuel lines as they were. In your fezzy you will also have a Red ended plastic pipe and a white ended one. They should all just pop on.
That’s all the fueling done, now for the wiring.

Stage Three: Wiring
For this you are going to need to take a trip to the scrappy again.

On the distributor at the end of the camshaft, you have a small black plug on top. You have to get the connector for this off another car. Any old escort fiesta etc will have one, so get it and keep a good length of wire on it.

Also, you will need an ignition coil off any old Ford too. You will also want to go down to Halfords and get some decent lengths of wire, as well as a toggle switch.

Now for the fun bit!!

Strip the wires coming out of your black plug you got.

There should be the following wires, and this is where they go:

Green: Coil Negative
Brown: Earth it somewhere on the car shell.
Black: This is your ignition live. Connect this via your switch to the battery +ve.
Don’t worry, you still cant start the car without the key.

The connector on the other side of the coil (Marked +ve) needs to go to your new ignition wire too.

The wire we put in from your fuel pump +ve also needs to connect to you new ignition line.

Also, on your carb, there is a brass connection on the top (anti-dieseling solenoid). This needs to be connected to your new ignition line too.

Wire up the distributor to the sparkys as usual, as well as the center plug going to the center plug on the coil.

Install your CVH alternator and connect this up to the original loom connector. For a starter, you can use the one off the 1.1, or if you have a bigger CVH one, use that.

Connect this up to the original loom also.

Make sure all your engine grounding straps are connected now too.

Checking your electrics:
Unplug one of the spark plug HT leads, and jam the metal end of a screwdriver into the HT lead end.

Rest this so there is a gap between the screwdriver metal bit and anywhere metal on the car.

WARNING HIGH VOLTAGE DO NOT TOUCH WHEN THE IGNITION IS ON!!

Now get a mate to watch the screwdriver/bodywork gap. Meanwhile, you turn on your ignition and crank the engine using the key as per usual. A spark should arc. If it does not, recheck your wiring. If it works reconnect and keep cranking whilst playing with the throttle and it should fire up. If still no success, check that fuel is pouring out the end that connects to the carb.

By the way, your original throttle cable should work, and if it doesn’t get the little plastic throttle semicircle off a CVH’d escort or fiesta, and put that in. Your original cable will now connect to it.

Also, when you turn the key onto its original ignition, the battery light should come on. This means your alternator is connected properly. This will turn off when the engine is running. (Another good sign!)

If it al makes a loud noise, put on your exhaust in usual manner, and it should now sound quite beasty, even with a standard CVH exhaust!

Stage Four: Running Gear
You may need a decent damper/spring kit (i.e. Spax) to support the engine, I had one fitted anyhow, and if you want decent handling I suggest you get a kit anyway.

1) Jam your new drive shafts (see under needed parts for what type) into the CVH box. Make sure the ends are clean first.
2) Attach your hubs in same manner as removal.
3) This time, use your vented discs and calipers. The brake system will need bleeding after everything is fitted.
4) Check your gear linkage is all aligned properly. This is pretty straight forward to work out.
5) Drop it all back on the floor, check oil, etc
6) Then take it for a quick rant around the car park, as there is no cooling set up as yet.


Stage Five: Cooling

1) Fit your new radiator and reattach the fan. The connecters are the same as the original Mk3 loom, but the may need extending, do so as necessary.
2) Use your new hose set to reconnect all the hoses up. The heater matrix ones are hard to get at but the can be done. In retrospect, better to do them when the engine is not installed.

Refill the water and run the engine up. The auto choke should open gradually. Also, take the lid off the header tank and let it overflow to remove air locks.

Conclusion
That’s about all I can remember from my conversion, even though I only did it around 2 weeks ago! Just so much stuff! Most of it you can figure out as you go along, and if you have any other questions, email me:

mattythorne@hotmail.com
m.l.thorne-03@student.lboro.ac.uk

Good luck and drive safe!
Matt Thorne
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Postby DJMattyT on Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:45 pm

I know this will be useful to some1 so BTTT
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Postby phatboy on Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:27 am

nice guide, ill be doing similar soon

but i currently have a 1.1hcs, so it already uses a mechanical fuel pump, so should be simpler

Why are the old driveshafts not good enough, will they break under the load?
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:14 am

When I used them they completely wore the bearings away in the hubs, and started to eat the hubs away too. I think they are just different lengths . .

Matty
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Postby morpheus on Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:03 pm

DJMattyT wrote:When I used them they completely wore the bearings away in the hubs, and started to eat the hubs away too. I think they are just different lengths . .

Matty


If i have a 1992 1.4CVH OHC Carbed engine, do you think driveshafts, brakes, gearbox need to changed? cheers, btw amazing guide! it needs to be put into the guide section (mods out there???).
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:12 pm

The gearbox can be kept, and in that case u can leave al the running gear alone and just chane the engine (incl intake/exhaust).

The brakes on a 1.4 and the 1,6 are the same as far as I ma aware. I just went with vented ones beacause I want to get a decent amount of power out of mine (ie twin webers/delortos) and thought might as well change brakes at same time.

Up to you at end of the day.
Matty
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:14 pm

Oh, I think the ratios on the 1.4 are slighter shorted than the 1.6 . . more accl :)

Have to ask one of the experts tho.

Matty
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 2:33 pm

Um admins cud this be moved to guides please . .

Cheers,
matt
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 2:33 pm

Um admins cud this be moved to guides please . .

Cheers,
matt
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Postby Project on Mon Dec 06, 2004 2:35 pm

I think the driveshafts are all the same to be honest mate. You need to lever them out with a tyre lever or something similar - just pulling them can pop the CV joint apart and damage the CV gaitors.

Also, I'd never drive an ally-head engine without cooling - you can make a right mess of the head in little or no time :(.

Also, it sounds like you're still running an electric fuel pump - this is a bad idea on engines which use the older type of fuel pump which doesn't regulate the fuel pressure internally (as you will flood the carb).
<< I need to put something here, yer? >>
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:44 pm

mine seems to work mate, as geting into the tank to remove the old pump will be a Bic™.

The mechanical one features a fuel return rail so I am guessing there is some sort of regulator in there . . I may be wrong. I am tempted to use a FPR and just run the electric pump.

Yer I meant be careful with the shafts. We pried them out too.

Matty
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Postby Badgerboy on Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:41 am

Nice guide mate.
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Postby DJMattyT on Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:27 pm

Cheers mate, glad someone likes it :)
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Postby DJMattyT on Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:14 pm

Cheers mate, glad someone likes it :)
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Postby phatboy on Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:30 am

you think u left enough hours between posting that twice! :lol:

nice guide :aviator:
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Postby Marc D on Tue Dec 28, 2004 12:43 pm

free bump. very useful guide mate well done. will come in handy for when i start sorting out the wiring and fuelling
At least i dont drive a saxo!!
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Postby DJMattyT on Wed Dec 29, 2004 10:58 pm

Hey mate cheers.

The wiring is ez as pie, its the fueling. I am still having a few issues . .

posted a new post about it 10 mins ago lol.

Keeps flooding when running the stock elctric pump, and leanign out wen using the mechanical one lol.

But wen it works . .jeez its quick (well froma a 1.1 to an XR2 for me seems pretty fast :) )

Matty
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Postby Jays_si on Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:26 pm

would emmisions be high? cos my 1.1 (project car) is a 93L
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Postby DJMattyT on Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:58 pm

Mines in a 93L too mate. When you go for your MOT, tell them about the engine change, and that the engine comes from a car that pre-dates a cat. They will then do a non-cat test and you will be fine. I had mine 2 weeks ago:

CO emmisions where 0.14%, with a max of 3.5% :)

And mine is running rich as hell due to a fueling issue.

Hope that helps,
Matty
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Postby Jays_si on Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:00 pm

that legal? :lol:
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Postby Jays_si on Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:02 pm

n whats the change in insurance?
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Postby DJMattyT on Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:55 pm

Its legal because engien changes are allowed, and the test is run based on the age of the engine, plus I had my MOT done at Tanvic (lkaods of branches proper place like kwikfit) so thjats ok.

As for insurance, its still down as a 1.1, but seeing as i dont drive it on the roads very much . . uisually down motorclub being rebuilt etc, I havent updated it yet, but wil do on my 20th in a cuple of months.

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Postby Jays_si on Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:09 pm

DJMattyT wrote:Its legal because engien changes are allowed, and the test is run based on the age of the engine, plus I had my MOT done at Tanvic (lkaods of branches proper place like kwikfit) so thjats ok.

As for insurance, its still down as a 1.1, but seeing as i dont drive it on the roads very much . . uisually down motorclub being rebuilt etc, I havent updated it yet, but wil do on my 20th in a cuple of months.

Matty


cheers mate mite look into a frst engine then :lol:
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Postby Jays_si on Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:27 pm

DJMattyT wrote:Its legal because engien changes are allowed, and the test is run based on the age of the engine, plus I had my MOT done at Tanvic (lkaods of branches proper place like kwikfit) so thjats ok.

As for insurance, its still down as a 1.1, but seeing as i dont drive it on the roads very much . . uisually down motorclub being rebuilt etc, I havent updated it yet, but wil do on my 20th in a cuple of months.

Matty


cheers mate mite look into a frst engine then :lol:
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Postby Marc D on Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:32 am

bump. can someone move this to the guides section please?
At least i dont drive a saxo!!
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Postby DJMattyT on Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:06 pm

bump . . just looking over history .. I think this should be in guides . .
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Re: Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby ricky680 on Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:35 pm

anyone know if a g reg esocrt combi van is the same im getting an xr2 engine
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Re: Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby michaeldavidconnell on Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:05 pm

it sould be what eng is in the van mate?

and Gr8 guide mate think that this sould be in the guides section
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Re: Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby russ-RST on Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:27 pm

will probs be using this soon as im putting a rst lump in my mk3.5 :D
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Re: Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby b0yracer on Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:06 am

so glad i found this now i finally know what to do
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Re: Guide: Fitting a 1600 CVH into your Mk3 (Full)

Postby b0yracer on Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:17 am

though im confused about the fuel situation, does it work with both pumps or not ??
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