History
I bought the car of a guy who had it from new and had to sell his much modified pride and joy due to domestic pressure from his wife - he should have divorced her but his bad luck was my good fortune. I have had the car for about 15 years and I have had it rust repaired (which there was very little. mainly a small peice in the back of the lower rear wheel arches) and repainted. Its not concourse but it is a nice weekend and special event drive car and I am a member of the RS Owners Victoria.
Modifications
Cap C’s Red RS Road Rocket by James RS – Part 2
In 1998 Cap C had a little spare coin and decided that what he would like in his life was a Mk2 RS 2000. He had always liked the look of the Mk2 RS 2000 and back in the day had done some serious bolt on tuning of a RS 2000 coupe owned by a good mate. Cappy built a basically standard Pinto for his mate’s car but focused on the suspension of the car and had fitted Koni adjustable Sports front and rear, double width/anti dive and a 2.5 turn quick rack. While not a fast car it was a nice daily drive and a tidy county tourer. Cappy thought of sorting out something similar so he went out looking to find a suitable RS 2000. Way back then the source of all secondhand stuff pre Ebay and Gumtree was the Melbourne Trading Post so he bought a copy and started looking. And he got lucky, real lucky.
Now you may not believe it now but back then Escorts were reasonably regarded but not at the same fever pitch state of to-day with drug money being asked for and got for tidy Escort’s. In the day back in 1980 a new RS 2000 was about $6,000. Years later they weren’t fetching any more than at best $4000 for a tidy standard car. Cap C went through the trading Post and found what looked like a promising machine in Reservoir and went to have a look. It was Cap C’s lucky day. It was a Red one owner RS 2000 coupe that had been lovingly modified and cared for since 1979 by the original fastidious owner. He had spent large on the car over the years and hated selling it but he was being emotionally blackmailed by his wife to get his “toy” out of the garage to make way for her new Falcon. Cappy genuinely believed the poor sod should have divorced her but as the RS was the chaps second car and rarely driven, She that must be obeyed said it had to go.
The red RS was much modified as will be detailed shortly and a very nice fast road/touring car. The owner would never recoup what he put into the car and he even had thought of breaking the car up and selling the parts but in the end Cappy got a steal of a deal and paid $3600 and drove off into the sunset. The list of modifications made to the car was impressive. The engine was a Frank Lowndes built jewel that Cappy come to fully appreciate when he rebuilt and freshened the engine up in 2011. Cross drilled standard crank, lightened and linished rods, fully balanced, hi-volume Millings oil pump and with a beautifully ported big valve head (44mm intake, 38 mm exhaust) fed by a 38/38 Weber DGAV downdraught synchronised choke carb on a standard Pinto manifold with electronic ignition. The exhaust was a free flowing tubular manifold.
The engine was built for torque with the valves being standard stem length and not the slightly longer stem length of the Group 1 valve for use with real high lift cams. The shorter stem valves are ideal for cams lifting up to .500 inch and whilst not suitable for all out competition they form the basis of a nice head for a fast road car. To suit the carburation the cam was a short duration moderate lift grind by Wade that made good power to about 5000 rpm were the limitation of the cam, the carb and the manifold came into play. The power was feed into a full Group 1 clutch which drove a short shift Type 9 five speeder. The diff was a standard open 3.54 (no LSD) and extensive work had been done to the suspension both front and rear.
At the front 1 inch lowered King springs were fitted to the 2 litre struts that had Koni Sport adjustable inserts. The standard RS sway bar was clamped by a double width anti dive and there were KMac roller bearing top strut mounts. At the rear there were again adjustable Koni sport shocks and a standard RS Escort rear sway bar. The rear leaf springs had been re-profiled and sat an inch lower. The brakes were stock, there were no side draft carbs and the diff was open and there could have been a quick rack but the good features certainly outweighed the standard parts and in those areas in which it was modified it was first rate and it certainly proved to be a lovely car to drive in the country with good torque for overtaking, effortless cruising at 120 kmph and nimble and taut handling.
Cap C drove the car sparingly as he had a 2 litre Mk2 Rally Pack Four door and a Mk 2 1600 Panel Van for daily use. Time wound on jobs came and went as did the four door and the pano to be replaced by other Escorts and a TD Cortina with a Pinto and lo and behold it was 2010 and Cappy still had the red RS 2000. He was building up a full house race Pinto for future use in the DogBox and needed a mule to test it in so although still fresh and driving well the Lowndes Big Valve unit was removed and replaced by a radical Crane cammed Group 1 big valved Pinto on twin 45 Dellorto’s that CapC had built. At the same time the 3.5 open diff centre was replaced by a 4.4 Quaife LSD that would help Cap C evaluate the engine as a prospective race power plant. The car was driven again sparingly for around 12 months when a change of circumstance and the need for Cappy to help care for his aged parents had him planning a move down to South Gippsland were his folks had settled.
Just prior to the move the shell was treated to a respray and the removal of some small rust patches in the rear of the rear arches. Once done the RS received a fresh decal kit and stripes and was a gleaming rust free example of a hot RS 2000. Cappy had freshened up the Lowndes built Pinto and took it with him when he moved to South Gippsland in early 2012 and in time the race engine was removed and replaced by the Lowndes built Pinto. While the Lowndes engine was stripped and looking to the future of using 45mm Side Draft Weber carbs (a set of which which Cappy had lying around) he had changed the cam and followers to free up the rpm and breathing potential of the Lowndes built unit.
In consideration of the length of the shorter than Group 1 valve stems in the engine he settled on a Crow cam designed for fast road/mild race/track day use. It is a Crow 26661 grind which has .448 inch lift and 280 degrees duration on the intake and 290 degrees duration on the exhaust and new followers were fitted. The engine received ACL bearings, Hastings rings and was treated to a full Felpro gasket and seal kit. Cappy had the Bosch distributor rebuilt and recurved to suit the Crow cam by Performance Ignition.
Again the car was little used after the engine transplant and when driven it really was crying out for the DCOE Weber carbs. The standard RS 2000 braking system was never brilliant but it was reasonably effective when new but progressively the brakes on the car become weaker to the point of being next to useless with a pedal like a brick wall and little retardation. It got to the point that the car was really unfit to drive and could not be used as it had been intended given the extensive modifications made to the car. A full rebuild of the standard brake system was on the cards and Cap C striped and re-kitted the front callipers to see if a piston had seized but the callipers where fine and the problem lay elsewhere in the master cylinder and servo. The standard 1979 brake circuit had a proportioning valve that was also likely to be problematic and given Cappy’s experiences with pedal box operated race cars he decided that a full twin circuit pedal box installation would solve the problem once and for all.
Burton Power UK was contacted and with a good exchange rate on the Aussie dollar at the time a few items were sourced including a cable clutch twin circuit pedal box to suit a Mk2 and a pair of fluid reservoirs. But a pedal box is best on four wheel discs, so better front callipers than the standard metric M16 units were desirable and a complete revision of the braking system was called for. A pair of early model Volvo Girling 4 pot callipers were sourced and stripped cleaned and re-kitted. The Volvo’s were designed to run on solid discs just like the standard solid Escort Mk 2 disc rotor. Given the need for a mechanical hand brake a set of early Nissan Skyline rear callipers were sourced through Ebay for $50 including cable ends and mounting brackets and the rear disc rotors previously used on the DogBox were chosen as they now where surplus to requirements. The long term intention is to build the DogBox up as an RS1600 for Historic Nc and the regs for Nc specify that rear drum brakes must be used on Escorts.
To engineer the brake upgrade Cap C sought the assistance of his old mate Ang Curic to twirl the spanners, plumb the lines and weld on the brackets which is just nuts to Ang as he is a first rate engineer and handy with spanner, welder lathe you name it he can do it. The car was brought to Ang’s garage and work commenced and in no time the car had revised brakes and now when you pressed the brake pedal something huge actually happened. In keeping with Ang’s high standards the quality of the work and neatness of the job is first rate and the rear brake conversion is faultless as is the hydraulic line plumbing, T pieces and reservoir fitment and overall quality of job and finish. Boreham couldn’t do a better job.
So that’s where the car stands at present. Cappy has a new Mk 2 quick rack that he may fit, he is contemplating a new Quaife LSD with either a 3.9 or 3.7 ratio for better highway cruising and of course the side draft Weber’s with a dual throttle cable require to be fitted. There’s always something left to do and the mods as they get done will be covered here in the pages of Type 49 Racing.
