Scottish Elises

Elise sold, Scotty's car well on the way to being finished, garage will be looking decidedly empty in the not to distant future so thoughts now turn to what to do.
For years my darling wife has been wanting a MK1 Escort as she loves the things and for the past year we have been searching off and on for a clean original shell to base the project on. Now this is a lot harder than it sounds as clean shells either go for ridiculous money or they are just rotten but finally got wind off a unmolested 2 door shell for sensible money that was up for sale and now we are the proud owners of an Escort Mk1.
Now I realise that this is a Lotus forum and this clearly isn't a Lotus but if there is enough interest in this age of car then I will use this as a build thread so you can see what is involved in turning a tired old shell into a 2ltr Duratec road going modern classic.













The shell is really clean with only surface rust and one repair to the drivers side foot well using original ford panel having been done. Doors are really straight and rust free, new wings, bonnet and boot lid similarly clean and rust free.
Plan for the car is to fit 4 link kit, turret kit and coil overs, baby atlas, 2.0ltr Cossy Duratec, run it up on 15" minilites, AP discs all round, half cage and drag the interior and electrics up to date. Colour TBC.

Great choice, look forward to the updates!!

Fantastic! Looking forward to seeing more

Love it already, looking forward to watching the build Mike.

This needs a build thread

Good Choice of spec.
You are lucky to find a shell for sensible money as the Historic Rallyists have driven prices skywards
New Duratec is a cheaper way to provide plenty power
There are two MK1's currently racing in SMRC with their BDG engines alone reputedly costing £30k

H8OAG wrote: There are two MK1's currently racing in SMRC with their BDG engines alone reputedly costing £30k

Sounds about right. Classic escort priced are through the roof which is incredible for a car that was so common back in the 70's.

Meant to ask
Why Duratec and not Zetec?
Given that a new Zetec with all the bits and base mapped at 175 bhp is around £2k delivered to your door

H8OAG wrote:Meant to ask
Why Duratec and not Zetec?
Given that a new Zetec with all the bits and base mapped at 175 bhp is around £2k delivered to your door

Can you not fit some V8 Muscle in there?

I'll sell you some STi running gear... .

Sounds like a great project!

Great project! That shell looks incredibly clean. If you aren't aware of the site already, turbosport.co.uk is a great place to speak with loads of people having done or doing the same thing.

I'd struggle to build a lego car, but will be watching with interest! Now that would look good in Scandal green.....

Dave

H8OAG wrote:Meant to ask
Why Duratec and not Zetec?
Given that a new Zetec with all the bits and base mapped at 175 bhp is around £2k delivered to your door

Couple of reasons, weight, durability and tunability. The Duratec is a much stronger engine and also lighter. That and it's still being made so is a current engine.
The 2.0L Zetec is durable and has the best selection of parts for extracting more power. The problem is, to get an appreciable power bump out of the Zetec, you have to throw a lot of parts at it.
The planned engine is a crate engine, will cost £7K which is pricey. However it will come with hot cams, roller barrel throttle bodies, dry sumped both of which are very expensive add on in any engine build and configure to a spec for dropping into a RWD Escort.

This is the engine I am currently looking at.

Mike

Really looking forward to this as I have a soft spot for Mk1 escorts.

I am currently addicted to Fast n Loud on Discovery. This is exactly the kind of thing the two beardies get up to but with 'murican auto-mobiles.

You may find some like minded people across on http://www.scottisholdskoolescorts.co.uk/

Awesome, your Mrs has great taste. Look forward to reading the thread on this build. Can't believe how much old Fords go for these days, serious money