I looked at the 2.5, part of my research was to consider this, the ford focus st, I believe, or one of the fords in the UK (along with the UK Mustang) was a 2.5, but finding a decent price one was difficult.
I did t consider actually importing one from the USA… Remote buying, import tax and shipping would of added up, and then it would be sight unseen and pot luck with no easy way to return if it was a bad motor.
As far as we am aware though, the NC was the Mazda variant, from what I have read, ford jointly developed the engine but made their own tweaks, like their own head for their duratec engines, the 2.3 DISI engine is the same block as the 1.8, 2.0 (and I’m sure 2.5 too), for the 2.3 it was just bigger bored pistons and forged rods as standard. They then adapted the engine for direct fuel injection too and added a turbo for good measure.
The most interesting bit of info for this engine is
“A Cosworth tuned version of this engine is found in the BAC Mono producing 209 kW (280 hp; 284 PS) and 207 lb⋅ft (280 N⋅m) of torque,[7] making it the most powerful version of this engine”
I love that car in Forza games, just proves if you give an engine to some cleaver people amazing things can be done
Had a couple of issues, the egr surface wasn’t prepped correctly, as it had to come off to get the engine in, do with a new gasket it had a coolant leak
The main radiator hose also had a hole in, thankfully it was at a place I could mend it, if it was damaged behind the engine then chances are the engine would if had to come out, but fixed this with a hose connector and cut out the bad bit, this was probably caused by all the movement around there when lifting and dropping the engine.
This has stopped the leaks from what I can tell at this point, collect has gone around the system, but won’t be able to find out more till I start her up and add more pressure (blew down into the cooling tank to get it round at this point)
Another issue that might be an issue, will find this out later - the oil filter turns out to be a bad placed one, unlike a lot of other cars, the filter housing is permanent and the filter comes out of this, meaning it may need to come down the length of the filter… If this is the case I’ll probably have to switch this out to the mx5 filter housing as the gasket looks to be identical for this… I’m struggling to get the filter loose at this point and will attempt this on a car lift.
I also found 4 pin hole leaks in the down pipe, this is going to be fixed in the next few days (I hope)
Another update, so had an issue with the starter motor from the donor car, it had seized up, it was a pain to replace, had to remove some coolant pipes that went down the side around to the back.
I got the original starter from the mx5 engine, along with a new battery, it seemed to loose charge quickly, replacement is now in and the engine is cranking, next problem is it’s not starting yet… Got no error codes, few things I need to check, some easier than others, possibly injectors are clogged and that’s a big nightmare if they are.
Fuel is getting to the rail and at high pressure but can’t see any fuel entering the pistons, I got no error codes that seemed to be related to this, one for the rain sensor not plugged in, another for a crash sensor that I need to fit.
Possibly issues
I forgot to plug the injector wires in / short cord connector
Injectors are clogged with gummed up fuel - been standing for over a year with the remnant of the fuel left in the rail from when the engine was pulled
Grounding issue - did read if theres a bad ground this can happen
Immobilizer issue - but my understanding here is it should start and cut out immediately if it was this.
I’ll be checking these a bit at a time over the next week dependent on the rain and work.
Another day (week) another update, this one is the best news yet for the project - after a few setbacks including the above I have today, finally, got the engine running and idling
I still have some issues to resolve but the big question of if I had made any major mistakes and was the engine just going to blow up or have an issue are fading away!
I got an engine coolant sensor issue - I think this is just a connector come lose after tuging on everything (I belive I may of damaged the plastic houseing for the connector so would explain why it came off)
Turns out the issue above was a ground I missed, due to its position I think the throttle body connector was not in properly either, that seemed to move on a little more and after that the engine started, at first rough, then idled really high for a few seconds but after a few min and a few more restarts you get the above sweet sound!
Still got some work, things are temporarily held by cable ties as I wanted to keep them from ratteling or getting too close to the exhaust, some things to round of so they dont cut into stuff and welding of the sills - which means more updates to come!
Well it’s been a while, but a couple of weeks ago it passed it’s MOT, so emissions are fine!
I have done probably a couple hundred miles now, fixing issues as I go, I still got a small coolant leak and what seems to be a boost leak and an issue with the abs system that is causing more issues that I would like.
But it’s now road legal and on its way to finally being complete, makes some nice whooshing noises!, will post a cab drive video soon.
Out of interest - in terms of MoT, emissions etc and the engine swap, do you get a new V5 with the different engine information noted? Or are the DVLA/DVSA just bothered that a check has taken place, from a safety point of view?
I looked in the 2.5L swap and you have to tell DVLA and the CO2’s were higher so would have gone up a road tax band. You also need to do it for insurance. I decided to turbo the 2.0 as you dont have to tell DLVA of that.
The answer to this question at the moment is unknown and a bit of a grey area.
Going through the insurance process, they wanted an engineers report to say it was done fine, no mention of ensuring it was reported to the dvla…
MOT - this is based on percentage of emmisions for the overall exhaust output - other than that no info is n eeded, passed the MOT - no new V5 from this.
about a year and a half ago - I contacted the DVLA - sent of my V5 with the adjustments as they requested - they returned a new V5 with no changes stating that I needed an engineers report to say its done.
at this point, MOT - TAX - Insurance are all based of the 1.8L engine on the V5 though insurance do know that it had an engine swap and the size/power etc
its off the road again atm, had an EGR fault and been waiting for one from china for 4 weeks now!
its on my list to do - with painting the weleded arches, underseal, LSD, possible tuning (its a bit high on the LTFT), leather heated seats, fixing the ABS issue and clean & polish.
Though with that said, and this is the bit I have found hard to pin down to exactly the rules with this - is from what I have read that the tax rules are based on the car’s original engine, but I did read somewhere that this is only up to a 50% increase in power from engine to engine - over this then the tax could be recalculated.
but ultimately, yes I will get a new V5 with the new engine number and capacity etc.
You might ask why I havent done this - it turns out the insurance company didnt even need the safety report. I technically dont have one either yet, my mechanic was not too happy with the brake pipes as they where not secure all the way along the bulkhead… its now an advisory on the MOT. they are copper nickle hard lines and his concern was that they could rub and wear. so they are fine for now and while I am still working on the ABS issue I might be replacing these lines anyway
