Could be the same. This one is all steel, and the arches have been done particulary well, especially the rears with the proper fill in panels to mini tub it.
Engineering and registration was a painful and lengthy expreience, but I was in no hurry. I'll try and capture most of the journey:
I used a pretty good engineer who helped me previously with my Porsche 930 import, but that was largely just a case of seat anchor points and go. He's old school and works at his own pace, but knows the system pretty well so you can't rush him.
When I got the Escort it was supposed to be built for tarmac rally and had no rear seats, seat belts, etc, really dodgy brake line set up with rear bias valve in the cab and a botch-up of external and itnernal under the firewall reservoirs, a ridiculuous 4" 'need for speed' coffee can exhaust, obviosuly no cat, really bad running L6 ECU with fuel pressure all over the place etc, rudimentary boost control, a gastly el cheapo all in one gauge jobby where the rev clock used to be, no speedo, horn, washers, etc etc.
After all the basic stuff that was missing was done, the application was put in to the DOT covering the conversion fundamentals such (engine, box, axle, suspension, brakes etc). They sent me an agreement in principal but rejected the psoposed wheels / tires. I had the engineer later make a case of using the widest track rear/front production escorts in Australia (I think it was TC rear track and RS2 front track) as the basis for using the allownaces from, and with an ajustable TCA, was able to to get the track within requirements along with 6" wide rims, more so just for the measurement, but not good in terms of camber etc.
I was unsure about the need for a 5 gas test but I put a 3" cat in it, a proper rear silencer and wired in a modern ECU running coil-on-plug CBR1000 coil sticks, so was able to hold 14.7AFR at idle even with 73# injectors (good low imp type).
All the rose joints had to be fitted with special spherical bearing boots. The interior was fitted with full set of new stepper motor gaugues in a blank 6 gauge pod (turned out really nice) including a GPS speedo which obvisouly passed the radar speed test. The brake test went ok once the pads were warm although we had to fully bias to front, bais adjuster had to also be removed, as well as the rear bias valve.
All new belts were sourced from seatbelt solutions, and some second hand rear seats were fitted. Horn and washer system was fitted, reverse lights, etc etc. I also put in a proper charcoal fuel tank vent that uses a holden charcoal can under the fender, vent line from the tank, singnal line from the inlet manifold and a restrited breather line to the inlet (both behind check valves to shut off when boosting). The entire cooling system and IC was re-engineered and now works properly.
When the file was returned, I did get the approval, and fortunately did not need a 5 gas. Noise was fine with a nice 3" dynomax muffler. It took some time and I had to follow up with the case officer and the engineer a few times when things stalled.
So, after all this I took the car to the pits in Osborne Park, DOT approval in hand......this is where the fun really started!
The first inspector completely threw the book at it.... Remined my he 'used to work on them when he was (much!) younger and challenged everything I tried to negotiate with him. Some stuff was a fair cop, some was a bit below the belt I felt:
-Remove rose joints....er no. Engineer had to write another letter specifically approving rose joint.
-install rear and front bump stops. Rear was a fair cop. Guy did not realise front struts are upside down billies, 2.1/4" spings with itnernal stops. I drafted another letter I then got the engineer to sign off with picutres that showed internal bump stops, for the examiners education, as well a picuture of my actual inserts next to a copy of my dirvers licence in case there was any doubt. It worked.
-Remove extended length rear shackles it had on.....ok, but now becuase the reverse springs were previously upside down and heavily decamber, with standard shackles the spring was actually contacting the rails on the behind the front eye. I had to get new non decambered reverse eye springs from wilkinsons, plus lowering blocks and new standard shackles to maintan approved eyebrow heights. Quite costly but it does run much better. The pnhard bar and radius arms were ok once the rose joints were covered.
-Re-run all fuel lines outside of rear bulkhead. It Had braided lines going behind rear bulkhead and under rear floor....ouch. All new fuel line plumbing in AN6 plus some special heat sheilding for the vent line.
-Intake too noisey- remedy noise. but when I asked what standard where they quoting against?.....we don't need a standard, just make it quieter.Fuk! OK...fitted a nice under fender air box with soundproofing in it that did the trick. That was worrying as it was entirely subjective and the second guy never heard it first time around. He was ok when he saw the effort that went into engineering it I think, more so than the actual noise reduction. BOV was also plumbed back into the airbox.
-No brake failure warning lights.....had to fit floats to reservoirs, special approved warning light (needed the symbol on it), limit switch to handbrake and then devise a lamp test function when ign power on before starting by using spare general purpose outputs on the ECU and some relays. Works like OEM.
-Fit a bulkhead behind rear seat. OK, make one out of ply and covered with carpet.
-Fit protection plate around swirl tank in trunk. OK, bent some checker plate and fitted up. Actually looks nice.
-Fix oil leak - small sump plug leak that is still persistent but held off for the day.
-Fit belhousing protection plate -Fuk! gearbox out and new plate goes in.
etc....etc... Almost endless bits and shits.
I did all the above within a month and it went back on day 30....the second guy was my worst case scenario. He knew less about the car than the first guy. He comes out and starts very directly, to interrogate me about the car, the engineers report, where I got it, who did the work, yada yada yada......
Took a long time getting this guy around but he came round slowly and invited me into the shop and mellowed out. It almost fell through when he could no visibly see the chaissis number as it was under one of the inner wing stengthenging plates. First guy said they would issue another number, second guy said becuase it was an Aussie car with Aussie tags, he was ok and no new number needed putting on the car...so I finally left with a modification permit and number plates.
It was a interesting, but testing experience. Basically the engineering is the first chapter and was relatively straightforward. The roadworthy (over the pits) is entirely another chapter and a bit less predictable / luck of the draw depending on the guys who do the inspection.
I would think it has added some value to the car (and it has also taken a few years off me in the process, and added some gray hair.......
)
Worth it though..... I just love the reaction I get when I am out in it. I'm also going to look into getting it logbooked as IP.
Cheers
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 11:08 pm