1980 MK 2 Escort - 4 Door

So shortly after getting the car home I began working on the front end damage. The engine had to come out to get a freshen up and the problems it had fixed.
Getting ready to lift the engine out, you can see the front end damage in these photos.
 


 
With the slam panel off, the front panel was removed by a combination of cutting the spot welds out and cutting with a grinder. The centre support for the slam panel had to be removed and as there was a poor attempt at fixing it. That was removed then there was just a little bit of tidying up to do before fitting the new panels.



 
 
 

Great work and I'm about to undertake the same repair as my RS2000 front valance is pretty beat up. Keep the pics coming!

hey mate, 
 
nice job with the panel, rest of the car looks really straight.
 
keep the pics coming

With all the welding done it was time to paint. There was a little bit of distortion even with only plug welding the holes where the original spot welds were. A seem sealer was applied behind all the  panels. The front was rubbed back and a small amount of filler used prior to primering.



 
For the paint we used was an off the shelf acrylic in Monza Red. The colour match was suprisingly good and the highlights were done in an acrylic black also.


 
The original grille was damaged so I got another off ebay and sanded it back before spraying it with the same black. The car sat like this for a number of weeks so the paint would be cured properly before buffing. The grille and bumpers went on so the car looks almost complete again. 
 

 
Now it's on to the engine!!!

thats really neat work mate!

The engine has actually been back in the car for a few months now.
We opened it up for an inspection, as suspected the valve stem seals were knackered so they have been replaced. The cam is showing some signs of wear (which will be sorted when we change to a lumpier cam later on) we did put in some new cam bearings. New water pump, fuel pump, timing belt, oil seals and gaskets all fitted.
The before photo.


The after photo


 
At this stage the engine is basically stock although it does now have a set of extractors and we ditched all the polution gear except for the carbin canistor. The carby is a 32/36 DGV as the original auto choke version was a bit suspect. It was on the Dyno recently and made a healthy 85bhp at the wheels.
 
 

A bit of biggish update with what's been happening to the car over the last few months. We actually drove the car down from Sydney for the SFS show at the beginning of the year. The car performed okay but we blew an exhaust gasket out so it gave me an excuse to install a set of extractors.

A nice set of Hurricane headers, ceramic coated and with a mandrel bent exhaust system fixed that problem.


The handling wasn't the best either, so we completely stripped the front end to install new shocks, springs, strut tops, etc. We discovered this cross-member. I have never seen a camber bolt kit set up on an Escort before. After  asking around we found that it was an aftermarket Kmac kit which had been installed at some stage.


Unfortunately the lower control arm bushes were so worn the camber bolts were actually bent so they had to be cut out. It also looked like the camber bolts are slightly smaller in diameter than the standard bolts so in case there was too much play we decided to make our own camber bolts.

I made several sets with the bolt hole in a different position so we can adjust the camber as needed.
 
Kmac strut tops were also installed. Along with stiffer springs, Gaz adjustable struts, a new steering rack and tie rod ends all supplied by SMCKA.


Whiteline make a nice heavy duty front sway bar and a strut tower brace so these have been intalled, almost! The strut brace won't clear the down draught carby so we will have to install that when the twin webbers go on.


Another problem we discovered was with the gearbox mount. As the car was originally an automatic, whoever did the manual conversion decided to just cut the original mount in half and just bolt it in. It was pretty dodgy so I had to remake it and weld some stronger bracing in.

 
The electrics had been messed with also. It looked like there was a large sound system installed as there were speaker cables and amp cables running everywhere. This all got redone and tidied up.

 
As the car is being converted into a weekend warrior I added in an isolator switch.

 
The interior has been stripped and a roll cage installed.




A set of race seats have gone in.


And of course some harnesses.

 
The cage and interior will get a lick of paint in the next couple of weeks, but for now the car is ready to hit Marulan  with the Small Ford Car Club at their track day. 
 
 

The cage was supplied by Bond Roll bars here in Sydney. It fit really well and wasn't too hard to install. They were very helpful giving plenty of instructions on how to install it.

Here's what we've been up to with this over the last couple of months.
After the track day it was decided to pull the interior so the cage could be painted. All the sound deadener was scraped off the floor, it was in good condition and only needed a couple of small rust spots fixed.
 

 
The most time consuming part of painting, masking up!

 
All painted Monza Red

 
More masking and the cage is painted black.

 
The plastic chrome trim around the windows wasn't the best so it was all removed and painted. The rear got some attention too. And more masking!!!



 
I made up some alloy door trims, painted them black too and put it all back together.

Looking good!

They're sheet aluminium, 1.5mm from memory

Looking great mate.  
 
Matt

Your getting to be a pro with that masking mate! Cars looking great.
 

That's why I went with a bolt in cage. I can take the front out and as there's no back seat can leave the back in when on the street.
 
I stay away from all the usual hang outs so as not to get hassled. Had a highway patrol car behind me recently and he didn't bat an eyelid at the car! Lucky maybe!  

 
So shortly after showing the car at the All Ford Day at Eastern Creek, I pulled the car off the road to have it's new rear end fitted. This includes some mini tubs so the original tubs were all cut out.




 
New steel tubs were fabricated and welded in with some sikaflex added to seal the seams.




 
The old diff has been pulled out and an 8 inch Borg Warner is about to go in. If anyone is interested in the standard Escort diff let me know as I'll have no need for the old one.


Just need to finalise some measurements then diff housing will be cut down. Planned wheels are 15 x 8 inch and we'll probably run a 10 inch tyre.
 

That is a very neat job with the mini tubs!
 
What power plant have you in mind?
 
Shaun

Awesome job on the minitubs, the side stripe looks new too? Very RS1800.... nice....
Cheers Drew.....

Final installation of the rear end is complete including diff centre, brake callipers, traction bars, shocks, etc. (ignore the axles on the ground, they're for a different car)


 
In the photo above you will notice the hole in the boot floor. Well that's for the new drop tank we had fabricated.
The tank includes baffles to eliminate the need for an external swirl pot and lift pump. It's a lot bigger than the standard drop tank so should be good for some long distance cruising.








There's a little bit of detailing required but the car is now on it's way back home so we can begin installing the 5 speed gearbox and the new front brakes.

Hi Theo, did the Nissan brakes bolt straight onto the Borgy or did you require adapters???

laurie
Hi Theo, did the Nissan brakes bolt straight onto the Borgy or did you require adapters???

 
Hi Laurie, Yes straight bolt on, but because the wheel sits so close to the leafs and with their offset we ended up making them so we could position the calliper in the right spot.
 
Cheers, Alex. 

Perfect 👌 everything is looking amazing especially that shifter.. How long till flying, driving

ausmk2
Perfect 👌 everything is looking amazing especially that shifter.. How long till flying, driving

Thanks.
 
I still have a long way to go before it's on the road, I'm still waiting for the motor to be picked up so it can be rebuilt.
 
Once the tailshaft is sorted out ill be starting on the front brake and pedal box conversion as well as fixing up the heater bubble as its full of rust!

Good evening Alex, where did you purchase the front brake kit from and how much it's next on my list

Thanks Alex, might have to do a couple of weekends man whoring to pay for it but will definitely have a look at this set-up.
Cheers Matt

The Hoppers kit is THE best engineered brake kit in Aus. Zero issues with these. Had the ebay/UPC kit once and was not even close to fitting proper, let alone the quality of materials used. And then the **** fight to get it corrected . I had previously bought the Hoppers kit for MK2 Escort before I decided to try the UPC kit on the current MK2 Escort. Should've got the Hoppers kit instead of trying to get something cheaper . I did eventually and cut my losses.

The heater bubble delete option on the Escort has been completed.
The coil packs were mounted and a bracket was welded in so that the brake & clutch reservoirs could be mounted.





Hard brake lines will run from the reservoirs into the pedal box.





Once the pedal box and brake lines are in, the whole engine bay will get a fresh lick of paint.

Really enjoying this. Thanks for sharing your progress.

Not much better than that to fill an engine bay!!
Len

That pedal box looks alright 😉. Engine bay looks great!!

Looks like its all coming along fantastically, your doing a great job
 
I noticed you ran the Falken tyres at the track, what did you think of them? I have them on my car but haven't had track day heat into them yet
 
Keep the updates coming!
 
Cheers,
Ryan

With the holiday period now here we've been able to get a little more work done on the car.
Started to work on the wiring loom in preparation for the ECU. A new dash has been installed, the coils packs have been mounted and the ignition module mounted in the front kick panel.










And a xmas present of sorts! With all the machining done the engine has been assembled.





So hopefully will have it home and installed over the next week or so.

.

Like all projects things are a little slow, have been delayed in getting the next lot of fab work done. But have received some more parts for the car. Got the gearbox fitted after sourcing a suitable clutch, the quick shift has been fitted too.
 

 
Got a custom plenum in from the UK, very nice bit of gear but may need further modification to fit the larger throttle body that I plan to fit.
 

Nice Project!
 
What Engine Management are you planning on using?
 
I will be interested to see what you do with your intercooler / radiator set-up. I ended up setting my engine back another 25mm from the factory location to allow me to run a couple of half decent sized fans, but it's still super tight in there.
 
Cheers,
 
Damion

Is that your engine bay I seen in the April issue of Classic Ford ..nice

80ESKY

Mk2_2dr_2L
Nice Project!
 
What Engine Management are you planning on using?
 
I will be interested to see what you do with your intercooler / radiator set-up. I ended up setting my engine back another 25mm from the factory location to allow me to run a couple of half decent sized fans, but it's still super tight in there.
 
Cheers,
 
Damion

I will be running a Holley EFI HP ECU.
 
It will be a tight squeeze and because i don't want to cut too much away to fit it, I will most likely get a custom intercooler and radiator made for it.

Nice - they seem to be very popular with the V8 boys.
 
Yeah, it will be good to see what you come up with.
 
Cheers.

I just reread this thread, what a change from page 1 with ghia alloys.
 
Have you still got the original 2lt sitting in the shed?
 

Time for another update with some good progress now being made on the car. The plenum has been modified and has a 70mm throttle body neatly mounted to it. The intercooler has been finished and mounted.

 
The radiator is actually an aftermarket Mazda RX3 alloy unit which has been slightly modified by changing the mounting brackets and filler neck. 

 
As expected there is not enough room for the original water pump or a large thermo fan so an electric water pump and multiple thermos are being fitted. To also help with clearance the bottom crank pulley is being machined to remove the power steering pump belt.
 

 
These will all be powder coated black so it should all look reasonably stock from in front when finished.
 
I have also set a finish date and want to have the car ready for next years Small Ford Sunday. So hopefully progress will continue at a rapid pace...!

Well done, lovely 3D art.

Fab work all done. Finish is on target for Small Ford Sunday!

That is a very nice piece of engineering - well done!! Len

Well the car got finished just in time for Small Ford Sunday, didn't think it was going to happen though as plenty of last minute gremlins. We didn't get any time to tune the car properly so it's first real drive was actually going into the show. Still enjoyed the weekend and had a great time, it was very nice to meet you Matt.
 
Here's some photos of the car from the day, great event and will definitely be back down for it next year.
 








 
And a group photo with some of the other Sydney boys representing at SFS.

 
 

80Esky  the car looks great, I'm sure you would have had a crowd all day.
 
(Matt I feel guilty not making it when I said I was going.
plus its only 45 min up the road and you get the Sydney crew doing the long drive down.
My excuse was I thought Sunday was going to be 'turn the key day for the first time day"' on my escort, and got prematurely excited.It didn't happen)
 
Time for 80Escy to be in March CF mag!

what?
Hey mate do you have any pics of your overflow/catch can setup?

I don't have any decent ones, ill try and get some over the weekend.

Will MK1
80Esky who did your fabrication, turbo manifold and intercooler?

Paul Testa at Mr 2600 Racing in Wollongong did all the major fab work and built the engine.

Nice one. What fuel were you using? I would be interested to see a dyno plot if you have one?

Sorry for the slow response, I tend to forget about this forum these days. Thanks, I hope you are enjoying the car.
 
Damion.

Interesting thread. 

Will MK1
What hydraulic clutch kit did you use for your t5?

It's a tilton one, it's a internal one that sits on the input shaft, i can't remember which one off the top of my head.

Will MK1
No worries thanks, I’ll have a look. Also What brand pedal box did you use?

I got the pedal box from Paul Dunstan on this forum, I highly recommend them had no issues with it.

Matt75

80ESKY

Will MK1
No worries thanks, I’ll have a look. Also What brand pedal box did you use?

I got the pedal box from Paul Dunstan on this forum, I highly recommend them had no issues with it.

I got one of his too but we had to mod the throttle pedal.  Have you got a pic of it installed?
 
Cheers,
 
Matt

We just had to bend it slightly to make sure we were getting 100% open throttle.

Paul Dunstan
Thanks for the positive feedback 
I'm assuming the bending of the pedal was required regardless of the pedal box as the accelerator was untouched from the original?

Nothing wrong with the pedal box it self, just when we were calibrating the TPS and with the throttlebody we're using we were getting 80% throttle, so in order for it to show 100% and for the throttle blade to open all the way it needed to be bent slightly.

Long time between posts.
 
Had the car out last November at the dragstrip and ran a 10.6@128mph with plenty left to go.
 
Enjoy the vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chI7U-LnZxk&ab_channel=MrCossie
 

 

 

Getting closer now....
 
Knocking on the door of a 9 sec pass 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHT9UuGzIgI&t=4s&ab_channel=Mr2600Racing
 

martymexico
Good stuff mate, that's proper rapid for a more door !
Thought about weight reduction, like strip interior out, plastic windows without cranking mechanisms , fiberglass panels etc.
With those speeds, a front spoiler would definitely help with keeping the car stable and reduce lift at 100+ mph.

No weight reduction as this is a street car so full interior, full exhaust etc
 
I am building a TE cortina drag car however that will have fibreglass panels, lexan windows fully striped out.

martymexico
That makes it more impressive being a fully loaded Escort.

A friend of mine done a TE Cortina back in the late 90s, back then there was no barra motors . He used a falcon alloy head 11 from the last xf efi and ran it on a 9kg gas bottle with an injecting mixer thing with xr8 TB, a supercharger from a diesel roller, he was running low 9s in basically a road car except the back doors were welded up and blended in.
1 thing he found out is with so much torque, the rear swing arm bushes die real quick causing him to crab down the strip. He was lining at the start line at nearly 45deg to allow for the twist in the suspension ! , so the rear will need attention if your going for big grunt. You prolly know how bad they are anyway in factory spec !
Hope you post a build thread when it happens 👍

I am building a big barra engine for it, 1500+WHP, the aim and to run 7's.
 
Just got it back from fab, has a very strong 9inch rear end to handle the power and torque it will make.
 
Still have heaps to do...
 
Here's some pics.