Zakspeed Escort – The story begins – gathering ideas and parts

The gathering of parts started

One Escort

Group2 ZakSpeed kit

Zetec chassis mount kit

Piper Vernier pulleys

Gas gold front struts

Gas gold rear struts

Zetec ARP bolts

Retro Ford dust shield for T9 gearbox

Retro Ford adjustable gearbox mounting for T9 gearbox

Aluminium bell housing

Retro Ford water rail

Aluminium radiator with fan

Zetec sump with baffles

Quickshift kit

Type 9 uprated box

Two Duratech ST engines Zetec engine basically ( Came out of a Ford Focus ST170)

Tension strut kit

Group 4 Ally hubs with group 4 bearings

Group 4 Roll Bar (16mm Ø) & Link Kit

Turret kit

4 link kit

Watts linkage kit

Gearbox and diff tunnel boxes

Centre consul

Steering arms and other bits

The part I loved the most

Quaife ATB for atlas diff

As time passed and the research followed I got worried about using the Type 9 Ford gearbox for the power that it can handle. Hi then sold my Type 9 and got me a Borg Warner T5 gearbox.

T5 Gearbox

Quaife Half shafts

I stripped out the Escort of all the items I was not planning on using, which were basically 90% of them. I sold probably most of them and only kept what I was planning on putting back like the dash, grille, lights and bumpers and so.

I bought two of the Duratec engine as I got it for a good deal, the one seems to have been in a front smash accident but the other one seemed fine. I stripped it from all the un wanted bits to get the measuring and fitting going.

I wanted the engine as low as it could possibly be and as far back as I could get it. This caused a lot of headaches, but more of that to come.
I proceeded to do some cutting out for the new gearbox tunnel. Can’t remember if this was before or after I got the idea to move the fire wall back.

Due to the engine moving so low the standard cross member had to be removed and to be replaced by a new designed one

I decided to go with an imported Atlas axle from the UK. This is an Axle that offers plenty of aftermarket improved parts. As they are not available in South Africa, although some people do claim there are Atlas Axles here, I could not find one and all of the cars I was told might have them did not have an Atlas Axle in.
I did a preliminary back arch fit to measure up to order the Atlas axle. They can be ordered in different lengths and the quaife half shafts comes in an extra-long length to allow you to shorten them if required. This gave me a measurement of 1720mm arch to arch

To get things going on the suspension I changed the polybush end to IKO Rod end on my already adjustable lower control arms.

I removed the old sump to do a preliminary fit of the new one to get more info on my cross member design.

Found something in the old sump that I have not seen in a sump before, it’s black, hard and small but can be crushed!?!?!?! What can this be? My feeling it is like a carbon buildup of some sorts.

Something interesting I did not know. Oil sprayers for the pistons or conrods

New sump on my Duzetec motor. Yes it’s not 100% a Zetec and not even 1% a Duratec but got called a Duratec.

Bolted the Borg Warner T5 to my Duzetec. Fits with no problem

I have cut out the fire wall and most of the gearbox tunnel to positioned the engine and gearbox. I have moved the engine back about 100mm from the existing fire wall and as low as possible to try and improve the balance and handling of the car.