1993 Ford Escort KL swap / SCCA SMF build

Master Cylinder

Centrics

Porterfield R4s

Coupla new calipers

Corksport Brake lines

Jim Pierce Special harness bar

Jim Pierce Tubular control arms/ adjustable swaybar tabs

Other rear arms and tie bar brace

Beginning stages of front LCAs

Corksport header-back exhaust

Better pics of rear arms before shipped to me:

Mostly complete front arms (waiting on pins at this point):

MOTAR!!!!

Stuff:

Custom KLZE intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and throttle body gaskets:

[EDIT]
Pics of the driver's harness below, don't know how i missed it before. Started out as another Crow Industries 5-point 3", now it's got Simpson lap belts and RCI shoulder straps.

....... More to come! 9lb Fidanza flywheel on the way, and still have lots of stuff to order.

Which car is this on?

Oh, my bad... The Escort.

Doing a full-scale SMF (SMS locally this season) build on it. KLZE + MX3 trans, full blown suspension blah blah blah.

Waiting on ST_ZX2's old suspension to come back from Goodwin Performance for a rebuild. Koni/Ground Control/Cusco plates.

Stoopidcharger or high-comp n/a build in the works for 2012 season.

I approve of these images.

Wow, in the one picture I thought you had a new GRM drain set up for your dishwasher....

Very cool. Did you compile all that stuff at once?

I lol'd at this one:

In seriousness, the fab'd steering parts, (and those wheels!) look amazing. Any pics of the whole car?

Klayfish wrote: Wow, in the one picture I thought you had a new GRM drain set up for your dishwasher.... Very cool. Did you compile all that stuff at once?

I started buying parts about.... almost 2 months ago i think. I realized i had build threads everywhere but here, and you guys would probably give the most valuable input, so why not post it here?

Luke wrote: I lol'd at this one: In seriousness, the fab'd steering parts, (and those wheels!) look amazing. Any pics of the whole car?

The car isn't anything special.

The wheels came off of Erik's (ZX2_ST on here) car, along with the shocks/springs/plates combo. Erik has been a big help so far as well.

It's a car we bought for $700 with something like 250k miles on it, now has close to 300k. I was initially going to do a fun street car/dd build that wouldn't be awful to autocross, but once i took a better look at what i was working with.... that wasn't going to happen. It was beat. Needed pretty much EVERYTHING, so i figured why not just go all the way with it? Even if the end product sucks (which it shouldn't), at least i had the experience, and i've learned things i can apply to my real project (Celica) . Not to mention the connections made along the way. Jim Pierce of PierceMotorsports has been a HUGE help to me along the way, he's the guy that fabbed up all the arms, harness bar, and rear tie bar brace. I've already got his front 4-point tie brace that i'm HOPING will clear the KLZE oil pan. He also told me to get ahold of him when i rip back into the Celica, and we'll do a similar setup on that car.

Here's a pic of the car pretty much as she stands, peeling clearcoat and all!

This build is pretty much uncharted territory. There have been KLZE swapped Escorts/Proteges before, but i'm unaware of one that was built for Autocross.

Erik has had some success in ST class with his 3rd gen Escort, and Justin (purple FSP Protege at nationals) has had success in FSP with his Protege, but i think this is the first full-on SM BG-chassis build, and some of the parts going on (and hopefully going on) are somewhat the first of their kind, and this car and a couple others are the test bed. (The LCAs, and i'm going to take a chance and see if the Cusco strut bars from the Lantis work)

I like where this is going!

How much HP does the cat add, because I have like 4 of the things laying around?

Javelin wrote: I like where this is going! How much HP does the cat add, because I have like 4 of the things laying around?

That one doesn't quite make up for the addition in weight... he's a big boy.

Doing anything to the MX-3 trans internally? Target final vehicle weight? Looks like a fun project! Also, I really do have a soft spot for those wheels...

Mr. Peach rules. I've been following this build rather intently when Ben posts this stuff all over my board, so I really have nothing useful to contribute other than commenting on that cat.

pres589 wrote: Doing anything to the MX-3 trans internally? Target final vehicle weight? Looks like a fun project! Also, I really do have a soft spot for those wheels...

The only revision to the MX3 trans at the moment will be an MFactory LSD. Depending on a few things, i may be adding an MFactory final drive next season, but that's if i take the high-comp N/A build route instead of stoopidcharging.

I'll be happy with anything between 2100-2200lbs. From what i've gathered, this engine swap will LOSE weight over the old BP. PS and A/C will be removed, the arms save a little bit of weight, the wheels weigh about 13lbs each. I'll be swapping the stock seats out for some Corbeau FX1 Pros, and eventually a CF hood. I can get a CF hatch, but that doesn't seem to be legal in my class because it's a hatch and not a trunk. Oh, and battery. The batteries i'm looking at are about 8lbs.

Doesn't seem to be all that much in terms of legal weight reduction in this class. I'll probably do all that's legal this season except for fuel cell, which may come next season.

I approve

Whoa, those fabbed arms make me drooool... very nice. In fact, the whole setup looks to be a lot of fun.

I gotta ask though, did you change the geometry at all with the new arms? I dunno what the end-cost is, but it seems like it might be expensive method of lightening and adding spherical bearings. I'm a newb in the fab department though, so feel free to school me.

Makes me miss my old Escort.

So... What, mechanically, is involved in a KL swap? (obviously) engine, mx3 trans... What axles? Harness? Where does it end???

Joey

Matt B wrote: Whoa, those fabbed arms make me drooool... very nice. In fact, the whole setup looks to be a lot of fun. I gotta ask though, did you change the geometry at all with the new arms? I dunno what the end-cost is, but it seems like it might be expensive method of lightening and adding spherical bearings. I'm a newb in the fab department though, so feel free to school me.

"Expensive" is relative. I wasn't kidding when i said this car was used up. Most of the arms were bent anyways, and this car does not qualify for the Mazdaspeed parts program.

Front LCAs -$400 Rear control arms - $400

The rod-ended drop links will run me about $50, using hacked up Delrin endlinks i already had for parts.

Jim will be modifying a set of 3rd gen tubular trailing arms for me to accept rodends for $200. It all wasn't THAT much more expensive than buying all new stock stuff and stuffing ES Poly bushings in there.

The only other thing that i didn't buy yet since i'm not 100% sure on legality is the tubular rear crossmember that he makes, which would further adjust for out of whack geometry due to lowered car in the rear. Though honestly... it's a Macstrut/TTL car. The geometry isn't the be all end all to my understanding. I'm just trying to get my static "at rest" geometry as close as possible, then use Colin Chapman's "rule of thumb" from there. "To make a suspension work, make it not work."

My spring rates are 650f/550r... i may end up swapping front and rear to see where that gets me.

joey48442 wrote: So... What, mechanically, is involved in a KL swap? (obviously) engine, mx3 trans... What axles? Harness? Where does it end??? Joey

It's way simpler than you would think. Basically, you need a V6 MX3 parts car. From there, it's just bolting stuff together.

If you want to keep it as simple as possible, you'd use MX3 mounts, MX3 trans crossmember. Use your stock Escort arms, 3rd gen escort hubs, FC RX7 balljoints, and Kia Sephia axles.

If you swap to the MX3 arms, you can use your stock Escort hubs and MX3 axles.

Use the MX3 harness, VAF, and chipped ecu, or track down a ZE ECU.

The only real "custom" work is the radiator/coolant hoses.

If you get everything ahead of the time, you're looking at a weekend swap.

This could absolutely be done on a challenge budget.

For Autox useage, an MX6 trans would probably be a better choice, it's got a longer final drive and 2nd gear... but i'll be revving this thing a lot harder in the future, so i decided i'd rather have the acceleration advantage. Assuming i did my calculations right, i'll still be hitting 58-60mph in 2nd anyways.

All I can say is...

Another interesting piece of info.... another EGT two weeks ago ran at the drag strip with a stock KLZE and MX6 trans, using the "wrong" ecu. Car was stock otherwise. 13.7 @ 102mph.

This thing is going to haul ass.

NICE!

You gonna make it to Lincoln?

DILYSI Dave wrote: NICE! You gonna make it to Lincoln?

Not this year. I'm just running local street tire events to sort out the suspension stuff before i mount some huge tires on it for next year. I'm planning on making it 2012, but that's ASSuming the car even works well. Justin proved to us that the chassis can work in FSP, but nobody knows what it'll do with it's newfound power, and even his setup was very basic. (Big tires, MS'd BP, AWR coilovers, big front sway) There's a chance i may have shot myself in the foot by going whole-hog on this, but i figured since the SM classes are usually a bit more insane, i'd be more likely to hurt my chances running stock arms and geometry anyways.

And then there's the loose nut behind the wheel. If i can get 1st or second regionally in at least one or two events this year in SMS, then i'll definitely give it a run.

You'd be one to ask.... besides hood/trunk, a/c and PS delete, rear seat removal, seats, and fuel cell... are there any other legal weight reduction mods? And would a tubular rear crossmember be considered legal? It's only purpose would be for small weight savings and correcting geometry. Would mount using stock attachement points.

I'm also having problems interpreting the rules on sway bars. I can have a "speedway style" sway bar made, but wouldn't use the stock attachement points. SM rules seem pretty strict on using attachement points for suspension, suspension being defined as "anything that moves when the wheel is deflected upwards," but it also says that it allowed any mods in Stock, ST, and SP classes, and i'm pretty sure front sway bars are unrestricted.

Thanks for the explanation and prices on the arms. That's actually a lot less than I would have guessed, cost-wise.

Matt B wrote: Thanks for the explanation and prices on the arms. That's actually a lot less than I would have guessed, cost-wise.

Prices may inflate slightly down the road, but not much. These prices were out of a group buy to get the ball rolling on them, but Jim doesn't make this stuff to pad his yearly profits out of that shot. He does it for fun and to help the community. He wrenches on porsches, ferraris, has a Fiat Abarth (old one) in his shop right now for a cage install... he just happens to race Escorts in rally and Touring races, and likes to help out those who want to give it a go. There's three different version of the front LCAs, and two versions of the rear arms.

Front you can get in "Street," "roadrace," (What you see above), and "rally." Rears are available in "roadrace," (What you see above), and "rally."