Turbo Escort Van Build-up
Turbo Escort Van Build-up
NEW - See latest pics!
Now that I had a suitable shell, the first job was to remove the standard 1.6 litre engine and gearbox. Once they were out of the way, the rest of car was stripped to a rolling shell. There was some rust in the floors and seat mount area which wasn't too severe. Also the left rear inner guard was a bit rusty. Amazingly the area around the heater and vent intake was completely rust-free. The van was originally yellow, but someone had painted the outside purple and the engine bay black (yuk). I loaded up the car and took it to my friend Gerry's father's workshop. They run a electronics manufacturing company with a sheet metal shop. I gave Gerry a look at the rust. Gerry is particularly good at job escalation, he suggested the best way was to replace the whole floors. We cut the floors out, and welded in some new floors as well as cross members for the seat mounts.
Now the floors were fixed, we made a new rear inner guard and welded it in also. I had my girlfriend Carmi, and another mate Peter (Gerry's brother) helping now too. With 6 welders in the workshop and 4 sets of hands, it wasn't too long before we decided to stitch weld the chassis. We also added some reinforcing in some areas. About this time I came across a good deal on some Sparco Monte Carlo seats and Sabelt harnesses. By now the minor rust repair job was starting to grow. Now we had to mount the new seats. We positioned the seats and did a test sit to find a good driving position. The only problem now was that with the fixed back seats, the spare wheel (behind passenger seat) was inaccessible without taking the seat out! We solved this problem by making the seat mounts hinge to tilt the whole seat forward. With a bit of reworking around the spare wheel area, we could now get the spare in and out. Phew, more job escalation. Next task was to make some mounts for the harnesses. Ideally the top harness belts should travel horizontally from the shoulder to the mounts. The trouble with that is that there is nowhere suitable in an Escort van to mount them. The eventual fix was to make a roll bar behind the seats, and make some mounts on the roll bar for the harnesses. The roll bar was gussetted to the B pillar for good measure. Now we were getting really excited and started looking for more mods. A cold air box was next on the list. I cut out the existing battery tray, while Gerry made a new battery box and recessed it into the rear floor behind the driver. A trip to the local spares place and we selected a suitable paper filter which ended up being an XE 6 Cyl Falcon filter. Now the battery was out of the way, the area next to the radiator was cut away to allow cold air in. Peter drew up an airbox and duct on the CAD machine complete with a square to round section to accomodate 3" aircraft ducting. We used a section of the flexible ducting to allow the engine to move.
Phew! now we had worked every weekend solid for about 8 weeks. Some rust repair! Seeing as how we had come this far, I decided to get a Sierra 5 speed to put in. This required a few mods - moving the shifter hole back a bit and enlarging the tunnel. Although others say the Sierra box fits in easily, there was no way it was going to fit neatly in this van without major beating, and minimal clearance. We fabricated a new tunnel to overcome this problem - it was actually quite easy and didn't take too long. I made a removable section that has the shifter hole in it. If you bolt it in one way the gearshift hole is in the correct position for the 5 speed, and if you reverse it the hole is in the correct position for the standard 4 speed. A couple of adaptor plates made the standard gearbox cross member fit.
We finished up by making a new radiator support panel, reinforcing the handbrake area, and making a third sway bar mount. I got some Chrome-moly tubing from the airport for an adjustable strut brace. One thing that always annoyed me about the Escort vans was how the rear light covers were so flimsy, and the whole rear would light up under braking at night. Peter kindly folded some lovely light covers for me in aluminium. Next we paint stripped the engine bay and blasted all the sound proofing off the underside. We put the chassis up on trestles and painted the underside with chip guard. Next the car was taken to be grit-blasted. After the whole thing was taken back to bare metal inside and out, a chemical phospate anti-rusting coating was applied. I then took the car to Carmi's house ready to undertake a very ugly task - MY FIRST RESPRAY!
Now I know why panelbeaters quote so much! It really really sux! After three weeks of hell and much help from Carmi I finally had 10 litres of Spies Hecker acrylic white inside and out. Check out the home spraybooth made from builder's film (plastic sheeting). I then painted the dash black after a big masking job.
Now the body was ready, it was time to turn attention to the mechanicals. I wasn't going to be satisfied now until everything was brand new or made new. Firstly I got a new windscreen and new rubbers for all the doors and windows. I have lots of spares, at least three of everything to choose from, so the best one of each part went in. Since the engine hadn't been run for a couple of years it was stripped down for inspection. Gerry and I also pulled the gearbox apart, intending to replace the bearings for good measure, that is until we couldn't find any new bearings. I got some new front discs, and caliper pistons for front and rear. New wheel bearings and K-Mac adjustable strut tops finished off the front end. I also have a 26mm front sway bar which I think may prove to be too big. Now I had spent so much effort on this van, I knew I wasn't going to be satisfied having the same power as before. Sure the cold air intake and some new extractors would make a small improvement, but I was after something more. I started to think through the options. A very desirable option is the Cosworth 16 valve head, but if you are going to go that road it may as well be turboed as well. The trouble with Cosworth's is the high cost and lack of easily obtainable parts over here in Australia. I also contemplated a SOHC Sierra EFI manifold, and a supercharger or turbocharger. When I sat down to cost these options, they were still not cheap if done properly.
Carmi and I had previously discussed putting a Nissan SR20DET turbo into her Datsun 1600, but decided against it. Now that I thought about that engine, its more natural home was in my Escort which was waiting for more power, than in her Datsun which was a little tired. Some purists would cringe at the thought of non-Ford power, but I care only of the design of an engine, not which factory it came from! After a while of looking, I obtained one from a 94 model Nissan Silvia for $2000 including 5 speed and ECU. And that's where the project is at today. I am going to use an Autronic SM2 ECU, and a large custom intercooler. The Nissan uses a hydraulic clutch so I am going to install a pedal box which will also fix the brake bias situation. I will update this page as the project progresses. Update: Much more work has been done at Gerry's workshop! The engine and gearbox are mounted, the engine crossmember was modified, and a new rear crossmember fabricated. The fat SR20 gearbox also required (another) new, bigger transmission tunnel. The PWR intercooler has been mounted, and mandrel bent plumbing to/from it. A Unifilter ram pod has been mounted in the space between headlight and radiator for direct cold air intake. The Capri radiator and Davies Craig thermofan have been mounted. Also a custom stainless steel surge tank, Carter pre pump and VL Turbo EFI pump have been squeezed in under the car. We made a 3" mandrel dump pipe to replace the restrictive Nissan one. I wrote a small program to make an aluminum dash insert using the CNC Turret Punch. It fits in the standard Escort pod and holds Autometer Speedo, Tacho and liquid filled Boost gauge. Gerry has made a nice pedal box too with adjustable bias and hydraulic clutch master cylinder. See the latest pics here. Body:
Future Body mods:
Inside:
Future Inside upgrades:
Old Engine/Gearbox:
New Engine/Gearbox:
Brakes:
Front Suspension/Steering:
Future Front Suspension upgrades:
Rear Suspension/Diff:
Future Rear Suspension upgrades:
Wheels/Tyres:
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Last updated Sunday, 22-Aug-2004 21:09:42 EDT.
