12 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

I had a good day yesterday as I went with my trailer and Land Rover to collect a rally car project which my son has just bought from near Lincoln, then took it to his home in Silverstone Village.

It is a 1978 Escort which has been modified to take a Vauxhall 2.3 twin cam engine. However, my son wants to build it into a historic rally car and fortunately it came complete with a 2.0 litre Pinto engine and loads of suitable parts.

The shell/V5 is for a LHD 1.3 Escort Mk.2, but when complete it will be a full RS2000 rally car. Originally it was LHD and has obviously spent a lot of its life in a dry climate. I suspect it came in from Madeira some years ago. The shell is completely rust free and the RS2000 suspension mods have been done. It already has the bigger transmission tunnel for a 'Rocket' gearbox and the rear axle is correct for a rally car.

I get to build the engine next year.

It is truly a great project and when done it should be competitive. Maybe he'll let me drive it (sideways!)  .

Photos soon.

[whistler]

You'll enjoy that. I helped a friend build a Mexico from a rolled shell in '72, great fun. It makes a change to work on an engine where you're less likely to skin your knuckles. Don't forget to seam weld the front to back chassis .......took me ages using gas. You might remember him, Ken Rees.

[phil hill]

Peter you should have contacted me for a cuppa if you were on my patch !!

 

Phil.

[Cooperman]

Peter you should have contacted me for a cuppa if you were on my patch !!

 

Phil.

Now that would have been a good idea.

 

I must say the Land Rover Disco was very heavily loaded as it had the complete and fully assembled Vauxhall engine together with the Type 9 gearbox (now for sale), plus the complete Pinto engine, manifold, exhaust and all the roll cage parts inside and the car on my big Brian James 4-wheel trailer behind. The back of the Disco went down and I had to raise the tow ball up to the next level of mounting holes. But it tows well, this being the first long tow I've done since buying it. The weather was horrible too and the cross winds certainly moved the trailer around.

 

As an aside, it is interesting that I bought the Land Rover, a 1997 Discovery Diesel, for less than the cost of putting a fold-away tow-hook on my BMW 730D. The Disco has only done 106k miles, has no rust or rot and I just had a few simple jobs to do after I bought it. It passed the MoT without me doing anything to it and I paid £750, I then taxed & insured it for less than £300 and spent a few quid on oils and Waxoyl. It now has a pair of PIAA driving lights with 100 w bulbs and everything works as it should.

[Cooperman]

You'll enjoy that. I helped a friend build a Mexico from a rolled shell in '72, great fun. It makes a change to work on an engine where you're less likely to skin your knuckles. Don't forget to seam weld the front to back chassis .......took me ages using gas. You might remember him, Ken Rees.

It's a long time since I worked on a Mk.1 or Mk.2 Escort, although I rallied in Mexicos, Twin-Cams and RS1600's in the late 1960's & the 1970's and did a lot of work on them as well. I do recall doing suspension set-up and test driving for the 'Charles King of Bedford Mexico Team' before the 1973 Motor Tour of Britain at Snetterton to try to make them better on smooth tarmac. All great fun.

 

All my son's colleagues in Mercedes F1 Design & Development Dep't are going to be interested in how it goes, so I had better make a special effort with the engine.

 

The name Ken Rees does ring a bell although I can't quite place him. I do remember Alun Rees, who rallied a Cooper 'S' and I did one event with him and said 'never again' when I found the roll cage was made from gas piping and the car had been badly repaired after several crashes!

[whistler]

 

You'll enjoy that. I helped a friend build a Mexico from a rolled shell in '72, great fun. It makes a change to work on an engine where you're less likely to skin your knuckles. Don't forget to seam weld the front to back chassis .......took me ages using gas. You might remember him, Ken Rees.

It's a long time since I worked on a Mk.1 or Mk.2 Escort, although I rallied in Mexicos, Twin-Cams and RS1600's in the late 1960's & the 1970's and did a lot of work on them as well. I do recall doing suspension set-up and test driving for the 'Charles King of Bedford Mexico Team' before the 1973 Motor Tour of Britain at Snetterton to try to make them better on smooth tarmac. All great fun.

 

All my son's colleagues in Mercedes F1 Design & Development Dep't are going to be interested in how it goes, so I had better make a special effort with the engine.

 

The name Ken Rees does ring a bell although I can't quite place him. I do remember Alun Rees, who rallied a Cooper 'S' and I did one event with him and said 'never again' when I found the roll cage was made from gas piping and the car had been badly repaired after several crashes!

 

No, Ken ended up with pro drive and then running Peta Solberg's Rally Team. Think he's involved with Suburu U.S. now and also the organisation for the London to Sidney or World Cup rally logistics. He did quite a lot as a  Navigator during the '70's and '80's I think on national events.

[Mini Manannán]

Give us some pics Peter!  Sounds like a belter of a project!

[Cooperman]

Just have one photo so far:

 

[MrBounce]

Ooh I LIKE that!! You will have to start a Project Thread Uncle Coop!

[sonikk4]

Me likey. Hog the Pinto out to 2.1 and add couple of snorty 45's. Bullet proof engine. Mine ran 155 bhp and went like the clappers. As for RWD you cant beat a MK2 on song.  

[Cooperman]

Yes, the Mk.1 Escort TC was the car which blew the Cooper 'S' away in British National Rallies more than any other car.

I did quite a lot of rallying in those Mk.1 Twin Cams with some excellent results. Mexicos were also fun, but a bit slow, then came the RS1600 which was simply superb.

But in 1973 my Escort driver got a Datsun 240Z and proved it was competitive on Motoring News Championship rallies - now, that was just one awesome beast in the lanes at night!

[whistler]

Yes, the Mk.1 Escort TC was the car which blew the Cooper 'S' away in British National Rallies more than any other car.

I did quite a lot of rallying in those Mk.1 Twin Cams with some excellent results. Mexicos were also fun, but a bit slow, then came the RS1600 which was simply superb.

But in 1973 my Escort driver got a Datsun 240Z and proved it was competitive on Motoring News Championship rallies - now, that was just one awesome beast in the lanes at night!

Was that with John Sprinzel as I seem to remember him running an early 240Z?

[Cooperman]

Although he is a friend, I never got to do a rally with John 'Shaky Jake' Sprinzel.

My 240Z driver was the late Kevin Videan and what fun we had with those 'Big Z's'. At Kevin's funeral last August, a sad day for all his friends, but I did feel it especially, I had to stand up at the crem and talk about the things we got up to in our rallying days. That seemed to go down very well, so I was able to do a final thing for my old friend. I also had some excellent results with Kevin in Mk.1 Escorts including a couple of RS1600's. We never liked the Mexicos though.