cosworth motor rebuild

[75cosworth]

I have recently come across one of my fathers old engines out of a 1975 cosworth vega . My father is letting me have it because its in pretty rough shape and i would like to rebuild it. But I cant seem to locate many of the parts to rebuild the motor. Stuff like bearings, gaskets, and rings i basically need it all. So please if anybody could help me in any way to locate parts it would be much appreciated.

there is also pitting in the coolant jackets of the motor and i was wondering if it could be repaired with jb weld or something like that.

[kgroombr]

Parts are very hard to find so you pretty much have to work with what you have. From what I see, it doesn't look good, and JB Weld ain't going to hold up.

I am thinking what could save it is to have somebody TIG weld and build up the material on the cylinders, then mill it flush and bore them out and install steel sleeves.

Before I would go to all that effort, I will clean the block and look it over very closely before sinking a bunch of time/effort/money into it. You never know what other damage may be hiding.

Good luck,
Ken

[hammerdown7]

That is exactly what the Cosworth Vega Owners Association was started for, to keep the cars on the road. Main and rod bearing from SOHC Vega's can be used. The Club is currently getting new quotes on gasket sets since our old supplier isn't making them anymore. A regular SOHC head gasket can be used but there needs to be an oil restrictor in the head, typically done by drilling & taping a set screw into the head oil passage with a .090" hole drilled in it. The cam carrier and cam cover can be RTV'd in place of the gaskets. You need some special tools to set the valve shims and normally you can find a Club member near you that will loan you the tools. They are often for sale on eBay. Water pump and oil pump/front cover gaskets again can be from a SOHC Vega.

The deterioration of the tops of the cylinders is usually found on engines that have not had the antifreeze changed for years. The best way to repair is to get thick top sleeves which would replace the 3/8-1/2" of the upper end of the cylinders. Thin wall sleeves will not cover the outside part of the cylinder and probable head gasket failure will follow.

You should be able to find other owners that have parts in their inventory that they will sell. Ask on the Yahoo message board, lots of help can be found there, http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/cosw ... ages/27604 That will get you to the last message although Yahoo has decided to change nearly everything in their group sites and it is difficult to find your way around now.

Here's the Club web site, http://www.cosworthvega.com/

Dick

[CosWorth-a-lot]

"Main and rod bearing from SOHC Vega's can be used"

I think the rod bearings are different than the 140SOHC. The parts book is telling me the CV rod bearings are different but they are the same rod bearings used in the old SMALL journal SBC aka 283/327 from 1967 and older.

[hammerdown7]

The only difference in the 140 bearing and the Cosworth bearing is the the Cosworth used the premium '400' material as opposed to the 140 being '100', the size is the same. I don't know what the material difference is. I have the standard bearings in mine right now. I also know that the rod used in the 140 and the Cosworth are the same size as the older in-line 230-250CID sixes. I have heard, but have not seen, SBC rods are narrower on the big end. Since I have never worked on SBC's I don't know for sure what size their bearings are.

Dick

[76vega4.8]

there were a couple sets of rings for sale on Ebay for the 140.

[cosvega76]

As far as the aftermarket is concerned, they all use the same rod bearing. I just sold my set of Clevites, which were CB745Ps, used on CVs, Vegas, 230/250 sixes, and early SBCs.


Chuck

[mt94ss]

So how is the parts search going? I am in a similar position. My engine has 66k on it. I'd like to get away with checking the cyl roundness and not sleeve it. What did you decide to do?

[DJLATIN]

i can't find anyone willing to rebuild a cosworth motor for me or even work on the 2nd one i picked up. everyone says "good luck" and if anyone knows someone in the houston area, please let me know. next choice is dropping a v-8 in the dang car.

[hammerdown7]

You've talked with Tim Morgan and Dan Newman?

Dick

[DJLATIN]

Thanks sent dan an email. If it's one of those $2000+ rebuilds then a v-8 it is.