Saturday December 4^th 1999. We had decided a while ago that since the engine came from an insurance written off vehicle we would run the engine before fitting the body work. Without the scuttle being fitted, we would have to make temporary mountings and electrical connections.

Last week we had temporarily fitted the ECU, fitted the engine-wiring loom and made connections to the engine sensors. Andrew bypassed the heater unit and mounted the expansion tank on wooden blocks, whilst I fitted the battery leads. With most of the electrical components like instruments and lights not yet fitted there were many electrical connections unmade. These needed to be positioned and made safe as necessary. The fuel pressure regulator also mounts on the scuttle and we completed the temporary installation by mounting it on the wooden blocks with the expansion tank and connecting the fuel pipes to fuel pump and the carburettors.

We had decided today would be the day to start the engine. Andrew made a cardboard dashboard to mount the rev counter and the oil pressure gauge. At this point we realized we needed to fit the oil pressure sensor. The Westfield 1800Q manual is less than enlightening on where to fit it. Normally oil pressure gauges or sensors are fitted instead of the oil pressure switch. The Mondeo oil pressure switch is fitted on the forward RHS of the engine, behind the engine mount. There is a hole in the engine mount for access. Because of it's size the oil pressure sensor will not fit in place of the oil pressure switch. To the left of the engine mount, approximately at the centre of the engine block is a blanking plug. Reference to a photograph taken on one of our visits to the factory shows this is where Westfield fit the oil pressure gauge sensor. The plug was a little tough to undo but once the sealant was broken it was easily removed. The sensor was then fitted and sealed with "Hylomar"

With the wiring safe and secure, time to fit the battery. Connecting the negative lead first we tested the ground connections of ECU engine and major components. Next cautiously connect the positive lead by touching the lead to the battery, without the ignition switch on. There should be no "sparks" as they touch. Switch on the ignition and touch again, as in our case, there may be a small spark. We could now safely connect the positive lead properly. We had disconnected the fuel pump whilst we were testing the electrics. Now we put some fuel in the tank and reconnected the pump. Switch on the pump Brrr's in to life and the glass bowl of the fuel pressure regulator fills up. The pump slows down to steady tick and continues. Tell tale signs that we have fuel leak. There are signs of bubbling around the outlet union of the fuel pump.

Though we try it is impossible to tighten the union in situ. The fuel tank pipes wiring etc. just get in the way and the shock mounts are too flexible. There is nothing for it, but to remove the fuel pump. With the pump off, we were able to tighten both the inlet and outlet unions, sealing them with "Hylomar". When the pump was refitted and switched on no more fuel leaks.

Now will it start? The engine turns over on the starter, but refuses to fire. Several attempts later it is trying to fire up but not enough to sustain running. We push the car back in the garage. For safety reasons we had made sure that were outside and had fire extinguishers at the ready. Back in the garage we rechecked the engine connections. Earlier in the day I had checked the spark plug gaps at 1 mm as recommended in the Haynes Mondeo manual.

We now checked the Westfield manual and found that they recommended 1.3 mm. It probably didn't make any difference but we reset the plug gaps as part of the troubleshooting process. To test the ignition spark we connected the HT leads to the plugs and grounded each plug by using a jubilee clip to clamp a piece of wire to the body and then "daisy chained" the plugs together, finally connecting the wire to ground. With the plugs laid out on the cam covers we disconnected the fuel pump again to reduce the petrol vapour being pumped out of the open plug holes. Turning the engine over we could see good quality sparks. We put the plugs back in and tried again. It still would not fire consistently. At this point a bluish pink flame spat out of one of the carburettor barrels. This indicated, according to Weber a mixture that was too weak. We had discussed idle screw settings earlier and decided that the carburettors were set up the same so we would accept Webcon's basic test settings. Now we decided to set the idle screw settings to the mechanical values (2.5 turns from the home position) recommended in the Webcon set up instructions. We definitely had to richen the mixture. We tried to start the engine again and it bursts in to life and runs. It runs pretty smoothly, considering it is not set up. We have proved the engine is basically sound, which was the object of the exercise.

However it has posed two problems to be solved on another day. The Tachometer does not read once the engine has fired and is running. Secondly, the oil pressure seems high, almost full scale on the meter.