Scott Clements
Adelaide Australia
Mexico Replica
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Class 3J Escort Club Car |
Class 3J Escort Club Car and Mexico replica
Well my story goes something like this, I guess
I had no option other than to turn out like my dad. I don't mean
that in a bad way but if you take time to view the picture of me
as a little one sitting in dad's race car.....well I guess I was
going to get involved with cars one day. My father completed his
aprenticeship with Ford Motor Co in the UK around the time that
Anglia's and Lotus Cortina's were new.
After moving to South Australia dad campaigned
a genuine Lotus Twin Cam Escort for three years as a Sports Sedan.
At one stage my mum was the quickest woman around the old Adelaide
International Raceway, in my fathers twink. Our whole family is
in on the motor vehicle thing, cars, bikes, boats just as long as
it's got a motor.
I have always loved my dads cars, he had his GT
Falcons, GT Capris, Twin Cam Escorts, Cortinas, Mustangs, TX3 Turbo
4WD Lasers and that's skimming the surface. We have had other breeds
of cars, but as you probably guessed ours is essentially a Ford
family.
I have always had my heart set on a V6 Capri, we
couldn't find what we were looking for when looking for my first
car so I purchased a Ford MKI Escort sedan 1973 model in August
1989. My father and I undertook the bare shell rebuild at home with
the result being the green Mexico replica as seen on this page.
I still have this car now, the car I bought for $300 dollars has
gone on to win titles such as "Best Escort" at the All
Ford Day in 95 as well as numerous other trophies.
We built the car with the intention of using it
for circuit sprints, however the thing turned out better than we
expected and then I didn't want to risk damaging it so it turned
into a weekend cruiser and show car. This is why we built a second
one, I have taken the Mexico to Mallala a few times for a squirt
but there is no point in giving it a hard time when I've got the
other one.
The Mexico was set up for club events, after purchasing
the shell I started collecting alot of original Mexico bits while
in the UK. I obtained original badges, bumperets, 6 dial dash and
dash top, RS centre caps, under bonnet decals, round headlight grill
and RS 1600 front guards. We strayed a little from the standard
road trim for a Mexico in a few places as you will soon see. The
motor is a push rod Kent motor taken out to 1660cc. The head has
a basic port and polish matched to Genie extractors and a Lynx manifold.
Carburation is taken care of in the form of twin 40mm DCOE Webbers,
(I found a VH44 brake booster if youre wondering).
The bottom end is basically stock lightened, balanced
and blue printed. The pistons are high compression 60 thou over
size Hepalite's and the cam is a RM63 grind,(marginally above a
standard GT grind), therefore there are no problems with the remainder
of the valve train. The use of a high volume oil pump was made along
with a lightened and balanced flywheel. Ignition is supplied by
a points type recurved dizzy with no vacume advance with a set of
8mm leads and a GT40 coil.
We fitted the car with a Celica 5 speed box and
had a tail shaft made to suit the box and the twin cam rear axle.
All of the standard things were done to the suspension, rear shocks
stood upright, springs reset front and rear, decent inserts, nolathane
bushes and aftermarket twin swaybars. On the brakes we did the old
favourite of fitting MKII legs with the 9.6 inch disks to the front,
however at the rear we fitted Peugeot calipers and BMW hats to achieve
a well balanced four wheel disk brake setup.
We also split the inner gaurds in the rear and
pumped the rear quarters out in a mini tub job, to get that type
49 buldge in the rear end. We made use of an Escort panel van fuel
tank by cutting the floor of the boot out and fitted it as a drop
tank. This was done for two reasons the fuel gauge remains accurate
and the tank fits perfectly between the chassis rails. The car is
also fitted with a front strutbrace, six point Bond roll cage, Huntmaster
solid back race seats and four point Sabelt harnesses. I taught
my self how to do upholstery and how to spray paint and I think
it looks ok, what do you think???.
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The parts doner Twink sedan |
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The doomed pinto |
The new Cosworth motor |
Crunch! |
So what about the quick one....Well as you can
see from the pictures it was built from a few different cars. I
found another solid shell, it was in outstanding condition with
a solid firewall and floors. However the best was yet to come, the
body has a 10/74 compliance plate. So what!!...well MKI's are lighter
than MKII's, however the last of the MKI's had MKII floors. So what!!...well
in 3J club cars (formerly 2E club cars) we are not allowed to modify
the original suspension mounting points and the more upright rear
shocks of the MKII are far superior than those in the MKI. But wait
there's more, the shell was also an auto, so fitment of various
gearboxes can be done without breaching the rules in regards to
excessive floor modifications to allow fitment.
So the shell was blasted and hit with a two-pac
primer and AVO style arches were fitted. While undergoing a complete
rebuild incorporating many changes, (all with close reference to
CAMS rulings for the class) the body was seam welded with over 300
welds. This stiffens the car by approx 10% alone. The roll cage
was redesigned to stiffen the body further, it incorporates nine
mounting points. A seven point roll cage was fitted to the interior
with Velo seats and Sabelt five point harnesses. Electrical switches
and brake bias knobs have been mounted onto a panel on the transmission
tunnel so they can be accessed when strapped in.
The arches and various other components were taken
from the other black sport sedan (#6, not the twink). This car was
fitted with a mid-mounted 13B chook cooker but it had a lot of good
bits and was bought for a song. Once the shell had been prepared
we started to fit some of those good bits to it.
I started racing mid "97", the original
motor was a Ford 2 Litre Single Over Head Cam engine, producing
135hp at the rear wheels, (approx 200hp at the flywheel). The motor
was fitted with a 2Lt stage three head with Group one inlet/Vizzard
exhaust valves, Kent double valve springs and a Kent RC31 x-drilled
cam. The head was match ported to a Lynx twin 45 DCOE manifold and
the carburation was supplied by a pair of 45mm DCOE Webber carbs
with ram tubes. The head was also fitted with a Kent vernier cam
gear along with a modified cam cover. Modified / Lightened rockers
were also fitted and the valves had been machined to gain maximum
cam lift.
The exhaust/extractors were custom made based on
a vizzard design. The bottom end consisted of an acid dipped and
"o" ringed 2Lt RS 2000 block that had been bored to suit
a set of balanced Mhale high compression pistons giving a compression
ratio of 11.8:1. The rods were standard RS 2000 rods that had been
crack tested, lightened, line polished, balanced and shotpeened.
The crank was also standard RS 2000 that had been balanced and doweled
to a very light flywheel that had also been balanced. The clutch
was a custom made single plate brass button clutch from Hall Engineering.
The bearings were all Vandervell and the gaskets were all Felpro.
The ignition was supplied by a schorcher dizzy,
with a Crane optronic trigger coupled to a Crane XR 400 ignition
module. Pro-spark 10mm leads were used along with the coldest NGK
plugs we could get. Other things to note are that the motor was
fitted with a high volume oil pump and a High Energy sump.
The car was originally fitted with a fresh RS 2000
4-speed gearbox with high ratio pro shifter. A Twin Cam banjo style
differential with a LSD centre and a 4.4 cwp, it is attached via
reset lowered springs of 1201bs per inch of travel. The rear shocks
are externally adjustable Spax units. Twin Cam Escort style traction
bars and single piece tailshaft are also fitted along with a panhard
rod modified from (I'm about to swear) a Gemini.
The front legs are from a MKII Escort, fitted with
adjustable spring platforms and roller top mounts from Kmac. DeCarbon
inserts and 450lbs per inch of travel springs are fitted. Front
brakes consist of Group one ventilated rotors, Volvo four spot callipers
with competition pads from Race Brakes.
Rear brakes are a combination of VL Brock Commodore
front callipers and BMW hats with standard pads. The system is operated
via a works style pedal box with a Tilton cable control brake bias
adjuster fitted in the centre console, no vacuum servo is fitted.
Front suspension alignment can be adjusted as required
with ease as the car is fitted with an adjustable 24mm Kmac front
sway bar and anti dive kit, insitue lower track control arms and
adjustable top mounts. A high ratio steering rack was also obtained
out of the old sports sedan and the front cross-member was strengthened.
A rose jointed strut brace was also fitted.
Two sets of Wheels and tyres are used, they are
Performance Challengers 14" x 7" one set with Yokohama
A008rs 205 x 60 x 14 fitted and the other set has Falken 205 x 60
x 14 fitted.
The front spoiler is a fixed unit the rear is adjustable
with six settings available.
With this cofiguration my best lap time for Mallala
is l:23.7 secs. But the 2lt went to the big race track in the sky
last year, when I had one of those electrical problems. You know
the one where the alternator gets knocked off by a conrod due to
one dud rod bolt!.
From day one we knew we would use the two litre
as a stepping stone before fitting a YBT Cossie in the old girl,
but this just made us do it sooner than we intended. It's costing
a few bucks but as you can see from the pictures it's coming along
just fine. The car basically remains the same except for the fitment
of a Supra 5 speed box and the Cosworth twin cam turbo.
We hope to be practicing soon and intend to return
to racing for the start of the 2000 racing season. The motor at
this stage has been fully rebuilt we made use of gapless rings and
had the block "o" ringed. The compression ratio has been
dropped to accommodate the 22lbs of boost that the T04 Garret turbo
will supply.
The bottom end (rods, bolts, crank, block, pistons,
oil pump and gaskets)with the exception of the High Energy sump
are all Cosworth. Needless to say the bottom end has been balanced,lightened
and blue printed. The fly wheel is a custom made unit obtained through
Quicko. The fly wheel was made to suit the Cosworth crank, Tilton
twin plate clutch and a new two litre ring gear.
The head is all basically standard Cosworth with
the addition of Kent vernier timing wheels and a match porting job.
The use of a Group A head gasket and Group A head studs has also
been used again to cope with the boost. Ignition is supplied by
a MSD 6A module, the Autronic engine managment system is from Cloin
Bonds Caltex Sierra. The fuel injection system has been modified
with the use of bigger injectors and a handy little spacer plate
in the inlet plenum.
This spacer makes around 20hp difference to a stock
standard Cosworth motor. If anyone wants the details contact me
and I will explain the modification and send you the dyno sheets
to back it up. The same car tested on the same day and the same
dyno, it's unreal.
We are currently having custom made a radiator
and intercooler before the motor goes to vist Allen Engineering
for dyno work. Adam from Allen Engineering is confident that the
motor should produce a conservative 335hp with 300ft/lbs of torque
even with the restrictor. I must run a restrictor in the inlet tract
of the turbo to comply with the rules. That's not bad when the car
tips the scales at 810kg.
The car is undergoing a few other changes if you
want to know more just contact me, it's just that I think I've gum
flapped long enough.
- Name: Scott Clements
- Birthdate: 17/12/72
- Birthplace: Adelaide South Australia
- Occupation: Secondary Technology Teacher for DECS
- Goals: To find the correct partner who can live with my obsessions,
(the rate I'm going I plan to marry myself sometime soon, having
kids on my own might cause me some difficulty though!)
- Favourite Music: Hard Rock/Metal, Punk, & select dance,
top 40 & some classical (just about anything really)
- Favourite Food: Italian
- Favourite Drink: Jack Daniels & Coke
- First Race: 23/8/97
- Current Car: MkI Escort 3J Club Car, MkI Escort Mexico Replica
Show Car, MkI GT Capri, XG XR6 Ute
- Sponsors: Mt Barker All Make Motor Wreckers, Lobethal Auto Bodies,
Bridgestone Tyres Lobethal
- Best Result: 7th outright out of a field of 29 cars at the 2Lt
Super Tourer Round in 97
- Best Class Result: 2nd
- Best Lap: 1:23.7 at Mallala
- Biggest Thrill: Racing as there is nothing better (it is better
than sex and it always will be in my opinion)
- Favourite Story: The time a policeman let me and a mate off
for speeding after we gave him the most lame excuse you would
ever hear!
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