RS-STYLE ORION
Wondered what a booted S1 RST would have been like? This is it.
An Orion RS Turbo. Now, that would have been quite something. The perfect pocket-sized executive express. A car that, with hindsight, Ford should surely have built in the mid-Eighties.
Want proof? Well, here’s the cleverly thought-out, painstakingly-crafted creation of Paul Wright. Only Paul’s not adhered to the norms of an RS Turbo replica – he’s taken it one step further, and instead of using an old CVH, there’s a peppy 1.8-litre Zetec beneath that trademark Diamond White bonnet.
Sadly, we don’t come across as many modified Orions as we used to. In fact, when did you last see an Orion at all?
But it doesn’t mean Ford’s oft-overlooked booted Escort is without its fans, and Paul confesses to having a definite soft spot for the humble saloon.
“I’ve had many different models from the Orion range back in the day,” Paul tells us.
He’s also owned a few other notable Fords, including a tiger-striped Mk1 Fiesta and an early Sierra, which received a complete frontend facelift from a later ‘88 model. Yes, people did that sort of stuff back then...
More recently, Paul had moved on to a 1990 XR3i and was keen to take it to as many shows as possible.
He says, “I wasn’t looking for another project when I spotted this very early 1983 Orion 1600GL for sale. I was just glancing
at adverts for cars on the internet. It was just after Christmas 2016, the car was local and Orions don’t come up for sale that often, so I decided to look.”
Not wanting to miss out, Paul viewed the car at night, in the pitch black. “I did take a torch and was impressed by how solid the car was, though it did have major electrical issues. But I knew it had potential, and bought it straight away. My mate drove the car back on his trader’s policy,” he remembers.
With no plan for the Orion in mind, Paul concentrated on his XR3i, and the Orion went into storage for the following 18 months. “Eventually I decided to make a start and sold the XR3i, so I had no distractions,” Paul laughs.
The initial phase of stripping down the shell ensued, and Paul was reassured to discover his trusty torch had done its job: “The sills, boot floor and even the battery tray were rock solid, but the inner wings had evidence of dodgy repairs,” he explains. “This was a shame, as I had to cut off the original front wings, which were still in good condition.”
Paul then managed to source a suitable donor car and salvaged various panels, including a rear wheelarch and doors.
“Even at this point, I still planned to carry out the necessary repairs and use it pretty much as it was,” Paul adds.
The idea for a Series One-inspired replica came about after a Google search, where Paul couldn’t find an Orion conversion.
“I knew there’d been estates and vans with Series One styling, but not an Orion. This gave
me a goal to aim for; I’ve always liked Series Ones, their bodykits, the colour combination and the interior trim, so an Orion-based S1 sounded right up my street,” says Paul.
This new direction meant Paul had to track down numerous hard-to-find parts, as he explains: “I’d got the shell on a spit and made a start removing the black underseal in preparation for paint. There were various small areas to weld, and I had the reusable suspension components blasted and primed.”
A familiar Ford colour, Gentian Blue, was chosen for the suspension, tie bars, steering rack and brake servo. “The suspension struts were painted yellow to match the Koni shocks, and new stickers were added. I opted for contrasting Radiant Red 30mm lowering springs,” Paul points out.
The underside was repainted Diamond White, along with the engine bay. Work continued with a brand-new fuel tank and pipes, ready for the wheels to be refitted.
“I now had to work out how to adapt an Escort Series One bodykit for an Orion,” Paul laughs. “The area around the rear doors and rear arches differ greatly, as we all know.”
With all the minor dents removed, Paul sensibly decided to have the arches and sills resprayed first to ensure there was white paint beneath the bodykit.
He says, “The front bib and wheelarches went on with no issues, but the rear arches were a different story. I had to remove the rear doors and mount the wheelarches to the shell, attempting to mark the inside in order to cut them so the back doors would still open. The remainder of what was cut would then have to be mounted on the rear doors for the bodykit to look as it should.”
Paul cringed at the thought of it all going wrong: “I took the arches back off, ready to cut, thinking ‘I hope I don’t make a mistake as I’d never find another pair’.”
Luckily, the cuts were well measured, the back doors still opened, and the bodykit sat reasonably flush to the car. There was a slightly-larger-than-intended gap between the shell and the kit, but Paul resolved it by using some bendy plastic sheeting, along with bumper-repair filler and fibreglass.
“It’s far smoother than a CVH, more refined and quite lively to drive too. I’ll probably get round to fitting a turbo to the Zetec at some stage”
After all this, it’s little wonder Paul decided to retain the Orion’s original bumpers, which manage to do a great job of blending in with the rest of the RS bodykit. The cleverlyadapted Sapphire RS Cosworth rear spoiler looks right at home too, and we should point out those spotlights and brackets are very rare and hard-to-find genuine Ford parts.
Once Paul was content with the fitment of his bodykit, the whole car could be flatted with 800 wet-and-dry paper, panel-wiped and despatched to Louis at LC Body Shop for its full Diamond White respray.
Paul says, “I reckon ten litres of paint were used in total. I brought the car home and proceeded to fit the boot, bonnet and doors so they didn’t get damaged, then made a start on building the car back up.”
Now, you’d expect to see a 1.6-litre CVH turbo under the bonnet of a typical S1 RST replica, but with access to Ford’s more modern and arguably improved engine range, Paul opted for a 1.8-litre 16v Zetec with a similar power output.
He explains, “The CVH was surprisingly good, though the carburettor, with its notoriously unreliable auto-choke and other electrical gremlins, meant it was just as easy to replace it with a more powerful unit.”
He continues, “I sourced a Zetec from an Escort Cabriolet Si, which runs the fuel injection system from a 2.0-litre Mk1 Focus. It remains fairly standard, with the ECU, but the wiring harness has been simplified.”
Before fitment, the engine itself was cleaned and painted black, while the rocker cover received neatly colour-coded blue finish. Handily, the Zetec arrived with an IB5 gearbox, along with a rear-mounted starter, which proved to be ideal because the Orion’s exhaust manifold sat close to the front of the engine. The exhaust system itself is by Sportex, adapted to fit the existing downpipe. The coolant pipes are a combination of Mk1 Focus and Mk6 Escort.
“The top mount had to be altered as the oil filter was fouling, but this was easily overcome by fitting a shorter CVH filter,” Paul adds.
Okay, there may be turbo badges on the car and currently no turbo in sight, but Paul has been pleasantly surprised at how well the car drives with that naturally-aspirated Zetec under the bonnet.
“It’s far smoother than a CVH, more refined and quite lively to drive too,” he says. “I’ll probably get round to fitting a turbo to the Zetec at some stage, and that should be fairly straightforward to do.”
One of the original Series One’s aspects Paul couldn’t be without was the interior.
“Some of the parts are really hard to find and command crazy prices. I had to travel all over the country collecting bits here and there,” he recalls.
The trademark Recaro front seats and the rear bench are genuine RS Turbo items, while the rear seat-back and door cards came from an Orion Ghia, since recovered in matching S1 material. The dashboard required repair and has been painted in grey gloss, while the blue trim has been painted satin black. Paul’s very handy donor car provided the grey carpet.
When it came to choosing wheels, Paul had to remain faithful to the Series One. Those 15in RS seven-spoke rims wrapped in Toyo rubber suit the car’s look and subtly-lowered stance perfectly.
Since completing the project, Paul’s Orion has received plenty of favourable feedback, including some people asking if it’s a genuine Orion RS Turbo.
Fooling people into thinking it’s a factory model is high praise indeed, and those kind comments help to make what has been a mammoth project all worthwhile.
So, should Ford have made an Orion RS Turbo? We’d say the answer is a resounding yes – the Blue Oval certainly missed a trick.