Neb

Some **** has nicked Paul & Mick Hand's Mk1 Escort Rally Car last night from Mick's workshop in Rainham, Kent. It's Orange, is non arched, fibreglass front wings with mexico arches. Turreted caged etc. Has a Pinto on twin 45's (will have Connaught Badge on Rocker Cover) Trans X Type 9 Straight Cut Gearbox Atlas Axle with LSD, Sierra rear calipers Brand new Sparco Seats New Belts Ally tank Will try and get a few more details but obviously both are well pissed off. Car was up on stands with no wheels on it, battery switch out of it i.e. not in a nickable state so they knew what they were after and came prepared. Any details whatsoever, please get in contact

Does anyone know (or have an old set in the garage) what the i.d. (internal dimension) of a standard spring on a MK1 or MK2 Escort? Faulkners have listed a 4.75" & 5.25". I'm mainly interested in 5.25" and what car they would been on? Thanks.

found the place on the WWW where i nicked them before... http://www.rallyanarchy.com/EscortRallyPrep/ The body prep manual is the one you want. The priciples are the same for all cars. There is no denying to get the best out of any suspension setup on any car on any surface it has to be as stiff as possible, also it'll last in tough competition. Just alot of work - the seams have to be as clean as possible. We used a wire brush on a small grinder along with various other wire brush fittings on a drill/drill extension to get in the hard to get places. Would be a nightmare on your back under the car. I've got a few pictures of the build if you want them, but people like Prepfab, Gartrac etc have build diarys on their websites, could be worth having a look at.

We seam welded our Escort last year. Was nice & easy on a spit. Basically all the seams on the chassis, we did 1" of weld (mig) every couple of inches. It took 2 weeks, 15kg of wire, and quite a few diddy gas bottles. Albeit our Rally car is being used in the forests. If you have an e-mail address i'll send over the Escort build manual which shows you the areas which need additional strengthing & a run down in the art of seam welding... I've seam welded road cars before, but i wouldn't do it again. Bit ott. ben.dawsonatuku.co.uk for the manual.

I don't know in all honesty mate.... We registered a couple of months ago via the council, it was in the Gazette. Chris West is the chap who sent us a letter could try and give them a ring? 01227 868515. Be good to chat to some OSF'ers!

The old man and I will be at the Herne Bay Classic Car Carnival on Saturday with the Mk2. Bit of a run down on us - http://www.dawsonmotorsport.co.uk/ We are there trying to drum up a bit of sponsorship for the London to Capetown rally that we are doing next January - see here - http://www.londoncapetownrally.com/index.html If you fancy a run out this weekend come & say hello. Can't miss a bright orange Mk2 and a couple of idiots up for a challenge! The old girl in action at Longmoor in December (pic by Rally Gallery.com)

Cheers Mate, she does go sideways well! Yup that's him, part of the woodwork now. Still got his car too. We are talking about going out to Belgium this year to do a couple of tarmac rallies in the Escorts. How's your car going pal?

double post...

Evening Ash, It was a thought after we have had a few teething problems with the Xflow. I had a chat with a mate who works for Dagenham Motors over the weekend (mech) and he reckons they are a good little motor, just be careful to keep the oil up or they destroy bearings apperently. The main reason for going for the 1600 was to keep in the class for rallying, whilst keeping the weight as low as possible. Unfortunatley the London to Cape Town was canceled last year due to political unrest - pretty much everywhere we were going! I knocked up a website recently www.dawsonmotorsport.co.uk if you fancy a gander. Might do it again this year (2012). Recently been out on the Longmoor Loco - got a bit of a shite result on cheap tyres (should of bought slicks) but spent most of the day in the general Escort pose - driving using the side windows.... Still got a few bits left from the build - i'll whack'em up on here when i get time. Still would like to see a Zetec SE in a Escort if anyone has done it....

Anyone installed one in an Escort?

http://www.rwdmotorsport.com/Bellhousin ... od_16.html A bell housing is available for it - which is a bonus, sorry should have looked for that first. I had a look at the Shawspeed site. looks like we could get 140bhp for under a grand. We'd probably run carbs. Dunnell seem to do some kit for them too. Has anyone installed one in a OSF?

Anybody know much about these engines? Whats the craic with fitting one in & Mk2 Escort? Currently running a breathed on 1600 xflow so looking for a bit more power & maybe easier & cheaper in the long run to install something else a bit more modern. Perhaps 150bhp? Looking to stay in the same class (under 1600cc) for rallying & would like to retain the Type 9 box. Also would like to keep a Ford engine in a Ford..... rather than going for something from the far east. Any thoughts?

Welcome, we are in Canterbury.

nicked from Alcoholics Anonymous - so don't quote me on it..... 1st Gear ratio 2.9515 2nd Gear ratio 1.932 3rd Gear ratio 1.323 4th Gear ratio 1 5th Gear ratio 0.8 might be worth getting out a tippex pen & start counting teeth! or check it with the haynes manual..... For reference on our gravel stage car we run a 4.6 but considering a 5.1 as we have a long first gear.

of the lot you have mentioned 3.75 will give the best acceleration, 3.09 the highest top speed. Don't forget that the gearbox ratios & tyre size will also make a difference but with that much power you want strength. There are various speed calculators online which could be worth running the numbers through. This is probably the best one i've used - http://www.kabamus.com/garage/gears.html Good luck it's a bit of a minefield picking the right one.....