MK1 Makes it way into Garage

[holywood3645]

I have got to the point with my elan that there are a few fiddly things left to take care of, and it's now time to start on the Mk1 Escort project that has been sitting far too long.
I found some extra parking at a friends house just a minute away, so it handy to go get an take it fo a drive.

Now.... where do I start with this beast.

James

[Ianashdown57]

Hi James,

Very cool car, can't wait to check it out!

Ian

[Elanintheforest]

That must be a very rare car in California, James. What's under the bonnet?!

I recently bought a twincam Escort, which needed a very simple job doing....replacing the ring gear. However, the twincam has to sit at a strange angle under the bonnet to allow clearence for the carbs on the inner wing, and as a result, the tail of the gearbox is also very close to the tunnel.

All that means that the engine and box have to come out together, and from underneath. Unfortunately there's a crossmember underneath, which also has to come out, and that supports the suspension and steering.So just about every mechanical component, apart from the back axle, has to be removed to replace the ring gear!

I thought that the engine was a tight fit in the Elan..,....but of course, the Elan was desgned for it.

Incidentally, the BDA / BDG fits a lot easier due to the shorter inlet manifolds, if you were considering engine options. That engine was of course designed for the Escort.

Mark

[holywood3645]

Mark, I know of only less than 10 here in the US. I have a Cosworth 2.1ltr BDA/BDG (90mm bore 82mm crank) on twin 48's and a ZF S5-18/3. I was going to put the elan , but decided to leave it as all th HP would be a big problem. Then i started looking for a Mk1 to be the for the engine. As you say it's the right place for it.

James

[cal44]

If the Escort ends up looking as good as the Elan (seen it in person) then it will be something to behold.

Mike

[Elanintheforest]

It should sound very good as well at 10,000 rpm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmiaoQRFM8

Maybe set the redline at 9000 and the engine will last more that a couple of months!!

Mark

[SJ Lambert]

.........

I recently bought a twincam Escort, which needed a very simple job doing....replacing the ring gear. However, the twincam has to sit at a strange angle under the bonnet to allow clearence for the carbs on the inner wing, and as a result, the tail of the gearbox is also very close to the tunnel.

All that means that the engine and box have to come out together, and from underneath................I thought that the engine was a tight fit in the Elan..,....but of course, the Elan was desgned for it.

Incidentally, the BDA / BDG fits a lot easier due to the shorter inlet manifolds, if you were considering engine options. That engine was of course designed for the Escort.

Mark

G'day Mark - I remove the engine from my Twin Cam Escort with or without the gear box attached by winching it up through the engine bay after removing the bonnet. With the box attached it's a bit tricky, but one soon learns how to get the angles right - with wheels on your winch/crane it's not too bad.

James

That Mk1 ought to be a lot of fun to drive once you've got it sorted!!!

Cheers

James

[Elanintheforest]

Bugger!

I was told it was either impossible or very tricky to get the box off the engine in situ, or the engine out from the top...so I sent the car up to Paul Matty for him to do the job! Roy, who runs the workshop there, is also getting it out from underneath, but maybe as the car / engine bay is just about perfect, it's less risk of damaging anything? He's campaigned an Escort Twincam in hillclimbs for 30 years, so getting him to give the car a once-over isn't a bad thing.

I shall interogate some of my informers!!

Thanks James.....Mark

[jono]

Photos please Mark

...and the Mex

Jon

[Elanintheforest]

Just one picture of mine to show the engine sitting at an angle in the bay...don't want to flood James' topic. If this was in an Elan you would have some serious chassis problems!

As the engine is decided, what colour are you going to paint the car James? Alan Mann and Broadspeed were given very early cars by Ford for campaigning the Touring Car race series when the Twincam Escort came out. The 4 Alan Mann cars ran the FVA engine (so your BDA would look right!) and the Broadspeed initially ran with the Twincam, then 1300 injected for a smaller cc class, and 1300BDA when that became available. That must have been a real screamer!

Both great colour schemes....

Mark

[holywood3645]

Mark, Thanks for the picture of the Twin cam MK1, Please post more it looks like a very clean example. But it also makes me wonder how good a job I can really do on this car. I?m actually in the overwhelmed stage right now and have just removed the windows. Unlike the lotus elan, parts and resources to restore a Mk1 Escort are scarce in the US. Right now, I?m trying to find a reasonable priced method of getting the body parts from express steel panels in the UK.
The car was ice raced in Sweden before coming to the US. They have done some funky stuff to accommodate Volvo parts as you can see from the hood, also a five link rear is much different than the traditional Atlas, modified route.
There was an article recently in the Classic Ford magazine about a car that was used during the evolution from the Lotus Twin cam engine to the 1600cc BDA rally car. The car was campaigned using both engines and a ZF gearbox at different stages. (I can?t find the article right now) It was also a Left Hooker, so that would all work for me. The color scheme was the traditional white with flat black hood and had bubble arches. Not very sexy I?m afraid, but period correct.
The good part is I have got a sound body shell that needs to be re-baselined to the original period spec, I have the difficult stuff to find such as a newly rebuild 2ltr BDA, ZF close ratio box and an Atlas axle (needing modified to suit) I need a bellhousing (not a problem) ZF LSD (that are available)
My big issue is the body panels and metal fab.
Thanks for the reply
James

[vstibbard]

I think Pat Thomas at Kelsport has a Zf box for sale, not sure if its the right one for Escort.

I had std TC escort and had a lot of sideways fun with it!

Look forward to finished pictures. V

[holywood3645]

I was looking through the www for resources on the MK1 and the steel body panels. I was looking at the Gartrac site when I stumbled across this. I had no Idea Gartrac were Fabing the Elan chassis for Miles Wilkins. It looks like in the pictures the are including the 26R modifications on a new chassis. It looks like great workmanship. I just wish I could afford to send the Mk1 to the UK and write them a check. Gaud knows what the price would be.

http://www.gartrac.com/fabrication/lotu ... lLotus.htm

James

[Elanintheforest]

The fabrication work isn't too expensive....around ?4k for a full Group 4 shell, but that presumes that the shell is straight and rust free to begin with....and very few are!

So add to that another ?5k to get an average rusty shell sorted out, plus another ?6k to finish / paint, and you are up around ?15k....and that's just the bare shell.

But these guys are to bodyshells what Wilcox is to the BDA. Remember though that the fabrication is to build a rally car, which you wouldn't need for a track car.

Here's a body tolerance chart so that you can see if your car is straight! You'll probably have to download it to see the full size.

I'll put more pics of my Twincam up over the weekend, as I'm collecting it tomorrow.

Mark

[Jon.ford]

The twincam motor can be pulled from the top if crossmember is lowered, if tunnel has been modified around bell housing area it will come out with out problem.
My escort has a large fabricated tunnel, pinto with rocket box I normally split engine from box for removal in less than an hour. Gear box is quick release can be removed from under car with out bell housing, we changed gearbox on last rally in less than 15 minates.
We built a mk2 from a mint shell that we sent to gartac, I have seen a lot better fabrication recently from more local welsh fabricators.
Jon