This was the green light that Brendan needed, because, with his extensive knowledge in setting up AEs to drift, he knew that the concept would not just work but work well. I thought that it was going to be hell, but then I started bare-metaling it; I soda blasted it, then had it sandblasted, and I found it was pretty good underneath.
The one area that did need attention was the floor, which needed a compete repro stiched in. Not bad for a near-on year-old piece of Ford engineering, really. With the minimal repairs out of the way, it was now on to the good stuff of building a race car. Power was never going to be excessive, and whatever was lacking there would be made up for with a lack of mass. Brendan would subscribe to the school of featherweight. Fibreglass adorns each corner, the bonnet, the doors, and the boot, and even these lightweight pieces have had their innards chopped to the nth degree.
This is where the old-school tech melts with the new school. A side effect of this weight loss is bang-on aesthetics, reminiscent of any old Escort racer. We mean, who can forget a vivid green 18A three-rotor-powered AE86?
The front cross member — an AE86 power-steering item — has been cut and shut to suit the Escort rails. Each sprung assembly is made up of Niteparts HyperLock3 knuckles with rose-jointed and boxed S14 lower arms, and Chaser castor arms.
Even the Parts Shop Max coilovers belong in a Silvia, as do the brakes. With a lack of weight pushing the car downward, all of this adjustment creates the grip needed. There is also a good amount of scrub off being this light. Masses of power were never going to be required. His AE had a full-steel body and I was all fibreglass, yet we would be neck and neck. But, inside, the engine remains factory, with any changes external. Typical of his headers, they feature a conical design with an expansion chamber just after the merge, and, of course, they are equal length.
