Managed to sneak up the barn for afew hours while the mrs was in work this afternoon, started stripping the mex shell ready to cut the floor out.
Took off the sump gaurd, fuel tank, all the dash and switches, 1 wing, boot, bonnet, backseats, doorcards etc...
Got to get the windows out during the week ready for bracing bars to go in before cutting the floor out.

 

God, that looks hard work....

 

Not really as i aint got much to cut out!

 

 

yea sold it to a mate at a bodyshop, he intends to use it as advertisement, i have 1st tabs on it if he decides to sell her, just had to go due to space

 

I reckon you might need to use pretty much all of the donor scoob's floor on this one
If it survives the operation, you just might have to call it Jesus that's definitely looking more like a resurrection than a repair to me


Did you ask the previous owner what the deal was with the yellow front on the Mex

 

He bought it but never did anything to it in 17 yrs, it was just stood in a field on a farm, hence the rust. He had 5 in the field 4 mk1s and a mk2. i bought 3 mk1s off him for £500, sent off for the logbooks and the 1 turned out to be a mexico!
I think it was going to be resprayed yellow, they did the engine bay but that was all. It started life blue, inside is black, outside then went white and then yellow!

 

If that's a real Mexico then it's worth more to someone for restoration than it would be if you fit it with WRX running gear!

 

The logbook says its a mexico, but it has definatley been reshelled at some point as theres no type 49 bits on its shell. I wouldnt be chopping it up if it was a genuine shell.

 

Ah, so it's been called a Mexico, but the numbers don't necessarily mean it is a Mexico...I get you now

 

theres a impreza powered mk2 in ireland! heres some pics of it!
its supposed to go like f###
back wheels i the wrong place! looks hellish!!

 

check out 'jack' on CBC Services mk2 escort running scoob suspension wheels,brakes etc.far better job than the irish car

 

yeah ive seen the central blast cleaning car, its a top job. Think thats running a 2.4 duratec engine.
anyone got anymore pics info on the irish one?

 

iirc it used the Impreza floor pan which has a longer wheelbase than the Escort, hence it looks odd to my mind.
Shortening the Impreza pan should be a snip if you are going to do the job that way overall.

 

hi graham
'jacks' floor pan is stock escort,rear modded to take subaru running gear.all the jigs for this car were taken from a scoob shell.jack now has AST dampers,90% on your recommendation!service,location,price being the other 10%
neal

 

danielvwrx dont suppose your based in the leeds area

 

Managed to get afew hours on the car this evening, the shells pretty much stripped now. Got all the glass out, dash, pedal box, heater and loom.
Took the headlining down (hows it fitted around the rear quater windows?) i just tore it out as it was ripped anyway.
Only front and rear suspension on it now.
Ordered some 40mm box steel to use as bracing for shell ready for me to cut the floor out.
No pics as pc bust, im on the mrs laptop.

 

sounds like youve got your work cut out too, 40mm box section is perfect for the job as its quite light in mild steel, im using it on my project too.

ecellent project

james

 

Yes mate following your project too, looks good. Yours is progressing alot faster than mine though! doing abit on the house this weekend, but may try and do some on the car on tuesday.

 

Latest bit of work was to brace the shell abit before cutting anything out.

taken on phone sorry
Heres a measurement chart for the mk1 shell, does anyone have something similar for the impreza shell?

 

Spent this evening collecting measurement data to calculate how much altering i need to do to the impreza floorpan.
Mk1 : Wheelbase 2400.3mm
Impreza : Wheelbase 2520mm
So ive got 119.7mm to cut out of the impreza floorpan.
Note to self : measure measure and mearsure again before any cutting

 

Why not just trim the sides down of the imprezza floorpan, and loose the differences on the top susp mounts within the escort wings, assuming you are fabricating these?

ps...when are you putting another engine up front?


out of interest, what, if any problems arise when not using say the rear output from a 4WD box ?

 

You lost me mate sorry
Think your confusing my conversion with renntones escort conversion, my engines staying up front with all 4 wheels driven.
problem is with the wheelbase not the track as you described.

 

Chop the pan as they used to on SWB Buggies in the 70's.
Cut the floor not straight across but stagger it to gain greater weld length.
I would loose the length to the rear of the prop center bearing point/rear seat floor pans, but you could check the A and B pillar locations on the Impreza to the Escort's. There are mountings for the rear diff carrier ther so take care! If the Escort is shorter than the Impreza then cut the front Imprza pan but watch out for all the box mountings etc.
Graham.

 

I wouldn't chop the floorpan for just 12cms.
Instead of losing the integrity of the Scoob floorpan, you could cut the Escort wheelarches and reposition - maybe move the fronts 1" forward and rears 3" back to put the wheels into the corners a little more - or just lengthen the wheelarches where you need more room. You'd have to Photoshop it to see if it looks pants, but it would be tons easier and be much more secure ????

 

Theres no question that the floorpan must be shortend, not a problem really as ive done it to range rover chassis, put chassis legs in to cars etc i even added 12ft into a ford cargo lorry chassis once.
The wheels have to go in the original arch position on the escort.
As for a strength issue the cars having a serious weld in roll cage so should be very solid.
Added somemore bracing bars yesterday into the shell and was ready to cut the floor out when the misses rang me and wanted me home.
Why do they have to spoil our fun just when it gets to the good part?

 

Heres a pic of where im going to be cutting the floorpan. (The yellow lines) The double lines at the rear is were i planned to shorten it.

 

I remember seeing that on ebay a few times. Seemed to make 1800 quid everytime

 

That is exactly where I would chop it.
I too thought of moving the aches, but the MkII in Ireland was like that and it looks 'wrong' (imho).

The cage will restore all the strength you might loose.
When Dialynx do their Quattro SWB conversions (about 300mm out) Keith cuts the pan in a 'zig-zag' and cages the car. The cars have a carbon roof and panels to lighten the chassis.
I've seen 2 heavy crunches with these cars on hillclimbs and they survive really well.

I envy you this project!

Keep at it.
Graham

 

Well 911 you should get to see it when its done, as i fancy ago at hillclimbing and single venue rallys in it. Im going to try and build it to MSA guidlines, so if you see me doing something i shouldnt or missing something out, TELL ME!
Im really getting into this project, just dont have enough time to spend on it as i'd like to and with a toddler and baby due in july/august its prob gona get even less time spent on it.