109 replies to this topic

[Gassed250]

well I bought this as spares for my turbo Sigma (it had a mint hood lining) and was just going to part it out but couldn't bring myself to do it, so it was decided to be turned into an ultra cheap fun streeter

First plan was to stick an SC14 on the 4 banger but I had a better idea

It originally belonged to the Anglican Church of Australia.





I was just going to leave it white and granny spec but it needed some panel and rust work so i decided to give it a make over







SC14 in place





Well after stuffing around with the sc14 and thinking about what i'd get out of it i decided to put it on the shelf and go with a 302 clevo

After talking with my engineer and getting the OK and a list of minimum requirements I sat down and done a quick build plan

Engineer requested that the car needed to have vented front disc brakes and a minimum of 10" rear drums, I also had to up grade the front springs and strut inserts to cope with the extra weight

So lets sort out the brakes and suspension

I didnt want to stuff around with fitting bigger drums to the std diff so I got my hands on a 3.45:1 LSD diff from an EF Fairmont



First thing was to strip the diff and remove the ford brackets



Once the housing was stripped it was time to figure out how much needed to be removed so it would fit the sigma right, the factory sigma diff is 1388mm wide but seeing as im using a ford wheel that has a +10 offset i couldnt go the same length as the sigma diff as it set the wheels out to far

I chose to go with a total width of 1355mm which meant i had to remove 190mm (95mm each side) from the ford housing this worked out to be a blessing in disguise as the ford axles differ in length by 95mm meaning I could use the short axle for the long side and have the long axle cut down 190mm splined and slotted in the short side

Before i cut the housing i scribed a line along the axle tube so a could re-align the ends in their correct position



THE JIG>

Once the housing was cut i needed a way to make sure it was going to be straight once welded back together, So i had a look on the net at how the pro's do it and found they use a housing bar, basically its a stiff bar that passes through collars that replace the bearings and in turn keeps the housing in line

Collars, the two larger collars go in the center the smaller fit in the axle tubes



Collars on bar











A nice deep V ground into the join to provide a nice deep strong welded join, tacked in place with a mig all final welding will be done with a tig



Cut and splined short side axle



Diff dummy assembled to check measurements and to make sure it all works before final welding




Next thing to do was make another jig to help align the suspension arm mounts

Suspension jig



this was easy to build i just put the housing bar through the sigma diff and then built the jig around it, once done i just cut the mounts off the diff and bolted them to the jig then sat the new diff in place



finished BTR housing, ready for assembly and installation, i had to make new offset upper trailing arms as the mount on the diff had to be moved outwards, i just used the falcon uppers with the sigma ends welded on, the top mounts on the diff are the falcon off cuts



Falcon upper trailing arms


fitting it was a breeze went in easier than the factory unit, still need to make a tail shaft and connect hand brake and brake lines



Plenty of room for wider tyres, well theres 25mm between the tyre and body, i could fit a 255 tyre if i wish







Front brakes and struts

I used Centura insert in the GH strut and a GJ retaining nut for a perfect fit without the need for spacers

Ok top to bottom, GH Sigma, KB Centura, GJ sigma



GJ retaining nut on left vs GH retaining nut




Springs, left to right

KB Centura, GH SE, GH Turbo




And this is the strut brake combo that im using for my clevo conversion, its a real hybrid and was a dead set head frak to sort out

it consists of

STRUTS>

GH Strut

Centura Insert

GJ retaining nut

Centura spring

Centura top spring plate

GH strut top

BRAKES

XA falcon hub/disc

HQ Wheel bearings

WB Caliper

Falcon hoses, have now been swapped for rear disc sigma hoses

TE Cortina to Holden caliper mount, you can either get these from CRS or just make them from some 10mm plate

Attached Files

•  SAM_0758.jpg   49.18KB   27 downloads

Edited by Gassed250, 24 October 2010 - 04:09 PM.

[Gassed250]

Here we go, no turning back now

went in fairly easy just had to give the opening of the trans tunnel a tender bashing and a smear of KY and that was it no modding the firewall, cross member or the sump







Plenty of room (kinda), though i'll need to fit a holden 6 water pump to gain an extra 45mm of room in the front



engine sits about 25mm further back now



engine and trans is mounted, still needed final welding

Trans mount was simple just needed to add a plate to the sigma crossmember to pick up the ford box, tail shaft is done all i done was use a std length 6 cyl cortina shaft

Didn't bother with the normal style engine mounts and decided to go with an engine plate, this will give me heaps of room for exhaust headers once I cut the sigma mounts off the crossmember

Im hoping to use off the shelf falcon V8 pacemakers

Engine plate is made from 4mm mild steel plate the rubbers and pieces that fit to the chassis rail are the mounts that i cut off the falcon diff



All i did was remove the timing case cover and marked out the holes


engine in its final position, still needs to be tig welded and trimmed into shape








Plenty of room now


Drivers side extractors are done still need to finish the passenger side

Engine with factory water pump leaves no room for a radiator, solution was to gut an alloy pump cut it down then weld the hole up and run a davies craig 115 ewp




The other problem was the rocker cover fouled on the brake booster, the cover had already been bashed to get it to kinda fit but it was no way to fix the problem and leaves me no room for roller rockers

Solution was to fit a smaller booster, after lots of looking and measurements I decided to go with a datsun stanza booster as it was the closest to what I needed, and it turns out my mate uses them for hotrods and they work a treat :thumpsup:

Still was not a bolt in swap as the bolt pattern was slightly different and the bolt are to short, I had to dismantle both the sigma and stanza booster and remove the long bolts from the sigma unit then cut the one off the stanza booster redrill and fit longer bolts, anyhow with a little stuffing I got there in the end




Need to re route the bake lines



well the headers are done, pretty scary looking would of been better if I started from scratch but they will do for now

cut down the crank pulley and got it back as far as possible now the engine is only an inch longer than an astron

engine mount / alt bracket is done, its a different way to go about things but it gives me room for headers and is a very strong way to mount an engine





didnt do anything to the engine when is was apart, except blend the valve bowls lap the valves and give it a good clean






not using the hei dizzy



As it sits now

Edited by Gassed250, 30 June 2010 - 11:09 PM.

[KLR250]

frikkin awsome!

[Tyler06]

Man thats is awesome and i cant beleive that its gonna be licensed. Great write up and you definately have some fab skills.

[Braddyxe51]

If ya ever think about mass producing the diffs or engine plates Im in onwanting one.
Great write up too. Great work on that diff.
Reminds my of one I read years back in SM. it was so grandma spec still had orig hubcaps on it, was a 351 just had a small faker pipe out back to look stock.

[2MONTS]

I'm still picking my jaw up off the ground
that is mint

[Braddyxe51]

Is it able to be lic with engine plate or is it because you still have rubber mounting on plate that its allowed?

[Ando Panoman]

Thats looking nice what a change good work.

[Steve Mcqueen]

Hell yeah, thats wicked! Incredible work and appears to be all by yourself i love it.

[gas351]

awesome project man that front engine plate turned out sweet

[BGDAV]

awesome project !

[nikzak]

freaking killer job mate, looks awesome, i'm sure it'll go like the clappers and mate, as if you'll get hassled by muppets in blue cruising around in that little beastie

[bob 351]

and you did all this in your garage you are a genius and i WANT ONE

[nikzak]

yeah, actually, can you make me one mate? but with a 5 speed

oh and when will you start work on that v12 all wheel drive volkswagen beetle? lol, seriously, i dont doubt you could do it

[drew442]

Killer!

[Shmuckstien]

OMG, I wish dad had kept his old sigma now! That's fantastic!

[ratwagon]

tops mate tops

[xewagon]

wow mate chuck a video up!

[leev8xe]

Awesome job mate love it!!!

[HYPER FX]

thats awesome mate cant wait to see a vid of it going