Mk1 Escort

Race and Rally Preparation Resource Tips for the MK1 Escort , including RS2000 cars

Aug-7-2009

Mk1 Escort – A brief history

Launched in 1968 the MK1 escort was competitive straight out of the box. Due mainly to the extensive testing around the Bagshot Tracks as a prototype in 1967.

Although released with a kent cross-flow engine, it wasn’t long before the famous Lotus twin cam motor was sucessfully transplanted and homologated and placed in the safe hands of “Mr Escort” Roger Clark

In it’s race debut on the 3rd of February 1968, a televised Rallycross event at Croft Circuit near Darlington, 3 Mk1 Escorts in the hands of Roger Clark, Barry Lee & Trevor Chapple won 3 of the rounds.

Shortly  after a works twin cam driven by Ove Anderson took third in the 1968 San Remo. Roger Clark, delivered Ford it’s 1st  MK1 Escort international outright victory in the Circuit of Ireland rally, closely followed by the Tulip & Acropolis, giving Ford the manufacturers championship  in the cery same year the Escort Mk1 car was released. It was the start of 7 years of domination.

As far as developments go, the famous rear turret suspension was developed, greatly improving the balance and drivability of the car.

The 2nd generation Mk1 Escort used the 5 Speed ZF gearbox, much stronger Atlas Axle was released by Ford’s AVO (Advanced Vehicle Operations) operation in 1970 which saw the first Escort Mk1 car to sport the Bubble or Forrest wheel arches. 

Having secured the World Championship, Ford’s only unrealized ambition was to win an endurance event. The 1970 World Cup was a 5 week, 16,000 mile (25,700 kms) event run on open roads, starting in London it took in a generous tour through Europe concluding in a lap of South America which finished in Mexico.  Some individual stages were over 10hrs.

Stuart Turner, head of vehicle operations chose to run 1850cc pushrod engines in place of the less robust lotus twin cam, which paid off in style with Mk1 Escorts finishing 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th & 8th.  In honour of the victory, Ford released the Escort Mexico which became the must have car in 1970. Performance parts developed specifically for this event, such as the “World Cup Cross Member” are still available to this day.

With consecutive wins in the British Championships, Ford turned its attention to the cross Africa Safari rally in 1971 which was the final appearance of the works twin cams. A grueling event seeing only 19 of the 91 starters completing, it wasn’t to be Ford’s year with the Datsun 240z of Hermann & Schuller taking victory.  It was a different story in 1972 however. Instead of utilizing local drivers, Ford rolled out the big guns including Hannu Mikkola who took the newly released RS1600 to victory.

The RS1600 confusingly sported a series of engines ranging from the original 1.6ltr 16 valve motor to a 2ltr BDA motor with an alloy head producing 240BHP. This configuration was by far the most successful, with the famous pair of Mk1’s LVX941J (Old Gold) & Roger Clark’s LVX942J (Esso Blue) dominating the world rally scene & famously taking out a hat-trick of British RAC rally victories in 1972-74, as well as the Finnish 1000 lakes 5 times.

The RS2000 car was also released with a 2ltr Pinto overhead cam engine as a more civilized road going option. The 2ltr engine was a much more reliable option than the sometimes temperamental BDA and carried forward into the MK2 escorts that were released in 1975 and also went on to record similar success well into the 80’s until the advent of the flame spitting group B rally cars were introduced.

We could talk more Ford’s contribution to group B, the awesome  RS200 mid engine 600bhp monster… but that’s another story.

Today, all around the world people are competing in clubman and historic rallies in freshly prepared MK1 Escorts. I have had the pleasure of building and racing several Mk1 escorts over the past 20 years, and intend to embark on another build in the coming months. A journey which I am happy to share on this blog.

I also have a good friend who possesses one of a handful of Mk1 Twin Cams in Australia. The next time I’m over at his place, I’ll take a few snaps or run the camcorder over it, so please feel free to bookmark this page & drop back from time to time to check on progress.

 

 

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Apr-14-2010

Mk1 Escort at Brands Hatch 1968

As well as being the most successful rally car of all time, the Mk1 Escort made a pretty decent track car. The silver & maroon broadspeed Mk1 Escorts had a tiny 1300cc crossflow engine, but were engineered to rev to an indecent 9,000rpm.  Not bad for the dark ages !

Thanks to Adam from Bobcat Hire Perth for spotting this short snippet of the Broadspeed Mk1 Escort in action.


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Sep-4-2009

Mk1 Escort Rally Preparation – Rear Suspension

Mk1 Escort rally preparation – rear suspension

The major goal for the rear suspension of any race or rally car, is to prevent sideways movement in the rear axle and to get the rear axle moving only in an up & down direction.

The standard MK1 Escort rear axle has a fair amount of movement because of the rubber mountings and the 45 degree angle of the rear dampers which allows the axle to move horizontally front to back when cornering.

The simplest solution on the standard axle set up, is to remove the rubber mountings on the cross brace where the dampers are joined to the body.   On the early MK1 Escorts, the rear dampers are bolted to a cross brace, which is bolted to the shell. In between the cross brace and the shell are 2 rubber bushes.

These should be removed & replaced with a metal sleeve. Braze a metal washer over the original holes to positively locate the original bolt and use a short metal sleeve to cover the extended thread of the exposed floor mounted studs. 

If retaining the 45 degree damper set up, the cross member should be strengthened by boxing in the open side of the cross member, reinforcing by double skinning , or welding in fillets of steel  to honeycomb the cross member.

The two rubber isopacks that locate the springs to the axle also need to be removed to prevent sideways axle movement.  By undoing the u-bolts and jacking up the axle, the rubber can be removed. A  3/16” washer will need to be brazed on to the spring saddle plate so that it can mount to the centre bolt of the spring. When reassembling, the u-bolt thread may be too short, in which case, replace them with shorter u-bolts.  On re-assembly, use double nuts for added insurance.

Anti-tramp bars are the next major improvement. These are available as kits and comprise 4 radius arms with bushes and mounts that weld to the axle and body shell. Once in place these prevent forward and backward movement of the axle.

All works MK1 Escorts had turret kits installed, to enable dampers to be mounted vertically at 90 degrees  to the axle. These are still available and while quite tricky to install, are well worth the effort. The turret s are essentially conical tubes that are welded into the inner wheel arch and allow the damper top to protrude into the rear parcel shelf inside the car.

The standard shock absorber mounting was on the spring hanger but the AVO cars had the damper fitted to the rear of the axle itself. The works rally cars had the dampers fitted directly on top of the axle, keeping the dampers up & out of the way of rocks etc, but this required precise location of the turrets directly above the damper mount.

Works 5 link rear suspension was utilized on the later 200+ BHP cars, which was made up of the 4 link suspension, slipper springs and adjustable  panhard rod connecting the axle to the bodyshell across the back of the axle. All are still available, but definitely worth getting expert help when installing as extensive modifications are required to fit & align this set up.

 


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Aug-18-2009

Some of my favorite Mk1 Escort Rally videos on Youtube

There are some great youtube videos featuring the Mk1 Escort.

I found this one found this one from the Severn Valley historic challenge 2009. Awesome Audio of Escorts in thier natural environment !  No cheesey audio – just Pinto’s & Webers

 

Here’s an HD version of the MK1 Escorts in action – well ok, there’s a lot of MK2’s as well as some other classics but the audio is fantastic.

One of the most popular MK1 Escort videos on the tube.

Roger Clark & Tony Mason in LVX942J – possibly the most famous MK1 Escort ever

Nice bit of car control – would get your car taken away for a little holiday in Western Australia though – but I guess they’d have to catch you first

In car stage of the rally Trogstad – Mad 1 handed driving – even through the chicanes !

There’s something not quite right about new zealanders. a) they strapped a V8 into thier MK1 Escort. b) take a look at the approach to the first corner in this video – foot down – close your eyes  Awesome !

 

 


 

Check back – more great MK1 Escort videos to follow.

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Aug-17-2009

Mk1 Escort Rally Preparation – Front Suspension & Handling

MK1 Escort Rally Preparation – Front Suspension & Handling      

For serious rough stage rallying, suspension is probably the most crucial thing to get right. Luckily these days there are plenty of options and aftermarket products to allow for adjustments to ride height, camber etc.

For optimum handling a set of matched springs and shock absorbers (dampers) are needed as well as a close ratio steering rack and balance bar pedal box to provide adjustable brake bias.

 

In the front end of your MK1 Escort,  you will require a strut with up-rated springs.  One of the most popular traditional McPherson Struts are adjustable gas filled struts produced by Bilstein.

While there are any number of springs available ranging from 100 – 190lb/ft , a good all round choice is a competition spring rated around 150lb/ft.  Ideally, a heavy duty top mounting kit should be used.

Another nice tweak, especially for tarmac events is to have adjustable strut tops. These will allow you to easily dial in 3 or 4 degrees of negative camber without removing the strut.

It’s always a good idea to use double nuts (one Nylock) or a castle nut & split pin when connecting the steering rack to the strut, as losing one nut and subsequent control of your car, will result in the introduction of your pride & joy to the nearest ditch, tree or crowd of spectators.

On the end of the struts, select the largest vented discs & calipers that will fit inside your wheel rims. It’s also a good idea to remove the back plates if supplied, as this will prevent larger stones and pebbles wedging in between the disc and plate.

A heavy duty cross member is also advisable. While I have gotten away with using the standard MK1 Escort cross member tarmac and targa style events, I did manage to put a significant bow into one during an autocross event though.

For rough stage rallying, the only cross member for the job, is the “World Cup” cross member . This is a heavy duty unit, originally designed for the 1970 World cup rally, a leisurely 16,000 mile jaunt around Europe and the roughest goat tracks in South America.   When fitting a WC cross member you may need to elongate the mounting holes, in case you need to adjust the camber. Another popular mod is to re-drill the strut mounting hole on the cross member ¼” out and ¼” up, to provide more camber.

This is still an easy option to take, although using adjustable top mounts will achieve the same result.

The traditional MK1 Escort works factory settings for the front suspension were 3 degrees Castor and 1.3 degrees negative camber (Castor being the angle of the struts – front to back) and camber being the vertical angle of the wheels as viewed from the front. Negative camber indicating the bottom of the wheel  is further away from the vertical plane than the top of the wheel.

Double anti-roll bars are also a must. Also known as an anti-dive kit, the kits are readily available and come with the double mounting brackets, neoprene bushes etc and mount through the original holes.  If you use double roll bars, then it me be necessary to trim your sump guard back to clear the front bar.

As you will no doubt be clobbering the odd rock, log, kerb (if you’re trying hard enough) it’s advisable to carry some spare track rod ends and roll bar clamp brackets, as these are most likely the first thing to sustain damage and need replacing during an event.


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Aug-16-2009

Mk1 Escort Rally Preparation – Body Shell

The MK1 Escort has been used for rallying since it’s release in 1968. 

Now featuring prominently in classic, historic and clubman competitions, the MK1 Escort is still an effective and cheap way to go rallying.

Unless you are building a factory replica, or have stumbled upon a forgotten works car in a farmer’s barn here is the start of a basic checklist to follow in order to build an effective Mk1 Escort rally car yourself.

Mk1 Escort Rally Preparation Checklist – Body Shell

To handle rough stages, the MK1 Escort body shell needs to be reinforced.

The front suspension mountings should be double skinned, with the reinforcing plates welded in with 1/2″ tack welds every inch.

The entire shell should be seam welded using brazing rods to weld 1/2 inch tacks welds every 1 1/2 inches. Make sure to leave the gaps, so there is some flex otherwise the diffusion of energy when you attack a rough stage will result in cracking.

All the seams around the window openings should also be tack welded.

Fill in all the paint drain holes by gluing a small alloy disc, or brazing on a steel disc.

Weld the dashboard rail where it meets the door pillars and along the front where it meets the bulkhead.  If you intend fitting a 2ltr OHC pinto engine, then the bulkhead needs to be rolled in order for the rear of the cam cover to have sufficient clearance. Again, use ½” tack welds

Tack weld the seams along the length of the car and where the inner wings meet the bulkhead.

There is a particular weak spot in the engine bay, where the side rails meet the bulkhead. A plate that runs 5 inches along the rail & a similar distance up the bulkhead needs to be manufactured and welded in place on both sides. These may be commercially available as a “Gusset Plate”, but are simple enough to make.  These stop the bulkhead separating from the side rails on heavy landings.

The rear suspension also requires attention.  The major problem if not reinforced, is that your MK1 Escort will start to reveal daylight into the boot after a while.

For serious off road use, the shock absorbers or dampers need to be fitted vertically so that the rear axle only moves in an up & down direction. To achieve this a rear turret modification needs to be installed, This is quite tricky as the turrets weld into the inner wheel arch and up inside the car, so the nuts attaching the shock absorbers are inside the rear parcel shelf of the car.

For added strength, you can braze plates into the T-pillars inside the roof and inside the top corners of the windscreen pillars.

A tube can also be welded into the passenger side foot well, to act as a foot rest, but also strengthen the shell.

Forrest or bubble arches should be welded in, if you intend running a Capri or Atlas axle, or if you want the option of running anything wider that 6” tyres.  These wheel arches are still widely available.  Once lined up, the majority of the outer wing can be cut away before the new arches are welded on.  Fibre glass wings with the arches already in place can also be sourced fairly easily.

The rear arches are a bit more of a hassle, in that you need to cut away both the inner & outer wing, then in the resulting gap, weld in a strip of steel horizontally, thus providing maximum clearance for the rear tyres.

A strut brace should be fitted  in between the front strut tops. Depending on the engine, you may need a brace with 2 bars that circle the front & back of the engine, or a standard one that runs straight across.  These should bolt to the strut top & preferably the inner wing. These are also easily obtained.

Seat mounts should be welded if possible. It’s unlikely that you’ll retain the standard MK1 Escort seats, so ensure the rails are bolted with nylock nuts if using alloy and welded if steel as there is nothing more inconvenient that your navigator disappearing out the passenger door, seat and all, halfway through a stage.

 


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