[nigel b]

i have owned this car for over 20 years and it has had alot done to it over the time
it was running 30psi through the original 8v 1.6cvh engine untill i took it apart last week
i restored the car probably 15 years ago and ive been fiddling with it ever since
the k20 was supposed to go in about 5 years ago but due to house moves/extensions and snowboarding ive kept putting it off
since ive had to have my acl done this year and i cant go snowboarding im doing the engine conversion!
few pics





how ive got on with the honda engine

i have just finished building the quaife gearkit so that is ready to bolt to the engine
ill be oredering a new ecu within the next week so i can start wiring it over xmas
hopefully get the engine and box in the bay to start making mounts
engine spec
9.0:1 je pistons
carillo rods
sleeved block
ferrea valves/springs
standard type r cams
full race t4 twinscroll sidewinder
7670 efr

ill probably get absolutely slated over here as it is a rare car and very sought after but if we was all the same it would be boring!

 

[nigel b]

got the old engine mount ground off
test fitted the new engine

tried the hybrid racing engine and gearbox mounts and they dont fit
i havent got enough clearance
are there any smaller mounts to try?

 

[Kyron]

Wow, I'd love an Escort, my dad had plenty back when I was younger from xr3s to the rs turbos. They fetch silly money now though so I will never be able to get hold of one unfortunately. Yours is very clean, I bet the Ford purists hate you for this but the K series motor produces good power and reliability so win win.

I reckon you will have to get some custom mounts made up as I reckon all the Honda mounts are more or less the same size, they only differ from mounting holes for different subframes.

Will be watching this and good luck on the build

 

[nigel b]

looks like ill have to fabricate the engine side and the gearbox side looks like i can use an ep3 mount
ill play around with it more at the weekend

there are quite a few of these that are rusty and people expect to get 6-8k+ for an empty shell
prices have gone stupid for sure
i was at a meet lastnight and the amount of people telling me i had done a bad thing
think it will turn into a good looking car with a great engine

 

[m11rf]

It's been a while, did you get anywhere with the swap?

 

[nigel b]

i lost alot of enthusiasm for it as it went off the get radiator and intercooler done in february and it didnt come back till the end of september
engine has been sitting on its own mounts for a while
need to finish off the downpipe then take the engine out to paint the engine bay
got a few new additions to go on
syvecs s6+ ecu
hp electronik pdm
quiafe sequential
looking at making billet front hubs with bigger bearings

got no room for the thermostat housing so ill either make my own housing or go electric waterpump,havent decided which way to go yet

 

[LotusElise]

i lost alot of enthusiasm for it as it went off the get radiator and intercooler done in february and it didnt come back till the end of september

LOL , this is just half a year. I was negotiating with 7 header fabricators 3/4 year just to get a hand shake to get it done for an acceptable price and quality. My engine build started 4 years ago, 4 of 6 companies I work with were more than disappointing. This business is full of low hanging fruits of low and lowest quality. Doing prototypes or just customized projects is sometimes...most challenging .

syvecs s6+ ecu

Does it support an PID output to control a possible EWP?

got no room for the thermostat housing so ill either make my own housing or go electric waterpump,havent decided which way to go yet...

I have also clearance demands which are challenging to get in the Lotus enginebay. I decided for an EWP (CWA200, would recommend a CWA400 for your engine setup) and an external Thermostat to get more room for my DAMPFHAMMER 2-staged injection intake manifold. I purchased the K-Tuned Water Pump Delete Kit, you better do your own, the quality of the plate itself was of under carpet level. Beside the water inlet is way too small it had scratches and damaged edges, also the O-Ring sealing system was designed out of every ratio...the nut was too small for the ring, if you press it, it would be cut. I was forced to redesign it, the costs where higher than those of K-Tuned. So you better do your own water pump delete plate design from stratch.

 

[nigel b]

hi markus
its only 6 months but it was the best summer we have ever had with no rain

the ecu will do anything you want and more,it is soo configurable and i think dan was using it to control his water pump

regarding electric waterpumps i have 3d printed the cwa400 as it is only 5 euros dearer than the 200 so chose that one anyway
i have compared flow charts with delivery pressure vs flowrates on cwa and meziere and the cwa outperforms them
also you can use the tiny cwa controller from tecomotive instead of running it direct off the ecu
have you used yours yet or got any data on them as it seems hardly anyone is using them,i know one comany that uses them on track cars and they highly rate them but said if you mount the pump to the engine fill the electrics up with sealant to stop vibration
i have already got the k-tuned water plate,my friend was in the states so got hpt to ship it to him
my one doesnt seem too bad at all for quality,the only thing i will do is make some little spacers up to go over the counterbored holes that you clamp over with the other parts- they could of done better in this area but they have used this plate from their race set up,all it would take would be to have a variable set in the program to miss the c/bored holes out

 

[LotusElise]

its only 6 months but it was the best summer we have ever had with no rain

Same here Nigel, a remarkable summer 2018.

the ecu will do anything you want and more,it is soo configurable and i think dan was using it to control his water pump

What price is it?

regarding electric waterpumps i have 3d printed the cwa400 as it is only 5 euros dearer than the 200 so chose that one anyway

:up:

i have compared flow charts with delivery pressure vs flowrates on cwa and meziere and the cwa outperforms them

Yeah, easily. I did an simulation of the pressure drop in the coolant system for different flow fluxes and compared it to different papers. I had recently contact to a guy, having a 700 whp inline-4 engine, who use the CWA 400 without thermostat. The data I've seen from him confirms the assumptions I've made concerning the system pressure drop and the created heat flux of the engine.

also you can use the tiny cwa controller from tecomotive instead of running it direct off the ecu

I have it as fall back solution, but primarily I want to solve the task with the ECU.

...i know one comany that uses them on track cars and they highly rate them but said if you mount the pump to the engine fill the electrics up with sealant to stop vibration

Good feedback Nigel, I appreciate it. I place it at the firewall. I found an example in the internet of an engine mounted engine setup, but no response to the endurance. I would it anyway not mount on the engine, temperature and vibration are the fast dead for solderings of IC parts. I am in a project with boost-able generators which are system immanent engine mounted, this position is most challenging for electronics.

i have already got the k-tuned water plate...

I highly recommend to you to increase the water inlet bore to at least to 30 mm not to create a less meaningful pressure drop...

Did you thought about flushing the engine from head to bottom?

 

[nigel b]

What price is it?

about £3.2k with everything inc tax @ 20%

I highly recommend to you to increase the water inlet bore to at least to 30 mm not to create a less meaningful pressure drop...

i know the cwa pumps have a 40m inlet,which is what my radiator has

Did you thought about flushing the engine from head to bottom?

dont know enough about it to really try
i have heard some people reverse the flow of the water but again do i need to

 

[kommon_sense]

I'm a little jealous. The ford escorts from that era in the US were all pieces of junk. They must have sent the good stuff elsewhere. I had an 88 Ford Escort, and had a college girlfriend who had a 97 Escort. Back then FORD stood for Fix-Or-Repair-Daily.

Any more pics of your project that you can share?

 

[nigel b]

the american escort looked like a brick,whoever designed that should of been shot!
the 1.9cvh engine never came to europe either
you also right and the fix or repair daily,if they didnt break down they rusted to bits
what other pictures did you want to see

 

[HusseinHolland]

Pics of the whole car

What year is it? I thought it said MK1 somewhere in here, so I assumed a real 70's UK Escort, but it's an 80's or 90's model ?

 

[LotusElise]

...Back then FORD stood for Fix-Or-Repair-Daily...

Here in Europe too kommon_sense, the cost reduction area of the end 70'ies up to deep into the 80'ies cost many brands reputation. We have a word play here about Ford "Ford fahren, heim laufen!", which works only in German language. It says "drive away, walk home". The word for away is in this case is "FORT", which is similar to "FORD". I had a '78 Ford Capri 2.0 Ghia (V6 engine), which was already 18 years old and had 90,000 km on the clock, it was in good condition as it wasn't driven in Winter. I took it, because out of money, for one Winter season. Don't ask what happened to the rear wheel case...

 

[LotusElise]

about £3.2k with everything inc tax @ 20%

Oh, it should have everything on board! For that money I would have gone with an Emtron KV8 incl. oscilloscope functionality (0.5 MHz), it was designed along the K-series needs. My AEM Infinity 506 was 1600 € incl. plug and play harness. It hasn't the most sophisticated firmware and supports only 6 cylinder. I have to do compromises with my 2-staged fueling and VVC resolution (10x10 cells only), but it has some nice safety features, has a big and fast enough working logging capacity and it has a 200 MHz controller as well as map blending functionalities. My approach is to invest the saved money into tuning time, as the best ECU is nothing without a proper tune. I need about 16 to 20 h on the dyno for the rough sculpture, which is around 1500-1800 € just for renting the dyno and paying fuel costs, before taking it to the track for fine tuning.

I am looking forward to see more of your build.

Markus

 

[nigel b]

my car is the mid eigthies version,the 2 versions previous were both rwd and dominated the rallying and still do
managed to get my friend to put an s2000 engine into his mk1 escort

markus
the emtron kv8 was the other ecu i was looking at but i went for the syvecs as it has better strategies for launch and traction control,three processors etc....and it is based on the life racing ecu so it has great pedigree
tbh there isnt alot in either of them

have had to stop on welding the downpipe as ive ran out of argon again
I did have the downpipe finished but thought it could be improved on so cut it back up
few more pics

these are the camber adjusters i made

brake discs i made as the previous set i cracked doing passenger rides for mission motorsport

clearance issues i used to have with my dry sump on the old engine

custom designed ohlins with my camber plates fitted

timing the engine in the kitchen as it was cold in the garage!

custom made fuel pump bracket

 

[m11rf]

Looks great!

That must really piss off the purists.

It looks like you've thrown a bucket load of cash at it too...:nod:

 

[LotusElise]

my car is the mid eigthies version,the 2 versions previous were both rwd and dominated the rallying and still do
managed to get my friend to put an s2000 engine into his mk1 escort

Thanks for the pictures, looks very nice. I remember the first version of the MK2 version of the Ford Escort racing against Opel Kadett C-Coupe on local hill climbs. Similar chassis class, great race builts and great CIH engines...the great time of double Weber Carburetors . The C-Coupe is still pretty common in the 2 Liter class at Slalom and Hillclimbs races. The wide body kit you are using, is it stock?

the emtron kv8 was the other ecu i was looking at but i went for the syvecs as it has better strategies for launch and traction control,three processors etc....and it is based on the life racing ecu so it has great pedigree

BOSCH MS 7.4 ...yeah, I understand your decision. Launch Control is in many ECU's a lacking thing, not control-wise only but mainly in- and output wise. Drag Racers can sing a song of this suffering. Today there happens a lot of development by the ECU producing companies. The first meters on the quarter mile are the most important for today's power level...handable...but once you get unbalanced and timely different traction in addition (cornering) you need a pretty good strategy for your in- and outputs of the ECU as well as control strategy (system level and priority wise) as well as good mechanics on the LSD. My mid-engine'd RWD chassis, which is just NA'd with an 35/65 front/rear weight distribution isn't much demanding on that side, your chassis concept and torque level indeed.

...doing passenger rides for mission motorsport...

What kind of racing?

...clearance issues i used to have with my dry sump on the old engine...

Seems a serious one . It will be dry sump'd again?

custom designed ohlins with my camber plates fitted

I like those, as I also have Öhlins DFV damper/spring set, not as sophisticated as LMP's (guessing), the easy access to set them up and their quality is outstanding.

timing the engine in the kitchen as it was cold in the garage!

LOL ...pure passion! You aren't married?

 

[kommon_sense]

WOW! I had a red one just like that back in my college days. I was driving down the highway and a big puff of smoke came out the rear. Once I got home, it never cranked again... Blown head gasket. I was in college and knew almost nothing about cars.

I remember going to a car wash and blasting the paint right off the car. lol...

Lot of weird things with that car... Never owned an american made car since...

 

[nigel b]

Lot of weird things with that car... Never owned an american made car since...

ours are the same but were made in germany