After all the fiddling and making comprimises with the engine position I felt that I was getting backed into a corner by the distributor location. The two choices were to use the CAS on a distributor body - which gives the PimpXs the input it needs to do SEFI and sequential spark plug control or to use the crank trigger and cam sync distributor stub kit that duplicates the Ford EDIS operation offered by pyropete on ebay. The comprimise with that is that in order to mount the crank trigger wheel you have to trim 1/4 inch off the crank pulley. It's not so much the machine work but the reduction in physical contact area between the crank pulley and the crank snout. But other people do it on some pretty extreme output engines so I am just going to accept that as the least impact comprimise. I've got the kit on order today. While I wait for the kit, along with the exhaust manifold from BigR Motorsports, I will fit up the entire engine/ transmission into the chassis so that I can ma...

 Today I sent some time getting the engine onto a dolly so that I could maneuver it around inside of the chassis and control it's height and tilt independant of the chassis. I had to go to this effort so that I could work out the exact (or close to exact) engine position I could work out that gave me clearance it the distributor, the crank pully, the bell housing, and the cam shroud at the bonnet all at the same time. I used some wheel dollies to set the engine on its oil pan and at the bell housing. Then I used a couple of screw jacks between the dolly and each motor mount to control lateral tilt (roll). I then used shims under the oil pan and bell housing to control longitudinal tilt. I placed that dolly inside the chassis with the front jacked up enough so that the engine hoist could slide under the frame rails. Then lowering and tilting the engine with my leveling bar I gently lowered the engine back into the chassis and onto the dolly. So far, no drama. Crank about 1 inch belo...

Doodle This guy has the skills to turn my doodle into real working parts Inlet manifold fabrication - Step by step build - 4age Hilux  Intercooler end tank & piping fabrication - 4age Hilux - Hypertune  

This is the amount of space I have  I have tried to examine some options for replacing the TFI distributor, which does not fit in the space below the frame rail. Later model Fords adopted a Distributorless Ignition System (DIS) which used a crankshaft angle sensor to run the ignition and batch injection systems through the computer (ECU). This system replaced the distributor with a "stub" which still engaged the aux shaft and drove the oil pump in replacement for the distributor but it didn't provide any ignition signaling trigger, that was provided from the front of the engine. Later, Ford developed EDIS with a Cam Synchronizer which mounted on the stub from the aux shaft. Then the engine design was changed in 1994 and any system beyond that was incompatable with my turbo engine. I like the idea of replacing the distributor with something that will work or even upgrade the operation of my engine. I'm thinking mostly of using a PiMPxs ECU that functions without the TF...

I arranged the chassis back onto the furniture dollies and positioned it into the work area so that I had room to maneuver the engine hoist. I assembled the engine with the bell housing after having trimmed a little more off the starter hump opening. I tried to lower the engine into place with the front pulley in place but could not find just the right angle to get it into the bay. As a result, I am looking into a two groove pulley so that it will be a little shorter. Esslinger makes just such an underdrive v-belt pulley with the added advantage of being a little smaller in diameter at 4 inches instead of the stock 6 inches.  The good news is that the SVO intake manifold fits into the space like it was engineered for it. I had to remove the oil cooler spigot from the boss on the botton side of the manifold cooling passage but I think I can plug the upper opening and use the lower opening for the spigot. I will have to determine whether I need to use the temperature sensor that was ...

 It's taken over a week of rainy days and other diversions before making the next move. But it's a fateful one. I knew that I had to cut the transmission mount on the tail housing to no more that 5 1/2" width so that it would fit past the frame tubes in the transmission tunnel. I also knew that I had to cut the front half of the chassis mounting plate so that the tail housing could fit into that space. So today my plan was to do the cutting and then get the transmission and bellhousing into the chassis for a fit check. I did the cutting with my pneumatic cut-off wheel. To get into the transmission tunnel with the cutting tool and get it into the right angle I needed to route the air fitting at a 90 degree angle. Fortunately I had a brass fitting that would do that and I had just enough angle to make the cuts, following the piece of tape that I had laid down before. It takes a little fortitude to cut-up parts that are irreplacable. But once it's done each cut serves a p...