Ford 3.0 V6 Essex Rebuild (Cortina MK3)

[jelo]

For some reason some of the Essex V6 engines run lean on its rear cylinders.

indeed

Was never sure if that was the manifold, the carb, or the cooling design that meant the rear cylinders or rear of the manifold just ran hotter.

Multi port EFI will sort that out.

[grips]

I had a complete EFI system for the 3.0l Essex form a RSI Sapphire which were for intended use on the 4.0l Essex stroker.
Had all the goodies together but never build the stroker. . Gave away all my Essex stuff.

The EFI system ended up with a friend that is building a turbo 3.0l Essex. Interesting build. He have modified the heads to have combustion chambers in the heads and run special flat top pistons suitable for turbo charging. The engine also have the cam setup changed. It runs a timing belt with vernier pulleys on the outside of the engine. Engine cooled by an electric water pump.
Valve train is roller rockers on a shaft. The heads he made is a cast iron version the aluminium jobbies made by Ric Wood.

Ric Wood is the Essex V6 Ghuru. Makes 220kw with a single carb Essex. https://ricwood.com/

[Ro55]

If I am not wrong that is the rear exhaust valve with the whitish colour. For some reason some of the Essex V6 engines run lean on its rear cylinders.
What is the carb jet sizes. Is the divider plates still intact on the carb spacer?

The divider plates still look good. Jet sizes: Air 185, Mains 142.5




So the engine is off to the machine shop for inspection



And the rest is off to the Aqua blasters for cleaning



Can anyone recommend a good place for headers?

[Ro55]

Before and after aqua blasting:

[Whirly]

Headers...Cowley?

[jelo]

Headers...Cowley?

Powerflow if they are still in business.

[grips]

I need to dig deep into my old files. Have dyno tests of the Essex v6. They have run it with different outlet manifolds and headers.
Believe it or not headers did not make much of a performance difference. Best figures obtained were with a set of outlet manifolds from a Sierra XR 6.

[jelo]

I need to dig deep into my old files. Have dyno tests of the Essex v6. They have run it with different outlet manifolds and headers.
Believe it or not headers did not make much of a performance difference. Best figures obtained were with a set of outlet manifolds from a Sierra XR 6.

yes, I agree

Marginal performance gains, I'd just port match the stock headers, and then ceramic coat.

ALTHOUGH: I think back then, header length calculators were not used. And I very much doubt any of the headers were mixed length (different header lengths for ports 1,2 and 3).

So maybe a new look could provide better results based on the newer understanding and calculations of valve timing overlap and reverse pressure scavenging.

[Jeeper]

Van der Linde Developments did an excellent job back in the day when I had 3.4 Couriers. They gas flowed the heads, changed the cam, rejetted the carb and rerouted the intake. It made meaningful extra horsepower, whilst staying as reliable as the standard engine.

[Wylie E]

There is a lot of info given here and a couple herrings as well. Had a 1981 3L GLS which use burn light grey exhaust (leaded fuel at the time) it then started burning black and I reduced jets. Took it on a long trip and this burned valves. I then took heads of and found the problem. The early engines had press fit gudgeon pins and 2 of the cylinders had deep score marks in need to resleave and rebore to fix. Also the the last cylinder on driver side has problem burning lean as this is where the vacuum for the brake booster is taken off the manifold. In general these engines are a walk in the park to rebuild. You can get a few more kw with a couple of mods (high comp pistons, cam, gas flow heads, branches and free flow exhaust. remember to to them adjust carb accordingly. Have done a couple. I also had a " Lumenition" electronic ignition systen that used uv pickup with chopper disc, simple to install, what a pleasure no more points to worry about. Sadly cant find it today anymore.

[Ejay]

Oh man this brings back memories!
My Dad was with Ford many years and I grew to know the 1600 Kent motor and the 3000 V6 motors very well.
My Dad fitted a V6 into almost every car we had. Combi, Taunus and Cortina bakkie before Ford was doing it.

Some useless info:
The Essex motor was produced in the UK from 1966 to 1981 and then in SA from 1982 to 2000.
What many people don’t know is that the reason the Essex motor had such a heavy cast iron block is that it was intended for the same block to be used in diesel and petrol applications but the diesel never reached production in the Transit as originally intended.

Good memories of racing Alfas and Opel Mantas with the old Cortina between Uncle Charlies and Grasmere many years ago

[Spiceman]

This just triggered a memory of a friend of mine that built a rear wheel drive Bantam with a 3,2lt (?) Essex. He used to beat the Uno turbos every Sunday night in Pretoria in the late 90's.
From him I first heard the slogan: It's not what you buy, it's what you build".

[Olyfboer]

Oh man this brings back memories!
My Dad was with Ford many years and I grew to know the 1600 Kent motor and the 3000 V6 motors very well.
My Dad fitted a V6 into almost every car we had. Combi, Taunus and Cortina bakkie before Ford was doing it.

Some useless info:
The Essex motor was produced in the UK from 1966 to 1981 and then in SA from 1982 to 2000.
What many people don’t know is that the reason the Essex motor had such a heavy cast iron block is that it was intended for the same block to be used in diesel and petrol applications but the diesel never reached production in the Transit as originally intended.

Good memories of racing Alfas and Opel Mantas with the old Cortina between Uncle Charlies and Grasmere many years ago

The reason for the indented centres of the pistons to lower the compression ration for a petrol engine. And the reason it's called the Kanniedood motor. It can overheat without warping the cylinder head.

[jelo]

The reason for the indented centres of the pistons to lower the compression ration for a petrol engine. And the reason it's called the Kanniedood motor. It can overheat without warping the cylinder head.

but it certainly rapes the gasket and cooks the rings

[Ro55]

Interesting about the headers. I guess I'll keep the stock ones and consider ceramic coating (a bit pricey though, my 300tdi manifold was R5000). Would it be a good idea to get a stainless steel 57mm freeflow exhaust, or will it also only have a marginal effect?

I'm thinking of getting a mv1 cam and high compression pistons. I read somewhere that Xr6 pistons will work, is that correct?

I'm not completely sold on flowing and porting, does it make a meaningful gains for the extra R4000?

Below is what the machine shop recommended:

[Pieter de Waal]

If I am not wrong that is the rear exhaust valve with the whitish colour. For some reason some of the Essex V6 engines run lean on its rear cylinders.
What is the carb jet sizes. Is the divider plates still intact on the carb spacer?

It is always the rear because it is running hotter. This is made worse by the common mistake of swopping the head gaskets. (Different sized water holes.)

[Pieter de Waal]

Oh yes, that reminds me............adjusting tappets every 500kms. Never knew about this fix. And the problem is that a very loose tappet means a loss of performance. And could also cause other issues as effectively your valve duration has changed.

And yes, the steel valve seat inserts will be mandatory.

Tappids was a big issue. Adjust from new every 5000 km and they will last 200 000 km If you miss once you will not fix it again untill you replace the complete set of rockers.
It is really worth it to invest in a set of hydraulics. Never an issue again.
The same goes for the ignition points. Replace with the last models electronic distributors. Never an issue again.
Do not bother with the outlet manifolds. Install 50mm or bigger pipe and forget about it.
The Weber can work perfectly. There was a 27 and a 29mm throat. The 27 gave by far the better results on a stroker. (More accurate on lower revs where all the torque sits anyway.) Use the torque for acceleration, these engines do not last at revs above 4000 rpm. Block the breather that connects between the carb and the manifold. (You will suddenly have controll over the Weber and see what a brilliant carb it can be. I had a Sierra with the EFI and it did not work as well as the Weber and gave me more hassles.

[Pieter de Waal]

Seems like you will rebore and replace pistons in any case. If so, consider stroking. Years ago Johan Terburg sold a kit that worked brilliantly. (They gave the V8 Sierra an easy run for its money)
Use aluminium pulleys at the front and balance the whole train.
Standard late model heads with inserts performed pretty well. Consider doing the inlet manifold though. The inlet tubes can be enlarged and slightly (length) tuned to make that stroked engine come alive.
This was the best money I ever spent on any engine in my lifetime.
It was the smoothest V6 ever. Upped fuel consumption and performance with rediculuous percentages. At last contact it was well past 300 000 km. Only hassles so far were oil leaks. (Part of the ford design.)

[onwards]

Interesting episode on CAR SOS program with a rebuild Essex 3L, bored to 3.1
Something like 220hp and rev to 6000.

[Ro55]

Updates on the rebuild:

Got the parts back from the engineers


Time for paint





I used a Strontium Chromate primer, and 2k paint.