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PARKINGLOT
Well-Known Member
oh yes, the gears are turning, are we in trouble now...lol..
so, I was thinking about something. I was thinking about the state of my BII's body, as it's alittle rough, as some are. I'm working on fixing all of it, but I had a thought before that suddenly came back to me. try and stay with me here. I'm also on several forums for my DD, an 01 focus ZTS. Nice little car, sporty (compared to the BII's and ranger's I've owned...lol) gets good mileage, the 2.0 Zetec's got some good pep (especially with the 5-speed) and it's fairly easy to mod. I've owned it about 1 1/2 years now, and in that time, I've added a CAI, short shifter, some interior neons (red, like the car), blacked out the tailights, 3rd brake light, corner markers, painted the mirror caps body color (SVT focus style), stuff like that. Me and my now-wife even drove it from ontario to florida and back for our honeymoon in june, and the only problem I've ever had with it was 1 flat tire on the interstate near Atlanta (changing to a spare on the side of I-75 sucks nuts...), and just in july, the fuel pump crapped out on it. Oh, and the CEL came on tonight, and it's making a faint ticking noise from what sounds like the top end, but I was driving it like I usually do, like it's stolen, when it happened. That's another story and problem...
Anyhow, since I'm getting off-track here, on these forums, one of the hot topics is a RWD and V8 conversion...several companies offer either parts or whole kits to convert. It's not cheap, but I imagine it's hella fun. Now, I was looking around, and I found a company that makes an adapter to bolt a T-5 to the 2.0 zetec in the event you only want RWD, not a V8 too (yea, right...)
Now, I was bored, looking around, and I found 2 possible ideas. One, is a focus sedan, like mine, 2.0 5-speed, but a base SE, for $600 something on ebay. The other, is a 98 Escort 4-door, same 2.0 zetec as a focus, 5-speed (bad gear/gears), for $450 locally...
Some of you may be putting 2 and 2 together by now.
What, and a hypothetical "What", if I took my BII, stripped it to a rolling chassis, only frame, suspension, and axles, and took either the escort or focus sedan, stripped the front and rear suspensions, transaxle, etc out. Made a cradle on the BII frame with which to mount the Zetec north-south, mounted the body on the frame, hooked a T-5 to it, swapped in an 8.8, D35 front (or maybe an EB D44 if I get lucky, or something...) and had a sweet hybrid wheeler? I mean, stock, the 2.0 puts out almost the same power as the ol' 2.9. A Bronco II weighs something like, what, 3700-3800 lbs? A Focus or escort weight in at about 2600-ish Lbs. I wouldn't need to change any of the factory wiring in the car (only engine harness, possible lengthing for FWD to RWD change, and engine fuel line), keep the stock gas tank, fuel system, lighting...no need to change it...
Potential problems
-well...mounting the body to the frame? still trying to figure out a "good" way to do it...
-t-case...probably have to run a divorced case I imagine...
-wheelbase. A BII is 94", an Escort is about 99", and a focus is about 102-103". So, most likely end up making the rear coil sprung to lengthen the wheelbase to fit the body (unless you can have a leaf sprung rear with a 102" wheelbase?)
-Steering. Escort/Focus is rack-and-pinion...adapt car steering shaft to BII steering shaft at steering box?
That's what I've got at the moment. All feedback is welcomed!
so, I was thinking about something. I was thinking about the state of my BII's body, as it's alittle rough, as some are. I'm working on fixing all of it, but I had a thought before that suddenly came back to me. try and stay with me here. I'm also on several forums for my DD, an 01 focus ZTS. Nice little car, sporty (compared to the BII's and ranger's I've owned...lol) gets good mileage, the 2.0 Zetec's got some good pep (especially with the 5-speed) and it's fairly easy to mod. I've owned it about 1 1/2 years now, and in that time, I've added a CAI, short shifter, some interior neons (red, like the car), blacked out the tailights, 3rd brake light, corner markers, painted the mirror caps body color (SVT focus style), stuff like that. Me and my now-wife even drove it from ontario to florida and back for our honeymoon in june, and the only problem I've ever had with it was 1 flat tire on the interstate near Atlanta (changing to a spare on the side of I-75 sucks nuts...), and just in july, the fuel pump crapped out on it. Oh, and the CEL came on tonight, and it's making a faint ticking noise from what sounds like the top end, but I was driving it like I usually do, like it's stolen, when it happened. That's another story and problem...
Anyhow, since I'm getting off-track here, on these forums, one of the hot topics is a RWD and V8 conversion...several companies offer either parts or whole kits to convert. It's not cheap, but I imagine it's hella fun. Now, I was looking around, and I found a company that makes an adapter to bolt a T-5 to the 2.0 zetec in the event you only want RWD, not a V8 too (yea, right...)
Now, I was bored, looking around, and I found 2 possible ideas. One, is a focus sedan, like mine, 2.0 5-speed, but a base SE, for $600 something on ebay. The other, is a 98 Escort 4-door, same 2.0 zetec as a focus, 5-speed (bad gear/gears), for $450 locally...
Some of you may be putting 2 and 2 together by now.
What, and a hypothetical "What", if I took my BII, stripped it to a rolling chassis, only frame, suspension, and axles, and took either the escort or focus sedan, stripped the front and rear suspensions, transaxle, etc out. Made a cradle on the BII frame with which to mount the Zetec north-south, mounted the body on the frame, hooked a T-5 to it, swapped in an 8.8, D35 front (or maybe an EB D44 if I get lucky, or something...) and had a sweet hybrid wheeler? I mean, stock, the 2.0 puts out almost the same power as the ol' 2.9. A Bronco II weighs something like, what, 3700-3800 lbs? A Focus or escort weight in at about 2600-ish Lbs. I wouldn't need to change any of the factory wiring in the car (only engine harness, possible lengthing for FWD to RWD change, and engine fuel line), keep the stock gas tank, fuel system, lighting...no need to change it...
Potential problems
-well...mounting the body to the frame? still trying to figure out a "good" way to do it...
-t-case...probably have to run a divorced case I imagine...
-wheelbase. A BII is 94", an Escort is about 99", and a focus is about 102-103". So, most likely end up making the rear coil sprung to lengthen the wheelbase to fit the body (unless you can have a leaf sprung rear with a 102" wheelbase?)
-Steering. Escort/Focus is rack-and-pinion...adapt car steering shaft to BII steering shaft at steering box?
That's what I've got at the moment. All feedback is welcomed!
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