Ade’s Mk3 Escort
It’s a typical longterm magazine project, but the left-hand-drive hatch now has a new and different powerplant to get it going again.
“SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT, COMPACT AND HIGH REVVING IT’S IDEAL”
L ooking at the evidence, it may come as some surprise, but I’m no fan of eternal projects.This Escort is the longest I’ve ever had by far, but this time it’s actually coming together! I may have said that before, but this time the shell actually has a new engine in it, so it’s well on its way to becoming a real car again.
And when I say new engine it very nearly is. A modern powerplant which has so far never been seen in an —80s Escort — the Zetec-SE from a current model Mk7 Fiesta Zetec-S. On paper it sounds like a great little engine for a Mk3. Super lightweight, compact, all-alloy, high-revving 16 valve with twin variable valve timing. It has 120 bhp as standard, but I’m aiming for around 150 bhp with management, better breathing and fuelling which should make it a real fun package.The fact that the induction is reversed from the typical Ford style is also very useful, as throttle bodies will have much more room sitting in the forward facing position than crammed against the bulkhead like in a CVH or Zetec.
Conveniently, Ford still use the same basic gearbox design which dates way back to the 1976 launch of the Mk1 Fiesta, so no custom shafts are required to run the Zetec-S IB5 box as it is basically an updated version of the Mk3 Escort’s BC ‘box.There are a good few changes though, uprated internals which can handle more torque, and a cable selector mechanism are great, but the mounting not so much.Yes quite a substantial amount of fabrication had to go into the fitting of this drivetrain as nothing was remotely close!
The plan was always to make this a tidy show-spec bay, so the monster OE engine mounts couldn’t be used as they would massively intrude on the inner wings.The smooth slopes in the engine bay are to be kept, and later down the line smoothed of any fixings and holes. At the gearbox side an upper mount has been fabricated at Sitech Racing which nicely connects with the nearside chassis rail. A load spreading design has been used, so all should be well no matter how hard I drop the clutch! Around the back a tidy lower pivot point has been engineered, and on the left a small tidy engine mount designed which is much more compact than what this engine would normally be held with.
Next up will be the task of wiring, plumbing and finding various bits of Escort which have become scattered all over various places. It’s been a long time coming, but for the first time in many years it feels like it’s actually back on track now!