Watching with interest Ev. Looks like a good project.
 
Rhys

i rememebr the blue car, 
 
i think i seen it on the road in the last few months in adelaide
 
are you located in adelaide?
 
nice project...i also look forward to updates

Nah mate. Was in Sydney, i heard it got burnt out by the new owner apparently?
You can imagine i was pretty furious at hearing that.. id love for it to be still alive! It was a proper sorted quick car.

Finally got a few minutes while I'm on holidays to get the front suspension roughly fitted. And to check the wheels clearance etc.
Just waiting on my adj tca's & compression struts to come in as well, I'm also going to have a sway bar made up which i will attach via a drop link. (*It is sitting very high as there is no engine currently installed).


 

 


Tyre clearance and offset seem pretty good. However, with these wheels they do foul the brake calliper. 
As the wheels do have heaps of meat it shouldn't be a problem to machine/chamfer a few mm from the inside lip so it can clear adequetely. The other funny thing i have some light surface rust only on the outside of the disc (not the inside)? Odd..

I'd be looking at machining the calliper rather than the wheels

Ended up having the rims machined slightly by a local reputable wheels manufacturer/importer which my wheel/mechanic mate put me on to.
Just enough to clear (gives about 5mm clearance at any point) but without touching the wheel welds which hold the rim together. They said as there is quiet a lot of material there for a rim this size and its a light car it will be fine.
Cost $30/rim. Sounded fair to me.
 

 
Question for today though.. Just looking at adjustable strut tops. As I have 2.8i Bilstien struts, do i need an adapter sleeve to fit the Kmac type tops? And does the Kmac raise the spring height like some other types do? Looking at these as i don't want to go too solid/hard or raise the spring height. 
 
Below is the combo im looking at. If someone could help confirm these are the right ones?
 
Strut tops:


 
http://www.ebay.com.au/it...m1e882b0fe0&_uhb=1
 
 
Adapters: (are these the correct ones?)

 
http://www.motorsport-too...t-bilstein-insert.html
 

Hey Bud, good to see some progress.  You may be fine with the K-Mac tops but you'll need to know the ID of the strut tops (18mm from memory as I had a set) and then get the spacer if required.
 
K-Mac struts tops don't effect the ride height which is a good thing too. 
 
Cheers
 
Matt 
 

Yeh ill just have to get them and try it out as is usually the way. But these tops seem the best compromise.
Im thinking of probably going the street/race version as it has spherical bearing. Or maybe these items from Wilkinsons in WA. Same sort of thing.

 
Overall still very slow progress with the car so far away, but its reaching a point where i need to get a few major things done by others (fab work, paint etc) which should then bring it to a point i can mainly tinker the rest by myself. 
 
Also have a auto elec mate from NZ going to come over to rewire everything for me when the engine and everything is in.

G'day Ev,
 
Have you decided on an engine yet. I am seriously considering using the F20C and transmission but am struggling with the cost of dry sump. I saw the pictures of the altered sump you had on previous page.
 
Are you able to help with where you saw the image so I can try to speak to the owner. I'll repost the info I get for everyone's info.
 
Also if you have gone down the path of researching this motor a few tips and tricks would be great.
 
Cheers,
 
Todd.

I've kept with the F20C.
I will be cutting the sump, doing it similar but slightly different to those before.

The few which have done it this way before have cut the sump, then dropped the standard crossmember/steering rack down by about 30-40mm with spacers from the chassis rail.
 
Im not a fan of dropping it down this far, so I'm going to get a lowered rack crossmember from the UK. And space down about 10mm max hopefully. With the lowered rack ill need to also use cranked steering arms and/or spacers to correct the steering angle back to normal (to prevent bump steer).

I have a spare sump there to if I stuff it up. But haven't had a real decent chance to get in and do it in the last 6 months.
 
Stick with the F20C mate. I think out of all of the conversions it lends itself to an escort so well. Good high rev power, doesn't have tonnes of torque which can destroy gearboxes, diffs etc. And not too much for such a light shell.
 
And if you end up putting Individual Throttle Bodies.. surely theres no better sound than VTEC at 9000rpm going through ITB's!