RS Motorsport :: Classic Speed Restored

G'day folks,

I have yet to post any info on my car on the site, mostly just didn't get around to it or didn't have much interesting to show. Anyway, I've had the car for what must be almost a couple of years now. Some of you queenslanders will probably recognise it as it came from up your way. Since I got a hold of it it's basically received all new suspension up front and back and a whole bunch of other stuff/work to make sure it doesn't blow up and is generally more reliable and livable.

I've just been doing supersprints and hillclimbs with it, but the goal is tarmac rally and the entry for Targa high country in November is in!! Therefore, it's getting a fair makeover again mainly a new multipoint steel cage, as opposed to the alloy bolt in job with a modified cross brace (removing it has made me realise how useless it would be in a big one). Fitting a proper rear firewall, mk2/late mk1 style rear shock setup, watts link, shaped tank, heated windscreen.... etc. etc all things needed for tarmac rally.

So I figured there might be some things of interest along the way so i'll keep track here.

Here's a pic of what it looked like a few days ago.

newcastle2.jpg (124.51 KiB) Viewed 34695 times

As it sits now, stripped of glass and everything rear of the dash

body1.JPG (118.06 KiB) Viewed 34695 times

body2.JPG (107.16 KiB) Viewed 34695 times

Other than stripping it I started on the diff housing, using the Race products kit. Very happy with the kit, still needs a bit of work to fit though. No escaping that.

diff.JPG (101.67 KiB) Viewed 34695 times

Will be all powdercoated when done.

Still deciding on how i'll mount the truss, simplest is through the floor with a brace in the boot however the shaped tank platform will be above and in the way, I have a few ideas though. Will the keep the posts coming.

Oh and I'd like to say thanks to all who have offered advice or answered my questions up to this point, has been a big help and has been great learning all about a new car.

Llewellyn

Nice looking Mk1 mate.

November doesn't seem that far off!

Not for one second did I think 5 months wasn't enough time.... until you said that!

Definitely one of those jobs that when you've ripped it all apart you stand back and think 'F__k... this is more work than I imagined, why, after so many times do I still end up muttering those words everytime I take something on. Anyway, I have heaps of time of so I'm not worried about making it in time.

Get off here and get to the shed. You don't have time to be chin wagging...but don't forget to come back with photos and in-depth stories!.

Car looked good, Make it better!

JP

Well, slow going. Mostly because I like to do things the hard way. Rather than mount the Watts link through the boot floor I decided to make a cross member that is profiled to the underside of the boot floor and keys into chassis rails underneath. This keeps the boot tidy and more room for tank mount and integral swirl pot that hangs under tank. By my calculations it also weighs about a kg less than a bar in the boot running between the rails and the bracketry underneath that is also required (it all adds up). And although I have no real data to back this up, I think it will be stiffer too, important given the width of the alloy truss and associated leverage on the boot floor.

Definitely one of those bits that you underestimate how long it takes to make, then have to make it again because you didn't do it just quite right. But i'll be happy I did it this way.

Crossmember

photo 1.JPG (105.48 KiB) Viewed 34534 times

Dummy fit

photo 2.JPG (122.55 KiB) Viewed 34534 times

photo 3.JPG (121.01 KiB) Viewed 34534 times

photo 5.jpg (106.73 KiB) Viewed 34534 times

The diff brackets line up perfectly with maybe a couple of mm of clearance on the high side (hence the reason the crossmember is higher on the drivers side rail) nothing that won't clearance it's self if it needs to.

All I need to now is get welding and get some powdercoating done, then on to the shock mounting/firewall.

That's a nice neat solution.

Very nice work!

Very nice indeed. I would be happy to buy one off you if you felt inclined to make another.

Keep up the good work and plenty of pics also.

Troy.

I too like it, want to make a 3rd or sell/share the pattern?

JP

Llew you're going to have dramas with the RHS watts link rod hitting the bracket as the leg off the diff will go into the cavity between the rail and the boot floor and bash into the boot floor itself as has happened to both my cars and the reason I stuck with the mounting inside the boot on the yellow car

I remember you talking about that when I chatted to you last Danny, and it was something that was a concern to me. I was mindfull of this when positioning the diff brackets and the crossmember so as to minimise interfearance while maintaining good geometry.
My RH diff bracket appears (from looking at the pics of your car) to be mounted/rotated further down on the diff than yours and I dummy fitted everything first and even under full compression it just clears by a mm or two at the exact point on the floor where the crossmember is "broken" (this is considering bump stop compression also). It certainly won't go right up into the cavity next to the rail. I'm sure in anger it may have a little more to say in the matter, but nothing that can't take care of itself with what I expect would be no more than a small dent in that area of floor pan, which would be caused by the bracket, the arm will never hit as the bracket will always contact the floor first and slightly higher.
And even with the brackets positioned like this the watts arms are parrallel, equal length and bell crank straight up. This is with the roll centre adjusted aprox 50mm below the axle centreline under vehicle weight. So plenty of room to move both ways with no geometry issues.
Anyway, I've been through it all dummy fitted from every angle and measured everything about 20 times and just can't forsee an issue. Having said that though, there are many things in life I never foresaw and some of the most significant have been car related so the jury is still out and only a solid drive will say for sure. I'll keep you posted Danny. Until then, your voice will be in the back of my mind making me doubt myself .... you may yet get to say "I told you so"

As indicated above, there are many variables between cars, different diffs and any number of other combined factors that can lead to different outcomes which is why to the few others that have expressed interest, I would say I couldn't be confident that anything I made would suit any other persons application because the position of every part is considered together and cannot be replicated properly with satisfactory result on another car without having to go through the same process and effort as it took to do this one in the first place. Any attemp otherwise would likely result in the sorts of issues you suggest Danny.

Thanks for the positive feedback though, it's very appreciated and encouraging and sorry I couldn't be more help. But trust me, i'd probably be doing you a favour.

Back in the garage in a few days, more updates to come.

Llewellyn

Well slow going lately, mostly due to laziness. But also due to the old, "didn't expect that to take so long" syndrome.

Danny, I notched that crossmember at the end just to make 100% sure i'll have no clearance issues. It did occur to me after all the extra time I spent thinking about it (thanks to you making me paranoid I hadn't calculated right) that diff twist/rotation could also exacerbate clearance issues. Anyway, plenty of room now for the rod to make it's home in the boot floor now and i'll run it before I weld in that little wedge in the right hand rail. Was a pain in the arse but still the lightest, neatest solution given I'm running a shaped injection tank in the boot above.

crossmemeber22.JPG (95.72 KiB) Viewed 34307 times

Also removed the old shock mount crossmember, This was one of those jobs that took a hell of a lot longer than expected. Especially given I have never used a spot weld cutter before. Came up alright but will definitely be much quicker and neater in the future.

photo111.jpg (97.85 KiB) Viewed 34307 times

Once removed, all cleaned up and painted in POR15. Placed panel on top and marked plug weld points then cleaned back to bare metal.

photo333.jpg (104.46 KiB) Viewed 34307 times

Did the same to the shock panel but painted the edges with Copper weld through primer, I found this stuff works well for stuff like this as it conducts well and takes the heat. Still doesn't really weld "through" well on low voltages like this stuff which is why I cleaned up the boot floor but will help to maintain corrosion protection once in place.

photo 4.JPG (114.08 KiB) Viewed 34307 times

And lastly, surrounded the weld holes with weld through seam sealer which although I chose not to "weld through" it, it did appear to stay in place and in form on the test pieces I did. Did give off some nasty fumes though.

photo55.JPG (116.43 KiB) Viewed 34306 times

All seam sealed around the edges post welding, hopefully this process will give it enough corrosion protection to last my lifetime with it. It's got to be better than stock though, and that was just bare metal under the old crossmember with a little seam sealer, and there was no rust in that after 40 odd years.

Moving on to the firewall now and the diff is back from powder coating so should have a fair bit more progress to show in the next week or so when it all comes together. Really looking forward to starting on the cage, that should be fun unlike all this shitty panel work.

Cheers,
Llewellyn

Well, slow progress as always. It was mostly the firewall that I didn't invisage taking so long this time. Was in a few minds as to how to do it. I was originally going to weld in a steel one around the whole perimeter, but for a few reasons including the ambiguous interpretation of the rules meant i'd do something a little less permanent, although i'm pretty happy with the way this turned out too. Anyway i'll leave it as is and reevaluate in a few years if I get the whole shell blasted and some fresh paint.

Pretty much just built a perimeter around the whole boot to mount the alloy sheet to. This is welded in place in a few spots and then seam sealed. Also had to fill a whole bunch of holes in the area just under and around the rear window which took a while. And i'm just going to rivet an alloy sheet over the upper remaining punched holes.

firewall1.JPG (97.03 KiB) Viewed 34157 times

firewall2.JPG (118.55 KiB) Viewed 34157 times

Alloy firewall just rested in place, won't rivet it in place until the cage and a few other thigns are finished, but you get the idea.

firewall3.JPG (80.76 KiB) Viewed 34157 times

Also fitted the new seatmounts

seatmount1.JPG (103.39 KiB) Viewed 34157 times

Continued...

seatmount2.JPG (102.31 KiB) Viewed 34156 times

The rails were mounted as low as possible, the rear one virtually rests on the floorpan on the inside end. As i'm about 6"2 I need as much room as I can get. I am using Sparco alloy side mounts, the ones that actually curve in and ander the seat at the lower mount. This allowed me to use the more traditional mounting setup of lateral mounting bars, AND get the seat as low as possible and right next to the tunnel.

seatmount3.JPG (96.43 KiB) Viewed 34156 times

This allowed me to fit an XL size Velo Viper seat in with room to spare

seat1.JPG (74.72 KiB) Viewed 34156 times

The seat is about 40mm off the floor at the rear which gives me plenty headroom. And I can move the seat as far back as I want without it interfearing with the B pillar

seat2.JPG (106.53 KiB) Viewed 34156 times

So there you go, that's one way to fit an oversized seat in an escort. Also the Sparco seat in the pic is a large size also, it is also sitting a few notches higher in the mounts, so can go lower as well.

Also started on the cage finally. Hopefully, this will not take up so much procrastination time as I have a much clearer idea in my head of how i'm going to do it than all the other bits so far.

Only did the main hoop feet today.

cage1.JPG (110.52 KiB) Viewed 34155 times

I have mounted the seat as far back as is arguably possible while still keeping the "drivers shoulders in front of the vertical plane of the front edge of the rear seat" as dictated by the rules. And with the main hoop placement dictated by that (while still being right up against the tip of the seat back) you can see the main hoop actually sits quite far back. Most other cages in Mk1's seem to be built with the main hoop on top or just behind longitudinal member that supports the rear seat, but to me a little more space to move the seat back is a big bonus, and the main hoop feet also mount virtually on top of the frame rail, directly above the front spring mount which is a much stronger point anyway.
Of course the only downside of moving the seat so far back is that most people can't then reach the pedals. Due to my long legs though it won't be an issue, maybe just a 10mm spacer or so behind the pedal box will be all I need. Mind you that is a theory that I only think is viable after a very quick squizz in that area, actually doing it will determine how well or not it can be done. Either way, the potential is there for optimal weight distribution, it may just take more or less work in the future. Will keep you posted.

More to come, in the next week or so (I hope)

Great stuff. Keep the updates coming.

Matt

the work is looking good. nice neat and thought out. Its amazing how long it all takes.
How long till your deadline.
The cold slows progress to much I find.

JP

Thanks folks, although any encouragement is now dampened after cleaning up area for front cage feet to find bog and rusty holes in floorpans. They pretty much need replacing.
Deadline in November the 7th... Whatever! I'm just going to have to pull my finger out and work like a dog. If it happens great, if not targa will hold your deposit over till next year. But I won't give up yet, still recon I can do it. Also decided the diff centre needed a little love so yet another surprise there.

Justin, what floorpans did you use. And were you happy with the fit?
Anybody else have any recommendations for front halves? I had a look at the ex pressed site as everyone says they're the best, but they only do full length floors which will be pretty pricey by time they get here. Or are they the only way to go for a good fit? (I hope not)

Cheers
Llewellyn

Have a look on Ebay there is a set of front halves.