Progress Report and a remarkable discovery....
The next job was to hoist the central body tub off the rolling chassis on to a trolley that I built from surplus timber and some old supermarket wheels that I've used before during my Marlin Sportster build.
Body tub on trolley by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
Body tub trolley by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
Which got me back to the rolling chassis stage where i was in January 2013
Rolling chassis May 2015 by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
It has faired reasonably well in my damp unheated lockup garage but there is some surface rust on unpainted parts. It is also covered in spiders 'poo' which is surprisingly hard to remove.
Rolling Chassis May 2015 by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
I next moved on to thinking about the engine mounts so thought I would try the BMW M52 mounts and amazingly discovered they are a near perfect fit
(Now the chassis was built in 1994 and designed for a Ford DOHC engine and the BMW was not built until August 1995 - how weird?)
M52TU block with M52 engine mounts by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
M52 OS engine mount by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
M52 NS engine mount by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
The sump is pefectly horozontal and the only issues are a slight angular mis-alignment.....
Slight angular misalignment by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
....and I have about 25mm clearance around the top and back of the crossmember which is a little too much as I want to get the engine as low and as far forward as I can get it.
Next job is to check the clearance with the 'real' engine as I've noticed a difference between the 1995 and 1998 sumps.
More updates soon.......
....peter