I know my garage is in a shit state in these pics but I'm trying to renovate my house at the same time and have run out of room
The garage is now cleared for the car
The EsCos has always appealed to me but after having a Sapphire Cosworth I hated the lack of grunt at low revs hence the V8 idea. The original plan was to use a 3.9 Rover V8 engine but the front diff hits the engine casting if you keep it in the same position relative to the crank CL as on the Ford setup. The 5 litre/302 Ford V8 has over 2 inches less hanging below the crank centre line than the Rover V8 giving lots more space for the front diff

Donor car bought for £300 in the small ads

Engine out and the rest dumped

Next I made an adaptor from HE30 aluminium at work that will fit a 302 V8 to the MT75 4x4 gearbox, I'm using the 2.9 V6 box as it is cheap and has a nice long input shaft.

I've just finished the flywheel, it's made from P20 tool steel, I used a lathe and CNC mill to machine it as it has an offset weight for engine balancing.



Adaptor fitted to engine

Flywheel on


I have not had a chance to make the sump yet to take the front diff but it will be made from parts of a standard 4x4 casting welded to new material.

Picked up a sorry looking EsCos today in need of some TLC.
It has no engine, gearbox, diffs, clocks or front brakes but suits my needs.


After a quick wash and some slightly better temporary wheels.



Any updates will be slow in coming as I now have to build a shed to put all the crap in that was in the garage

Mark