SERIES 1 RST
Stunning Series 1 is packing Zetec turbo power
With football and video games competing for the affections of his childhood chums, you might expect the eight-year- old David Fox to have been distracted by the same indulgences, but an altogether different focus of attention captured the imagination of the South Yorkshire schoolboy – his next door neighbour’s Series Two Escort RS Turbo.
“It was an incredible looking motor and became my dream car as soon as I’d laid eyes on it,” says the now 28-year- old traffic management operative. His love of the model would endure as the years passed, assisted in no small part by his neighbour’s continuing support of the Rallye Sport badge. “He owned four different S2s – each in a different factory colour – and would spend every available opportunity doting on them in full view of my bedroom window. I was eventually old enough to take driving lessons and promised myself to buy one as soon as I’d passed my test,” he recalls.
play the long game Lofty insurance premiums and the scarcity of solid examples forced Dave to wait until after his 19th birthday celebrations before he could grab the keys to his own S2, although the car that he bought looked radically different from the stock models that he’d admired during his formative years. “It had a badboy bonnet, aftermarket wheels, M3 mirrors and an Imperial Blue paint job that featured shimmering metal
flake, but all I cared about was getting behind the wheel of my dream ride,” he tells us, acknowledging that his pride and joy featured a number of styling updates that were already beginning to look a little out of date.
Buying a car with your heart ( rather than your head) can be a dangerous occupation, and Dave learned the hard way that all that glisters is not necessarily gold. “The custom paintwork was pretty cool, but I soon discovered that the sills were being held together with silicone,” he groans. The nuts and bolts of the Escort were also in a questionable state, and the 1.6-litre CVH powerplant blew up before Dave was able to spend any real time stretching its capabilities. Undeterred, he managed to source a donor engine and treated the removal of the knackered lump as an opportunity to replace the car’s striking exterior with a no-fuss Diamond White topcoat.
lucky break
It was during the process of reassembly that a local resident identified himself as a fellow Blue Oval fan and revealed that he had an unfinished Series 1 Escort RS Turbo project tucked away in a nearby lockup. “I was excited by the fact that the car was described as a minter and was thrilled to be told that it was available to purchase for just £750,” says Dave. The workin-progress lacked much of its original hardware, but a quick inspection was enough to suggest that there was a lot of potential in the rolling shell and a deal was struck that same evening.
Dave recognised the S1’s motorsport heritage as a homologated model, introduced to satisfy Ford’s early ‘80s Group A rallying ambitions, and he favoured the car’s sharp angles and chunky bodykit over the softer edges of the S2. Needless to say, the later Escort was sold in pieces to raise funds for the completion of the S1 project, and the following four years were spent stockpiling rare OE parts in advance of the deployment of a serious amount of elbow grease, and a fresh lick of paint.
hit rock bottom
“The car finally hit the road in late 2012,” confirms Dave. “It felt great to have been responsible for returning it to its former glory, but the bottom end of the CVH that I’d sourced packed up after just 2000 miles,” he frowns. History looked as though it was repeating itself, so the decision was made to sort a number of bodywork niggles, while the redundant engine was lifted out for remedial work.
“I’d never been happy with the front end of the car as I couldn’t get the bumper to sit comfortably,” continues Dave. “Consequently, I asked a restoration specialist to glance at each panel prior to my scheduled appointment with a local bodyshop. His feedback was less than positive and he informed me that the nose must have been involved in a shunt at some point in the distant past. Additionally, he said that it would require a chassis tug to straighten out properly,” he comments.
Understandably, the news came as a devastating blow, following the drawn out timeline of the car’s rejuvenation. There was also the not-insignificant financial commitment of commissioning the corrective labour to consider – a matter that
“I bought the entire engine as a stripped unit”
caused Dave and his longsuffering wallet to step back and take a deep breath before any further action.
Almost as soon as he’d exhaled, however, a like minded enthusiast advertised details of a restored bare-shell S1 available for sale through the owner’s club website. Confusingly, the car had been assembled at a Vauxhall dealership in London using brand-new, old-stock Ford panels ( including the rear quarters, wings, inner wheel arches, chassis legs and doors).
It offered Dave an instant solution to his problem in the form of a mint condition, primercoated shell that could replace his compromised classic, and he agreed to part with his hardearned within three minutes of the details appearing online!
The original S1 was stripped back to its earlier state and its component parts were transferred onto the new arrival, following the latter car’s willingness to take its predecessor’s place in the spray booth. Koni adjustable suspension, wiring looms, exterior trim and cabin furniture were carried across to the restored shell, although Dave’s experiences with the CVH engine convinced him to try a newer lump. Fast
Ford features provided him with a library of reference material, and much page-flicking convinced him to try a tuned two-litre ‘Silver Top’ Zetec turbo, complete with standalone management.
auction hero
Once again, eBay would deliver the goods in the form of another abandoned project. “I bought the entire engine as a stripped unit, and it was sold to me complete – with a modified cylinder head, forged Supertech pistons, steel H-beam rods and everything required to build a fast-road turbocharged animal!” beams Dave. A local breaker’s yard supplied a reconditioned T34 from an accident damaged Escort Cosworth,
and airflow upgrades continued in the form of a bespoke inlet manifold, a re-flanged Nissan 200SX tubular exhaust manifold, an enlarged front-mount intercooler, custom pipework, a Pipercross air filter and a Mongoose stainless steel exhaust system.
Fitting the Zetec into the S1’s engine bay proved to be less of a challenge than expected, although the turbocharger required a custom mount and rerouted pipes due to limited space under the car’s recently louvred bonnet. The blower is now bolted squarely onto the roof of the gearbox, and the surrounding exhaust tubes have been heat-wrapped in an attempt to avoid excessively toasty operating temperatures.
Transmission upgrades are minimal, with the S1’s OE limited-slip differential providing satisfactory levels of grip until Dave buys a Quaife ATB. That said, an AP Racing clutch delivers increased reliability and was installed at the same time as a massive Wilwood four-pot front brake kit that works alongside Sapphire Cossie stoppers at the rear.
class act
The painted calipers are just visible between the spokes of Dave’s favourite 17in Compomotive rims, and their graphite finish sets the tone for the rest of the car’s exterior decoration; custom RST graphics in silver and black replace the original blue design, colour- coded covers for Hella spotlamps make an appearance (alongside a custom air feed that sits in place of the nearside headlight) and rare smoked lenses at the back of the car provide food for thought to all those left in its wake!
Talking of which, tuning firm, Art Motor Engineers Wakefield, are mapping the car’s DTA standalone ECU to produce in excess of 350bhp, just as we write this. There’s the potential for even more, and Dave will be able to monitor the delivery of that power thanks to cockpitmounted gauges in flocked pods, an Innovate air/fuel ratio analyser and a GReddy boost controller.
He does admit that larger injectors and a subsequent remap are required to squeeze even more out of the car’s fettled drivetrain, but we’re sure you’ll agree that a stunning Series 1 exceeding the power of many modern sports cars is nothing short of fantastic. And while the young Dave Fox had to make do with daydreaming about RS Turbos from within the confines of the classroom, his older self has managed to piece together an undeniably awesome example of old-school cool!