Log entries listed from newest to oldest. For a while this was updated in a thread on FordEscorts.com due to lack of time to catch up on the updates, however now they will be posted here and the forums every time. To discuss any of these modifications or other ideas, join us on the FordEscort forums!

Feb 26 2011

To resolve issues with too much exhaust soot and noise going towards the firewall and reflecting off of the pavement, the 4-4 open headers were modified into 4-1 headers with passenger side dump in the front bumper. At first the decision was to make a new flange to suit the headers obtained from a Nissan Sentra. But then to save time, the old 4-4 headers were converted by cutting off the collector, flange, and pipe from the other headers and welding them on. Originally the collector was slightly too large, so cuts were made, and the collector was shaped to fit the headers perfectly. Surprisingly this created a really big difference on the output noise, and brought it down to manageable levels. A support for the dump pipe was originally going to be welded to the frame, to alleviate stress. However, after seeing how strong it is and how it seems to handle supporting itself at ease, it was left the way it is. Also, this time no exhaust manifold gasket was used, to create a more seamless flow between the head and headers. The flange sealed perfectly without any leaks.

Feb 24 2011

Toe alignment was performed on all 4 tires thanks to Cody in Naples, FL. The top of the alternator mount broke from the stress, which made the bottom part fail after. This was quickly repaired and the top area reinforced. The solid engine mounts definitely create a good endurance test for all of the parts, custom or factory manufactured. The PCV system has been completed for now. Next plan is to rewire the electrical system to make it even cleaner, a new steering support, and to sand blast the chassis. Also, the alternator mount was even further simplified, seems to be working well.

Feb 19 2011

Finished rear lower door panels, now the vehicle at least doesn't stand out as much in traffic before. Windows panels will be completed soon. They're easier to make than originally anticipated, however there is a lot of rough welding and ribs inside that will be done cleaner next time, the tubes for support will be replaced with bent sheet metal with a sheet metal brake next time they're done. But for now they'll suffice. They were welded in, with only a few spots, but are extremely rigid.

The first image shows the new piece of sheet metal sitting flush with the door after bending, without the use of any clamps. The second picture shows the door with a temporary paint job, sitting flush with the body. The seam is so small that it qualifies for completely fusing it with the body later with fiberglass and then making everything blend smoothly together, if that route is taken. The completed doors panels weigh roughly 75% of the weight they would have been had a completely trimmed door with bare minimum glass and glass support would have been used to achieve the same purpose. Second time around carbon fiber will likely be the choice for even further weight savings.

Feb 18 2011

The car is completely gutted and the electrical system finally organized enough to cease being an annoyance. However it will be overhauled entirely with the Megasquirt installation around the corner. The fuel rail is about to be modified as well to accept the 42 lb injectors, eliminate useless fittings, and add an Aeromotive FPR (Fuel Pressure Regulator). The interior still needs tons of work, and is getting overhauled as well. All holes in the firewall will be welded shut with 16 gauge sheet metal.

Began work on a different strut bar concept, but might scrap it before it's done and try something else. Also the rear door panels are almost complete and turned out perfect with the help of an old door to trace it to 16 gauge sheet metal. All that remains is to make the ribs inside to provide the curving shape, and create mounts for it to bolt into the chassis, and white paint of course.

Pictures of the clean engine bay. Everything is more roomy than ever, thanks to redoing the entire engine wiring harness. Starting work on figuring out how to eliminate the PCM entirely, along with other useless parts of the electrical system. The bumper and all the front parts have been mounted properly and everything works, such as headlights & etc. Though the headlights are manually operated with a regular flip switch rather than overcomplicated factory system. The bumper holds quite strong and doesn't flex from any air pressure while driving. The car has already hit concrete after a few speed bumps, and thanks to the 4030 steel 1.5 DOM tube at the bottom, the concrete/asphault usually ended up being on the losing side.

Next on the list that wasn't mentioned above is the PCV system, custom valve cover, turning signal relays, remounting (and soon replacing) the steering wheel, a laptop cradle, a switch pannel, webcam mount in the rear windshield, and beginning work on filling in various small dents around the body, along with shaving the gas tank lid and door handles. Beginning work on a full belly pan as well.

Oct 16 2010

Added one more last support, for the side fender. Contemplating the possibility of using the same tubular steel and sheet metal to create a modular belly pan for aerodynamics. Began making a custom valve cover. The valve cover will not include any hoses or caps. It will be extremely simple and contain no curves in the front, to look like a normal valve cover should.

The second image shows a piece of metal for the perspective, which will most likely be thrown away because it's not as compact as it could be. It's untrimmed and just the top part. Once the top part is fabricated the sides can be made, welded together, and the whole thing trimmed and polished.

Oct 14 2010

A very tricky part, the front bumper (cover) and headlights support had to be created. There was many ways to do this and limited time and materials, resulted in a fairly decent outcome. Very thin steel tubes were used to weld up a simple frame. The trickiest part was constant measuring and adjusting while the headlights were leveled, to ensure that they would shine properly once used. While the thin steel tubing may look weak it's actually rather strong once welded, and creates an excellent support. The bumper and headlights now fit it like a glove, and both the steel frame and the bumper reinforce each other with their shapes, and give plenty of confidence over it's ability to handle air resistance at higher speeds. Although impact resistance is put on the back burner for now.

Since this was the first time fabricating all of this up, the second time around the design could be made simpler and stronger by going off of the current design for examples, and seeing various structural shapes and lines. As always it's hard to conform to the original factory mounting systems and shapes, but in the end it works out quite well. Although some recommend the frame should not have been made permanent, there is a good argument against that. While having limited time it would take far more time and materials to create a section that could be removed or bolted on and off. This would also weigh more, and be weaker. Due to the ease of welding and the availability of the TIG, cutting and rewelding sections with a new design or changes, is not a problem.

To do: Fabricate rear door pannels, fill in gas cap lid, organize wiring, run custom wiring, get one of the rims straightened, fill in useless holes in the bumper to improve aerodynamics, add an air dam, install some of the bushings, begin messing with Megasquirt and install the recent acquired 42lb green top injectors, paint body, tint windows, make tie bars for the rear subframe, utilize the other 4-1 header system laying around in possibly putting on a muffled side dump exhaust.

Oct 10 2010

More tubular steel was put in to reinforce the frontend and give it vertical support from triangulation. With that out of the way fenders were finally able to be reinstalled. While the tubular steel might look heavy, it's actually rather light. It is thin walled 3/4" DOM tubing.

Sep 17 2010

It was discovered some of brake parts were mismatched due to the differences between the 2nd and 3rd gen Ford Escort rear brakes and calipers. While they were small, eventually everything was matched up and the rear disc brake swap as complete. Unfortunately it turns out one of the rims is still crooked and has to be taken back to a wheel straightening and polishing shop in Tampa (Glenn's Wheel Polishing).

The top end of the steel tubular frame was finished, and ready for all the addons. It's a bit rust but the rust was later cleaned up. As the car is so close to completion, once it is done everything will be cleaned and restored, and then painted to prevent further rust. The surface rust came off very easy with a few minutes of sanding.

Jul 10 2010

Finished an Alternator mount. The hardest part was figuring out all the geometry. This was accomplished by making a jig and peerforming various measurements which was pretty hard because the belt had to be hand tensioned and alternator held up at the same time while marking things and taking measurements. It started out with curved pieces and then they were reinforced which is why it may look a bit funny. A second mount that is simplified and stronger will likely be made later on. But this one turned out quite good in quality and strength. New radiator mounts were also made, to reduce the amount of stress the radiator has to endure.

All that is left is to make the top part of the alternator. At first the possibility of making an adjustable tensioner was contemplated, but eventually it was decided to make a simple piece to hold the alternator at a predetermined tension. Due to the availability of the welder and extreme simplicity in making a piece to tension the top, this would not be a problem if the belt became loose and a new one had to be made quickly to take care of the problem.

Jun 27 2010

May 05 2010

The radiator was quickly mounted with using the thick aluminum thread mount holes for the radiator fan, instead of the stubs at the bottom that are meant to go into rubber inserts. This was a really dumb idea because from the small amount of testing the vibration began to form miniature cracks in the bottom walls of the radiator. These cracks were later re-welded and the entire mounting systems redone to accommodate the rubber dampeners for the proper mounts at the bottom.

The engine was finally fired up for the first time. Surprisingly it did not vibrate everything as much as originally anticipated despite being on 100% solid metal mounts. Part of this could be due to the balancing done on the internals, the crank, and flywheel, at a local shop (Rhores machine shop).

Rather than messing with more MAF enclosures a decision was made to make a custom one. The closest possible I.D. steel pipe was obtained from a local metal supplier (Alro Metals) and a mount was welded to the side to suit the MAF sensor element itself. This yielded good results and did not appear to impact the engine in any negative way. If anything it streamlined the air induction in that area by eliminating the constant changes. A throttle cable mount was also created, that turned out quite well and sturdy, despite it's really simple design.

Apr 20 2010

Fuel system finally completed, this time done without any aluminum lines as they aren't worth the hassle with all the flaring and whatnot. Plus they have a higher chance of leaking than the pushlock parker hoses that were used in this setup. The fittings and hoses came from a Goodyear Parker store, the hoses are of amazing quality and require no clamps. They literally lock themselves on to the special barbs, and are impossible to remove. Hence the only downside is they have to be cut off if they are ever replaced. But they withstand just about any chemical and also up to 300 psi.

The cooling system is about to be installed as well. once more clamps are acquired. The bumper was reinstalled for the sake of testing the look and seeing how much space will be available after the severe modifications.

Apr 14 2010

Fabricating the mount by cylinder one that goes to the block. Also quite a tricky design. The lower and upper intake manifolds were more properly matched. This is quite easy to do when the intake manifold is in two pieces rather than one, because the piece between the upper and cylinder head can be removed and used to ensure perfect matching by feeling the ports and observing how much material is being or needs to be taken away. Stock gaskets although nicer and more reusable will not be used, because they create too much of a gap and would offset the matching. So a paper gasket was created for both surfaces of the intake manifold. So far with engine testing, no leaks or down sides have been seen. The fuel cell is also mounted to get a rough idea of how everything will sit. However these mounts were later cut off and replaced with more properly placed and simplified versions.

Apr 11 2010

Fabricating the cross member that will sit beneath the trans, parallel to the engine, the rear trans mount will be welded to it. All of the mounts are quite a tricky design to imitate because of the way it was designed from the factory, but doable none the less. While welding beneath the car was quite a burden in order to ensure proper fitment of fabricated parts, it came out better than expected and fit the engine flawlessly.

Apr 09 2010

Halfway finished with the mounts and main parts of the front support.

Mar 03 2010

Transmission and valve cover cleaned up some more. It's time to start fabricating the motor mounts and unfortunately the old ones were lost so it was tricky to figure out the correct engine & trans mounting angles. But with careful measurement and two temporary mounts from a lender car it was made possible.

Feb 25 2010

The head was reassembled and head valves lapped slightly, although they look a bit duty in the photo they're not heavily worn. When the car is complete and the engine is overhauled more thoroughly they will get a 3 angle valve job but for now this is sufficient. The Harland Sharp aluminum rocker arms were reinstalled on the head. A really quick and dirty valve compression tool was improvised out of a spare steel rocker and a metal bar. It works rather well and saves time compared to using more traditional universal valve spring compression tools. The same principal can be applied to any engine with rocker arms.

Got some Denso spark plugs because AAP was all out of NGK Iridiums. The store densos came with .35 gap, readjusted to .56. Stock range is .52-.54 but a little extra won't hurt with the msd ignition coil. and magnecor wires. The motor is finally assembled. The flange had to have the middle bolts drilled out for better fitment. However the outermost two studs provide the proper centering for port matching. Picked up a very nice radiator for a Civic. Got a complementary hose coupling set, thanks to a craigslist user.

Feb 22 2010

Cleaned up and polished the valve cover, intake manifold, and the head itself. The ports were ported and polished just slightly to improve flow but not to change the port shape or size. Cast markings and rough areas were smoothed out and a lot of the cast imperfections inside the cylinder head were removed. Unfortunately the die grinder could not reach some of the very narrow and far areas of the ports but this is only phase one of the cylinder head work, enough to get it running.

Feb 18 2010

Filled in the mirror mount holes. Next it's time to do all the door handles, gas tank lid, and rear door windows. The rubber seal by the mirror location makes it seem like it's not sized properly, but it is. The rubber trim will be replaced after the car is completed due to all the abuse from heat during welding, cutting, and grinding. One of the door was experimented on to replace the windshield with sheet metal but this did not offer too much of a reduction in complexity or weight, nor did it turn out exactly as intended due to little experience in heat distortion during welding thin sheet metal. The door was scrapped and the decision was made to simply make panels to replace the rear doors rather than rely on the old sheet metal structure.

Feb 13 2010

Finished routing the brake lines, installed coilovers, and temporarily installed the wheels to move it. The engine is about to be installed and the tubing fabricated.

Jan 23

Modifying the front end to replace as much as possible with a tubular chassis, which will get pretty interesting. Almost complete with the custom steering column support to replace the factory one. The steering wheel will be brought lower to aid with center of gravity and reduce hand movement between the steering wheel and shifter.

Jan 08 2010

Finished fabricating an exhaust flange that is perfectly matched the ports on the head. Used a 3/8ths cold rolled plate of steel.

Further, the exhaust flange was welded in place of the old one on the 1st gen hooker headers. The old flange was terrible port matching, extremely poor quality and sealed quite poorly to the head. The welds did not turn out as perfect as planned, due to the extension on the back of the torch which interfered with proper positioning around the tubes. Next time a visit to the welding supplies store is undertaken, a shorter tungsten enclosure will be acquired for the TIG torch. Also the tubes were not matched properly. Despite all that in the end the headers are quite nice as far as the gasses will be concerned. A neat trick was used to smooth out the steel inside after grinding it a bit. Putting valve grinding compound all over the inside and inserting a steel wire brush on a die grinder, to move it around, resulted in a very smooth finish. This will be attempted on the aluminum head ports as well with even smoother results expected. Strut mounts were replaced with ones from a 2001 Ford Escort with only 66,000 miles.

Acquired a 2003 ZX2 master brake cylinder, master clutch cylinder, 3 pedal assembly, and a line. Prior to installation the front half of the engine bay was chopped off to be replaced with a simplified dom tubular steel contraption. Plans are still being made as to what kind of a structure to use for low weight and high strength. Also in case anyone was not already aware, the clutch pedal is adjustable as can be seen in one of the photos below. All of the bolts were also carefully ground off the firewall to clean it up, reduce weight, and improve the appearance and room. Interior side of the firewall will be done as well soon. A quick spray of white paint was applied just to keep the ground areas from sticking out and to provide some sort of rust protection.

Jan 01 2010

Finished removing the entire dashboard, with no plans of reinstallation. Cleaned up steering column, eliminating all unnecessary parts. Managed to remove the steering wheel without a steering wheel puller by cutting off the old tip without any damage to the column. New steering wheel is ready to be mounted when the paint dries. The bottom of the headers also hung too low and hence were cut off to convert them to 4-4 headers without plans for a collector or anything else. While the system will be quite loud it is only until the turbo will be installed.

Dec 25 2009

Made spacers for the rear suspension 2nd Gen (actually from a Protege) rear disc hubs, since the 3rd gen has longer subframe. The spacers were 7/8 in thick. Finally obtained the bolts for the calipers, from a 5 lug Protege which has the same exact calipers and mounts on the hubs.

Finally put the modified struts on the back of the car, as can be seen in the pictures below. The coils seat great. Haven't decided on a height yet, but one photograph demonstrates how low it's currently sitting. The car may remain at that height, however regardless of which setting will be used, the fenders will have to be rolled, thus bringing up the need to find a place to rent the fender roller tool from, or purchase one if it is available cheap enough. Another option may be custom fabricating one due to their simplicity.

Got another set of struts from a Ford Escort with only 60,000 miles from the junkyard to replace the fronts that were ruined in the previous strut welding experiment. Unfortunately killed one of the shocks during welding, but learned a lot about how to weld them carefully during the process. At only $ 10 each from the junkyard, this is no serious loss. This time instead of using a cutting wheel on the angle grinder to cut the spring perches off, a sandpaper wheel was used which yielded better results without grinding off too much excess material.

Dec 21 2009

Removed the dashboard, with plans to make my own bar for the steering wheel, therefore throwing the entire dashboard away. Emergency brake cable and lever also removed due to the rear disc brake conversion. Plans to reinstall from junkyard later.

Swapped the steering rack from power to manual.

Smoothed out the struts and removed all traces of the original spring perches since they didn't seem like a safe way to hold the aluminum Ground Control coilovers sleeves. Since the rear struts are slightly narrower than the fronts, by about 1.5 mm or so, I had perfect tubing supports for the fronts but they were too loose on the rears. So I cut the cylinder sections up and compressed them with a hose clamp to weld them. Then I cut another one and stretched it over to make sure that the seating surface would be wide enough for proper support.

The welding and paint job are a little shady, as my welding skills are returning after not having done it for half a year. It looks quite messy because there are two rings that were welded together, being welded to the strut. Paint job is just to keep the rust off, and besides this whole setup is temporary. Also while welding the struts, trying to fill in a deep cut I made while removing the perches carelessly with the angle grinder, I made a hole and the compressed gasses from the struts leaked out. The fronts were shot I think anyways, so it's time to replace them from the junkyard (again, temporary) before I weld on the new perches and throw it all back together.

Dec 11 2009

Got the crank back from the machine shop, knife edged. Next, finding some forged rods and oversized pistons, boring the block, balancing the whole deal. Got some more figures on various choices. Carillo rods would be 378 each, while CPC pistons (949) 567-9000 would be about 780 for a set.

Dec 07 2009

Just showing off a few pictures of the Harland Sharp rocker arms (will make an article later) installed on a head. And also how clean the head is too.

Clean new rail and fuel injectors. These were later throw out because they didn't match the plugs on the wiring harness to the injectors, and replaced with the same injectors that had the more standard Ford EFI plug.

Dec 01 2009

Finished porting the MAF sensor, almost done with the intake for now, since it's a piece so easy to remove the rest of the porting and polishing work will be done after the engine is running.

Also cut off the MAF flange for direct air filter fitment, eliminating the need for a MAF sensor adapter.

Modified serpentine belt pulleys because they were damaged in the previous accident. The outer rib was removed and the system converted to 5 rib design to weight reduction and simplification. The previous build ran a 5 rib serpentine belt anyways. The comparison demonstrates the vast differences between the pulleys, comparing a stock pulley to that from a remanufactured alternator that was modified. Despite the appearance, they are both actually the same diameter as far as the belt goes.

Cracked open the bottom end of the newly acquired SPI motor from the junkyard. It was so fresh that when the crank was brought into a machine shop for knife edging the machinist assumed it was just freshly ground. Picking the engine was tricky because it was so clean and in a wrecked Escort at the junkyard, however someone swapped the instrument cluster on purpose to make it appear as if they car had more miles so they could come back later and claim the engine for themselves.

Waiting for the crank to get knife edged. The hood, bumper, headlights, headlights header pannel, and radiator support were sold on Craigslist, leading to the next following tasks:

• Possibly getting forged rods & pistons.
• Attempting at making a home made crank scraper, metal already acquired.
• Replacing parts of the front end with tubular steel.
• Ordering a carbon fiber hood.
• Order aftermarket black headlights.
• Making a custom bumper.
• Making a custom alternator mount.
• Making custom engine mounts.
• Possibly getting block bored out a bit.
• Lowering the car some more, and making custom mounts for the coilovers on the struts, metal already acquired.
• Repairing the SSR Type-C wheels.

Nov 22 2009

Performed IM (Intake Manifold) preparation for the new build. Throttle body flange was ported for the 56mm BBK 3.8 TB. Polished the IM to the best ability, removing previous vacuum ports to be replaced with regular fittings. TB to IM surfaces were cleaned and mated while polishing ensuring a seamless fit. The perfect surfaces eliminated the need for a TB gasket, allowing the use of a little RTV instead.

The TB (Throttle Body) was ported slightly to improve the air flow transition at entrance. Butterfly valve was knife edged and half of the retainer shaft removed for smoother air flow.

Planned modifications for next build day:

• MAF porting, and modification to allow direct filter placement, eliminating the need for a MAF adapter.
• Crank preparation for knife edging.
• Custom engine & transmission mounts.
• Head porting, possibly IM lower flanges as well.
• Rear disc brake conversion, front subframe & suspension components re-installation.

Oct 12 2009

After having wrecked the previous 97 Ford Escort it's time to start another project. A white 97 Mercury Tracer automatic with manual windows and locks was acquired. It will be the transfer car to all the modifications from the previous wreck.

The trunk in the Tracer is pretty rusty because it had previously been used by some cleaning company, however that's only more motivation to replace it with a tubular chassis. The process to strip down the engine has begun, with the first things on to do list:

• Head & block replacement, rebuild (a head with Harland Sharp rocker arms is waiting to be put in, pictured below).
• Accessories elimination (a/c & power steering.
• Full gutting of every part that doesn't make the car move or hold the driver & passenger in place.
• Some custom tubular steel work.

Also see

• Ford Escort & ZX2 section for the entire index of all Ford Escort and ZX2 related articles.