New guy. Here is my Cat

[Vovchandr]

I find that remark strange too as I was able to find other topics and part number of people talking about them. 

 

I placed an overnight order for 4x of them to be here by Monday. Listed for "6.08 mm Lash Caps - Specifications: 6.08 mm - .239 ID - .120 Deep Ford Focus 2.0L (for Valve Stem Stock size)"

 

I hope they fit. Order one size bigger and smaller as well just in case. They needed valve dimensions from the shop but the shop was unable to provide me with them until Monday. 

[Vovchandr]

Zetecs varieties are still very confusing to me.

 

One of my timing belt idle pulleys came in different than what I've had. Started looking into it.

 

It appears there were two different varieties of Zetec with no obvious distinctions. From everything I've seen so far I have a Ford Contour Motor due to it being VCT and the position of the oil fill plug. Still no idea why the yellow valve cover but those are seen occasionally. 

 

In the first picture you can see idler is same size as tensioner. In second picture, idler is bigger

 

 

vs

 

 

 

Here is what the part numbers cross back over to

 

Smaller

 

 

Bigger

 

 

As you can see there is a lot of overlap in 99. Might be a half year model thing. With my Caterham being a 2001 I always assumed by engine is around 2000. Looks like it might be a 1998?

[Anker]

The cam pulleys are correspondingly larger and the cams are further apart!

[kayentaskier]

Vlad,

Although currently Caterham will only sell kits with brand new engines, at the time your car was built most buyers (or regional Caterham dealers) sourced used Zetec engines. Then the "third party" (required for legality in US) often massaged the engine. One particular builder hand stamped the block with a unique alpha numeric code.

 

Before the 420R, I owned a 2004 Caterham with a Zetec engine; it was hand stamped with the 8 digit, alpha numeric code; for example # XXXX ###. I was able to learn my engine was ... "a 202hp setup with the TWM manifold, Pectel engine management, and Kent Focus 12 cams. The valve sizes are stock, as we could never really find any improvement with larger ones unless we went with ridiculously hot cams and a lot of porting, which tends to kill the bottom end."

 

If you have this type of stamp on your block, I could try to help you contact the engine builder. I don't have permission to disclose this contact info publicly.

Good luck,

Jim

[Vovchandr]

Lash caps are in. Doesn't look like any of them will work. Called Ferrea and they don't really have anything that will work it seems. 

 

Debating on buying a stock head to source the caps but at this point in time I have no guarantees that mine are even stock at this point in time. Since the head was build who knows what the builder used. 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Vovchandr

[JohnCh]

Given the ones from Burton Power appear the same as yours, it might be worth a call to see if they can provide more detail.  The page I linked to earlier states "Tappet shim to fit our solid tappets. 0.160" thick (machine to suit) and 6mm stem. Will also suit any tappet/valve with a 6mm stem."   Looking at their solid tappets, it appears they are referring to those offered by Kent in standard 30mm, and a slightly larger 32mm sizes.  Seems like a reasonable lead to follow.

 

-John

[Vovchandr]

On 8/13/2021 at 2:01 PM, CarlB said:

Someone put different tappets in your engine. The Ford tappets do not use caps on the valves to adjust the clearance.  

 

@CarlB It appears you were right on the money.

 

I've visited a second Ford dealer who was also confused and couldn't find a lash cap.

 

Running out of ideas I tried calling the original builder that I had on the sheet to see if they would be willing to help out. Sure enough the phone number was still valid, they picked up and were very nice and confirmed that they used their own lash caps on the intake side to work with the cam profile. I send them the dimensions of the one I have a few minutes ago, they will try to match it against the boxes of leftovers they have and send it over to me (maybe with a few extras)

[Vovchandr]

2 hours ago, JohnCh said:

Given the ones from Burton Power appear the same as yours, it might be worth a call to see if they can provide more detail.  The page I linked to earlier states "Tappet shim to fit our solid tappets. 0.160" thick (machine to suit) and 6mm stem. Will also suit any tappet/valve with a 6mm stem."   Looking at their solid tappets, it appears they are referring to those offered by Kent in standard 30mm, and a slightly larger 32mm sizes.  Seems like a reasonable lead to follow.

 

-John

 

Thanks John. I'd follow up on that if I didn't have a direct lead right now. My  measurements came out to be about 9.06 width, 5.20 height, 2.67 depth and 6mm ID.

[JohnCh]

Glad you were able to connect with the builder.  Hopefully he can fill in the rest of the gaps so you know exactly what you have (pistons, rods, cams, head work).

 

-John

[Croc]

@Vovchandr Who is the original builder?  

[Vovchandr]

2 hours ago, Croc said:

@Vovchandr Who is the original builder?  

 

@Croc Artistry In Engineering in VA

[Croc]

Thanks.  Have heard of them as a specialist in Triumphs and Minis.  

[Vovchandr]

Current checkpoint is next week to see if they the lash caps are around and to get shipped

 

I'll never forget the episode of deadliest catch, where some small ~$3 bolt sheared in the engine and caused the entire multi million dollar operation to grind to a halt and boat had to limp back to the dock to get repaired. 

 

That's sort of how I feel right now with the lash cap hunt. 

[glenntwincam]

our car built 2006 with zetec svt motor has yellow valve cover.. this was just a powder coat option from engine supplier RMSC.. zetec contour has vct on exhaust cam .. zetec svt has vct on intake cam ..

[Vovchandr]

Some progress finally. Today the right caps were sourced and delivered to the shop. If anybody with a custom Zetec runs into this issue... Ferrea didn't fit. Manely weren't right. After talking to the very helpful people at Artistry in Engineering they discovered a supplier that works - https://www.vacmotorsports.com/ They have all sorts of custom varieties and I was able to order ~2.5mm ones that the shop can work with. They said they can take out any minor differences from the valve. VAC-LC-6-2.50 is the part number. I've ordered 8 of the 2.5mm and one of the 2.55 just in case. 

 

Shop also replaced all the valve seals and didn't find any other problems in the head. It should be ready for me tomorrow. 

 

One interesting note that the shop was surprised to see is mis matching original valve seals. Either two different generations or a mix of intake and exhaust ones (green vs brown). All my replacements had just one part number. 

 

 

Also got my report from BlackStone today. Not very good, I could potentially have a bottom end issue, but they didn't see evidence of blown head gasket. 

 

 

Random notes:

*I've never over-nighted anything before in my life and broke that cherry on at least 3 items now.

*Somehow a $6 part so far has cost me about ~$200. Lets see how many things I can return. 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Vovchandr

[Pokey]

@Vovchandr, I admire your fortitude having somehow avoided over-night shipping for so long.  What self-discipline I might have had in that regard got lost somehow while assembling a Caterham.

[wemtd]

I too have broken that seal in the name of 11th hour Se7en repairs

[Vovchandr]

The head is back! Lash cap issue is considered closed until noted otherwise. 

 

Going to try to reassemble most tomorrow and find out what the next problem is. 

 

I see a 50/50 shot of it running well with timing zeroed out. If it runs decent but not optimal I don't care and will deal with it later. 

 

If it doesn't run well with going back to zero cam position I'll either have to find a tuner in short notice or mess with timing myself. Not interfierence Zetec I'm fairly certain)

 

Issues in primary trying to close

 

1) horrible brief lack of power after decel

2) constant overheating at low speeds

 

Honestly. If it runs decent but those issues persist I should still be able to make it. I feat it might not run well at all once zeroed back out in timing. 

 

 

[CarlB]

Fingers crossed

[Vovchandr]

The fun never stops!

 

Making small progress today, getting everything sorted out. The Zetec source of year and model being a mystery is still coming back to bite. 

 

At this moment I believe its from a 1998 Contour. Up until this point I've primarily been doing 2000 Contour based on the fact that the car is a 2001 and I didn't expect the engine to be drastically older than build date. 

 

With Zetecs there few minor differences in the years. One of which in particular is timing belt either having 2 idlers or 1. I appear to have a car that had the two.

 

Amusingly this is what the bottom idler looked like. Doesn't appear to be wear but could be. I believe it came like this but could be wrong. Car should have less than 5000 miles of wear on it but true miles unknown. 

 

Slightly different in looks with a locked bolt instead of free bolt

 

 

And here is the groove

 

 

 

 

Also mild head gasket/block issues.

 

Part of the block is a bit elevated due to rust and I'm finding that my headgasket is very similar but isn't an exact match to what's on the car. Debating on using it or getting a FelPro quickly that looks identical in the cooling channels. (Ford isn't typically available same day, especially over weekend)

 

 

 

vs

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Vovchandr