Si B

iTrader: (59)

This thread will hopefully chart the return to the road of my brother Sketch / Nige’s 2.0 16v Zetec Series 2 RST after a 7 year siesta in a barn in the countryside.

Some of you may remember this from the hayday of RSTs, back when C&B were just starting to hit big speeds in their RST, Tony Turbo, Steve RW, the car known as Frankie etc…



Brief spec as far as I can remember, hopefully Nige will update the post with the full spec and I’ll edit this first post to suit:

1990 Ford Escort Series 2 RS Turbo on a G plate.
2.0 16v Zetec Turbo, Steel H Section con-rods, Arias forged low compression pistons 7.8:1, NMS Big valve ported head with NMS custom cams and Kent vernier pulleys, DTA P8pro Engine Management System, Light Blue 400 Injectors, 3 Bar MAP Sensor, Rover inlet manifold, Tube Torque tubular exhaust manifold, Hybrid 0.63 T34 turbo, Custom Exhaust System.
Diesel gearbox, Quaife ATB, AP 4 Paddle clutch, Cosworth brakes front and rear, MEF rear suspension set up, Bilstein Coilovers, Turbo Technics front ARB, GRS Motorsport Triple 2wd Cosworth intercooler set up, SPA Dual digital gauges (oil pressure and temp, fuel pressure and water temp), Innovate wideband lambda sensor, SPA rev counter, plus some other stuff I can’t remember….

A basic history that my brother will update / correct as needed:

The car started life as a fairly standard RST, and then went through a 1.8 Zetec engine built (or more accurately buggered :wallbang by some guy called Jason). It was not as requested, late, crap and cost more than it was supposed to. Then the car went to BSW who pretty much buggered up the next build, a 2.0 Zetec, which just about worked on the odd occasion. The car went wrong more that it ran. When it did work it made 240 bhp, and 300 odd lb ft torque which 7 or more years ago was a lot for an RST, and gave my old 330 bhp 4*4 Saph a run for it’s money in a straight line. However it never ran properly, broke a lot, and was a bodged together build that never lived up to what BSW claimed it would do.

So in early 2004 the car came off the road, the engine came out, the suspension was dumped on the floor, the interior was pulled out, and the rebuild started all over again…

Nige stripped the engine bay right down, prepped and 2 pack painted the engine bay and the interior of the car in Radiant Red. The outside needs the same attention, but that’s something for the future….

The engine was pulled apart and fettled by a well known tuner (I’ll let Nige confirm what was done and by who, just in case I get it wrong!)

All the MEF rear suspension was then fitted, engine put back in, interior put in, some of the interior put back in. The car was then given a basic machine polish just to get it back to a red ish colour from the Pink it was before.

And that’s more or less as far as the car got… it was tucked under a cover needing to be run in / mapped, MOTed and tested out… but a lack of money and time meant that never happened. The Evo came along and the RST was left on a back burner really.


Roll on to today, and the car came out from under the cover a little dusty, but looking good. We pulled the car out into the sunlight, hooked up a battery and fired the car up, started first time for the first time in years.

Nige then drove the car to my house and parked it in my half built double garage ready for some TLC. And that’s where we are now.

More pics:







The first (crap) version of the 2.0 Zetec engine:


Cossie Brakes front and rear:



Magnesium Speedline wheels and R888s


Engine bay being painted:



The car on track, Trax @ Silverstone 2003:


Donington RSOC National Day 2002:




Brake issues at Donington RSOC National Day 2003, lucky for me I got to take my Cossie out instead!




Castle Combe RSOC Day 2003




My Cosworth followed by my brother’s RST at Combe Action Day April 2003


One of many bigger / better cars the RST overtook on track:



And finally some videos of the RST on track taken from my Cossie, this was Castle Combe in the days before we got proper camcorders in car!:







And the car as it sits now, next to it’s rival for my brother’s money and time:



Plans for the car then? Well it needs simple things finishing off for the MOT, but it needs a lot of work / TLC and testing, as it’s not really been run since a lot of the work was done. So much has changed / is custom made / not been tried that the car needs a lot of reworking / road testing etc. Once it’s all up and running and mapped the plan is to get the car back out there doing track days and blasting around on the roads. It’s no show car, far from it, but it is a clean and nicely specced track day RST, that should go pretty well, target is 350-380 bhp and smiles all round when it’s back out there tearing up the tarmac.


We both love reading the mega build threads where you guys do some mad conversions, with large budgets and mega power. This more of a budget build, but with some nice bits and a lot of trial and error. A more average/ normal man's car if you like rather than a dream spec show queen.


We’ll keep the post updated with pics of the bits we do, any comments or questions welcomed


Si

Rsmat

iTrader: (2)

looking forward to the progress mate.

RS2000 Jay

niiiiice mate makes me want a red s2 again!!! nice to see a old rst back on the scene

james kiely

iTrader: (5)

what a spec that car has ,looks mint

nigel b

he was always dong trackdays in it
thought he must of got rid of it as it disappeared

scottyrs

iTrader: (1)

very nice bud

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Never realised you guys were related...

Be good to follow progress on this, is the plan for the bodywork to get worked over then? Or just going to concentrate on the mechanical stuff?


Cheers,
Grant

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Blast from the past there ,good to see it back

Blunt.RS

iTrader: (7)

I remeber this car had a meet down the mall cribbs causeway once with a grey rst that got purple tiger striped cant remeber his name come on her awell
sweet mota

jonny s2

iTrader: (12)

i remember seeing this on NMS web page, and in FF mag many years back, how does it run on the DTA and what series ecu do you have? as i have the exp48 version i bought around 7 years ago never get round to do anything with it lol, the plan is to run it on a zt like you guys

cant wait for the updates, looking good

Len

iTrader: (2)

Nice to see that its back out, be good to see blasting around a track near
me soon

ShiftyOldScoob

iTrader: (3)

really nice

sjoyce666

Good to see this is being worked on again

Scott

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Fantastic to see it out, I honestly thought he'd never get round to it now he has the evo. I cant believe how young nige looks in those pics, but I guess 7 years is a long time, that was back when I very first knew you, amazing how quick time flies.

Bedford in february? (seeing as the evos are normally too loud anyway)

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

Looks an intersting project. I've heard of this car but never really seen much of it.

nealo

nice to see it out the barn =)

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Cheers Matt, will try and keep the post updated, will be nice to chat about Fords again rather than Evos!

I kind of bypassed the RST era when I bought my Cossie, but sitting in it at the weekend brought back to me how much fun the car was back when it was running, so really think it will be good to get it back to it's former glory

Cheers James, not outlandish spec, but some nice bits on it to make it a bit more special than the norm...

Yep quite right, used to be out a lot 7 years plus ago, then suddenly it went off the road never to come back... well for 7 years!

Oddly, your name is the same as my brother's, thought he'd written on his own post for a minute

Cheers Scott, I'm sure my brother is reading somewhere and will appreciate the comment

Hey Grant, you're kidding about the related bit? If not I'll put a pic up, you'll see the family resemblance, not that either of us would admit to it openly!

No plans on the bodywork, mainly due to lack of spare cash... the car is tidy ish, and getting used on track means it's only going to get worse not better over time

Yep, mainly mechanical stuff, like getting it mapped and all the niggles of a new build ironed out. The plan is to go as fast as poss round a track, for sensible amounts of money.

Cheers fella Jumping in an RST was weird, brought back some fun memories!

Cheers, yep, sounds like something my brother might have done, he was at Uni in Bristol and Cribbs is only 60 odd miles from home so prob was there, the chavvy boy racer!!

I'm fairly sure the ECU is a DTA P8 Pro, but don't quote me on that. It currently doesn't run well on it, but it's not been mapped yet, so that should soon be sorted I hope.

Hopefully my brother will comment more on it as he knows more about it. He used to admin the NMS web site, and I know Karl has helped my brother loads with the car over the years

Cheers Len, yep should be back at Combe soon

Thank you

Cheers Scott, you should get one again and bring it out to play at Combe

You never know Chippers, Bedford could be a good thing to aim towards Hmm, I like your thinking! Yep the Evo killed the RST progress, as 7 years ago Nige's would have been one of the fastest RSTs out there, now it's just average

Hey Si, hopefully you'll see more of it now we're both keen to get it running and out there on track again

Yep, bout time I reckon!!



Some more info on the Engine Spec below (will update the top post too):

2.0 16v Zetec Turbo, Steel H Section con-rods, Arias forged low compression pistons, NMS Big valve ported head with NMS custom cams and vernier pulleys, DTA P8pro Engine Management System, Light Blue 400 Injectors, 3 Bar MAP Sensor, Rover inlet manifold, Tube Torque tubular exhaust manifold, Hybrid 0.63 T34 turbo, GRS Motorsport Custom Intercooler, AP 4 Paddle Clutch, Custom Exhaust System.

Sketch

Firstly thanks to Si for starting this thread, and thanks for having my RST alongside that red Evo of 'yours' that you seem to be driving a lot these days

Nice to see some people still remember the car - everyone always said I'd never go back to it once I bought the Evo, but this is something I have to finish! Too many project cars get broken up before they are complete and I'm determined this car isnt going to be one of them....

The car in its current guise is mostly my own time and hardwork on and off over the past few year, with some help from some good friends along the way of course - more on them to follow though.

So I thought I'd add my first little update to this thread with some pics of some rather sexyful rear suspension parts from MEF Motorsport















There is a very common misconception that FWD RST's dont handle and make crap track cars, which is fair enough perhaps until you've experienced one that DOES handle first hand.

I had the major privilege to do 2 RSOC National Days at Donington in Tony "NUTS RuS" RS1600i Rally Car fitted with the full complement of MEF suspension parts and it totally blew my mind on how well it handled. From then on there was only one way I was going suspension wise with my car

I owe Tony big time for that, and for his help along the way when he kindly transported my car from the exhaust manifold fabricators to the exhaust system fabricators, and all his help and advise over the years too Top man!

More spec and info to follow tomorrow (maybe)

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

It's back

Going to keep a close eys on this Nige, be good to see it back out again.

JamesH

iTrader: (21)

Blast from the past, remember the Combe days etc

Will keep a close eye on this

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Well, 2 main shockers in this thread.

1. It's been 7 years. Fuuuuck! I can't believe it.

2. Si B, you are Nigels brother. AFPMSL. I didn't even realise.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see this develop. Just remembering how exciting the Ford scene was 'back then'.

Less.

Nice too se it about gain I thought aswell it had be broken up too,glad too see its not,and was I right Sketch was the bloke that a bit of troulbe with his first engine build form Trubador or am I way off

Sketch

Christian, yes 7 long years (well it could be 6 but who's counting )
That's the only downside now of course is that people like yourself, Tim, Dave E etc dont have your cars anymore

Les, yes my old mate Trubador was the cause of a lot of my engine issues originally. No such problems any more with Karl Norris's help

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Seems you're not alone in that realisation.

Both Nigel and I watched your posts about your RST with interest back when you were setting ultra high speeds, as we both hoped he would be out there doing similar things. Sadly two cowboy engine builders basically robbed him of all his money, and never yielded the power he was after.

It wasn't slow at 240 bhp and decent torque, but it was never a top speed contender with all the problems both build brought him.

Hopefully all sorted now with an NMS assembled motor waiting to be mapped and abused

Amazing memory Wish I could remember what happened yesterday

Cossie Helen

iTrader: (1)

Nice to see the RST coming back out Nigel

jaiscossie

Loved this car back then, cant wait to see it again.

AJC

iTrader: (6)

looks great

Spiky

iTrader: (1)

christ that is a blast from the past

FWD DO handle others are in denial..

cant wait for my pugs's 2011 incarnation and that RST back on trak, should be good fun

and PMSL at people not knowing you brothers you always "my brother this" and " my brother that"

next you'll be buying 205's again

TimC

iTrader: (1)

Cool car with some cool bits.

I was with Martin last night who made your MEF suspension. You'll pretty much never be able to buy that stuff again as he cant be bothered with the time involved too make stuff like that again.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Its great he has stuck with it despite the Evo, and I reckon it will make a fantastic track car when its done just because of the level of prep involved in terms of actually doing the suspension properly etc, so it will be nothing like average on track even if the power figures wont seem as immense now as they would have then.
There are still VERY few genuinely good RST's in the world!

If you need a hand putting together a basemap so you can drive it up to Karl to be mapped properly let me know although Im sure Nige has it under control.

Sketch

That's a shame as the MEF gear is proven to be very good indeed, but low volumes mean high prices, which means low volumes etc etc

The only thing i might ever need to purchase would be a matching set of the front coilovers, so i might have to somehow persuade Martin (maybe Tony can help here )



Cheers Chip, thats pretty much how I look at it, in that there still aren't many properly sorted RST's out there. Quite a few with big power, but not necessarily the full package.

I chucked a base map into it a couple of years back and that doesnt seem too bad as it stands, just needs a bit of work to get the car to idle (no ISCV currently). Hopefully we're ok on the mapping side, but thanks for the offer

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Have you considered going back down to 15" wheels as the cossie brakes should fit under them?
Likely to improve the handling and will bring down the cost of track tyres and increase the chance of getting them secondhand (I got some fantastic michelin pilot sport cups for my corsa in 205/50/15 almost like new for 40 quid each and there seem to be a lot of them about at that money or similar)

Its all about being affordable these days I reckon so you can do as many trackdays as possible with it!

Spiky

iTrader: (1)

though you were getting me some

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Ive not had a chance to get back up north yet mate, thats the only bastard about them the last sets I got took me over 9 hours to collect

Will let you know next time I do, I havent forgotten you, one set of wets and one set of dries wasnt it that you were after?

Spiky

iTrader: (1)

not too worried about wets, as they dont get much use, but dry's i would like

i have no r888's now so muight but a new set of a048's and i have bought some slicks, so will try them next year, but these miceline would be ideal

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Didnt realise you actually needed them now, as when we spoke last you sounded a bit take it or leave it.

I'll have a word with the guy.

Sketch

With the rear end suspension well and truely sorted with the MEF gear, I need to sort the front end out to match!

I sourced an RS1600i front anti roll bar setup which I planned to fit, which would have involved swapping from the standard gearbox cradle to the early (S1 style) gearbox mounts.

Fortunately for me, an ultra-rare Turbo Technics front Anti Roll Bar setup came up for sale in really good condition, which I had to buy

I then fitted a pair of MEF Motorsport adjustable Track Control Arms to the TT ARB setup, and you end up with this:









The Turbo Technics ARB setup is a direct bolt on to a Series 2 RST so it made life a hell of a lot easier, and means the front end should now work a whole load better than they do as standard

This weekend I'll be looking at the geometry of the front end, as my short drive in the car at the weekend told me things aren't correctly aligned just now

Tim

iTrader: (1)

good on ya i expected to see a bucket of rust instead of a car its been that long pmsl

ESCORT XR3i

Now I'm jealous hehehee very very nice car and engine is the beast
Is that manifold from EFI escort mk5?

Ginge !

WHAT YOU MEAN YOU 2 ARE BROTHERS !!!! pmsl

i never thought you would bother with it a bit like my old cabrio sits in the garage like it has done since 2002 but mine will never be done pmsl