While plonking the Sierra Cosworth's DOHC 2 litre turbo intercooled engine under the bonnet of the Escort has been done more than a few times around the world, Neville Fennell's white machine is one of the very few cars so-treated in Australia. Starting off as the apocryphal one-lady-owner-driven-to-church-on-Sundays, the then-purple car was soon treated by Neville to a 2 litre SOHC and Sierra 5-speed - oh yes, and definitely non-purple paint. But, as we hear so often, the initial 3-4 year project then turned into an 8 year marathon that resulted in a complete change of direction. As Neville says, he "just got carried away".
The Sierra Cossie engine that you see here is basically re-built-but-standard - complete with stock yellow injectors and a Garrett T04 (with a 0.42 AR compressor). Andrew Cavelli of Quickco both imported the engine and performed the rebuild.
Inside the engine is a set of Mahle forged pistons giving a compression ratio of 7.3:1 (down from the factory's 8.0:1), gapless rings, and a Group A head gasket. The head gasket apparently is a bit of a weak spot in these engines, but the Group A item is said to be an effective solution. As with any proper engine build, the bottom end was also balanced and blueprinted. Fitment of the techy little motor necessitated the modification of the Cosworth aluminium sump in order to clear the front cross member, and a trans tunnel from an auto Escort was also needed for clearance.
Dressing-up the engine bay is an alloy fabricated timing belt cover and an alloy radiator overflow bottle that works in conjunction with an elaborate (and expensive!) 3-row allow radiator.
Cooling proved a bit of a problem - twin 10-inch electric radiator fans are used, triggering from a choice of two different temp switches epoxy'd to the radiator tank. In fact, the beast hated the Australian heat so much that Neville cut a row of louvres in the bodywork directly in front of the radiator... only to then discover that he'd wired the fans with reverse polarity so they were pushing air forwards! But he's certainly not the first to make that particular mistake.... Sierra bonnet louvres are also fitted to extract even more underbonnet airflow, and the custom made alloy radiator overflow bottle looks tops. To further aid the provision of fluids at a safe temperature, an underbonnet oil cooler has also been plumbed in and is mounted parallel with the block.
Following the turbo is a Phil Lemm-fabricated 3-inch exhaust, which uses a single stainless steel muffler - also made by Mr Lemm. A weld-on spud has been placed on the exhaust directly after the turbine, allowing the later easy installation of a pyrometer (exhaust gas temp) probe.
On the other side of the turbo, the compressor puffs through 2-inch plumbing to the standard Sierra air-to-air intercooler, which in turn is connected to the throttle body via 2½ inch tube. A K&N filter mounted within the guard extracts the birds and rocks from the intake charge, while surplus air is vented out through an oiled-foam filter working with a Bosch blow-off valve. On the road, the turbo system works a treat, with boost coming on as little as 2000 rpm - and from then on, you'd better be hanging on!
Bringing together fuel and ignition concerns is a Weber-Marelli full engine management system. This operates the aforementioned yellow injectors and a set of four Champion spark plugs, with load sensing thanks to a restriction-free MAP sensor. Overall, the engine set-up cost Neville a not-inconsiderable A$8-9,000. It's still really being run-in, and once this is done, Neville will probably beef up the fuel delivery and turn the boost up to 20 psi - which should see about 300hp at the flywheel.
With around 220 hp in its current configuration and a kerb mass of just over 900kg, you'd hope that the suspension's been uprated - and thankfully, you'd be right. Up front, later model Mark II struts incorporate large diameter vented discs, while Neville has added Wilwood alloy twin-spot calipers to haul them down fast. Making sure that the front of the car doesn't stare into the road during these rapid decels is an anti-dive kit that alters the front sway bar mount position slightly. Pedders supplied the front 50mm shorter Sports springs and competition-type strut inserts. At the back them there ye old leaf springs are still in evidence, albeit converted to single leafs and about 40mm lower than stock. Pedders shocks are once again in use at the rear too. Quickco came to the rescue in upgrading the back anchors, with their own special kit. We can't tell you what discs are used (although they are ventilated), so you'll have to buy the conversion from Quickco if you want the same as Neville has! An adjustable brake pedal box has been bolted in to distribute the car's braking abilities from front to rear, and the steering has also been sharpened up with a quick-rack.
A 8½ inch Borg Warner diff - cut and shut from a Falcon - upgrades rear-end strength substantially, with its 4.1:1 ratio centre reco'd to 90 per cent locked status. A single piece 3-inch diameter tailshaft connects this to the back of a semi-close ratio Sierra T5 box, which required that automatic car's trans tunnel to get enough clearance. The gearbox mount has also been custom fabricated to suit, and actuation of the Group N AP clutch is via a conventional cable, not a hydraulic mechanism. The bill for both the diff and gearbox came to around A$2000.
Rolling stock comprises 15 x 7 TSW alloys wearing 195/50 Dunlop Dignos (just dig those Dignoses....) D-01 tyres all round.
Stopping the Escort getting a mind of its own are K-Mac front strut top mounts and a single K-Mac front sway bar. That relatively crude rear suspension is on the further upgrades list, with a Panhard rod planned for fitment.
Inside you'll find an aluminium and (real and Foliotec) carbon fibre interior, complete with a host of Autometer gauges - oil pressure, water temp, mph, rpm, boost and fuel! You won't find any radio, let alone a full-blown sound system - Neville's not into listening to music; he likes the sound of Sierra turbo engines.... Recaro was the brand of choice for the front seats, with the standard Escort rears trimmed to match. Other items in the cabin include a fire extinguisher, and a new set of nail marks in the dash are guaranteed every few weeks...
In the boot there's the (tiny) stock fuel tank which feeds a Bosch HP pump followed by a filter. There's not much room up front for the battery, so that (and a disconnect switch) finds a new home in the boot.
The timeless English body design has scored some welcome additions by way of Cibie 100W spot lights, bumperettes off a panel van (which are the same as those from the limited edition twin cam!) and the custom louvered front panel. All the panel work and paint prep can be credited to Neville himself, while Peter Barker applied the new white coat of paint.
White - wasn't that the colour of purity? Well, that ain't the case with this tearaway that's for certain!
Contact:
Quickco
+61 8 8369 0488
