Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted October 3, 2020 Popular Post Posted October 3, 2020 Just putting this up to keep track of things. Mate bought an old EA rally car last week after pining for an AU. Essentially he knew this one was out there, rang the owner and did a deal. It's an EA, converted to V8 mustang, 5 speed, all roll cage certed etc. Picked her up Sat morning in gay old Gore and drove it onto trailer... And a snug enough fit for the drive home... First mission was a good hot steam clean inside and out, lichen on the body and lots of oil on the engine, it is a detuned 86 5.0 donk, that somehow manages to strangle itself to give 150kW... Bogan VB bought specially for the occasion, did like the old badge... And all clean, pouring water out the speed holes. A new paint scheme will be forthcoming... 18 2 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted October 3, 2020 Author Popular Post Posted October 3, 2020 And yes it'll be slow, but he's rallied before and is aware of the costs involved in trying to stay in the top ten. This is really just a fun project, something to play with and use. I'm on the crew, which means road trips, carrying tyres and getting out of the house... Trip to its new shed was via a pub or two to refresh and top up sharns... It's gonna need a new seat as it is a bit snug for fat old blokes... And came with enough tyres for a couple of years of rallying... So was sort of running to get on/off trailer, but cleaning the water out of the distributor and fresh fuel fired her into life, air in the tyres and it was hoon time... A slight road trip to private-ish gravel roads let us have a wee play, shee-itt it's gonna be fun. There'e an easy hunderd or so HP available with bolt-on bits (heads, mainly) so the engine will be pulled for an inspection/freshen up. I'll post updates as things go, and am looking fwd to being on a race crew. Pit girl applications welcome... 18 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted October 3, 2020 Author Posted October 3, 2020 Crew shirts pretty much gonna be these with an EA tweak... Gave mine a trial run Saturday and was only told off by one lady for wearing it... 8 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted October 18, 2020 Author Posted October 18, 2020 Yoinked the slug motor... Slight lip on the bores so 30 thou over on the cards.. and the gubbins laid out... Plan is solid bottom end and new cam/heads to get some more oomph. Factory heads very restrictive, shrouded inlets really restrict flow. Probably blast the body and give it a quality outside spray job. Owner is looking at pistons now, dithering over how far to go. I reckon just get it going and look at sorting out drivetrain etc. Diff ratio change on the cards too. Funniest thing is he's a diehard holden/chev guy and is frothing over the options with a 302, watching so many youtube tuning vids... 6 Quote
Toddy415 Posted October 19, 2020 Posted October 19, 2020 So what events is he going to enter with this? Quote
anglia4 Posted October 21, 2020 Posted October 21, 2020 I used to have an 86 Mustang that had a bit of work done and it was a real weapon. I'll see if I can dig out the specs I had of it, but basically it had edelbrock aluminium heads, good flowing exhausts, 5 spd and 4:11 gears. 2 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted July 12, 2021 Author Popular Post Posted July 12, 2021 So a long overdue update. Put car on a rotisserie for inspection, and not great news... Surprisingly for an EA coon there was some rust issues and the certed roll cage was, well, junk... Bends all had deformation/wrinkles, welding was sub par, and wall thickness was pretty thin... So this happened. ED? body shell bought locally for around 3 hundy. Bloke wanted to keep the engine so we yeeted that out for him, so easy with workshop crane... And front suspension was bent so new mounts etc need fabricated. Rally car block is in the engine shop but bloke there had a fucked Clevo block we used for a mock up. Apparently have exactly the same mounting dimensions as the windsor, which makes sense... So we lifted that in place to find the optimum position... And will make up mount modification blocks to suit... Body is actually in really good nick, and new roll cage is well under way... Proper steel, properly bent, properly mounted, and properly welded (not by me, obvs)... Owner looked at using a long crank/shorter pistons for rally torque, but got too hard with supply issues atm (even Summit couldn't find right parts) so he's ordered some pistons from Aus. Also new diff being built in Ch'ch after some bits were found to be missing... Think the axles are being modified too for rally use. So things are coming together, he's looking fwd to bolting the engine together and putting things back in the painted shell when that's done. Financially the initial purchase has not proved great, given all the gear being swapped, but he's philosophical bout that as it's given him an interest/something to work on. Old car life eh... 16 Quote
johnny.race Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 @Lord Gruntfuttock Hi, what sorta thing do they do to the axles to prepare them for rally use, out of interest. Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted July 13, 2021 Author Posted July 13, 2021 Apparently it's something to stop them hitting the seals under rally stresses? Standard they are ok on roads but I think they put a stop/flange/something on axles to stop them hitting seals and coming loose. I'm too mechanically derp to understand, was relayed to me as recommended to owner by diff specialist. Can find out if you're really interested... 1 Quote
johnny.race Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 Yep yip, axle retention works, got it. Makes sense. Maybe a HD bearing retainer set up with a spacer or something to preload the seal even more than stock. Cool. Ta man. Cool diffs them Borgies. 1 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted August 6, 2021 Author Popular Post Posted August 6, 2021 Bit of progress, parts arriving and seam welding under way... 11 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted September 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Posted September 22, 2021 Quick update, went out to the rally car shed on the weekend, which has had a tidy up and beer fridge installed. Some shelves have been set up and tyres sorted, plus the car is on the rotisserie... Roll cage done and in the process of being approved... And this shell is pretty good. So much better than dicking around with the old one.. Engine mounts made... So good being able to spin it over... And a new sump has been modified and leak tested. Main mission on the weekend was to check clearances... And trans mount made up. The bloke doing the welding is a truck tech, so everything's pretty beefy. Long ago gave up worrying about weight... And on the way home called past engine shop to check fitment on the actual block... So a bit of progress. Latest name for this thing might stick (it's had a few). Gentlemen, may I present you, the Fat Escort... (might even paint it like Roger Clark's Cossack Mk II... ) 15 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 15, 2024 Author Posted January 15, 2024 Update, been helping with this a little lately, much work done by others. Engine built, block skimmed, roller rockers, new throttle bodies, heads etc, should wake it up a bit... Exhaust done, fuel tank, boot mounted battery tray, rebuilt diff etc fitted... Interior and engine bay painted, and body taken away for prep/paint... 8 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 15, 2024 Author Popular Post Posted January 15, 2024 Best bits of both bodies put together and sanded for paint. A really good shell in the end, straight and very little corrosion.. And done... Taking it back to workshop tonight to start putting things on properly, which is exciting. Had to keep reminding ourselves it was a rally car during paint prep. Southland rally in June is first race target, will be road legal so hope to get it running way before then for shakedown, should be fun... 12 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 16, 2024 Author Posted January 16, 2024 Some random progress pics I found on my phone... 8 Quote
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 16, 2024 Author Popular Post Posted January 16, 2024 Oh it's very red... Actually truck paint, from a local transport company, hard as fuck, painter couldn't buff it, will be interesting to see how it goes... Cockpit pic... And I'd made a brew for the crew some time ago, got bewbs... 16 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 21, 2024 Author Posted January 21, 2024 Night stage lamps test fit... And coming together... 9 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.