My RWD Escort RS Cosworth nick named "The Widow Maker"
Discussion
Well as most will know who have read this, knew the car took part in a photoshoot a few months back now. Well the guy who took the photos mentioned he was going to try get it in some mags etc to high light his company to the masses etc.
Long story short, got a message saying to check a website.
And found these
I have just took it straight from the website so the quality has been lost. Going to try and get a hard copy.
Mag is called Modified Extreme.. Never heard of them myself and was not expecting much but a quick glance through the other cars and looks a half decent read.
Link to the issue
http://www.modified-xtreme.co.uk/#!issue-9/ci66
So at least it made one mag haha. Expecting something in Rallye news soon as well
Long story short, got a message saying to check a website.
And found these
I have just took it straight from the website so the quality has been lost. Going to try and get a hard copy.
Mag is called Modified Extreme.. Never heard of them myself and was not expecting much but a quick glance through the other cars and looks a half decent read.
Link to the issue
http://www.modified-xtreme.co.uk/#!issue-9/ci66
So at least it made one mag haha. Expecting something in Rallye news soon as well
I had a mate who has his own carbon fibre company, they make stuff mainly for the jap Honda cars, asked him to repair my bumper, spray the whol bumper, sand down my carbon fibre hockey sticks, treat and spray in satin black, fit the two splitters and put it back together.
Dropped the car off on a Monday night and made sure they understood, DO NOT drive the car. Just before I handed the keys over I snatched them back and told him straight what happens if its driven. I took the millage as well just to make sure. Thats when I left the car for the first time!!! Worried a little I must admit.
So anyway, kept in contact my mate about the car, he explained the process etc which was nice. I got a text the next day saying "I didnt know it was RWD!!!" He then went on to say the guy he scares his unit with is a mechanic and semi pro drifter! Think he might of been eyeing it up lol.
Anyway, Friday night I go to collect the car, it was low on fuel when I left it so knew I needed some. Got to the unit and the car is inside, had a quick look around and was happy, I was then told the battery was flat as one of the guys left the interia light on when looking for the nuts and bolts. So pushed her out and got her going, fired straight up as I expected. Weather was rubbish again and it was dark. Roads I had to go down was terrible and worried of smashing the splitter/bumper again I got it home in one piece. Next day I went and had a quick look around and again, looked good enough for me. I did notice one of the RS500 grills was not back in right so will sort that when the weather is a bit better. After the ten mile run home I thought the battery would have enough in her, how wrong was I. Arranged to meet with a local chap (Leggy_Pete) for a bufty session on the Sunday, went out to start and nothing. Not even enough to power the clock! I disconnected the battery and went to remove but found the bolt holding the battery in to be solid. I closed the bonnet and walked away as I was getting annoyed at this point. Next day I put it on charge all day with the battery in place, when I got home from work I put it all back together and it fired up first time. I did look around for batterys and found them to be easy to come across. At this point I was in two minds what to do, possible flat battery and no fuel, do I try get it to the fuel station and pray it starts after fueling up or do I go and get some fuel and let it tick over for 45 minutes and charge the battery right up. In the end I went and got some fuel and let her tick over, next day she started fine and has done ever since which is nice. Need to tackle that bolt though so will put that on the list of things to do.
So today we had a bit of sun and decided now or never to clean her. This was the outcome
Some of these photos really bring out the colours in the car that most cameras struggle to pickup
Dropped the car off on a Monday night and made sure they understood, DO NOT drive the car. Just before I handed the keys over I snatched them back and told him straight what happens if its driven. I took the millage as well just to make sure. Thats when I left the car for the first time!!! Worried a little I must admit.
So anyway, kept in contact my mate about the car, he explained the process etc which was nice. I got a text the next day saying "I didnt know it was RWD!!!" He then went on to say the guy he scares his unit with is a mechanic and semi pro drifter! Think he might of been eyeing it up lol.
Anyway, Friday night I go to collect the car, it was low on fuel when I left it so knew I needed some. Got to the unit and the car is inside, had a quick look around and was happy, I was then told the battery was flat as one of the guys left the interia light on when looking for the nuts and bolts. So pushed her out and got her going, fired straight up as I expected. Weather was rubbish again and it was dark. Roads I had to go down was terrible and worried of smashing the splitter/bumper again I got it home in one piece. Next day I went and had a quick look around and again, looked good enough for me. I did notice one of the RS500 grills was not back in right so will sort that when the weather is a bit better. After the ten mile run home I thought the battery would have enough in her, how wrong was I. Arranged to meet with a local chap (Leggy_Pete) for a bufty session on the Sunday, went out to start and nothing. Not even enough to power the clock! I disconnected the battery and went to remove but found the bolt holding the battery in to be solid. I closed the bonnet and walked away as I was getting annoyed at this point. Next day I put it on charge all day with the battery in place, when I got home from work I put it all back together and it fired up first time. I did look around for batterys and found them to be easy to come across. At this point I was in two minds what to do, possible flat battery and no fuel, do I try get it to the fuel station and pray it starts after fueling up or do I go and get some fuel and let it tick over for 45 minutes and charge the battery right up. In the end I went and got some fuel and let her tick over, next day she started fine and has done ever since which is nice. Need to tackle that bolt though so will put that on the list of things to do.
So today we had a bit of sun and decided now or never to clean her. This was the outcome
Some of these photos really bring out the colours in the car that most cameras struggle to pickup
Today I went and met Leggy Pete from the RSOC who gave the paintwork some love. Used some megs product which I thought made it look loads better.
So ended up getting some photos of them both together again
Pete also used some paste stuff on my exhaust which bought it up lovely
Cheers Pete, your a star mate.
So ended up getting some photos of them both together again
Pete also used some paste stuff on my exhaust which bought it up lovely
Cheers Pete, your a star mate.
Cheers Martin.
UPDATE:
Didnt really plan much today, the Mrs was going out with the kids to her mums so decided I could get a few bits sorted on the Escort.
I started with under the bonnet, its not the cleanest as it gets used so thought I would give it a bit of a clean and remove some of the dust from it when the bumper was sanded down etc.
So this is before
I removed the Bailey catch tank and the air filter and managed to get a closer look down under and found some oil... Any ideas where this could be coming from?
After and in no order
I then moved onto the RS500 grills which now looked tired against the fresh paint. So removed, cleaned up behind them and sprayed them satin black to match the splitters etc
Before
I am currently waiting for the paint to dry on the grills so will put them photos up in a couple hours time once she is back in one piece
UPDATE:
Didnt really plan much today, the Mrs was going out with the kids to her mums so decided I could get a few bits sorted on the Escort.
I started with under the bonnet, its not the cleanest as it gets used so thought I would give it a bit of a clean and remove some of the dust from it when the bumper was sanded down etc.
So this is before
I removed the Bailey catch tank and the air filter and managed to get a closer look down under and found some oil... Any ideas where this could be coming from?
After and in no order
I then moved onto the RS500 grills which now looked tired against the fresh paint. So removed, cleaned up behind them and sprayed them satin black to match the splitters etc
Before
I am currently waiting for the paint to dry on the grills so will put them photos up in a couple hours time once she is back in one piece
Grills fitted back in, took 2 minutes. Happy days.
I also tackled another issue I had. Since I plugged something back into the fuse board I was getting the radio randomly forgetting the stations and the clock starting from 12 etc. So removed the bottom cowling and dropped the fuse box, removed the cable and set everything backup. Will test this and see how we get on. Should resolve that.
Also I had a slight water leak on the water which was coming from the thermostat housing so tightened that up nice and tight and topped up the coolant. Will monitor this also.
I also checked the turbo for any movement while I had the filter off, all felt nice and tight which was nice.
I also tackled another issue I had. Since I plugged something back into the fuse board I was getting the radio randomly forgetting the stations and the clock starting from 12 etc. So removed the bottom cowling and dropped the fuse box, removed the cable and set everything backup. Will test this and see how we get on. Should resolve that.
Also I had a slight water leak on the water which was coming from the thermostat housing so tightened that up nice and tight and topped up the coolant. Will monitor this also.
I also checked the turbo for any movement while I had the filter off, all felt nice and tight which was nice.
I have got some gifts for the car
After speaking with many regarding this I decided Victor Reinz was the stuff to go for.
Ended up with this little lot to get her back up and purring for the rest of the summer
I have taken advise from Matt Lewis who pieced together this package for me. I will be checking my old gasket to the new one when it is removed to see if they are both reinz gaskets, if they are then the boost will be turned down. If it was just a cheap gasket then I will leave her as she is and put it down to a cheap gasket.
Big thanks to Matt Lewis for his help. Great guy!
After speaking with many regarding this I decided Victor Reinz was the stuff to go for.
Ended up with this little lot to get her back up and purring for the rest of the summer
I have taken advise from Matt Lewis who pieced together this package for me. I will be checking my old gasket to the new one when it is removed to see if they are both reinz gaskets, if they are then the boost will be turned down. If it was just a cheap gasket then I will leave her as she is and put it down to a cheap gasket.
Big thanks to Matt Lewis for his help. Great guy!
Bad news yesterday, engine was stripped down and the block was cracked. I have made the decision to break the car and leave RS ownership now...
ONLY JOKING!!!
Headgasket on and ready to go.
I will write up the story tonight when I can get the photos on but long and short of it all, the car is back in one piece waiting for some new tyres and tax and she is back
ONLY JOKING!!!
Headgasket on and ready to go.
I will write up the story tonight when I can get the photos on but long and short of it all, the car is back in one piece waiting for some new tyres and tax and she is back
followed by 
and 
haha cheers buddy. Update for you
Right, big update.
As most will know I was getting sigs of failed headgasket on the Escort.
Signs started a few months ago with the lose of some water. I had a coolant pressure test, cylinder pressure test and sniff test completed and all came back fine. No signs of anything coming out of the head so put it down to the cap being the problem.
As time went on and the car was still using a small amount of water I found the thermostat housing could of done with tightening up so I did this and resolved the slight leak I had around this area.
So roll on a couple weeks with the car being fine I pulled up in a pub to take the Mrs out for a meal to take her mind of some bad news and sat looking for a "cosworth" space and notice steam coming from the engine!! I parked it up and popped the bonnet, it was a cold dry night so thought maybe it was something small but looked worse due to it being so cold.
Drove the car home fine off boost and got home, popped the bonnet and nothing.
Left it that night and went to investigate that morning. This is when I did the engine bay cleanup.
Long story short noticed steam coming from the back left hand corner of the head around the last bolt on the manifold.
Put the car back into the garage that did the first leak test and he confirmed it was going. I left the car with them and asked for a price. Got a price of £600 without the VAT just for labour and nearly fell over.
Took the car home and like most I expect, I had serious doubts with it. I priced up the parts to be around £300.
I spoke with a mate from the RSOC and local guy Pete aka Leggy Pete who put me in touch with R&B Motors aka Ray whos son is also a RS owner and a RSOC forum user PeteNoFear. I took the car to Ray and said what it needed, after looking under the bonnet his first question was why are they charging so much? He could not see any problems with it and gave me a price! Well under half the price of the first one for labour!!!
The car was booked in and I ordered the parts. Turned up a few days later and took the car down Tuesday evening ready for a start first thing Wednesday.
I gave Ray the parts which consisted of my Group A Victor Reinz Headgasket and Victor Reinz head bolts, cosmetic top end gasket set, new cambelt and tensioner.
Now I know and read enough about these cars and headgaskets to know it never goes straight forward. Ray told me to make sure I was on the phone all day in case he needed me to make a quick decision on the car.
So the Wednesday was spent pacing up and down the office waiting for a phone call. My work mates thought it would help by having a wager on what else would be broken!
Anyway, most of the day and nothing, I thought I would call at 4.30 to see how things are going, Ray informed me he was still working on the old girl and would call me back.
Around 6pm I get a call say she is all sorted and ready to go. I am over the moon now as no other faults have been found. One thing that did crack me up on the phone, Ray said "I took it for a test drive, and there was nothing, nothing nothing and then all of a sudden it went balistic" He said, is this normal... I laughed and confirmed this is how they are.
So off I go to get the car, She was still on the ramps as Ray wanted to show me some stuff. Got the car in the air and found the knock on the exhaust which looks like it can be resolved with a big hammer and found the leak on the engine which is the sump gasket, so will get that sorted when she goes in for a oil change.
Ray showed me the old gasket and it looked like it had rotted away in the top left corner, He also said the head had to take a good skim due to being pitted. They got it back nice and flat again. Everything went back fine, only thing not working is the oil pressure gauge but this was causing issues before it went in so will need to ask some advice on that in the near future.
I drove the car home and gave it a bit of boost and she feels nice, turbo sounds slightly different as I think maybe the manifold gasket was leaking? No idea but did sound slightly different.
Pulls as you would expect and no smoke etc from the exhaust. I noticed the car did not kick out any condensation once warm and it did before the gasket was changed. I think I might of bought this car with very first signs of a gasket failure as it has always put a bit of condensation out of the exhaust but only what you would expect. Not sure, but only very small signs I could see.
So parked her up and checked under the bonnet, nothing, everything looks nice and tight, all gaskets look spot on and no signs of leaks etc. I will be taking the car back in a couple hundred miles just to get everything checked over and tightened if needed.
Now the biggest problem I had with this was not getting the gasket changed, it was the implications that came with it. Was the power too much it was killing the gasket or was it not done right?
Now I was under the understanding this engine was rebuilt in 2010 and this was when she was live mapped. So I was thinking it has killed a brand new group A gasket in 3 years and around 10,000 miles and was thinking backing the boost off might be the only option.
So a quick text to Matt the guy who owned the car and is a user on this site to ask when the head gasket was changed and it came back as 2003 when the engine was built! Now I feel a bit better, the gasket has lasted 10 years and after inspecting the old gasket it does not look like a Victor Reinz gasket. So I think I will be OK leaving her as she is.
So over all, brillant news!
She is currently off the road as the tax was out this month and it needs two tyres on the front so at the end of the month I will be getting her back on the road and off to meet fellow local RS owners including a Sierra RS500 Cannot wait to get some photos of them all together.
I have spent a small fortune on the car in recent months but I feel I have done everything I can to give the car the best chance. The parts have been the best you can get etc so can only sit tight and enjoy now.
I do not really have any photos as I didnt want to get in Rays way and the engine bay needs a clean now due to being dismantled.
Thanks for reading
Right, big update.
As most will know I was getting sigs of failed headgasket on the Escort.
Signs started a few months ago with the lose of some water. I had a coolant pressure test, cylinder pressure test and sniff test completed and all came back fine. No signs of anything coming out of the head so put it down to the cap being the problem.
As time went on and the car was still using a small amount of water I found the thermostat housing could of done with tightening up so I did this and resolved the slight leak I had around this area.
So roll on a couple weeks with the car being fine I pulled up in a pub to take the Mrs out for a meal to take her mind of some bad news and sat looking for a "cosworth" space and notice steam coming from the engine!! I parked it up and popped the bonnet, it was a cold dry night so thought maybe it was something small but looked worse due to it being so cold.
Drove the car home fine off boost and got home, popped the bonnet and nothing.
Left it that night and went to investigate that morning. This is when I did the engine bay cleanup.
Long story short noticed steam coming from the back left hand corner of the head around the last bolt on the manifold.
Put the car back into the garage that did the first leak test and he confirmed it was going. I left the car with them and asked for a price. Got a price of £600 without the VAT just for labour and nearly fell over.
Took the car home and like most I expect, I had serious doubts with it. I priced up the parts to be around £300.
I spoke with a mate from the RSOC and local guy Pete aka Leggy Pete who put me in touch with R&B Motors aka Ray whos son is also a RS owner and a RSOC forum user PeteNoFear. I took the car to Ray and said what it needed, after looking under the bonnet his first question was why are they charging so much? He could not see any problems with it and gave me a price! Well under half the price of the first one for labour!!!
The car was booked in and I ordered the parts. Turned up a few days later and took the car down Tuesday evening ready for a start first thing Wednesday.
I gave Ray the parts which consisted of my Group A Victor Reinz Headgasket and Victor Reinz head bolts, cosmetic top end gasket set, new cambelt and tensioner.
Now I know and read enough about these cars and headgaskets to know it never goes straight forward. Ray told me to make sure I was on the phone all day in case he needed me to make a quick decision on the car.
So the Wednesday was spent pacing up and down the office waiting for a phone call. My work mates thought it would help by having a wager on what else would be broken!
Anyway, most of the day and nothing, I thought I would call at 4.30 to see how things are going, Ray informed me he was still working on the old girl and would call me back.
Around 6pm I get a call say she is all sorted and ready to go. I am over the moon now as no other faults have been found. One thing that did crack me up on the phone, Ray said "I took it for a test drive, and there was nothing, nothing nothing and then all of a sudden it went balistic" He said, is this normal... I laughed and confirmed this is how they are.
So off I go to get the car, She was still on the ramps as Ray wanted to show me some stuff. Got the car in the air and found the knock on the exhaust which looks like it can be resolved with a big hammer and found the leak on the engine which is the sump gasket, so will get that sorted when she goes in for a oil change.
Ray showed me the old gasket and it looked like it had rotted away in the top left corner, He also said the head had to take a good skim due to being pitted. They got it back nice and flat again. Everything went back fine, only thing not working is the oil pressure gauge but this was causing issues before it went in so will need to ask some advice on that in the near future.
I drove the car home and gave it a bit of boost and she feels nice, turbo sounds slightly different as I think maybe the manifold gasket was leaking? No idea but did sound slightly different.
Pulls as you would expect and no smoke etc from the exhaust. I noticed the car did not kick out any condensation once warm and it did before the gasket was changed. I think I might of bought this car with very first signs of a gasket failure as it has always put a bit of condensation out of the exhaust but only what you would expect. Not sure, but only very small signs I could see.
So parked her up and checked under the bonnet, nothing, everything looks nice and tight, all gaskets look spot on and no signs of leaks etc. I will be taking the car back in a couple hundred miles just to get everything checked over and tightened if needed.
Now the biggest problem I had with this was not getting the gasket changed, it was the implications that came with it. Was the power too much it was killing the gasket or was it not done right?
Now I was under the understanding this engine was rebuilt in 2010 and this was when she was live mapped. So I was thinking it has killed a brand new group A gasket in 3 years and around 10,000 miles and was thinking backing the boost off might be the only option.
So a quick text to Matt the guy who owned the car and is a user on this site to ask when the head gasket was changed and it came back as 2003 when the engine was built! Now I feel a bit better, the gasket has lasted 10 years and after inspecting the old gasket it does not look like a Victor Reinz gasket. So I think I will be OK leaving her as she is.
So over all, brillant news!
She is currently off the road as the tax was out this month and it needs two tyres on the front so at the end of the month I will be getting her back on the road and off to meet fellow local RS owners including a Sierra RS500 Cannot wait to get some photos of them all together.
I have spent a small fortune on the car in recent months but I feel I have done everything I can to give the car the best chance. The parts have been the best you can get etc so can only sit tight and enjoy now.
I do not really have any photos as I didnt want to get in Rays way and the engine bay needs a clean now due to being dismantled.
Thanks for reading
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