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Keri Purves
East Sussex, UK, Escort Mk1 3.5-Rover-V8 Project,
1680cc Crossflow Mk1 4-door.
The plan for this car has changed several times
over the years. It was bought as "a Mexico in bits with a good
shell to build onto". This turned out not to be the case as
most of the components had things wrong with them and the shell
turned out to be less solid than first thought! Never trust an undersealed
panel....
The list of panels needing replacing goes like
this:
- Both wings
- Front Panel
- Bonnet
- Boot floor both sides
- Both front floors
- Both doors
- Both front strut towers
- Front box section
- Both sills
- Back panel
I first wanted to change to a Lotus 2.2 engine
with 240BHP when the 1600 engine turned out to be knackered. After
working out the number and severity of the mods needed to achieve
this I then changed my mind and decided I might as well go for the
cheaper and more reliable Rover engine. This decision was helped
by the fact that (A) As it is all aluminium, (including the gearbox
and bell housing) it is comparable in weight to the 2L pinto and
(B) Several V8 MK1's are currently whipping the BDA/works guys in
UK classic rallying, so it must be possible to make them handle!
To date the ingredients are:
- A 2-door shell that's slowly becoming type-49 then works spec
- 2 Rover 3.5 V8's to choose from
- Marcos heavy duty clutch
- Vitesse rebuilt 5-speed box
- Offenhouser inlet manifold and Holley four-barrel carb
- Front Bilsteins with adjustable platforms
- Austin Princess four-pots
- Four Compomotive 15" x 11" split rims
That's it for now, I'll be putting up more pics
and info as soon as I get a chance...
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