Queen_Rs

Hey everyone,

I would like to say thank you for keeping this great forum so that noobie like me can learn things.

I have mostly build Honda in my past years, but always dreamed of a ford escort. THey are very rare in our country and only a few made it here for a start. Most of them have gone to scrap or been killed due to the lack of parts.

Seeing a toyota or nissan engine in a FORD body is not a surprise here.

So a few days back i got a call from a friends - friend who said there was a coupe ford at a house rusting away since the last 5 years, i took it lightly but 3 days later while watch Car S.O.S i got hooked on the ford escort again. So i called and went to see it.

To my crazy surprise, it was a Ford Escort XR3I RS turbo, i could not really believe my eyes as i had never actually seen one in the skin. Never seen one running or parked ever.

PS i have named her Queen

Anyway long story short after a long haggle with the gentleman and scrapping my empty pocket. and yes parents wanting to murder me. I got the car today. Yes i still live with my parents.

So now my issues:

I know nothing about fords, i just wanted one bad.

This car has been sleeping for the past 5 years in the rain and sun and the alot of the parts are rotted. Am sure in the UK this would just be a parts vehicle. BUT here on the island from what i gather, this was the only one that came. I would like to make sure she runs for the next 40 years to keep me company.

Please help me identity what exact model and spec is the car, the badge at the back says KonI Equiped is that something special or something very normal?

It as power windows, the engine is missing turbo and manifold probably got lost in the years and change of owners.

Can someone say where is the engine number written on the engine?

Where would be the best place to start this restoration job, i would want to rebuild the motor, trans, suspension and the body. The interior has recaro seats, original steering his missing, rear seats are rotted to the ground.

Regards

Over all any information you can give me would help.

markk

iTrader: (2)

That must be a rare car in Mauritius, when we got married over there the age of the cars was around 20 years behind from over here in the UK.


Good luck with the project, you live on a superb Island, would love to come back some day.

Queen_Rs

Hey Mark,

Thanks sir for the kind words.

Yes the island is great, u are most welcome to come visit us.

Always great to friends visiting.

Regards

Perfmr2

Welcome to the forum.

You have quite a mission on your hands there mate. Ill look forward to following your restoration thread.

Best thing to do, will be to start stripping and labelling everything as you go. Get it done to a bare shell, and see whats what. Check for rot in the usual places, battery tray, fuse box, boot floor, chassis rails, inner and outer sills floor. looks like its suffering from rot in the sunroof, this is quite common to.

Get hold of a Haynes manual, as its very good on most aspects of stripping and building a Series 2. Parts arent to hard to come by here, not sure what it would be like in your part of the world.

Very good luck with your venture

Queen_Rs

Hey Perfmr 2,

Parts are almost non existant here. But a friend has given me a later generation xr2i CVH engine from a fiesta, that came to mauritius but was incomplete and no one bought it.

Are the block in this car and that engine the same?

Do you know anyone selling a haynes manual or a e copy of it?

Regards

Perfmr2

No, the block from the XR2 & RS Turbo arent the same. The Turbo block has a oil return from the turbo on the front, not sure if the XR2 block has a breather return either.

Haynes manuals can be bought from eBay quite cheap mate.

Perfmr2

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Haynes-Wor...item20f98faab1

Queen_Rs

Hey mate,

looking for a Ebook as no one wants to ship these to us on the island.

Who can tell me more about my car, is it a series 1 or 2.

I think its a MK4 series 2.

Regards

Si74

iTrader: (1)

Would help if you show us a photo of the engine bay?

anthony lea

Hello mate

It looks like a very big project you have !

Good luck

Queen_Rs

Hey guys,

I agree its a massive project but i really want to keep this classic going being that its the only one here.

I could not open the hood by myself, the latch is broken or stuck. I will get it to open tomorrow.

Here is a pic of the vin plate - I took when the last owner opened the hood when i first saw the car.


image hosting over 5mb

millybuzzin

It's an early 88 spec rs turbo.the 90 spec models had a different front bumper and rear spoiler.as for the year I have no idea but looks a lot of work but good luck and welcome.)

Queen_Rs

Hey,

THat is good info but the papers say the first registeration was made on 15th April 1987

Regards

millybuzzin

Hi yes the first ones were registered in 1986 but we're classed as 88 spec.90 spec ones came out in 89. :

Queen_Rs

Sir,

Millybuzzin thank you. I am learning already.

Did all of these have a LSD?

Regards

3i Jim

All escort RS turbos had an lsd. To check if it's got one you need to jack the front of the car up on one side, put it into gear and try to turn the wheel that's off the ground. If there is resistance it means it got one.

Queen_Rs

Hey guys,

SO tried to check on the specs today and know whats under the hood.

What i discovered,

The original motor is long gone
Replaced by some kind of CARB engine, code i found on it is LUC
Dont know if original gearbox is here got Code on it - 84TT 7F098AA
i THINK parts of the original harness are still here and not been cut out
The rot under the battery tray is crazy
I think someone has removed the rear sway bar, i did not see it when i peaked under the car from behind the rear wheels.

Photos attached.

Now what are my engine options? can i turn this one into a fuel injected engine? I have a XR2i CVH a friend has donated towards the project but wiring and ecu. can i use parts from that? Zetec?

Queen_Rs

And yes,

stock intercooler still here

some one has replaced the brake master for a toyota one, so i guess the mechanical abs is gone.

Any details on that gearbox?

Regards

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Most people remove the mechanical abs over here anyway, so dont worry if its gone,the black side mouldings, dont bother putting back on, as they were not on them from the factory,i would try to get a turbo lump back in there ,also with the roof you may want to source a complete one cut off a car to replace that one with ,good luck with the project ,yes its a mk4 escort ,series 2 rs turbo, 1988 spec

Queen_Rs

Hey,

thanks for that quick info, i actually was excited about the abs!

A used roof is impossible to find, our laws do not allow us to import chassis panels for our vehicles. My best chance is the find the parts of the sunroof and do a cut and new steel job on this one itself.

I got a 4 door escort with my car, the owner says the hoot, boot and fenders are the same, can someone confirm that?

Also what would u think of taking the roof from the 4 door making a hole for the sunroof and sticking it onto the 2 door? Where can i find the plate and sliding mechanism for the sunroof?

Regards

Twins

iTrader: (18)

On the 4 door the boot ,bonnet (hood ) apart from bonnet vents ,you could cut and reweld these in to the 4 door bonnet,and the front wings (fenders) are the same ,on the roof, the 4 door roof skin unpicked, will fit your white car ,some rs turbos did not have sunroofs so it would be better to leave it with out one unless its a proper mk4 ford sunroof you are going to put back in ,most people over here change the roofs to get rid of a tatty non ford roof ,i have on my track car

Twins

iTrader: (18)

You will probably need to cut out of the 4 door car the rear chassis rails and the bottoms of the rear fenders as these also rot out

Queen_Rs

Hey sir,

thanks for the info.

I do want the sunroof, being on the island its a real plus

I checked the rear chassis rails they seem pretty solid.

The old owner i dont know how, has a xr3i bonnet on the 4 door as it has the vent cut outs in them.

I will try my best not to lose the sunroof but if it has to happen it will.

How hard is it to source a good rs turbo engine? impossible here!

Regards

Twins

iTrader: (18)

You will pick an engine up over here easy,it must have an rs turbo bonnet as the xr3i did not have vents

mk2grp1

Hi great find and very brave rebuild
I would use the xr2i efi engine ,
the engine block is very similar to the rs turbo block ,
buy some used rs turbo pistons ,
fit them in the xr2i block ,with new main and big end bearings
specify rs turbo bearings , (1988 onwards)
drill the block for oil return or add a return into the sump(above oil level ) use the xr2i wiring loom convert it to run ofab or ofac ecu, it will save many hours and dollars and be more reliable, info on the conversion is all over the internet


the lsd is standard on all mk4 rs turbo, the way to tell is look onto the gearbox where the driveshaft has been removed a mk4 turbo box has a 15mm hole inside, you can just reach it with your finger, ,
take a picture if you are unsure,
4 door shell is very useful for rebuilding your car, good luck

simonmcf

iTrader: (1)

That's some challenge! Look foward to the progress. For the engine you could do like a n/a zetec engine swap? Might be easier to find! Your struggle be be finding the parts, well at least getting them to you by shipping!

Queen_Rs

Hey everyone.

Day one vacuum cleaner is my new best friend.

Starting from the top









I actually expected the roof to vanish with the cleaning but it seems most of the base is still here. Which is very encouraging for me. Looks half decent to me.

What do u guys think.

The sunroof mechanics look still here and simple to redo. I am sure we can redo this on the island. But the base that holds the glass is rusted and vanished.

Can I get a replacement for that??

Thanks for the help guys.

Follow me on twitter Queen_RsTurbo

Regards

Queen_Rs

Daily update.

So she turns 28 today.

Thus she has to get a bath today.

Its now clear of all the dust rust bits etc.

Basically the sunroof spoil the whole cabin, it was badly repaired in the past which just doubled the damage.

Boot floor looks solid.

Queen_Rs

Update 17.04.2015

So been working on the car.

I put a battery in to realise someone has hacked around with the ignition system, another key and barrel and fitted.

Anyway, i got wired it, it tried to crank over.

BUT only the oil light comes on the dash, other lights are not coming on, any guess why?

I opened up the steering and the dash to check the wiring everything looks ok.

something seems to have broken off the steering collum/ ignition key system, any guess whats missing photo is below.

Lastly i found this badge in the glove box, i think this car has some go fast parts bolted to it at some point.













Regards

Queen_Rs

Update 19.04.2015

It was a all BRAKE weekend.

So i dismantled all four corners gave them a clean and put them back togather.

GOod news:
1. Driver side corners are good front and rear.
2. Rear sway bar is present and not removed by old owners.
3. Rear chassis arms look very solid.

BAD news:

1. Passenger side front caliper sized.
2. Passenger side rear brake cylinder sized
3. Q does normal escort and the RS share the same front lower suspension arm??? Ball joint arm, Cause it looks sort of fishy.
4. Passenger side handbrake cable f::Cked

Is there a seller i can buy all the parts i need any sellers on this forum?




Regards

mk2grp1

not too bad considering the state of the sunroof and A pillar,
lower arms are the same across the mk4 range,
adjustable camber front arms are available
handbrake cable is 1 piece , but very cheap and easy to fit
your ignition switch has been broken, the centre white part should have a slot,
keep up the good work

Queen_Rs

Hey MK2,

is the handbrake cable the same for a normal mk4 and the RST?

DOes the same apply for the ignition switch?

Thanks for the kind words working really hard on this one.

But i dont know what to do first, the mechanical or the body work?

I want to do the mechanics and alot of scratch and stuff go on the body if u do the mechanics after paint.

Dont u think so?
Reagrds

mk2grp1

yes the same cable all mk4
ignition switch on yours has a square grey plug, they changed on 88 > but you can solder like it is in your pics, all mk4 have the same slot ,
I would repair the shell whilst restoring the mechanical parts on a bench, weld, seal ,prime , paint , underseal , wax cavaties ,
then set to adding the restored / cleaned mechanical parts, but where removing front wings I would ensure the indicators and bonnet , and doors line up perfectly before painting pre-fit the bodykit doors bonnet, bumpers,
basic parts such as steering column steering rack , front /rear arms can be fitted to get the car rolling if it needs transporting to be painted, as these are easy parts to mask up, but that's along way off yet, keep busy !!!

turbolee

take my hat off to you thats some project you got on your hands when its all done will be a great car

Carlbacciochi

Mate u have a long road ahead good luck to u,I've just completed my rs1600i it was no where near as bad as yours, I'm coming to Mauritius @ the end of July this year it would be nice to c how your getting on & have a chat.

Queen_Rs

Hey carl,

Yeah a very long way to go yet.

Am just trying to inspecting and making a list. maybe in a few days will get u pics of the donor vehicle i got with this one.

Bro we need to catch up i will inbox u.

Regards

Queen_Rs

Update 20.04.15

So I took the ignition switch out going to see a friend and trader who says he might have one for me.

Also started to prep the engine for a start.

This guy was never big on oil change it looks ugly under the valve cover. Put in some new spark plugs.

Can someone please check my spark plug wire placement. I hope I got this right. Can someone confirm.







Regards

studabear

Firing order is 1-3-4-2

Number 1 is at the timing belt end.

If you turn the engine by hand till the pointer on the camshaft belt pulley is at the top the distributor/rota arm should then point at the no1 position.


Picture is to show the pointer. Once you have found number 1 at the distributor the leads connect in a anti clockwise direction 1-3-4-2

tlr_rst

to replace the roof you could contact these and get carbon fibre: link

could also get a carbon fibre bonnet
http://www.carbondelight.co.uk/prodview.php?id=71

just an idea,