Recent Progress on the Diesel

July 2007... After a bit more ebaying and some car show bargains the turbo is now connected to the intercooler by some rather nice Samco Silicone hose and a stainless steel (B6%%er to cut !) pipe. As you can see from the adjacent photo the engine actually looks like it is supposed to be there !
	Another pic of the car with the nose cone removed, work is much easier with this out of the way ! GRP Dust gets EVERYWHERE !
Close up of the charge cooler plumbing - Yes I am proud of it - When did you last see a Rickman with Samco bling under the bonnet ? Next problem is going to be the connection from the inlet manifold to the top of the cooler, it looks like another Samco product destined for the RST will be employed !
	Next part of the project will be fitting the (Ex Stylus) Sierra vented disks, Callipers & greenstuff pads where the Escort ones used to be. First job was to remove these, they need reducing in diameter to fit inside the Sierra disk's. The escort studs are approx 10mm too short so I dug out a full set of Sierra ones to find that the spline part is smaller on the Sierra - B&^%er ! So its a case of buying 8 longer Mk2 wheel studs or re-drilling the Escy hubs to take the Sierra ones - Hmm.......
April 2007.... Back to the great big hole in the drivers footwell. Back in March 2003 I spent a considerable length of time repairing the holes chopped in both foot wells to clear the 2.3D lump, well 4 years on, I had the grinder out.... (P.S. Round hole is for Sierra lower column bush)
	And chopped the whole lot out again ! Arghhhh...... Turbo outlet and bell housing clearly visible from inside the car..... Not good !
Time to fill the holes AGAIN, I chopped up the old front bumper shell and used the top corner of it to fabricate the "Floor bulge" to clear the turbo an exhaust. A bit of time with the glue gun an few bits of GRP and I now have a clutch foot rest ! I still have to fill in the part around the column mounting and tidy up the outside once the engine is removed.
	This was a miracle, considering that when I made the battery box (2003) I just made it as big as the space on the bulkhead would allow. I then realised that none of the Diesel batteries would fit in the hole so I chopped the front of the box out and made it into a "battery shelf" I was astonished to find that the Sierra TD battery is a perfect fit !
While busy with the GRP I also used another bit of the front bumper to make a pocket to allow the vacuum pump to fit on the head without rubbing on the bulkhead. This is a late model mondeo vac pump which is even bigger than the P100 / Sierra one. It now fits well.
	New bumper bar fabricated including mountings for the new (BMW) front indicators. Bumper replaced as original had a lump missing. I have also cut slots above the number plate to allow airflow through the lower part of the Rad, intercooler and oil cooler. You will also notice the ventilation slots cut to allow air through the intercooler !
Things must be moving, we now have wiring. The loom is a universal Sierra based one from premier wiring, it will need minor modifications to work with the Escort clock pod and the engine loom for the injector pump, advance solenoid an glow plugs has been cut out of the Sierra loom and will be spliced into the Sierra loom. The only small problem is the the MK Escort clock pod never had glow plug or handbrake warning lights !
	July / August 2006 Oh My G&? its a Rickman - how did that get there ? Ok having got the hols out of the way and the short heat wave has turned back into a monsoon it was time to take cover so the grinder and stick welder have been working overtime ! The original bumper support fell apart so I have fabricated a nice new one which has allowed me to assemble the front of the car.
Completed front frame including the hard to find in good condition RST radiator ( Projects like this where a lot harder before ebay !) I still have to fit a mounting for the oil cooler in front of the main water radiator
	Frame assembly installed in the car along with a cooling fan from an 1.6 CVH Escort, the Fan is now on a proper bracket rather than held using a block of wood !
The Servo / pedal box mount is almost complete, I just have to finish the lower mount which will be bolted to the suspension tower - Good fit !!
	Once the engine bay side of the pedal box mounts was more or less complete I then made up a new brace to connect the pedal box mounting plate to the column / dash support bar. This bar also supports the top of the sierra pedal box which was really floppy until the third mounting point was tied in. This new support has also stiffened up the steering column too !
April 2006. Further steering rack issues, having found that so called "remanufactured" rack's seem to only have new gaiters and paint I have decided to rebuild the rack for "project Diesel" and fit a bronze bush kit. I then found that Bronze Bush kits are no longer available so I have had to have my own machined up !
	After a lot of research on radiators & air to air charge coolers most either won't fit vertically or are two wide to go between the headlamps. This Radiator & charge cooler is from a Series 2 Escort RS turbo but fitted upside down, if its capable of cooling a 140hp turbo petrol engine it should be sufficient for a 90hp Diesel. I Still need to fabricate a completely new front frame to mount the rad / intercooler and nose cone.
March 2006. New pedal box mounting frame fabricated utilising the Sierra Servo & master cylinder. It is quite a tight fit behind the suspension tower which requires the pedal box to be removed before there is enough clearance to remove the servo !
	February 2006 Sierra Column in place (now in the correct place) A further application of the grinder has removed the new offside engine mount, this allows me to connect the sierra column to the Escort Rack. I can then re fit the engine mount in whatever space is left !
Second attempt at Sierra column mounting, this time the Wheel is in the centre of the clock pod !
	Rickman steering column / dash support bar, centre bracket is for the Mk2 Escort column, the two box sections to either side are to mount the adjustable sierra column. On fitting to the car the steering wheel was off centre, the Escort column is at an angle to the driver whereas the Sierra one will be parallel. Out came the grinder (again)
January 2006 A new Year, and a new target, get the Rickman out of the garage before the "Trundle Truck" Needs a new MOT (October). Having spent weeks doing 5S at work I decided to clear out the garage and get busy with the Fabrication. The First job was to get the Sierra pedal box & Servo assembly to fit where the Escort one did, The picture shows the final location from the engine bay and from the inner wing but I still need to fabricate a new pedal box frame
	Picture shows the new pedal box mounting plate from inside the car, the Pedals have almost ended up in the same place as the Escort ones. The Sierra pedal design allows the steering column to pass between the Brake & clutch (missing the turbo !). Has allowed the servo to be moved away from where the intercooler is going to live and I get automatic clutch adjustment thrown in for free !
August 2005 Having now avoided both DIY and anything in the garage for several months I have managed to clear a little space around the car which has meant that the Anti-Roll bar mount / Anti-Dive bracket is now bolted to the car... Which in turn has allowed the car....
	... To have its wheels back on and move out of the garage..... At least I've had the chance to sweep the floor under the car and find my missing tools !! ..... Whoops, Nicked steering rack for other car.......
Having cleared the Urgent DIY jobs I managed to get a little bit of work done on the oil burner, the Sierra Steering column has been extended allowing me to try and figure out how the linkage is going to get around the Turbo. I've had to chop another lump off the engine mount but a new link made from a sierra UJ and a Maesro UJ seems to fit. However at this point the engine in the red car expired......