just my 2pence worth mate
if you get pulled with a car logged as a 1.6 with a 2.0 or 1.6 turbo in it you will get done for no insurance, now insurance companys will fuck you for 10 years as this is how long you have to declare it for, on insurance terms this is worse than drink driving it happened to a mate clean license bar the tug for no insurance he is 27 with no accidents and pays £3500 insurance for a 1.1 saxo now he has his license back his solicitor actually told him before he went to court for the offence that when he gets his license back he may as well throw it in a drawer somewhere as insurance will be astronomical so dont bother driving lol!

so my suggestion instead of converting a mk5 escort for a couple of grand why dont you just buy an escort or fiesta rs turbo? you can get a decent (allright not mint) one for 2 grand or less with mot possibly tax and just tidy it up as you go along? as in my experience to insure a converted car will be the same if not more to insure as the real thing is