Hi all. I have a book chassis Locost with a 1979 British Ford Escort 1300cc motor and 4 speed trans. Is there any other motors that will swap out without adaptors or with minor changes? Trouble is I am in the United States so any motor would have to be available here also. Parts are impossible to find for that 1300cc here. Tks Russ

almost certainly a crossflow engine, though you would want to be sure. There are several larger versions of this engine available, and many tuning parts. I couldnt tell you how to find one in america though.

I know it can be difficult to obtain parts for this engine in the U.S.A. I used to source parts for a bloke in Arizona with a crossflow in his single seater as Burton Power wanted an arm and a leg for the shipping. He got so fed up with the situation he sold the car and bought a Stalker V6 (a massive 7 clone, "All American").

A Miata (Mazda MX5 over here) would be a good donor.

[Edited on 23/8/05 by gazza285]

you have 2.3 pintos over there could you use one ov thouse or is your chassie not big enough

pinto has the exhaust on the opposite side to crossflow. not the end of the word though, but if you are changing a lot you may as well just pick the engine you really want.

Not necessarily the cheapest option but you should be able to get a zetec to fit without too much trouble.

Need to check height clearances under the bonnet though

Plenty of toyotas in the US of a.

What about a 4age?

Popular conversion.

Cheers

Chris

I have not ben able to find anyone that makes a Ford escort trans to 4age adapter. Does anybody in the UK make one??? Russ

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Originally posted by trialsman
I have not ben able to find anyone that makes a Ford escort trans to 4age adapter. Does anybody in the UK make one??? Russ

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Russ, I don't think an adapter is what you need as the 4AGE will pull the Escort tranny to bits in no time.

Don't folks use the RWD celica box?

Plenty of them (more than here anyhoo) in the US too.

Rob Lane, amongst others, has done this conversion - U2U him

Cheers

Chris

So you'r saying replace the motor and trans, right?

Standard 1300 Escort transmission is fine behind a standard Escort engine and that's about it.

I'd change the box as well as the motor but I'm not sure that the US version of the European Pinto engine (i.e. the Lima 2.3 engine) is the way to go as the Pinto is a very tight fit under the hood of a locost and the Lima block is around 1" taller again.

What bits for the crossflow are you looking for as I have a varied collection of bits that you can have for a modest cost and postage. Bloke I deal with in Arizona got all his bits at cost plus postage and I got a T shirt in return. It was an In'n'Out Arizona collector T shirt.