It's rusty, it's old and it's mine!
The Mk 4 Escort was a little more thrown to the side, because of its front wheel drive nature. People believe it’s lost its charm because of this, but I’d disagree.
It's rusty, it’s old and it's mine! It's not every day we find our dream cars, but when we do, it's well worth the effort to polish the diamond and see what it's truly worth the effort. As car enthusiasts, we can all relate to the idea of not having one specific dream car. Usually, it's a case of having ideal cars in ideal situations or being like Jay Leno and owning them all. The worth of a car can be deeply rooted in its culture.
Who did it influence? Why was it important to car culture? These questions usually cannot be answered immediately, it takes time for the answers to be answered. Fortunately for me, this car is around 31 years old, so I'm sure any questions it has to answer, it has answered them, dropped the mic and walked out the room already.
What car did I find? I found a Ford Escort Mk4 Ghia. If you are an avid reader of this blog, you would've noticed my tendency to hold a special place for Euro Cars, especially old ones. I actually really like regular cars. This car is about as average as they get, the car originally came with a 1.6 carbureted engine, probably didn't even make 100 hp, it was a mass mover.
Taking families to vacations, taking parents to their jobs and dropping children off at school. Why then do we then, associate Escorts with hype, and speed, and racing?
“This the front wheel drive one? Right? I remember they were cool, then they went front wheel drive.”
This is where the Escort becomes special, due to the quantity of them, they were likely canidates for modification. Suddenly they were blasting through rally stages, nosing around circuits and burning up the streets at night Escorts were the car to have here in Barbados back in its heyday. In fact, most sleeper platforms were Escorts. It was quite common for an Escort to be sporting a larger engine either from a Sierra or Granada.
I’ll be honest, when I started hunting for a project car, I really did not expect this car to cross my path. I remember growing up, I saw a few of them on the road, zipping around. They always caught my eye but when I was older they were no longer around. I did always want to own one, but I thought it would have been highly unlikely.
I found this car, being parted out at a yard, and I was fortunate as well, as it just arrived there and not much interest was shown in it. Perhaps the lack of Escorts on the island also accounted for this, but it was really nice to find a running car for really cheap.
Is this Car my dream car? It may be one them. Many persons have fallen in love with the Mk 1 or Mk 2 Escorts. When persons speak about Escorts, they refer to those 2 models specifically. The Mk 4 Escort was a little more thrown to the side, because of its front wheel drive nature. People believe it’s lost its charm because of this but I’d disagree.
This new project car is actually the perfect platform to build a really fun sleeper. With the introduction of the Mk 3 and Mk 4 Escort came the RS Turbo, although the car it was front wheel drive, its 1.6 CVH engine, spat out a decent 133 hp with the T3 Garrett slapped on it. These engines were capable of a lot more though, and have been modified to produce around 600 + hp in recent times, that's a lot for a 4 cylinder 8 valve engine!
I won’t be making crazy numbers like that though, but it should be pretty quick off the line. I’ll be going more in depth in the near future with this car, keeping you guys aware of the ongoing project. I’ve got plenty of work to do getting it ready to drive, but I’m looking forward to stepping into this “project car” life.
Stay tuned for further updates! Until next time, this Alex, Happy Motoring!
A Path to Maturity
Our hobbies turn us into artists when we really think about it. We think less of the monetary value of what we are doing, and make concessions for it because of the sheer love we place in it.
We all end up with a hobby, sometimes they come naturally with the skills we have in life, or what our passions are. It's something that helps us get away from the day to day hassle or the stress of our day to day jobs. Our hobbies turn us into artists when we really think about it. We think less of the monetary value of what we are doing, and make concessions for it because of the sheer love we place in it.
If you love cars enough, maybe you toy with the idea of owning a car you could enjoy on the weekends. Undertaking a project is a deceptively long process. Project cars are what separate a car lover from an auto enthusiast. It requires a level of commitment that some persons are either not willing to take on, or develop through finishing if they make it to the end.
It was amazing to meet Jan-Yves in his element. He's a project car veteran. Things didn't really start out that way though, the origin story (if you want to call it that) of his car was really interesting. He bought this car on his birthday, as a present to himself and really loved it. His goal at the time was to make it his daily but things had a turn for the worse, when it was involved in an accident. It was during the repair process, that the thought of upgrading the car came to mind. Eight years later, it's no longer the same car he started out with but this is his project.
“This car has its own laptop, and tablet. They never leave it.”
Jan-Yves is building a Ford Sapphire Cosworth. Usually, when we hear Ford coupled with the word "Cosworth" we sit up and pay attention. Here in Barbados, owning a Ford is a rarity, owning a Ford from the early 90's that isn't a rust bucket, that's even rarer and let's not even talk about owning a Cosworth.
In the pursuit of perfection, he has rebuilt his car from the ground up. In fact, this isn't even the same chassis with which he started. He was able to acquire another chassis and swapped the internals after doing some bodywork on it.
The 2L 16v Cosworth Turbo engine also got some love, after being fully overhauled and cleaned up. The wiring is all new, need feed hoses and cables. The engine carries the Ford Escort MK5's big turbo, that makes about 15 psi, which helps the engine get up to 300 bhp quite easily. A stage 3 Clutch and a Fidanza Flywheel were added.
The engine is now managed by an ECU MASTER EMU and the instruments in the dashboard were changed to a Stack tachometer. The Stack fuel level gauge and the other gauges are managed through the car's Asus tablet
He's added Honda k20 coils , a Cosworth kevlar timing belt to the engine, an Anembo Engineering fuel rail, a Grahame Goode breather system, as well as an Airtek rs500 inter-cooler and radiator. Internally it's still the same Cosworth engine, coming from the factory.
Being a work in progress meant the interior was pretty messy, with wires and diagnostic cables everywhere. The top of the dashboard was cleared to add space for the tablet that now connects to the car and monitors everything that's going on while the car is on. It's nice to see this merger of old and new.
He's pretty excited about his custom shifter knob.
The exhaust has not been changed, it's standard 3-inch exhaust. However, the sound, from the brief time of hearing the engine running, does not let you down one bit. At the moment, he has a fuel pump issue preventing the car from really working it's best. The fuel system uses a Bosch 044 fuel pump, Protec Fuel Systems 340 surge pot and Fuelab Fuel Filters.
The suspension was built using Gal Gold Coilovers and Powerflex Black Bushes, making sure bushes would not have to be changed for quite a while. Pro grade bushes are always a little pain to go in but in the end are always worth it for the time saved in maintenance. That's building with a view to the future.
Brakes were also upgraded, increasing the car's stopping potential with some Ksport 8 pots. Tying everything together cosmetically were some Sparco Pista wheels and some pretty rare Morette quad light conversions for the Sapphire.
Jan-Yves is an Auto Enthusiast, and he really has placed a lot of value and emphasis on the "just right" feeling, of knowing every aspect of his car has come together exactly how he envisioned it. He mentioned sometimes he does a once over the entire car and engine bay to make sure all the bolts are tightened just in case.
“It has given me a sense of maturity over the years, developing patience, and self-control. This car has personally changed me over time.”
I'm definitely looking forward to the end of his Project Car, look out for the next article, until then, happy motoring!
- Alex
Take a look at the progression of the entire project HERE.