My RWD solid axle front engine Escort MK2 build

[Frederik]

Small update! Spent a few hours on the tunnel. Here is a pic of how crappy it is before any type of cleaning... At least it seems like the solder sipped in nicely for most of the joints:

And a few pics after some cleaning, not done yet as there are still quite a few big blobs of solder that formed on the inside, I'll use a small spherical cutting head on the dremel to complete the cleaning:

Not very nice but it'll work!

[Tamiyacowboy]

Dont worry about the niceness of the look.

the rough is going to look more at home on the underside when running.

its going to show something in use daily etc etc and the lifetime of wear and bumps/groundouts . 

 

solder flowed lovely into those seams to, looking real nice on the finish , if it was schultz'd you would think it was a 1:1 chassis pan.

 

they looked lovely and new on the factory floor, but after two weeks on uk roads and sleeping policemen (speed humps)

they tended to look a very sorry state underside lol. so keep it going buddy its looking awesome and all subscribers and viewers will agree to.

[Frederik]

Hahah thank you Tamiyacowboy for the nice comments! It does look somewhat like a beaten car underside which was hammered back to shape and welded for repairs lol

 

I was thinking of using JB Weld to fill in the holes and things like that, but I am afraid it will make solder repairs impossible so maybe I'll just leave it like this. Or use a more removable kind of patching method.

 

Now I need to make me one of these rollover jig lol :

 

[Frederik]

Today I completed the cleaning today and it is better now. I started on the motor/tranny mount. I first cut a round shape in the front cross member to have the motor sit at the right height. I will make something that clamps the motor there eventually, but to get started I might just put a tie wrap You can kind of see it here:

And the mount at the tranny, with these two mounting points (tranny and motor) it should be pretty tight:

I will have to drill two holes in the tunnel sides to mount it though. Could have done something that mounts from the bottom of the floor but I would then have to drill the floor...

[Tamiyacowboy]

thats looking lovely fred very awesome seating of the motor

 

 

for the holes, why not leave them. patching is going to add more weight

and more crafting and burring down. they are inside the tunnel and the inner if carpet

will hide everything else. 

 

and thats how cars should look, used and abused under the body.

she is an old car so would have seen many many miles of wear and tear, bumps and bashes.

and lots of mot fingers and patches/holes etc etc. same with that tunnel mount screws for the

motor mount, dont worry so much about it. pop a couple holes to each side and secure.

again a little bit of cloth/felt can be used as carpet and cover a lot of internal.

external its beat up as it should be

[Frederik]

Thanks a lot Tamiyacowboy! I did not think of carpet but that's a neat idea! And having round head screws will help hide them under the mat.

Now I'll need a nice skid plate to protect the suspension and tranny because right now if a rock hit the underside it could do some serious damage! thinking of using the thinnest steel sheet, or even thin aluminum so it deforms nicely over rocks

[Frederik]

Did some work tonight but hit a pretty big setback... I lenghtened the driveshaft, that part turned out ok. Problem is the driveshaft sits a bit too high in the tunnel and hits it at the back near the diff when compressing suspension... That is mostly because how high up the output is on the tranny. I lowered the tranny as much as I could, but still had to make a hole to clear, not sure how I'll solve that down the line but for now it's just a hole...

Here is a shot with shell, now that the tunnel is all there, with driveshaft and motor secured:

I'm not very happy that I've not noticed this would happen, but that's ok and part of the fun I guess lol... So that's it for now, tonight was mostly head scratching and cursing

[Tamiyacowboy]

small raised box section covering the new hole.

remember it would be covered with a seat in the rear , but rally wise it would have still been in there 

its because we dont run prop carriers so we have to put up with these wierd placed slots and likes. 

 

i think it look a propper job, its expect the shaft play and your thinking ahead of that frederik.

so no need to curse your 150% on the right track 

[Frederik]

Thanks Tamiyacowboy, I was disappointed at first but at least it works and the tunnel is not 100% in the way, just a small area that really interfered. I will likely do a small boxy cover to go there, or an extinguisher support. The interior will likely stay stripped to metal though, at least that's how I've seen most pics the only thing is to look proper it would also have to have a roll cage! Lol But seriously I will likely need some bracing to avoid flexing the chassis on bumps, the torsional rigidity is not all that good currently (I knew from the start the flat chassis rails would not help).

[Tamiyacowboy]

box it then pop two caro seats up front, behind each seat where rear seat would be you can place extinguisher supports

2 mini supports each, roll cage well buddy you have built a from scratch ford, so a roll cage thats going to be somewhat pimped from you lol

very easy, just a few rods and lots of soldering ( ahahaha), it will stop any twist roll and double rigidity of current flat pan rails.

 

thats going to lock it all in and tie it together. but dont forget even 1:1 cars had a bit of flex built in otherwise it would be a rough old ride lol

[kinggareth]

To avoid the prop hitting the tunnel, would it be possible to fit a UJ part way along the prop, bringing the pivot point much further back?

 

Builds looking great by the way - very jealous!

[Frederik]

Thanks a lot buddy! Yes a two pieces driveshaft would avoid all interference, Inwas trying to stay away from the added complexity and weight though.. That's one of the nicer options for sure. But I think the 1:1 has a one piece driveshaft too so not sure how it'll end up! Thanks for the idea, always good to have them coming!

[Oh How Original]

I do have one question, which may have already been answered, but with all the extra weight, why are you going with a brushed set up?

Wouldn't a torquey brushless system be a more appropriate one?

Just curious as I imagine it's going to weigh a lot more than your typical 1/10 touring/rally car by the time you're finished.

[Frederik]

I must say I did think about the extra power a brushless setup could provide. But I want to try a regular setup first, especially since this is the type of build you want to drive cautiously. In a way, lower power on a quite heavy car will probably have more realistic handling characteristics, i.e. you have to build up some speed and use the throttle and steering properly to drift it around on dirt, not like a typical rc car would be. But I agree a torquey brushless setup would be pretty sweet.. maybe a bit later!

Speaking of weight, it should not be so much of a brick, it is currently around 4 lbs with all components so I dont really see it weighing more than 5 lbs in the end, so to reuse the comparison I made earlier, my Tamiya TB-01 rally car is 1.8 kg (4 lbs) and it haums itself fine with a stock motor and 4WD. Hopefully the Escort with similar power (sport tuned instead of stock can) with only 2 wheels to spin, and bit more weight to haul, should have a pretty cool loose surface handling! (Read: a handful to drive! Lol)

I'm still open to other power sources, in fact I have not jumped the brushless barrier yet so it is still unknown to me, I did acquire (but never tried) my first lipo set for this car though, 2S saddle pack (one each side of the tranny tunnel).

Thanks for your interest buddy, discussing all these options really help bring new ideas to my mind, maybe creating new needs too lol but that's all good hahaha

Fred

[Frederik]

Yesterday I made the hole in the floor for the other front wheel so both wheels can turn full lock now and I also made two little mounting brackets for the steering on the struts, so for the first time I now have a full standing chassis with the two front wheels linked together!

I also slapped on random springs (too stiff) in the front, it was a good feeling having it standing by itself like that, and be able to roll it around the place!

[Frederik]

Some short vids! Because sometimes it's cool to see things moving Don't mind the squeaking noises, I need to put spring seats up top of the struts so the springs does not sit directly on the inner fender lol

 

http://youtu.be/wQv2DZSHsYk

http://youtu.be/hyhNZDxUVUo

http://youtu.be/4A8Ty_ttfVA

[Frederik]

I tried a different set of springs, longer and softer, the losi xxx springs that came with the shocks, maybe a tad high but it might settle down when I am done adding stuff on the chassis:

 

 

 

And a video of the travel, seems good! It's got quite some droop too!

 

 

http://youtu.be/06qPIEUwObA

[cookie666uk]

Looking good mate. I love that feeling of something finally coming together and starting to look like what it's intended to

[Nitroholic]

This is one of those builds ......

 

It would be easy to be picky about some of the issues, or where the bolts look a bit out of place or the joint isn't perfectly neat .... but when you consider this is scratchbuilt and not something made by a multi-million pound corporation, it's a fantastic piece of work.

 

It's a credit to the builder who has stuck to what he wanted to build, and produce something that is correct... even when the available parts really don;t lend themselves. Having the engine whee it should be..the front suspension correct not just a stock shock tower, and having the correct setup at the rear too.

 

I am looking forward to seeing it all built and running, because I reckon with the weight of the metal chassis, it ought to ride quite well too.

[Frederik]

Looking good mate. I love that feeling of something finally coming together and starting to look like what it's intended to

Thanks buddy, yes it is a good feeling seeing take shape!

  

This is one of those builds ......

 

It would be easy to be picky about some of the issues, or where the bolts look a bit out of place or the joint isn't perfectly neat .... but when you consider this is scratchbuilt and not something made by a multi-million pound corporation, it's a fantastic piece of work.

 

It's a credit to the builder who has stuck to what he wanted to build, and produce something that is correct... even when the available parts really don;t lend themselves. Having the engine whee it should be..the front suspension correct not just a stock shock tower, and having the correct setup at the rear too.

 

I am looking forward to seeing it all built and running, because I reckon with the weight of the metal chassis, it ought to ride quite well too.

Thanks a lot for your nice comment, I really like to choose unusual setups not usually found in RC. The extra weight and high center of gravity is a nice side effect that should help have a realistic driving! And I like creating and designing stuff too, so a custom project like this suits me well!

The more I think of it the more I think I will make at least a minimal roll cage to strenghten it, problem is I think solder might not be strong enough, unless I find some way of mating the pieces so there is an increased contact patch... Or I do a first attempt ever at brazing the cage! Lol I would not know where to start though.

[Nitroholic]

For brazing, I would drop BigGaz a pm. He makes steel bumpers and sliders for rock crawlers. I am sure he would give you a few pointers on how to get something rigid enough. I think a rollcage would be a good way to go. Will give it a good look as well as stiffening up the chassis

[Wirralnitronoob]

Awesome,that is some cool stuff right there,looking good fred

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[Frederik]

For brazing, I would drop BigGaz a pm. He makes steel bumpers and sliders for rock crawlers. I am sure he would give you a few pointers on how to get something rigid enough. I think a rollcage would be a good way to go. Will give it a good look as well as stiffening up the chassis

  

I'll get in touch with him, I dont even know what to look for as far as brazing rods and stuff. Size, type, typical cost etc. Thanks for the contact

Awesome,that is some cool stuff right there,looking good fred

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Thanks a lot mate! Glad you like it!

[Tamiyacowboy]

try those softer rear springs on the front ( will give it that front end ford bounceyness )

and those stiffer springs up the rear, that will change the ride a lot even with minor changes. ( the chassis 1 video setup ) 

 

here i see a stiffened front and a relaxed rear, so try swapping the springs round. i think that could work more in your favour

than the triple x spring set  

 

little bit o black grease to the slider tube for steering link bar and your ready to go Frederik.

 

and i put a couple canadian beers down to say you rolled it around more than just a couple times lol,

everytime you walk past your like " ohhhhh better just check , brummmmm brummmmm  ,... meep meeep "

[Frederik]

Well the rear springs are different from the front so I cannot swap them.. The rears are from mini late model and are very small. But I do have stiffer springs that can fit the rear. So what I would be looking for is springs a tad softer up front, I would like to set up keep the car as soft a possible without bottming out all the time, so the car have as much suspension movement as possible over bumps and when turning. I want to see that suspension moving! lol