October 25, 201510 yr Did anybody read the article about fitting an Impreza STi engine, transmission, steering and suspension into a Ford 100E Popular? It featured in Retro Ford Magazine May 2013. Soon afterwards it was sold for about £9000.
October 25, 201510 yr No I hadn't heard of that project but if you search "wrxico" on you tube there's a time laps vid of a wrx engine and drive train being fitted to a mk1 escort [emoji41]
October 25, 201510 yr just searched to see what they look like - amazing how small cars used to be but someone has managed to put a cosworth lump in the front of one :)
October 25, 201510 yr Author Thanks, I enjoyed it and got the pun. I have the article on the 100E but did not want to copy it in case of copyright. Basically the 100E is not vastly different from the Escort...btw there was a 100E Escort estate years before what Ford cheekily called the MK1 Escort. Corporate amnesia? The 100E was an 1172cc sidevalve with 3 speed box and a 3/4 floating rear axle. Then came the 105E Anglia, with 997cc OHV engine, 4 speed box and half floating back axle. Then the Escort added rack and pinion steering to the tried and tested drive train. I have dropped OHV engines/boxes into a few 100Es, which can be done in a weekend if you have the correct parts. In days gone by the accepted method of fitting disc brakes was to take them off a Ford Classic and fit directly but it also had a steering box. I never fitted rack and pinion steering because the 100E (and 105E) has long Track Control Arms and most racks have short Track Rods. They both have to be the same length to maintain steering geometry. I did experiment with a Mini rack but although the straight line was good cornering was vague and noisy. More recently 100E owners have fitted Escort steering, which entails cutting the front strut towers to match an Escort...not a job for the nervous. Then you need to modify the front crossmember to accept the short TCAs. Almost anything can go into a 100E, including modern Ford, Rover V8 and other US V8s. Personally I do not want to modify my 1956 Anglia. Here's a photo of my 1959 100E Popular, bought as a £2 bodyshell. It ran a 1500GT Cortina Engine/box, Corsair rear end, Rover 2000 leather seats, twin tanks, wide wheels and a sunroof, to name a few. It had a Cotina steering box.
October 25, 201510 yr My dad had a few classic fords that he'd shoe horned v6's in . 2.3 v6 anglia and my favourite 3.3 v6 mated to a 5 speed "crunch box" in a mk2 cortina that ran split rims with 255 rear tyres . He used to love upsetting v12 jags and turbo saabs in that . I've only ever regretted selling 2 of my previous motors .... Renault 5 gt turbo running 190hp, not bad for a 1400cc car made from kit kat paper (hell'va light) And my mk1 1300e 2 door escort running twin webbers, Janspeed manifold and a full blueprinted burtons race spec 1760cc engine . It used to eat 1600 s gearboxes on a regular basis and light the rear tyres up in 3rd in the dry[emoji33]
October 25, 201510 yr Author I think there is a Beetle-powered 100E out there. Other strange ones include a convertible with a front wheel drive train. Frequently up for sale on eBay.
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