Here are some pictures of the tarmac rally car I built over the 3 years.  The car doesn't belong to me, I built it for a mate.  It was alot of hours work, and the result has been pretty good so far.  The car had it's debut at Targa High country last year, but had an engine drama on the last stage on the Saturday.  All in all, a fresh car with a driver new to this sort of event and car we were pretty happy with the result considering we were still putting it together at 3am the first day of Targa High country, with a 5 hour drive ahead of us to get there!.  Enjoy the pictures
 
This is the earliest photos I have.  We started with a really clean Mk1 2 door Auto shell with the late floor plan.  This is with the car in primer, and the cage fitted, and the seam welding etc done.  It had a light tap in the drivers side front after it was stripped back, so some RS/twin cam guards repaired most of that.




 
More to follow
Woz
 
 
 
 

Some more pictures after we got the car back from the panel shop and some more pictures of the cage.  I had to go over the car and work out where any holes etc. needed to go in the body work before the final color went on the car.





 

This is the first photos of the car in paint, XR5 focus orange.  The owner wanted a classic Escort color at first glance, with a hint of modern, and he got the perfect result.  At a glance it looks like a straight orange Mk1 escort, until you have a close inspection.  Very happy with the result.  We opted to paint the interior of the car a metallic dark grey to keep the glare down.




 
 

This is the first couple day of work on the car.  Transported back from the paint shop and into the assemble shed and onto stands, diff and brakes dummied, struts in.





 

Some more progress, more bits and pieces into the car (alot you can't see!), brake lines, calipers and discs, diff centre (LSD), axles, fuel tank




 

Engine and drive train in, hang on panels started to be fitted (bonnet/boot, glass etc), fuel lines ran and pump mounted.  Exhaust and watts link being dummied up and fitted.









 

More progress.  Interior bits and pieces being done, wiring loom, instrument cluster, steering column etc.  Bumpers and some more exterior pieces also fitted, radiator, oil cooler, fan and other under bonnet stuff also fitted, and the engine has also been running




 

The final parts of the assemble.  Seats in, and floor scuff plates, all lights etc fitted and working, carrying out last minute bits and pieces, final wheel alignment etc



 

And finally together with a little dyno time (no where near enough) and rego'd ready for an outing.  Some of these were literally taken 3am same day we had to be at Mt. Buller.





 

Couple of shots from Targa High country 2010.  Because the car was finished at the last minute it was very green, and so was the owner :).  I didn't want the car to be ran at all until it had some track time, but he insisted we run it anyway.
I didn't arrive until the Friday night.  The alternator pulley that the auto elec fitted was a shocker.  It kept wearing the belt out because it was rough where the belt ran.  We cleaned it up but had problems with it from the start of the rally and did cause it to overheat on the leg accross to Wangaratta.  The owner had a mishap on one of the Saturday stages and damaged the 1/4 panel, nothing too drastic.  The car ran pretty faultlessly all day, until the last stage.  About 2 minutes from the finish line we had an engine problem that ended our weekend.  Lesson learnt by owner that more time was needed, but all very happy about the whole project.



 
Cheers
Woz