Mk1 Escort Zetec

[eric]

Thought it's about time I posted the resto and Zetec engine swap of my Mk1
Made the decision to find a good restored shell rather then spending the next two years or more starting from scratch again, did make a change not to have anymore welding burns and eye injurys
The shell started life as a std 1100 had been reshelled at some point using a later ford service shell with most of the extra type 49 strenghtening.

Have to sort out a pic of the body tag someone might be able to give me some info on the shell.

Some pics to start with of the restored shell done by the previous owner about 5 years ago

[eric]

Few more

[eric]

Found some more pics of the escort before I started messing with it

[Jamie_mk1]

lovely looking car mate

[mk2 wizard]

Thats nice

[eric]

Thought it would be a good time to upgrade the brakes and do some basic suspension mods before starting on the engine, it helps if can stop and go round corners.


The escort already come with Gaz inserts roller top mounts and rear bilstein shocks also had the benefit of a bias pedal box fitted this just needed setting up to correct the brake balance. The std copper pipe was binned and replaced with braided hose and ends.

Twin cam anti roll bar with double width kit, this stopped the annoying habit of the anti roll moving through the std bushes on full lock


Wanted to change the princess calipers to something better but I knew I would be skint with the engine [FONT=Arial]change, so ended up using a spacer kit and 257mm cross drilled discs from Rallydesign. [/FONT

Rear sierra calipers with solid fiesta discs machined down to fit under the 13inch rs alloys

Panhard rod with the fixed tower with a small extension welded on to get a bit more adjustment,

[Pete-MK1]

Nice project

[eric]

Next lot of various pics lsd build up,you lot bored yet

[essyrwd]

very nice

[Jamie_mk1]

im not bored is that a slipper mate? have u done all this already or are u just working really fast haha

[HERBY]

nice where did you find that

[Mk1_Deano]

Nice project

Do you live in Kent by chance? that pic of yours next to the black mk2, that was at lydden, easter 07

Looking forward to the progress and updates

[dangerousdave]

I parked next to that mk2 up at the supermarket by pod the other year at cf show my car made looked shit next to it, yours fits in a treat!!

Nice work keep the pics coming

[DPM]

Beautiful car mate.

I did not realise that it was possible to put princess 4 pots behind the 5.5" std MK1 rims but it looks like you have been able to do so?

[Sonus]

Do the Princess calipers fit directly to the upright or did you need an adapter?
Reason for asking is that the Princess caliper is direct bolt on for my MGB, but if it's also direct bolt on for the Escort I can use Escort kits on my MGB - and that makes the selection of brake upgrades a lot bigger

[eric]

im not bored is that a slipper mate? have u done all this already or are u just working really fast haha

Got 2 cases of redbull for xmas works wonders with any Escort

Yep found a lsd for £175 needed some love now works fine.

The Escort has being up and running for the last few months never had the time to post this.

[eric]

nice where did you find that

Looked all over the place for ages to find a good escort and ended up buying the escort locally off Pistonheads.

Nice project

Do you live in Kent by chance? that pic of yours next to the black mk2, that was at lydden, easter 07

Looking forward to the progress and updates

Yep not far from lydden always try to get to see as many events as poss

I parked next to that mk2 up at the supermarket by pod the other year at cf show my car made looked shit next to it, yours fits in a treat!!

Nice work keep the pics coming

That was jeffs mk2 Mexico one of the best

Beautiful car mate.

I did not realise that it was possible to put princess 4 pots behind the 5.5" std MK1 rims but it looks like you have been able to do so?

Do the Princess calipers fit directly to the upright or did you need an adapter?
Reason for asking is that the Princess caliper is direct bolt on for my MGB, but if it's also direct bolt on for the Escort I can use Escort kits on my MGB - and that makes the selection of brake upgrades a lot bigger

The Princess caliper fits directly to the escort struts with the 257mm discs, no adapters there are some washers which may be needed to give the correct caliper to disc clearance, 13 inch wheels no problem.

The only problem with the cast iron princess caliper it retains heat so brake fade can be a problem when used hard, but it still is affective budget setup.

[eric]

Having made my mind up on the zetec engine thought I better go shopping for a phase 3 engine this is the more expensive engine to use due to the water pump rotation, reason for the later unit being improvements to the bottom end including slipper pistons, larger inlet valves worth 5bhp, oil jets to provide under-piston cooling, new injectors end fed unlike the side fed early injectors which are not compatable with jenveys,these later injectors will cope up to 185bhp@3bar so don't bin them until you go for more power.

Solid tappets with adjustment shims replaced the hydraulic lifters and revised cam belt timing tensioning setup. The pistons are teflon coated to reduce friction, water pump comes with large vanes for improved flow also the block was strengthened, a larger amount of metal between the bores which is clearly visible when compared to early phase 1 and 2 engines.

The zetec engine was from a 1999 2.0ltr mondeo automatic (stop laughing)

So one ebay purchase later,

the sump and engine mounts are from Retro ford, well made and no issues with alignment.

[eric]

Battery tray removed and trail fit of the zetec, decided to use the raceline water rail.

All the braided brake lines had been finished at this stage.

[Jamie_mk1]

awesome mate. have you got any picks with the alternator kit installed showing all the pulleys? i have to do mine at the weekend...

[eric]

Got this one of the pully arrangement,idle pulley and alternator kit from raceline, not cheap but top quailty stuff.

http://www.raceline.co.uk/products/p...0&CategoryID=4

http://www.raceline.co.uk/products/p...8&CategoryID=4

Here's a pic of the complete setup

[PaulAlex]

Lovely looking install

[Jamie_mk1]

ive got the retro ford kit. looks the same sort of set up though

[eric]

awesome mate. have you got any picks with the alternator kit installed showing all the pulleys? i have to do mine at the weekend...

Jamie a better pic (not my engine)

[eric]

Thanks for all the nice comments

[eric]

ive got the retro ford kit. looks the same sort of set up though

Dave does make some very high quality stuff for the zetec,
do have you any pics of the pulley setup from retro ford

[Jamie_mk1]

ill try and fire some up at the weekend for u mate. its not too bad dont think its quite as quality as the raceline stuff but it was a fraction of the price

[eric]

Cheers mate, best of luck at the weekend

[105Ian]

Very nice looking bit of kit

[dobuy]

Looks brilliant, well done

[MCURZON]

Lovely looking car, great work.

Matt

[Kevmk2]

Lovely job you done there, keep up the good work

[Jules]

really nice looking car

[eric]

After the zetec was checked for any fitment problems it was then time to sort out the flywheel and gearbox. Used a 1.8 zetec flywheel machined to accept the pinto clutch, the std clutch cable was used with a retro ford bracket for the g/box, well pleased with this setup.

Had my son machine a steel guide to bolt dead centre of the flywheel and machined to the inner diameter of the pressure plate, this gave perfect alignment for the drilling of the flywheel dowels and pressure plate bolts. available for hire for a small fee

I am a big fan of the 4 speed type rocket box, but still using the std gears at the moment, the internals will be changed to tran-x or quaife gears asap as the std box don't seem to last very long, already on box number 3 in as many months, still that's my fault for thrashing the crap out of it

Next was the exhaust, looked at ashley and others but when it comes down to it threre's not a lot of choice for the zetec. I wanted a 4-2-1 manifold could'nt find any so had
Zero exhaust make a one off system, made from grade 304 stainless steel top quality system and sounds the nuts

Zero made a copy of the manifold if anyone is interested http://www.zeroexhausts.co.uk/

Some pics

[eric]

One more

[eric]

From Zero's web site, last one promise

[Sonus]

Woohaa...... that's one expensive manifold - £450?

[eric]

Woohaa...... that's one expensive manifold - £450?

Was a bit mad, can't help myself when it comes to buying stuff for the escort

[eric]

Started working on the fueling, sorted the pumps, filter swirl pot goodridge fuel hose and fittings.







Swirl pot fitted and some fuel hose plumbed in.



High pressure pre filter and pump out of the way under the floor.





Fuel lines all sorted



Fuel pressure controlled by a bling regulator



Yum

[Jamie_mk1]

nice work mate how much was the regulator?