Escort Mk1 SR20 Turbo @500kms

Well  we are 500 kms into testing the car,  ironing out  things like squeaks & rattles. More pressing issues have been the soft spring rates all round, they  are under close scrutiny  now as we have so much power it literally sits down on the  rear {120lbs now upto 140lbs}  under hard acceleration, resulting in the prop scraping the  tunnel.

Front springs are also too soft at 150lbs , a lip in the road surface  had us touching  a  bumpstop.

: Note: with 2 people  and full petrol tank.

Alans  star buy  has been  the Gps speedo from Speedhut,  it now indicates peak recall@ 187kmh  , thats  just  a short blast, from the suhkumvit to the  1st junction off the new  motorway.

Power /torque  can be felt  pulling well from 2000rpm, enough to overtake in  3rd or 4th at  low traffic speeds, no need to floor the pedal either  the turbo really comes in around 4300 up, when it all gets rather frantic with white lines coming at you like bullets. 

Mk1 Escort Mexico Thailand, almost ready!

Engine fitted , intercooler, ally radiator both custom made, 2 speed Volvo electric fan sits in there as well, engine loom wired up along with complete new wiring harness for lights, aircon and  central locking!Gauges 1200 dollars made in the USA by Speedhut, GPS speedo!
New Laminated tinted windscreen, new side drop windows, new grille, rear lights, indicators and all rubber seals.
Mazda rx7 alloy 4 pots 290mm discs.

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Rare Mk1 Escort 1969 early parts

Mk1 escort SR20 Mock up wheel test

Mocked a wheel up against the car, apart from the chrome rim it looks like Jap wheels may work.
Forged lighweight CE28 clones   Fronts  8",  Rears 9"   15" Diameter.

Mk1 Escort sr20det Paint finally finished.

6 months ago the car arrived at the bodyshop for a months work, finally its ready to go home to the workshop and start building it back into a car.
Doors bonnet  and boot have gone first , a slide will pick the car up on Monday morning.
First things to go in will be a  new roof lining.

The old lady at the paintshop, believe it or not her job is sanding down the filler.

Mitsubishi Colt Lancer 1600 GSR , 1st place, 1974 WRC Safari.

This little car really suprises me,  whenever i take it off road  i am reminded that this car is  from the same era as a Mk1 Escort but the difference in the standard  cars is really something else.

I loath driving a standard escort, but  the Lancer comes with a 5 spd gearbox disc brakes , suspension that in standard form is way better than Fords offering, shame about the recirclating ball steering system though not quite your Mk1 escort steering rack.

Its not possible to compare a modified escort against this but its still a very good car of the era and performs well as a classic rally car..

The  1973 Southern Cross rally was the Lancer GSR  debut and  after coming home in 1st  driven by Andrew Cowan  it claimed 2nd  and 3rd  as well.

Then it was off to the Safari to really test its worth.

 1974 saw Joginda Singh win the Safari and again in 1976 with another 2 Lancers in 2nd and 3rd position.

I restored this particular model  to replicate the 1974 WRC  Safari winning car.

 Some very rare parts have been  sourced from Mitsubishi's pre Raliart rally division known as Coltspeed, the engine has been rebuilt  to  C1 spec with a 200cc overbore, porting  raised compression ,C1 spec camshaft and tubular manifold.
The rear axe is fitted with a heavy duty LSD and 4.6 ratio final drive.
Suspension is heavy duty  C2 spec.
 A 1/2 cage  follows  the original  Lancer gsr 1974 car's  spec.



Interestingly Andrew Cowan established   Ralliart after campaining the lancers  in the 70s and 80s and was still one of the senior  directors until his recent retirement.

Lancer GSR on display at the launch of the Lancer  Evo X.

Joginder Singhs 1974 car

Later 1976 car different livery and no opening 1/4 windows.

Andrew Cowan.