Gartrac Escort G3

JVL and others:

What do you know about these cars? Surfing it appears that there are copycat RWD Mark III Escorts out there as well. Any guide to modifying a CE14 platform to RWD?

Wilson

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

wvonkessler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JVL and others:
>
> What do you know about these cars? Surfing it
> appears that there are copycat RWD Mark III
> Escorts out there as well. Any guide to modifying
> a CE14 platform to RWD?
>
> Wilson
>
> My opinions are my own and are not to be construed
> as representing the viewpoint of any other person
> or organization. How's that for legalese?

Well it was something that the nice guys down in deepest darkest Surrey did with some help from Ford in an effort to get the Escort MkIII, the first front drive thinb, an unmitigated piece of crap, seen.

So as I was told a few years after by Dave at Gartrac, Ford pushed the idea and did some tooling and stamping and Gartrac (which was the preparation firm which got the contract for cage and shell preparation in the glory days of the MkII Escort) would knock out some shells and get them out in the woods.

The Gartrac fwd to rwd conversions were well known at the time, but it was a fair bit of just the very work we don't see almost anybody doing here: extensive shell mods and welding.
Also, sinc eit changes the drive configuration, both organisations in their wisdom forbid changing fwd to rwd etc.

Wilson, you're involved in NASA, edit out that line.
If some looon wants to go the the effort of welding in some mounts into sumpin, what concieveable intrest could an organising body have in what he's done to the sheet metal? Nobody will do it but there's no reason to have a rule prohibiting it except that it was inherited from some other organisations rulebook

By the way I spoke to Gartrac in the late 90s to get some stampings for the noce Sierra "chassi rail mounts" where there's a box structure made to mount the motor to and get it off the front crossmember which I've now done on 1 510, 1 240 Volvo, and 4 Xratties. I asked them at the time what the guys there were doing for themselves, and was told "we're all doing old rwd Escorts......just like everybody else burned out on 4wd"

Here's a more modern version of the very same idea but using MkV body and rather than rare Ford Cosworth BDA or rarer BDG, using normal aspirated Ford Cosowrth YBB:


and here's the nice motor:

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2007 11:36AM by john vanlandingham.

> Wilson, you're involved in NASA, edit out that
> line.

Actually John, there is a provision that allows "other vehicles" to compete at NASA's discretion. I've pointed this out to folks regarding rotary powered whatevers (Mazdats), tube framed RS200 and Stratos clones, Darrians, etc. (my favorite is a Mini I saw at Defi that was Toyota GT-4 underneath), and the same thing would hold true for a RWD MkIII Escort. As long as a car meets safety requirements, go to it. We are an inclusive, not exclusive, organization. In fact, we toyed with the idea of starting a class for the Factory Five Daytona Coupe, but a certain death across the Pacific made us decide against that effort, plus its cockpit was really too small, and its suspension really didn't lend itself to rallying other than tarmac. We did run one experimentally at Rally Tennessee last year. Neat car, 2200 lbs., 300 plus hp.

Getting a RWD MkIII Escort "oafishally" into the Modified (G2/5) classes shouldn't be a big deal (respecting Ford block requirements), and I'll bring that up with the Powers That Be. Hate to add an additional class, but maybe a hybrid class could work too.

Wilson

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

wvonkessler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Wilson, you're involved in NASA, edit out
> that
> > line.
>
> Actually John, there is a provision that allows
> "other vehicles" to compete at NASA's discretion.
> I've pointed this out to folks regarding rotary
> powered whatevers (Mazdats), tube framed RS200 and
> Stratos clones, Darrians, etc. (my favorite is a
> Mini I saw at Defi that was Toyota GT-4
> underneath), and the same thing would hold true
> for a RWD MkIII Escort. As long as a car meets
> safety requirements, go to it. We are an
> inclusive, not exclusive, organization

Thanks for the answer we wanted to see.
I mean realistically, why would an Organizing body give a hoot if some guy decided to burn up the night "cutting and shutting" to make something he thinks is fun??

Don't thinkl there's a need for another class really, probably less but that's another can d'wormes. and another thread.

PS regarding your comment about the amount of stuff available for Volvos, I just have to ask :
Why do you think I have been pushing simple sturdy Volvos for the last 20 years?
And why do you think I call them just a big Ford Escort?
(and why do you think I have suggested that if ever there was a care to base a non-manufacturer-supported single make cup that the template of the VOC- Volvo Original Cup is maybe the smartest thing there is:
We have Volvos back into the last century
They work good at all levels of hopping up, so a low level car like what a "Cup" car would be, once built can be sensibly upgraded while keeping the same body, and still be Nationally competitive into top 5 (just look at Jardevall's results when the hired English were here).

You cannot say that about any other car except maybe the Xratties, which can be further upgraded to Cossie 4x4 spec.

And one definately cannot say that about the Fucus which makes that car essentially a dead end proposition.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

God damnit, I swear to god that engine looks exactly like the volvo 2.3... the placement of everything is the same... Is that block even red! John I don't think thats N/A, look at the exhaust collector & it says on the valve cover that its a "16v Turbo" Unless that means something different in Swedish, i'd say that its got 4 valves per cylinder and has some whore blowing rods.

Hey you know I got to thinking, ill call you today too with the idea but I want to make sure anyone can find the answer to this question on this board.

Can I use the BMW 5 speed transmission from a late 80's bimer for the mildly nasty never fill you but never let you down volvo 2.3 turbo engine you're building? I have a gut feeling its doable.. I can get like 50 of those from the wrecking yard. I heard, wait no, I read that the transmission from a 325 is a... Tremec T5?

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| Full Metal Anarchist |
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funvolvo Wrote
> John I don't think thats N/A, look at the exhaust
> collector & it says on the valve cover that
> its a "16v Turbo" Unless that means something
> different in Swedish, i'd say that its got 4
> valves per cylinder and has some whore blowing
> rods.

I think it's Swedish for "Ford only ever made this thing as a turbo so the only valve covers you can get say Turbo on them, plus it is fun to point out how this poor thing used to have a turbo on it before it was Upgraded".

> heard, wait no, I read that the transmission from
> a 325 is a... Tremec T5?

Nope, it's some weird zeppelin-peddler built thing.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Equal length headers are even more important in NA applications.

The easiest giveaway is on the other side. The individual throttle bodies with the air filter right there.

This car rips too. I have video of it somewhere.

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Grant Hughes