RACK-AND-PINION STEERING

An XE means more power, leaving your Mk1's steering box in trouble. So while the engine's out, it's time to up rate to rack-and-pinion.
1. If it's in top condition, a steering box can be a pain - not only does the box need keeping on top of, but the drag links and rod ends too. Upgrading to a nice, tight rack-and-pinion set-up's the way to go.
2. The nearest suitable Ford set-up is from an Escort MkI/II but this also means swapping all the struts and TCAs since the Cortina ones can't be mated with the Escort crossmember.
3. In standard form, the Escort crossmember bolts to the underside of the Escort's chassis rails, which are parallel. However, since that car has different dimensions to the Cortina, which has tapered chassis rails, it isn't a simple swap. You could use an Old Ford Auto Services crossmember system but Dave wanted to move it form its ideal, meaning modification, so decided to start from scratch.
4. So, the crossmember needs to be modified to fit, which means aligning it about the original datum points of the MkI's front suspension; then temporarily fixing it in place while mounts are fabricated.
5. Dave's removed the original Escort fitting from the crossmember ends and fabricated new mounts from L-section sheet steel and welded them in place. Note the triangulated bracing adding strength plus the design means the crossmember can still be bolted in place.
6. Further boxing on the back of the brackets is added for more strength and to close the box sections too.
7. To couple up the steering, Dave's used universal joints from Old Ford, connected with hexagonal steel bar section. This mates to the Escort steering column's end, converted to take Cortina brackets.
8. You can fit Escort struts to a MkI using alloy eccentric top mounts to sort the discrepancy in strut alignment. Ours needed replacing anyway, so Dave cut the strut tops out, replacing them with ones similar to Escort. This brings them in closer together since the strut inclination angle's different between Escort and Cortina and better restores geometry. Note too that Dave's fitted his own flush-mounted ally roller top mounts - very neat and very trick.

SUMP

Since it's intended for front-wheel-drive use, the Astra GTE's sump isn't really suitable, which means swapping to something that is. The problem we have is that the MkI Cortina uses a steering box and a front-bowl sump. This can be retained but it means fabricating a similar format sump for the XE from scratch. Doing this, though means you've still got a vague steering box, which isn't ideal.

A better way is to convert to rack-and pinion, which Dave did by swapping to an Escort system at the front (see above). This means that you can then take advantage of rear-drive Opel Manta parts. This car has a block essentially identical to the XE's and uses a big-wing cast-alloy sump, with he bowl at the back, making it ideal for use with an Escort crossmember.

VAUXHALL XE - THE BASICS

In standard form, the XE is of course s front-wheel-drive engine and the ideal plant is an Astra GTE unit, which carries a Coscast head and is less prone to porosity problems. These are common to the psot-1992 engines, when GM downgraded the material and cast the heads itself.

'Front-wheel-drive' means just that - when it's turned round the 'right' way the distributor is mounted at the back of the head. This of course means it will clout the bulkhead and needs converting, ideally to distributorless operation. Later engines have this done, but they don't have the Coscast head nor the GTE's pistons, meaning that to get the ideal combination you'll have to mix and match.

Since the distributor is driven by the exhaust cam, which is longer, it needs shortening and the back of the cam box sealing up. Plenty lop the end of the cam off and plug the resulting hole shut with Loctite, plus a bung. However the easiest way is to buy an aftermarket cam kit, which already has it done for you. Distributor drives can be rigged up but plenty use the later GM trigger wheel (the steel type) and fit carbs and managed ignition, of full engine management along with throttle bodies, which is the system our car uses.

ENGINE MOUNTING

1. A Cortina's standard Kent engine is located on rubber mounts, which are an integral part of the front crossmember. Standard XE mounting practise is to remove the mounts - in our case from a modified Escort crossmember we've used in place of the Cortina's - and chassis mount the engine using an SB Developments kit.
2. The SBD kit is very competitively priced and contains everything you need. The actual block mounts are the only bits that need fabricating, although the chassis mount sections are already made up (3).
4. These simply fit over the top of the rails and are trimmed and welded in place.
5. Before Dave starts welding though, the engine position needs to be determined. With the front crossmember fitted, the engine and gearbox are lowered into place. Basically, the engine needs to sit as far back and low down as possible for better weight distribution - ideally, you need to have the first spark plug hole as near as you can to the centre line of the front struts, this obviously isn't always possible without removing the bulkhead. Height is usually determined by sump-to-crossmember clearance.
6. The XE will go a long way back in the engine bay, but the main problem is the heater bowl on the bulkhead. It sticks out further than the bulkhead lip and hits the cam cover.
7. Dave cuts and re-shapes this area to loose the paunch before re-painted it. Clearance around this area should be about the thickness of you hand - roughly 12-15mm.
8. Gearbox position needs to be determined before final welding (see the next section). Once that's done the block-to-chassis mounts can be made. Dave begins by bolting the provided plate to the block and welding the provided spacer to make the plate sit flat. Next is the chassis-mount the bush, then the provided section of steel tube can be trimmed to length and welded in place.

View our engine mounting kit MNT-ENG1