martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Then the floor pan is modified in some other way, as the Escort is smaller.

For this reason the Escos rear quarters are longer than lesser models to make mating the shell to the already shorted Sierra floor pan easier.

Martin

McGoo 69

many people fit genuine escort cosworth rear quaters to to escorts and dont have problems. the only problem comes when they fit the fronts as the wheel will sit to far behind due to the shorter length wheel base of a standerd escort.

im pritty sure mine has the full sierra floor pan and i may have come accross a problem now as mine will be a extra 2" longer :S

im sure this conversion has been done before without modifying the floorpan

Cossie Sean

found a few pics, not much help!

this was after it was converted and is all cossied up 2wd

rear arches cut away and was awaiting escos ones, modded STD wings but wheels stuck out to far

McGoo 69

nice man! i knew youd get some haha

whats with the rear bumper? is it of a xr3i? why does it stick so far into the arch's?

how was yours converted? with a full sierra floorpan or what there a 2" section taken out also?

Cossie Sean

arches were cut back to meet inner tubs, xr/rs bumper yes

McGoo 69

right so you modified the arch;s to suit the body rather than modifiy the floor to suit the body

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

there is a massive difference between chopping up a base escort and fitting a sierra floor to an escort cosworth shell

the two escort shells are no longer in length, they got the length by adding a lower splitter

but the structle engineering in the cosworth escort is very different to the sierra floor pan, dont forget the escort was a lot stiffer than the sierra, the strut tops are reinforced so are the rear struts, around the sills at the back where they shortened the sierra floor pan to fit the escort body has a lot of different points and strength ive noticed to my escort shell compared to all my sierras ive had

you cannot have a full sierra floor pan in your car, its impossible or else your wheel base will be way to long, it has had to be cut somewhere to shorten it

the only body panels a normal escort shares with the escort cosworth are
roof
doors
top bulkead panel
top slam panel
rear light panels
rear lower boot catch panel

everything else is unique to the wide rear quarters, the front wings, the front cross member, bumper brackets, sills, and so much more

yes it seems a cheaper way of doing it your way but believe me it will add up and once you have finished you could of owned a genuine escort cosworth

McGoo 69

fuckkK!!!!! just fitted my comp mos and front arch's and the front wheel isnt inline! this maybe due to me not having anti rollbar clamps on atm but its still too far out even with them id say!

so now i have a escort rwd shell what is too big for its boots!

bollocks!! wish i knew the 2inch floorpan difference before i bought this shell! so gutted right now words cannot express





looks like im going to have to take the floor of again and do it right! such a bummer

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

Mate just buy a fucking cossie shell ffs , you can still build a great car and put your own mark on it, but you know it will be built correctly, structually sound, and most importantly it will all fit!

McGoo 69

i know but i dont have £1k + to buy one.. thats even if one comes up for sale.

the idea was to get 90% of the car done while im off work but that plans fucked now

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

stop waisting money - sell off the shell and any other bits to fund a genuine escos shell and then build that up - will be quicker, stronger and cheaper too

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

scrap it, it will be way too much work to try and sort that, but what i dont understand is how the front is messed up, because you would join at the bulkhead aligning the wheels in the arch, and chop the front of the sierra to fit the shell, then make the cut at the back where the tunnel meats the floor section to give you the required wheel base

but best thing is just buy a escos shell, mt motorsport have a few shells i think, so maybe worth pricing one up, at least then its genuine and if you can get a good deal of a shell with all body panels you dont need to paint either so just build away

but building froma shell isnt cheap believe me, my shell owes me including buying it around 8k and its still a shell and still costing me more money beforeican even bolt anything to it but thats just me

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Well I did try and explain to you, there is ALOT more than 2 inches difference in the floor pan as well!

Martin

Cossie Sean

WHOA!

shit McGoo, sierra floors dont fit escorts mate, but you know this now

hard one with regards decision,

only you can decide the way forward

Sean

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

Ok, i'm going to stop being polite now...

It is fucking stupid trying to convert a Mk5 Escort shell into a Cosworth, the car already exists built from the manufacturer to exacting tolerances, designed by engineers who know what they are doing.... it is a POINTLESS exercise, to the point of stupidity!!

If you want a rear wheel drive Escort Cosworth, buy a fucking Escort Cosworth shell!!!

Cossie Sean

well from my point of view i wanted something totaly different with my build

building a RWD mk5/6 escort is not stupidity but sugesting it is in my opinion, youve had yours and im entitled to mine with no malace intended

i wanted a mk5 RS2000, RWD that was gonna be Zetec turbo but ended up YB.

MT75 box origionaly but used T5 as i just nacked my 2WD saff into the shell and was done with it, as previousley said, i tried my damndest to get different offset wheels under the arches but in the end i had to go wide arch and i was devastated!
the whole point of using a non cosworth shell is the lack of rear quarters and front wings which as you know are totaly diferent and STD bootlids and non cosworth spoilers cant be used with cosworth quarters, same with wings but your kinda fucked there lol
i used aftermarket rear lower quarters and looked loads like a non cosworth due to the upper 1/4 meeting the bootlid perfectly

i didnt want, and will never have an escort cosworth as there just not for me, im more subtle, hence never had and wont own a 3dr and never will, just saffs.

everyone needs different things and need chalenges in life, i understand that paying 2k for an escos shell might be easyer but if you havent got 2k and like i did build one for massivley under £500 including materials makes it easyer, then go for it!

unfortunatley our friend here has had a spot of bad luck, BUT he has the right bits of the shell and chassis that need jiggled about a bit ( sorry mate )

get the grinder and mig out again chap........ and you fuckin tape measure!!!!!

when someone very well known on another very well known ford site did this he was a god, and when he ran into this exact problem he had massive support from fellow "enter certain site" members and he chopped the floor out and did all the measuring again and got it right the 2nd time.

its never easy coming across abstacles like this and fuck me we`ve all had enough of em!


OR, we all donate a tenner and chip in for one of these £1000 escos shells!
only 100 people and whats a tenner? a wank mag and 4 cans?

first tenner is here my friend

dont want to piss anyone off (again ) just my 2p worth

gimme a ring if you need me McGoo

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

Sean, that's an entirely fair point, as you were not setting out to make a car that already existed!

I'm just sad to see a young lad throw lots of time and money at a project that could be done far better for less money! He is now 5 years into the build, and in his third shell!! Add up all the hours, few quid here & there plus the cost of storing, transporting & modifying, and he would be well into a decent Escos shell!

McGoo 69

its deffinatly not worth scrapping, it may take a few man hours to put right but the floor is clean and its not worth me buying a escort cosworth shell when id much have my pannels on a car and say i did it. i realy dont care if its genuine or not.

another reason not to buy a genuine shell is that im going to run a zetec turbo as there cheaper, smaller, lighter and parts are alot cheaper, if the engine blows itll only cost me 200quid for a new black top.

its hardly pointless at all, its a way to learn verious skills so i can do jobs in the future. ive learnt alot doing what i have done with cars, many of which hasnt been posted on here, but ive done alot to cars, engine conversions, suspension conversions, welding and forming sheet metal etc etc and i wanted to build my OWN car to test myself. my car is going to have a rollcage and internal fuel tank, something which a standerd escort cosworth isnt designed for standed so by using a standed escort im not loosing money by cutting floors out to hold a petrol tank or welding mounts for a cage. i realy dont care about the after resale value as im not planning on selling it, i want it to be a car that i can continue to modify when funds alow.

what sean did and what ive done is hardly different, he could have easily changed arch's just as easily as it took to put a rwd tunnel in..

ive not lost alot of money in the build as ive chosen wisely what ive bought.. the first car had alot of genuine parts which some ive sold on to break even or some ive kept to use with my build

same with the second car i bought it sold stuff i didnt need and kept some stuff i wanted and ive sold it to a mate so he has a project on.

all i have wasted is time which im fine with as its been a learning curve so the end product will be alot better than it was at first and i havnt wasted some of my parts on a fwd shell.

theres always going to be people who wont agree with someone doing it this way but there the sort of people who arnt much help with my build tbh. id rather have the help from the people who like a challenge, get there hands dirty and arnt afraid to modify. the people who pay other mechanics to work on there car dont realy know what there car is about in my view.