Project Escort

Red Dawg · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:15 pm Post subject: Project Escort

My latest project is the rebuilding of a Ford Escort for Paradise Motorsports Television.

While we did manage to get the car running after we purchased it, we realised that the engine will need tearing down and a general rebuild was necessary. After all, the car had been parked for about five years.

Since I was tearing down this engine, I decided to fully and completely rebuild it, so everything has been cleaned, measured, machined and replaced where necessary.

Although the engine showed signs of being rebuilt sometime in the past, it measured standard throughout with no noticeable wear in the cylinders or on the crankshaft. I decided however that this is a total rebuild so the crankshaft was cut to .020" undersize and the cylinders were re-bored to .020" oversize. The cylinder was glass-beaded inside and out. The exhaust valve seats were replaced with seats for unleaded fuel and the head was shaved .006" and the cylinder block was also decked .003" to ensure a true mating surface.

All of the parts were repeatedly cleaned and then individually repainted in their original black while the aluminium pieces were cleaned and in some cases polished. All of the oil gallery plugs were removed and the galleries were thoroughly cleaned. All of the core plugs were also replaced.

The oil pump has been blueprinted and the original distributor has been completely rebuilt.

If you look closely you will see that every bolt on the engine has been replaced with stainless steel allen head bolts with the exception of the two carburetor studs. All of the bolts in the carburetor have also been replaced with allen head bolts with the sole purpose of stressing out the next mechanic that works on the engine.

List of things to be done on engine.

Replace thermostat housing. Years of being parked without and anticorrosive coolant has not been kind to the aluminium housing.

Drill and tap cylinder head to fit thermo switch for electric radiator fan.

Clean and rebuild alternator. As you can see in the photos, the alternator just does not match the freshly rebuilt engine. The crankshaft pulley also needs to be cleaned and repainted.

Replace carburetor and manifold with a twin choke Weber carb from a 1.6 escort. Is any further explanation needed.

Replace fuel pump with an electric unit and an aluminium cover will be made for the mechanical pump mounting.

Replace distributor with an electronic distributor from a B11/B12 Sunny or Ford Laser which I can then machine and adapt to the Escort engine.

MKII Ford Escort 4 Door
1.3 Liter OHV Crossflow Kent Engine, (locally known as the pushrod engine)

With any luck, the engine should be back in the car in the next two days and then its on to redoing the engine bay electricals and relocating the battery into the trunk.

I would like to thank Royal Purple for supplying the Assembly Lube, Break in Oil, Engine Oil, Coolant, Gear Oil, Oil Filters and Penetrating Lube
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wagonrunner · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:20 pm Post subject:

d spike is also gonna love this.

now onto my area of experise (dumb questions), it looks like that trolley supports the engine by bolts to the rear side of it. Would the engine weight on them stress those threadings ?
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spike · Racing Wind! Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 326

Red Dawg · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:12 am Post subject:

No, The bolts at the top are threaded all the way into the engine block to ensure full thread engagement and the bolts at the bottom use their own nuts.

This is a new engine stand, but I have been using engine stands for years.

Although the engine is all steel, it can still be easily lifted by two persons. Ten years and two hernia surgeries ago I would have lifted it by myself.
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MG Man · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:46 am Post subject:

great project, nicely executed...........I not a fan of fOrDs but always great to see work like this being done on our shores
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spike · Racing Wind! Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 326

Red Dawg, you have given me some serious inspiration!
Hoping to drop a Kent into an Escort sometime next year. Ford

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Red Dawg · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:17 pm Post subject:

The engine is in.
Now its time to clean up the electricals.
Luckily, the cars wiring harness appears to be untouched, but I will soon solve that.
I have to wire in the MSD and the electrical fuel pump with all wires routed within the original harness. When done it must look like the car came with these and everything will be run through relays.
The battery is also going to be relocated in the trunk with a master cut off switch in the dashboard.
Pictures will follow
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