'76 Escort RS continual project.

[Joe O'dMoors]

The header and down pipe pieces are done, in ceramic coating...
Looking great. This sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the engine bay



Doing some odd pieces to fill in the blank spots of time.
The bottom side of this hood is really drinking up the paint,
A good number of coats to go and then an application of gold heat shield barrier tape, on the section that's right above the exhaust manifold.


Luckily, so far, changing over all the fittings to PTFE line fittings has been easy. Measure twice, buy once,
Here the fuel pump is getting updated!

[Joe O'dMoors]

Floors are back to 100% again.
Welded, prepped, primed and painted.
It's shiny in this pic, but went with satin black with the final coats.


I spoke with a rally car builder to see what the best fitting to use for the electrical cables that pass though the rear firewall.
Compression gland metal fittings are the standard...so it was an easy find at the local hardware store.
This is the initial pass through, the tape holding the battery + cable will be secured with a rubber coated clamp after I'm happy with the layout.
New cable loom covering is going to be used throughout on all the electrical wires.
Fuel line is on the bottom as I had to work around clearing the back side of the fuel tank.
Luckily, with the 45DCOE's, there is no need for a fuel return line.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Engine bay was stripped and degreased...twice.
Primed and a few coats of the white epoxy Ive been using everywhere else.


These fittings are great! Kind of a challenge to do over and over again, but worth it so far..


The original Chassis # plate was looking very tired. Luckily, new repros are available!!!
A place in Colorado can do the reverse stamping to match the factory process.

[Joe O'dMoors]

BUSY week. Welcome to 2022.
Engine bay repainted to match the rest of the car, engine back in.
Nothings is connected, so loads more work to do.


A great change to do a valve adjustment, with everything out of the way!

[Brett Wilkie]

It's interesting to look at the cam lobes, is that a very high lift cam or do you know the specs of it? It has the appearance of a regrind to higher lift, the base circle seems to be lower than the casting of the actual shaft?
I remember back in the day having Shadbolt's regrind mine to this spec and I quite liked it.

[Joe O'dMoors]

It's very aggressive, and not very street friendly....but I don't care, as it wasn't built for that and have fun with it regardless.
The car can't get out of it's own way at anything below 3000 rpm, but when it hits it, it snaps you back into the seat until the next gearchange and just pulls super hard until the 7K revlimiter kicks in.

It's brutal...and you have to pre-plan before you pull out into traffic.
I have the idle set at just above 2000 just to keep it all happy hahaha.

It's a made by Kent, model # KCRL32

[Brett Wilkie]

Yes, I can see why it doesn't do much at lower revs, the high lift is good for torque but that long duration kills the lower end.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Without a doubt! The engine was specifically built to run high RPM on loose surfaces, so the wheels are normally moving quick no matter how slow the car is going.

I took the rock chipped upper strut bar and gave it a nice reset, in matching white.



The very tired looking cam cover got some coats in high temp ceramic spray that is super close to the original Ford RS Blue.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Getting there, running wire loom protection on all of the misc. wires that were not very well protected in the past.
Oil cooler hooked back up, but plenty of parts to still go back in in the bay.


To help with the heat stress of a few bits, I ran carbon wrap on the header pipes....what a challenge of a job that was.
Glad that part is done.
Some great gold heatshield tape and a gold sheatshield sheath for the clutch cable will help immensely and looks cool as a bonus.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Tank is in, pump and lines are ran, just getting all of the wiring inside of some protective looming.


Interior lines ran and more protective looming on all the electrical cables.


Fuel line ran through a new location, and looming getting taken care of up front.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Nearly there!
More bits getting back into the bay again, the wiring harness and aux wires are all protected and fastened out of harms way.
The radiator top tank got a nice coat of paint to match all of the rest of the clean and shiny parts
The blue hose left of the head goes to the WRC heater, I will be adding heat shielding and securing it neatly against the cam cover

[Joe O'dMoors]

95% done with the engine bay! And I'm super happy with the results.
Mostly just have to make up and assemble the new fuel line pieces from the FPR to the carbs as well as throw the ignition system back on.
It's amazing how much room the intake runners and carbs take up.
I used the gold heat shield tape on the lower WRC heater hose as well as the throttle cables (twins, so if one breaks, you keep going)


A picture of the way it was before...
It was a lot of work, but it's so much better.

[BigFred]

Looks great now. Good job.

[Joe O'dMoors]

Thank you!!
Much happier with that.

[BigFred]

Joe, Any more updates?