as the title says i'm trying to outsmart the ford engineers but that is proving more difficult than at first thought. there are two ways to get a timing sprocket, 1. from Burton Performance which is the outlet for Cosworth parts, the other is from Massive here in the U.S.A.but this is a smaller key than the Cosworth one.
i chose to get the Cosworth sprocket from Burton in England, thinking if it was good enough for Cosworth then it should be good for me, alas there is only one of these sprockets in existence outside of an engine, it was on the shelf at Burtons so i purchased it and they sent it by mail. the royal mail did their part of the journey to Los Angeles but then the USPS took control, well it was sent to Utah then to Rochester New York which is typical of the USPS but after several hours on the phone with hold times of 2 hours it was finally sent to Las Vegas Nevada and then to Kingman Arizona then to my local office so now i have it !!!!
i chose the 5mm key instead of the 3mm because i would be driving the blower off the crank pulley which must be located on the crank to obtain the correct ignition timing and to stop it turning under load so the larger key was used.
all i had to do was get a keyway cut in the snout of the crank, HAHAHA!!!it took me visits to 4 engineering companies before i got a price of under $400.00 but i did find someone to do the job of cutting the keyway in the crank plus the front pulley for $200.00 so i now wait to see if i will have a usable crank and pulley.
it is not surprising that no one offers a supercharger kit for the 2.3 duratec as to correct the missing crank keyway oversight of the Ford/Mazda engineers is a nightmare but if not done the supercharger load on the front pulley will undo the crank bolt.
i pity any Ford/Mazda owner with this engine in their car that has an AC compressor lock up as the compressor is driven in the same way as my supercharger with the added torque of a much larger pulley to turn the crank pulley backwards in relation to the rotating crank. (AC not working so now all my valves are bent and my pistons are damaged)
the rest of the engine is progressing nicely, the block is bored to my Wisco pistons and my forged H beam rods are waiting to be balanced, the King race (black) bearings are here and i have a reconditioned head with valves and new cams
i have ARP studs for the mains and head with ARP rod bolts, i have deburred the block as per the cosworth instruction manual but prior to assembly i will have the rotating and reciprocating parts balance.
at this time i am looking at oil pumps, Melling M330 is the stock pump but the Mazda 6 pump looks bigger, part # M352, if anyone has looked at this i would appreciate a heads up as i would like to increase the bearing clearances a little to give more of an oil cushion.
has anyone ever looked at using an inlet cam for the exhaust side of the engine, yes i know the slot in the end of the cam is wrong but i could set the timing with a dial gauge and degree wheel as the lift and duration are both larger than the stock exhaust cam and as with most supercharged engines would probably benefit form more exhaust cam or at least some advance and a bit of retard on the inlet but who knows, i'm flying by the seat of my pants here.
i have made one more consession to the god of supercharging in that i chosen a colder copper tipped spark plug in the Autolite 103
right from the outset, this was a backyard build using mostly stuff i had or was given for a few bucks like me using the factory PCM and a second hand supercharger which exceeded the mechanical limits of the motor, or at least the Ford/Mazda engineers and i must be honest, i never though that it would be so powerful or successful and would have recommended this route to performance to others had it not been for the crank key issue but i believe that when this hurdle is crossed all will be good.
just remember that should anything driven by the crank belt lock up you could destroy the valves, ( power steering, alternator, AC compressor etc )
the forged pistons, rods and the stud kits will only be installed because i had to take the crank out of the motor as apart from nicks in the pistons from kissing the valves all was good and with a little clean up could be reused, especially when you consider that during tuning the PCM i had an A/F ratio of around 18-1 and 5 plus grand on the motor, all that happened was it burned away the center electrodes of the plugs which caused the coil to break down and loose spark.
_________________ this story shall the good man teach his son, and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by, from this day to the end of the world. but we in it shall be remembered.
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