hi everyone I was hoping someone could help me I have a 1989 f reg ford escort 1.3 bonus but I am want to upgrade the engine and box last thursday I went a and bought a y reg Mondeo with the intention of using the engine and box out of that I only paid £100 pound for it and it moted till next feb but to be honest the Mondeo is in cracking condition and is spotless so now thinking its a crime to rip apart a cracking car so now looking at buying a brand new engine and box with Yamaha r1 carbs or my next thought was to buy a focus st170 and use the engine box and all the interior in it so my question is what would you do ?

 

Well its your call but I would sell the Mondeo on (hopefully for profit) and get an ST170 and transplant what you want over.

 

do you know if the interior out of the st would fit the escort or can be made to fit many thanks for your advise

 

Anything can be made to fit with a bit of work, shouldn't be too hard to get them in there. Well the seats, doubt door card and the rest but ye deffo the seats.

 

Not able to give advice but will share my thoughts with you

The st170 seems a bad idea to start with, engine too much trouble, gear box also, and the interior would look naf in an escort, and its expensive.

Either buy a mk6 escort 1.8, cheap and the engine and box go in easy or a 1.8 or 2.0 focus all can be had for a fraction of the price of a st170
Get it running then use the money you saved and buy the motorbike carbs or bodies and a better exhaust if required

If you want to fit Focus leather seats a complete set can be had for less than £50

Now if it were me I would buy a 1.7 Puma rotten and cheap and use its engine and box etc, a lot more work and something different but worth the effort

 

Me personally I would go and buy an mot failure mk1 focus 1.8 or 2.0 Zetec or an old scrap mondeo with the silver top 2.0 in it

 

I think I will do that look for a mk1 focus or mot failure Mondeo with the silver top in it try and keep things as simple as possible thank you everyone for your advice I am sure I will end up having a few more questions later on in my build

 

As per above, I would punt the Mondy on and use the profit for better stuff.

I run an ST170 lump in my mk4 Bonus and its awesome fun. The engines are really tuneable, plentiful and tough as well.

I've seen loads of scabby ST170's for under £500 these days. This would give you an engine, interior (as above door cards wont fit but I'm sure the seats would with a bit of work), 300mm brakes, 17" alloys etc.

Plenty stuff to sell to make your money back such as 6 speed box, headlights, IMRC (if working lol) body panels, clocks and the stock car boys seem to like the bare shells for racing.

 

Wouldn't you use the 6 speed box for the conversion?

 

Personally no. Pretty big job to fit (modify chassis leg, convert to hydraulic clutch, cable operated rather than pedal) and the 6 speed box doesn't seem to 'suit' the engine...again only my opinion.

I use an S2 RST box which bolts straight to ST170 and has never missed a beat despite getting a hard life!

 

is it possible if I use a 1.8 ford focus as my donor car that I could use the power steering off the focus and install it in my mk4 escort or has anybody else got any idea's on how to convert the escort so it has the power steering