S3 Winter rebuild plans

[Neville Smith]

Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice on what to do with my S3 over its winter layup, the car has a 1600 pinto which I'm reliably informed is from a mk2 Mexico, it's quite smokey on start up and after being at idle.....my original thoughts were to rebuild and tune this engine but should I look to put a 2000 pinto in instead.

I would like to strip and rebuild the front suspension and brakes as I think it needs it, any thoughts?

The shocks I have on there are adjustable (not sure what they are) but they are wound right up and its as stiff as anything to the point of shaking the wee wee in my bladder I don't expect luxury far from it but it does seem a bit too stiff. as for the rear what shocks should I fit, the car has leaf springs at present....5 link in the future.

Any advice would be appreciated

Cheers 

Nev

[Steve and Matt Pegrum]

Is that to top of the oil filler or timing belt cover?

It looks like the Blacktop Zetec with its big sump is slightly taller than the Pinto

Yes the standard induction from a mondeo or focus will also add a bit more  ~min  2.5" extra with that. On the Phaeton we used a custom plenum to avoid that, but again on the Eagle it's no problem

[Dave Adams]

Until a few weeks ago I had my rs2000 engine out of my legerra stood along side of my 1800 blacktop zetec....the zetec was noticeably shorter in height. Maybe the 2.0 zetec has a deeper sump as I read on the Internet the 1800 sump is better.....don't know why.

[Dave Adams]

My pinto to the top of the carb was in the region of 27 -28 inches the zeetec is about 24-25 inches even with out the carb it's taller....mostly on the sump.

[neil parsons]

MK2 Mexico had 1600 OHC Pinto engine

[neil parsons]

Mazda Wankel engine I would go for , be different

[Steve Kerswell]

Oops! Add another 25mm. For the oil cap. Probably more on a steel cam cover.

[Steve and Matt Pegrum]

Aha I guess that makes them the same size then!

(oil filler on Zetec is below cam pulley)

[Paul Sheridan]

Oil filler cap on my one is above cam pulley. But with a modified phase 3 sump the bottom is level with the bottom chassis rail. 

[Steve and Matt Pegrum]

Very nice!

That's a silver top zetec of course though. Both the oil filler (is that a standard silver top one? It is veeery shiny) and sump are different on the black top

[Steve Kerswell]

If it's only smoky on start up and idle, reckon it's valve oil seals gone very hard, cheap fix if that is all it needs, quick decoke while it's off, away you go.

[Neville Smith]

Thanks for all the info guys, very helpful.

[Steve Kerswell]

Just assembled the carb and filter and screwed it together, from bottom of sump to highest point ( top of filter domed nut) is now 705mm. Still, it goes under the Sierra bonnet OK, so I'm happy. You can safely remove 50mm from sump and add wings to replace capacity, but I have no ground clearance issue's.