MK 1 Escort - 4 Door (Turbo Roo)

I tried to find the original thread for my car as I haven't updated in a few years. Couldn't find it so thought I'd start again.

Anyway it started out as standard 1300XL 4-door purchased back in 1990 as a cheap daily.


The car was actually in really good condition with no rust and was completely rebuilt in 1994.










The car has been ultra reliable over the years but with the engine showing some signs of wear & tear it was time to freshen it up and give it some more poke.

Had this setup sitting around the shed for years, so decided to include it in the engine rebuild.



The end result is the car now runs a 1600 Kent 711M block with a draw-through turbo setup.


The turbo is a Garrett Air Research T03 as found on the Mitsubishi Sigma Turbo, the Weber is a 40mm DCOE on an original manifold that was available back in the 80's. I custom made the exhaust manifold in a simple log type design and also made the cross over pipe. There is an external wastegate and it runs 10lb boost at the moment. I got some custom forged pistons made also to help get the compression down to around 8:1.

Its only been back on the road for a short time so still running the engine in but the difference is unbelievable.

Gave the outside a bit of a make over and to have some fun (especially with all the V8 owners) threw some GT stripes and some custom graphics on.





Of course the interior is a bit dated now so I have a new one being trimmed up at the moment. This will hopefully be ready for SFS in Feb.

Whoa [:u] The new engine looks so clean and very original. Has it been tuned & dynoed yet?

I seen this the other weekend at flower power at the sfcc day, very nice and tidy car, a credit to you. Owen

I haven't done many miles in it yet or have had it properly tuned and dynoed, hopefully soon. Then we'll know how much we improved over the massive 60hp @ wheels it had before.

Hmm, copyright stickers and sell on ebay, good idea I might just do that.

Love it m8. You couldn't miss it out on the road

Hi, very very good work. Where I can found the manifold ? I want to do the same for my kent. Thank you for your answer.

The rims look great, are they 15's? Do you recall what size and offset they are? And if you had any troubles finding the right fit?

I'm looking at SAAB 15's at the moment but I've read that the backspacing on them is too great causing the rim to foul on the front strut. They seem like a cheap option when comparing to a new set of superlites

quote:

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Originally posted by Bacca

You will have to make everything yourself to turbo a Kent engine unfortunately.

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I'd like to know if you think it would still be cheaper than installing an EFI motor (eg:4AGE)
Thanks

The wheels have been on the car for over 6 years and are 16"x 6 ROH Venturo's which are still available. Sorry don't know the offset. I run 45 series rubber but had to trim the front corner of the guards ever so slightly as they did rub when on full lock.

For me this was a much cheaper option. It would have been a lot more expensive if I did EFI the Kent and would have probably gone with a whole different engine rather than to try to inject it. I wanted to keep the setup old school as it's more of a period mod for the Escort.