bit of a slow night tonight so i figured id put up a few pics of my current project.
its a 79 2 door i purchased 2 and a half years ago. i bought it a few weeks after my first escort burnt down, i suspect the brass fitting came off the weber as it just a push in fitting ( presumably never recalled.) that was a hard way to learn a lesson but im wiser because of it
anyway insurance came through and i went ahead and bought this. it was advertised as a 1700 with roller rockers, lightened bottom end and a few other things. as it turned out it was stock internals with a 45 weber,extractors and electronic ignition. the body on it was solid, which was the main reason i bought it.
it ran ok for what it was and i drover it around occasionally for about 8 months. in that time i put a new quick rack, GAZ front and rear shocks, made coilovers out of the standard struts, fitted a vented brake rotors on the front and a tranx LSD at the back. it was a bit of fun but in the back of my mind i really wanted to build a circuit car, it just something ive always thought about doing. this is what i looked like just before i took it off the road
at the start of 2010 i took it off the road. pulled the motor out, still not quite sure of the direction i was going to go with the car. road or track. after some thought i decided that it would be tracked.
as i already had the 1600 i decided that would be a base start for a motor. had i known i was going to get as serious as i did with it i may have chosen another engine. once i bought one thing i had to get another and another and it eventually snowballed.
to cut a long story short this is what the 1600 ended up having done to it.
block sent out and sonic and crack tested. bored to 83.5
knife edge forged crank (std stroke)
h-beam forged rods
AP forged pistons
alloy head
stainless steel valves
titan roller rockers
kent 244 cam shaft
kent double valve springs
kent high flow oil pump
kent double width, adjustable timing chain kit
4-2-1 extractors
twin 45 webers and angled inlet
electronic distributor
ACL race series bearings thruout
ARP bolts and studs thruout
lightened flywheel
steel front pulley
airtech thick core alloy radiator
world cup crossmember
i also picked up a 4 speed box with quaife straight cuts.
few pics of the motor
stripped the rest of the car for paint and a cage. i decided to paint the car myself as i wanted to do as much myself as possible. spent a while getting all the dents out and preparing. it is by no means the best paint job in the world but im happy with it for a first time go. with no rust in the shell and only a few minor dents it was pretty straight forward
next i had to think about suspension/ brakes. i wanted to build this car to a high quality and to a standard if i ever want to put a bigger motor in i dont have to change too much. after much saving i ended up going with some GRP4 stuff up front and converting the rear to disc at the rear.
so its running the grp4 front struts with bilstein inserts, bilstein rear shocks with king leaf springs with anti rebound. compression struts and adj control arms
as for brakes its the AP kit with 4 pot calipers and 302m discs. and the rear converted to disc brakes. also running a adjustable bias pedal box and GRP4 steering rack
the old mad bought a hoist which was nice
project stayed as is for a bit as i had run out of money. my uncle passed and i inherited his vintage speedway car he was restoring so i was spending a bit of time on that too ( but thats another story)
the next step was making brake lines. another thing i had never done before. i had a bit of help though and it worked out well in my opinion but will have to wait and see
next on the list was a seat. after sitting in a few i got the sparco circuit seat. and went about fitting some seat rails
bought some nice guages from the stack pro control range
so this is how it is at the moment.
drive line is all in
seat is mounted as i want it
suspension and brakes all fitted.
i still need to make all the wiring for it and get a few more little things but its well on its way.
like i said this is a first time building a car like this for me. its all been a learning experience. progress is slow and im not made of money, i have to save for a while before i can afford anything.
i want to do everything i can myself, i find it alot more satisfying if ive done the work. it may not be up to the standard of other cars on this forum, or to your taste but im building it the way i want it and im happy with the way its turning out so far
cheers
it needs a bit of work but wont touch it till the green one is finished. its insane to drive 
