Building A Cosworth Powered Kit Car

Finding an Engine

In early 2000, Up for sale went my trusty CVH turbo engine to help finance the Cosworth engine and the engine sold in no time. All these Escort and Fiesta boys ended up fighting over who was going to have the engine. I ended up selling the thing for more than I advertised it for. How lucky was that!

The quest was on to find a Cosworth Engine, Ah that should not be hard as there are loads of wrecked old Cossies about. How wrong I was, the big issue was finding an unmolested / undamaged engine which would make a good basis for an engine rebuild.

Well after looking at 4 or 5 engines, I came across a 88,000 mile 1990 G Reg 2WD Sierra Cosworth with a smashed in B Pillar but other than that the engine looked standard. I took my friend Richard Stickland along to check the engine over as he was going to be doing the rebuild work. Being a Ford Trained mechanic and having specialised in RS Fords for many years, I knew I was in safe hands.

The engine was still in the car when we arrived. This had the advantage of allowing us to do a quick compression test and hear the engine running before buying. The compression tests seemed fine, maybe a little low but this was a 88,000 mile Cosworth. The engine ran as well as any other Cosworth engine I had heard, no taps or rattles, the engine hunted a slight amount at idle but many Cosworth engines do this. Other things of note were the engine was still running Yellow Injectors and the fuel pressure regulator still had its tamperproof plug which indicated a standard engine. Although the car could not be driven, just by the reving the engine, the turbo did not smoke but this is not a good test anyway.

Well after some haggling, I now had a Sierra Cosworth ready for pillaging. As we had no way of transporting the car from Derby to Southampton but we had a van, we thought it was wise to just take what we required. This meant stripping the car at the premises of the seller. He was happy with this as we agreed he could sell off the bits I don't want. Bits taken from the donor were:

• Engine and Gearbox complete with all ancillaries (including 2wd intercooler)
• Propshaft
• Whole rear crossbeam including Differential, Driveshafts, rear uprights, hubs, rear calipers and discs
• L2 ECU and Cosworth ECU wiring loom including relays, relay bracket, fuses, coil
• Cosworth ABS ECU and Wiring Loom
• Cosworth ABS Pump and all associated plumbing
• Front Brake Calipers and Discs

Although in the end much of this was not used. It gave me a good starting point for getting on with the build. It also allowed me options if the build budget got tight.