Car has gone, but I will still hang around!

[chrismyatt82]

Hiya all

Wanted to thank you all for your help over the last few months of my MG ownership, its been invaluable!

I am collecting my new car tonight, which is a Ford Escort 1.8 GTi (Not the car I had planned to get which was the RS2000)... the plan is to get the RS2000 by the end of the year... and then a Cossie within 3 years!

I shall hang about here for a bit and see whats going on, also encouraged the new owner to join the site so one up one down

Cheers all

[lawrence-zs180]

well where's the pic then???!!! haha
you gonna be on the gti forum then?

[chrismyatt82]

I didnt know there was one!

Here it is... in my favourite colour too, Mallard Green

I will get those alloys changed for RS2000 one's lol

[caled]

That's the same colour as my 5 door. Nice little cars these - little bit weak on the powerside for a "gti" (115bhp...), but they're generally solid cars - rust excluding. With the price of these now, could be a wise purchase. The handling aint really up to much, either - and youll notice that coming from a ZS.
Any plans for it?
Here's mine, for some ideas...

(dirty)
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MyCars/Photo-0132a.jpg

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MyCars/Photo-0134a.jpg

Angel eye headlights are a good "upgrade" - the light out of them on dipped beam is naff but they look good
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MyCars/Photo-0149.jpg

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MyCars/Photo-0135-1.jpg

And the reason mine has a poverty spec bumper on at the mo.
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/Caled10/MyCars/Photo-0155.jpg

Cheap, fun cars to play around with and plenty of second hand mods available - and any optional extras from ford are usually easy to source in the local scrappie as there were billions of the damn things made.

Oh, sign up to escortevolution.co.uk, too. Plenty of know-how on there.

[chrismyatt82]

It already has lowered suspension (40mm) which should improve things a bit...

Soon I will try to get a panel filter in there or maybe some induction kit, it has a nice exhaust already

Plan is to have this for a bit then get the RS2000, or maybe put an RS2000 engine in this if it works out better

[lawrence-zs180]

she looks good.. i had cams on mine as well and a few other mods all 2nd hand, went really well but yea even with braces and coilovers there not a patch on the zed.. still a right laugh though and if i get my barn sorted at my mates then im deff having one.. well a rs2k lol

[greenyzs180]

i was gunna buy one ages ago and make it look like the cosworth escort witch at the time was my fav car,then after it became a trend around my way to fit whale tail spoilers to all escorts i lost interest but still a nice car.

[caled]

Id deffo get hold of an RS2k rather than trying to engine swap - the GTI to RS2k conversion is supposed to be a bit of a pig and not worth the effort given the price difference of the two cars.
There are a couple of popular conversions, though. The most common by far is dropping the 2l silvertop zetec from an early, pre-PATS modeo in, gives ~130bhp and a good deal more torque and makes it a much better drive.
Another conversion is an RS turbo lump, although theyre becoming a bit thin on the ground.
Yet another I've seen done is using the 2.3 out of a scorpio, although again a bit thin on the ground and Im not sure whether this would be any easier than a RS2k.
A third option would the budget turbo option on the 1.8, or a 2.0 if it takes your fancy. A guy called Stu on escortevo knows his stuff about this, and highly recommends it - its my long term plan to get it done to mine. He used to have a website running, but thats gone down now.

[chrismyatt82]

Id deffo get hold of an RS2k rather than trying to engine swap - the GTI to RS2k conversion is supposed to be a bit of a pig and not worth the effort given the price difference of the two cars.
There are a couple of popular conversions, though. The most common by far is dropping the 2l silvertop zetec from an early, pre-PATS modeo in, gives ~130bhp and a good deal more torque and makes it a much better drive.
Another conversion is an RS turbo lump, although theyre becoming a bit thin on the ground.
Yet another I've seen done is using the 2.3 out of a scorpio, although again a bit thin on the ground and Im not sure whether this would be any easier than a RS2k.
A third option would the budget turbo option on the 1.8, or a 2.0 if it takes your fancy. A guy called Stu on escortevo knows his stuff about this, and highly recommends it - its my long term plan to get it done to mine. He used to have a website running, but thats gone down now.

Cheers for the advice there... I was looking up last night about Supercharging rather than Turbocharging as you get less of a lag(?)

I may look at badging mine up like an RS2000 in the meantime, it is de-badged at the rear and only the GTi badges on the side

I think the car change may be the best option too for the future as my insurance wasnt interested in an engine swap!

[caled]

Cheers for the advice there... I was looking up last night about Supercharging rather than Turbocharging as you get less of a lag(?)

I may look at badging mine up like an RS2000 in the meantime, it is de-badged at the rear and only the GTi badges on the side

I think the car change may be the best option too for the future as my insurance wasnt interested in an engine swap!

Hehe, I bet they werent! You would definitely need to go specialist insurance quote to make it even remotely possible to insure the thing - thinking Adrian Flux, Chris Knott, Sky Insurance possibly. The zetec to RS2k i4 conversion is not an easy one, and requires swapping over the front suspension and gearbox to suit AFAIK. And you'll need to upgrade the brakes. All the bits you'll need to buy are probably quite a bit more than the difference in price between the RS2k to GTI, hence why most people dont bother. Just been reading that the RS2k I4 and the Galazy 2.3l I4 are the same dimensions though, which is interesting.

My personal preference is against labelling it up as an RS - then you'd be acutely aware that its all show no go/mutton dressed as lamb/insert generic metaphor. Another thing to delete all the badges, but then it looks like its not a GTI, either (although in fairness, the only thing the GTI had over anything else were the seats and the skirts).

Supercharging by definition will give you less lag as you dont need to wait for sufficient exhaust gas to spin up the whatever-size turbo you have, but I cant say Ive heard of anyone going for that option - the budget turbo Ive been trying to dig out the guide for was estimated at ?3-4k. A supercharger will beef up the lower end, but a turbo will increase the top (and dependent on how big it is, the middle). There are a few bits that need replacing enginewise, but I cant remember what they were of the top of my head, Im assuming headbolts and decomp plates, I think you could get away with standard pistons and rods rather than forged, dependent on power but would need to check that. You'd also need to get the rocker and sump reworked to provide a source and return for the oil for the turbo.

Half the reason these are such great cars is the wide range of ways of personalising them, and that they cost pittance. That and I actually really like the look of a nice gti kitted escort.

[chrismyatt82]

I think I will keep this as standard and just enjoy it lol... I will do my usual spark plugs and filter changes that I do when I get a new car

Will just wait to get an RS2000 when the time is right

I saw about the 2.3 Galaxy engine too, be interesting to see what performance difference it kicks out

Only problem I have on the GTi is the speedo jumps around a little, but I am hopoing that just the cable that loose or needs replacing

[caled]

Ah, the plugs and filters are easy on these, loads of access. Dont have to remove half the engine bay UNLIKE CERTAIN CARS!
Ive just been googling about the 2.3 I4, looks to give less bhp than than the rs2k but I know some people have used - must be easier to tune or give higher torque, I suppose.
The speedo jumping around is likely the speedo cable, another one of those common faults, like the rusty rear arches or the indicator stalk self cancelling and full beam cancelling, and chewing through the front wishbones (especially on lowered cars). IMO Fords are no better built than Rovers, its just the one main issue Rover K-series engines had happened to be a rather major one.

The GTI is likely to be tourmallard green, though, rather than mallard green (or even tourmalline) - its a later colour and slightly darker, but still by far the best colour you can get them in. It comes up really nice after a good clean and changes between near black to a dark shiny green dependent on ambient light levels that day.
Give me a shout if you need any bits, I'll see if Ive got any.

[chrismyatt82]

Ah, the plugs and filters are easy on these, loads of access. Dont have to remove half the engine bay UNLIKE CERTAIN CARS!
Ive just been googling about the 2.3 I4, looks to give less bhp than than the rs2k but I know some people have used - must be easier to tune or give higher torque, I suppose.
The speedo jumping around is likely the speedo cable, another one of those common faults, like the rusty rear arches or the indicator stalk self cancelling and full beam cancelling, and chewing through the front wishbones (especially on lowered cars). IMO Fords are no better built than Rovers, its just the one main issue Rover K-series engines had happened to be a rather major one.

The GTI is likely to be tourmallard green, though, rather than mallard green (or even tourmalline) - its a later colour and slightly darker, but still by far the best colour you can get them in. It comes up really nice after a good clean and changes between near black to a dark shiny green dependent on ambient light levels that day.
Give me a shout if you need any bits, I'll see if Ive got any.

Caled, you were bang on mate... Got it checked with Ford and the colour is Tourmallard Green

Really enjoying the car... has alot of power for only 115bhp, still miss the V6 ZS though lol