Hi, my friends wants an escort rs cosworth but in Malta (not sure bout uk) a factory escort cosworth is more expensive than a brand new fiesta sports. Cosworth Escorts cost around 20 000 euros so he is thinking about converting a 3 door model to cosworth specs.

Body is not his issue as you can get cossie panels or maybe custom made fibre ones.

Regarding drivetrain would it be easier to get a sierra floorpan and use sierra gear or fabricate mountings and modify original floor pan??

Also about suspention is the escorts alot different than the sierra??

 

full siera floor pan would be easyer imo

 

but then he would have to use sierra running gear right???

 

sierra and escort running gear is the same, minus the prop

 

so suspention sytem are both identical?? but when i see high powered sierra's they tend to lower the rear a lot under heavy acceleration but escorts don t could it be cause they increase power and not sus?? or maybe converted to cossie and not the sus??? or is it spring sizes that differ???

 

The Escos is nothing like lesser models, underneath lies a shortened Sierra Saph floor pan and running gear. In actual fact the Escos only has 3 identical panels compared to the lesser models.

Tell your friend to save his cash and buy the real thing, far easier

Martin

 

Easier maybe but it s still cheaper to build your own even if you build it at a mechanic, as he checked

 

Just what I was thinking! After all the fucking about, it still won't be a genuine cossie and prob much cheaper in the long run!

 

Meant to say 'Not much cheaper'!

Doh!

 

The Cosworth and a regular 3dr Escort don't even have the same outer dimensions. The Cosworth is a bit longer and is basically a Sierra with an Escort body fitted to it. Don't convert an Escort, save cash for a real Cosworth or buy a Sierra Cosworth which tend to be cheaper than Escort Cosworths.

 

True but the difference is very minimal, for that reason the Escos rear quarters are longer to make mating the shell to the shortened Sierra floorpan.

Put quite simply an Escos is an Escort by name, and the similarity stops there.

Also remember the Cos was the only varient to have a longitudal engine.

Martin

 

so basically when driving the escort and sierra feel the same and perform the same??

 

it´s nearly the same, the sierra has a higher wheelbase than the escort, so the handling in the escort is a little better!
but the sierra has the better aerodynamic resistence, this is an advantage on higher speeds!

 

sorry my ignorance but does the sierra wheelbase differ between saphire and 3 door? (both cossie) as the 3 dr seems shorter than the saph it looks almost like the escort (in terms of lenght)

 

The Escos has a SHORTENED Sierra floor pan, as the Escort is obviously smaller than a Sierra, wheelbase is the distance between the front and rear wheels, it doesn't necessarily mean the car is longer!

Getting trivial there is 2 inches difference between a Sierra and a Saph in addition the Saph has a bigger boot as well.

Martin

 

All Sierra's have the same size wheelbase, so that includes the Sapphire and the 3 door.

About being aerodynamically better... That just depends what you consider to be better. The Escort has more downforce (and therefore more grip), but this also increases the drag coefficient. Therefore the top speed of the Escort is lower than that of the Sapphire.

But converting an Escort will cost a lot of money, which you don't get back when you sell it. The real deal might cost a bit more, but it will most likely keep its value.

 

Damn right it keeps the value lol and around here thanks to the new registration fee (as you have to register a second hand car from a foreign country and pay an insane fee) and the new license fees keeping an imported escort cossie would mean 1400 euros a year excluding insurance and buying one from malta means alot ALOT of cash and the value rised since the lisences where changed (((((((((

 

Registration for an Escos in Ireland is is between €4500 and €9000 depending and a guy was actually quoted nearly €15000 to VRT it.

 

Escort cosworth is:

Shortened sierra floor pan and prop
Modified escort body panels


Its going to be a MASSIVE job to try and recreate one, would be no easier than for example turning his escort into subaru floorpan or evo, in fact arguably harder as at least they have the engine the same way around as your friends escort where as the sierra and escort cosworth have it the other way around.

 

subaru is the otherway round too just like sierra s but evos are ok i guess

 

Yeah it was the evo I was saying is the right away around, sorry didnt word that properly.

But getting back to the point everyone is making, its really not a case of "converting" one to cosworth spec, you would bascially be building a new car from a sierra and just using a couple of the panels from his escort.

 

Buy a escort cosworth shell. Then fit all the bits as you find them.

 

where can he find an empty shell?? any ideas?

 

People break them reguarly.

Or he could just buy a whole car, break it, sell all the other bits, and then end up with the shell owing him hardly anything.

which kind of highlights the stupidity in doing it the other way around really, lol

 

PS

When he finishes I assume it will be illegal under malta law anyway or a massive ballache to get road legal again? (seems to be only the uk we get away with this stuff and they are trying to make that harder) so he's probably not bothered about bending a few rules so how about this:

Find escort cosworth in uk for 10K
Drive his car over
Swap plates, drive escort cossie back

Sorted

 

MT Motorsport on here has shels for sale on a regular basis check the cosworth for sale section or better still his website... http://mt-motorsport.com/

Have delt with mark lots of times can vouch for him 100%

 

good idea but you would have to change chassis numbers too so you would need a 3 door to get there in ....

 

Are you saying its a 5 door he has that he wants to make a cosworth? lol

 

no no he dosen t have one lol but he was thinking about getting a 3door one