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KRUPTOR

Ford V8 Escort

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Hi guys i thought i might put my build thread up of my old escort.

 

Hey guys most of you may not know that i was building a V8 escort,and a small amount of you will know i was building one lol.

Well i thought i may open a thread and explain alittle bit of what i went through and how it goes.

It took me roughly 4 months of weekends and 2 months of late evenings to a completed V8 escort sedan.I did alot of research and also got in contact with mark from MD conversions (not a big help lol).Also my greatest thanks to our forum member and friends PRO250 (David),who helped me through some of the ins and outs,the bloke who had some answers i could not find.So a big thanks to David.

Im so proud of myself as i built almost the entire car myself,the only 2 things i didnt make were the tailshaft adapter plate and shorten the tailshaft but the rest i did all myself in my shed.

Ok all started with a 1976 mk2 ford escort sedan 2L worked pinto,4spd manual and a ferrera diff with 4.11's.

I removed every thing from the inside of the car and engine bay,engine box and diff were sold.I cut out the entire firewall and front gearbox tunnel.Mounted the dirty old clevo into the engine bay and mounted up the C10 auto and refabricated the firewall and tunnel.Solid mounted the engine with a engine plate.Fabricated a gearbox crossmember,heavilly modified and moved the steering column,heavilly modified the standard escort pedal box to accomodate the original escort master cylinder (minus booster).

Fitted after market seats welded in new rails,rewired up the dash to suit gauges and ignition,fans,fuel pump etc.Fitted rear commodore springs into the front struts to help lift the front up dew to the weight of the clevo.

Mounted the motor all under the bonnet to have that sleeper original look.Also cut out the entire radiator support panel to mount in a 3 core V8 ZK fairlane radiator with AU thermo fans and a tranny cooler,reinforced a new radiator support panel and recessed the lower inner front apron.

Fitted a tailshaft loop,fabricated the drivers side extractor and modified the passenger extractor and made up a twin 2.5inch exhaust dumping before the diff with 2 2.5inch sports glass packed muffles.Made up new brake lines for the front and made up a new rear brake line and also fitted a inline ball tap for a hand brake and line lock tap.

Motor is a near stock 302 cleveland i sourced from a fairlane i wrecked,only fitted a 2inch spacer and 700 holley and extractors.Gearbox is just a stock C10 with a hurst shifter and kick down disconnected.

For the rear end i was lucky enough to get onto a B1800 diff which fitted straight under the rear end,i ran 15x6.5 ranger wheels with 205/65 15 tyres (just rubb under the gaurds under heavy cornering).When i picked the diff up i didnt get wheel cylinders so i bought a pair of nissan/datsun 200b cylinders from supercheap for $5 each,made up a new rear brake line to suit the wheel cylinders and also modified the mount holes on the rear drum back plates.Ran the standard B1800 drums which were 14inch finned drums.Diff ratio was 4.444 and i welded the centre up.

I mounted the battery in the boot and retained the standard 34L escort fuel tanke but also ran a electric fuel pump as i didnt have enough room at the motor for a mechanical one.I started with a holley blue but it decided to keep leaking so i just bought a cheap solid state electric fuel pump 4.5psi to 6psi rated and duz the job.

I also weled in rhs into where the rear firewall would have been as it needed to be sealed up so i reinforced the rear of where the seats use to be and i also refabricated a new crossmember just in front of the front seats as i cut out the original one.

Ok so in my build i decided i would have it finished for performance car mania 2011 september 16th to 18th.Which i made it by the way lol.

So i hooked in and did it.I had dramas couple days before winton as i had a major oil leak from the rear main,so 2 days before the start of performance car mania i did the rear main and sump gasket in car.Pulled it off replaced the seal and resealed the sump and havent got an oil leak :)

So i was very happy that i made it to winton race way for performance car mania.The escort went very well,handled well for what it was and also was pretty fast along the straights couple of times i was pushing 140kmph-150kmph.Up at those speeds it felt real good no vibrations and it held the track and wante3d to go straight.

Did alittle skid on the friday but all was good except for very low oil pressure but i still drove it hard.
Saturday morning i broke the accelertor cable when i went to start it and i only had just under and hour to repair it for the first cruise session,so i hooked in and bodged it up and made the cruise session.

Didd a burnout in it for around 2 minutes on saturday and was very good but only could stay in 2nd gear as when i went to D the carby decied to play up for some reason.

Also durring the saturday sessions i did couple skids and drag raced.

On the sunday i did a burnout for almost 5 mins i think and didnt get hot too much and i also hit the wall in the skid pad only alittle graise.

Sunday lunch time the accelerator cable broke and it was time to pack up and go home.Best 3 days, build a car that got heaps of looks and attention and people coming over and asking me about the car,just awsum.

Wasnt the fastest thing there but i built it and enjoyed it.sat just below 80degrees before the burnouts and then got up to just over 100degrees during and after the burnouts.

Also run it on avgas and went abit harder.

So from now i can start with upgrading the front brakes and 5 stud conversion,also start building a cranky clevo for it,tidy up inside and the body work.

So yeah thats alittle bit about my escort.....Hope you guys enjoy it,here are some pics.         

 

The beginning..........Started life with a 2L,4spd and a farrera v6 diff out of a capri.

escortside2.jpg
escortfront.jpg
engine1.jpg
escortinterior.jpg
escortside3.jpg
escortengine8.jpg
escort5.jpg
escortenginebay.jpg
escortplace.jpg
escortcutup9.jpg
escortcutup3.jpg

 

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I also miss an Escort, green MK1 1972 , 4 door with a 2L I shoehorned into it. Was a mean lil weapon, complete with race cam and a nice 350 holley to feed it all. lol

Chrysler air shocks in the back........ I did it all myself, except the head, that was ex-Wanneroo raceway. Snapped 4 extension housings before I realized it was the idiot who 'balanced' the tailshaft. Died in true Glory..... eating a turboed GTR XU1 off the lights, got to 4th.... no more motor..... lol

Power to weight is where it's at. Nothing scares shit outta ya more than a 700kg car with 250rwhp...... hehe.

Maybe you'll get to build another one , one day Kruptor......

 

Jack.

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just a question, why cut the fuck out of the firewall, and intrude so much on the cabin, im guessing its for central weight and such but if i were to put a 51' in say a datsun, id mount it as far forward as possible with the radiator in place etc, modify the sump to ft around power steering because obviously itll be a pig to steer, uprate the suspension and brakes. then it would look like a stocker. guess im thinking of driving it alot, not just doing burnouts and drags. haha

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Xdfairmont79, Mate you can only JUST get a 2L in the engine bay on the stock mounts in a Mark 1, and even then the radiator has to go Forward, so NO way ya getting a 351 in a dato without some major front end work in the bay. Thats the best way to put an 8 in a Mark 2.

You stick a 351 V8 in something that small and hang all the weight over the front wheels, you will have major handling problems, no matter how much suspension work ya do. Weight has to be centrally distributed.

If Kruptor is anything like me.... he drove it every chance he got, lol .

 

Jack.

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Hey guys,i mounted the motor there because i wasnt going to mod the sump and other aspects.I used a 7L sump as a dummy on my dummy motor and trans.I made it so i could work on the motor in the car.You look at Mark's escorts and they are a cunt to work on in car.I can change all my sprakplugs and do compression checks in car.I also made clearance for heat as being a small engine bay and no vents in the bonnet it would cook.But this thing did not get hot at all.It would handle 160-180kmph down the main straights at Winton raceway.It was alittle hairy when you see the corner coming up and you needed to brake hahahahaa.

 

I also had abit of help from a good friend PRO250 David.He use to work with Mark years ago and was involved in a few conversions.

 

My escort steered and handled not bad.I halso had a tailshaft that was short so i wouldnt loose much power to the wheels.I'm a big bloke and i fit in there no worries.

 

It was a rushed job,like i said if i could get another turn i would do it well.I've still got parts for another build,i wouldnt mind a escort van or 2 dr.

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There was a feature in Street Machine many moons ago on a Sigma/Clevo that looked like a silly stocka outside, complete with venetians, factory alloys and 2-tone paint. Pop the hood and there's a dirty Clevo staring at you. Also seen a few Scorpions with V8s shoved in. In the 80s there was a bloke in Blacktown who built a Windsor-powered RS2000 Escort, and then another for his wife. Also yet another bloke who liked V8 powered KE30 Corollas was around then too. Both were prominent at Summernats in the burnout arena. Some old videos might have them.

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I have built an MK'1 V8 escort , about 12 or so years ago . Fun car , Now i am changing it < as i still have it .

Here are some pic's .

 

Escort3.jpg

 

Off to a burn out comp .

Image15.jpg

 

Escort.jpg

 

Just finished painting it . sorry bad pic's . Like i said it was a long time ago , phones did have the best cameras in them .

Image30.jpg

 

The new changes .

Moving the steering rack , to drop engine lower . Still need to cut & modify . old mounts .

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Engine plate , this will give me more room .

 

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This is what i have got up to so far . Of the 1st nov & the 2nd of nov .

Cut sump as well , just to tuck it up more , removed the big old engine mounts . Still got to remove the engine mounts

on the cross member , will have to remake gear box mount . Run out of time last time & got lazy :lol: ..

Just used a flat bar & put bolts through the floor . Worked & didn't move :D . I already have a 9 inch .

 

Thanks for looking & have a great day .

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Small update !.

Cut sump & weilded it up etc .

 

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Oil pump is a problem , but got more room out of it .

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Used most of the sump steel that i had cut out & only added a little steel .

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Sump is cleaned up , just some small things to do & then strip it & paint ! . << WIll do at some point .

Need to put engine back in , so i can do steering .

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Good work, do you think a fox mustang sump could work?

Well i have see them sumps ( ebay ) & i don't think it would go low enough . But i have not to see it in my hands , for height

etc . So i can't say for sure !! .

The biggest problem is the steering rack mounts , this is why i removed them . The other thing i AM

looking into is the front cross member . I'm sure i could turn that around ?, not sure if this would help .

But if ya don't try these things we would never know Or if it would help any or even achieve anything ?.

All i have done is lowered it but about 1.1/4 inch about maybe more , with removing the steering mount &

cutting up sump . The sump was off an Ford Bronco series & it did fit & worked well .

 

The funny thing is , i have a VK commodore with 350 chev . Pain to fit 350 in . It would have been alot

easyer to put the chev in the escort & the 302 windsor in a commodore :lol: .

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