Just bought Ron Champion's book "How to build a sports car and race it........." and Im inspired, I want me one of them!!!!

As a result I've jumped in with both feet and sorted all the tubular steel. (I'm currently in the process of cutting this to length and dressing it ready for welding)...

The book suggests using a Mk 1 / 2 Escort as a donor but searching for these has thus far resulted in little joy, unless Im willing to shell out big coin for a potential bag of sh*te...

Id be eternally grateful for any advice offered on donor cars! Im looking for a rear wheel drive (simple to work with set up) that wont require too much arsing about as I have some (limited) knowledge of this kind of stuff but at the end of the day Id sooner be punching the garage wall in frustration than stuck watching East-bloody-Enders with the missus!

Any advice at all regardless of the topic would be fantastic!

Cheers...

Welcome to the nut house

Have a look through the old posts in this section. Or have a look on my website *plug plug*

Most people go for a sierra donor these days.

David

simplest solution in the UK is a ford sierra and (in your case) a 'book width de dion axle'. Your ideal sierra will not have abs or power steering, and will have a usable engine and manual gearbox.

i could do you a cheap 2 litre pinto with a type 9 gearbox if you are interested

good evening and welcome also

[Edited on 18/1/06 by Ketchup]

quote:

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Originally posted by first timer
Any advice at all regardless of the topic would be fantastic!

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true.. but im sure my car will give me something back when i can finally drive it

"As a result I've jumped in with both feet and sorted all the tubular steel. (I'm currently in the process of cutting this to length and dressing it ready for welding)."

errrr


tubular steel ??


dont think so


.

you have u2u

OK FIRST STOP

Get on EBAY and BUY this DONOR!

It has the Limited Slip Diff you require

It's the 7" one too - with Lobro's and Rear Discs...

!!!CLICK ME IM A DONOR CAR IN DISGUISE!!!

And the rest is history - or should I say bed debt history

Ron Champion sold an even bigger lie than the London Bridge to the Yanks!

Also helps if you fill your location in, there could be people living close to you with helpful advice, etc.

And welcome

1st tip i would give stop cutting, there are a few mistakes in the book I found it best too measure and cut as required rather than use book as a cutting list, that's once you've got your basic chassis built, ie top n btm rails plus up-stands......

2nd tip, enjoy and welcome.

Stop Cutting the Steel!

Unfortunately there are a few errors in the book it is far better to start building to the overall dimensions adusting any pieces that need it. Get the McSorely plans they are a PDF download from the internet, print them to A3 and you will find they are much easier to work with.

Before you go any further decide what you are going to build and source the essentials i.e.engine gearbox back axle and front uprights and hubs, all these will affect dimensons of parts of the build.

I spent about 6 months planning and sourcing and as I wanted to stay close to book I ended up with a rag bag collection of parts, many bought from people on the site or local scrappies as I couldn't find a decent donor, BTW the 4X4 sierra is not a decent donor too many bits won't be used including the engine and front uprights!

I am using a 1600 pinto that will have sidedraught webber 40s a sierra type 9 gearbox, a sierra steering column, a rally designs escort quick rack, cortina uprights and an early Cortina pedal box with sierra brake master cylinder and a modified crank or cable clutch. I am trying to fit a genuine Lotus Elan handbrake and fuel cap!

This lot cost more than a donor but i will have a live axle car for simplicity and speed of build. many other parts will be off book from info learned on this forum.

Spend a bit of research time now to save yourself a lot of grief later, personaly i hate re-doing things so I am working in a careful forward direction so I don't get frustrated and, like so many others , abandon the project.

Good luck and have fun with your project

Caber

Hi,

if your going for a book chassis, you maybe don't need a mk2 escort donor, but you could buy the bits you want seperately i.e

escort axle £50 - £100
Cortina uprights £50 - £100
Escort Steering Rack £50 new
Sierra Column £25

then you can pick whick engine/Box you want to fit rather than being stuck with whatever engine your donor car had.

Ray

Nothing useful to say, but welcome.

Mark

And should you go with a book chassis/Sierra donor I have a GTS deDion beam for the back end - fits the book chassis and the Sierra hubs etc bolt straight in. Brand new/unused. It's not going anywhere so once you've decided on the format let me know if that's the route you decide.

BTW - Welcome, there are a lot of helpful people on here who are generous with their knowledge (and opinions)

quote:

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Originally posted by muzchap
OK FIRST STOP

Get on EBAY and BUY this DONOR!

It has the Limited Slip Diff you require

It's the 7" one too - with Lobro's and Rear Discs...

!!!CLICK ME IM A DONOR CAR IN DISGUISE!!!

And the rest is history - or should I say bed debt history

Ron Champion sold an even bigger lie than the London Bridge to the Yanks!

---

Possible donor package on ebay at the moment item no 4606094829 no bids yet NTDWM

Dave,

I was told all Sierra 4x4 estates were 7"...

The two me and my friend have purchases have been... guess we've just been extremely lucky

Cheers,

Murray

some are 7" and some are 7.5". I have no idea how you can tell from model/year or whatever other than to crawl underneath with a ruler......

quote:

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Originally posted by RazMan

quote:

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Originally posted by first timer
Any advice at all regardless of the topic would be fantastic!

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Go into the garden and dig a big hole. Then throw in all of your credit cards, cheque books, in fact anything that helps you spend money and BURY THEM

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Welcome aboard shipmate !
Yes, some are 7.5 inch. Guess which one I got lumbered with the first time.

The mcsorley are located at
http://mcsorley.net/locost/default.htm

It is also worth cheking the links section from the top menu on this forum, theirs quite a few good sites to ponder over

Here's a donor pack with proper registration on ebay

item no. 4606094829

Caber

quote:

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Originally posted by ayoungman
Welcome aboard shipmate !
Yes, some are 7.5 inch. Guess which one I got lumbered with the first time.

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Just coz ford say that............... practical experience shows otherwise !

I HAVE BACK AXLE ESCORT MK2 WITH BRACKETS WELDED ON
ALSO HAVE REAR TRALING ARMS AND PANARD ROD FOR SALE

Cheers for all the advice so far

Points taken about errors in the book - I've downed tools and am re-dedicating my time to sourcing parts...

One concern i had with the sierra / capri was that the drive shaft would be significantly longer than that of an Escort... Would this be an issue or easily overcome???

They take some finding but if you can find a cortina they make the perfect donor, engine/box bake axle and those elusive front uprights.

Hi,
If, by drive shaft, you mean propshaft, then yes the Escort one is shorter. BUT that matters not as you'll have to get that shortened even more anyway.

Marcus