Chuff's MK1 Escort

[Chuff]

Well I'm finally getting around to converting my MK1 Escort to EFI.

The photo above was taken 7 years ago when it was still on the road. I took it off the road in 2016 with the intention of converting to EFI but life got in the way until COVID forced everyone to stay home, so I have no excuses now. This is it in the garage ready for the conversion:

Driveline currently comprises of a 2.0 litre Pinto motor running a big valve head which has been ported, a performance cam which I do not know the specifications of, a standard 4 speed Escort gearbox and a 3.77 open centre differential. Intake is handled by a standard Escort 32/36 Webber carburettor on the factory intake manifold, and exhaust exits via HM Headers into a 2.25 inch exhaust system.

The engine is pretty healthy so apart from a coat of paint to clean it up it will remain as it is. I have a selection of camshafts ranging from stock to hot so I might consider changing to another grind for the finished product. I also have a Celica 5 speed steel case gearbox with a Castlemaine Rod Shop conversion which will need to be rebuilt and then installed and finally bearings and seals for the diff centre which will also be rebuilt.

These are the EFI bits & pieces I have to play with:

Complete JE Camira 2.0 litre EFI system
Genuine Ford 2.0 litre Pinto EFI manifold
Delco 1227165 ECU
ECM NVRAM Conversion
Delco D1927A Ignition Control Module

Plan is to run 12p using Commodore coil packs.

Let the fun begin!

Chuff

[brindo]

Noice.
Not enough of these on the road anymore. Interested to see the results after EFI. It can only be better.

[vlad01]

I used to have a 2L MkII escort as a paddock basher. Doing burnouts and drifting on the Cape weed patches, registered wheel spin at 160Km/h locked in 1st (3sp auto), not sure how it did that but, that stuff was like ice, the engine wasn't too healthy after that though

[Chuff]

MK1 Escorts do not have a fuel return line or a provision to add one. I could use the Camira fuel pump which is just an external Bosch fuel pump and add a return port into the sender unit as this chap has done:




Simple enough mod but getting the fuel hard line to the sender unit will require quite an intricate hard line installation.

Then I found the Bosch fuel pump 0986580371 to suit early 2000's C class Mercedes Benz which has a fuel return port at the rear of the pump next to the fuel inlet port from the tank:



I've search high and low to get the specs on the pump and the best I have come up with was on a Chinese copy site where their version was rated at 4Bar which I believe is 1Bar less than the Camira pump I have.

I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with this pump and if there's any reason not to use it?

Seems like a good solution unless there's something I'm not seeing.

Comments?

Thanks.

Chuff

[antus]

Nice car
My mate is facing the same thing on his isuzu bellett efi conversion. He has installed a port in to the top of the tank and added a second factory fuel line taking the same route as the supply to implement a return on his. The merc pump you show looks like it would do the job. I probably would not do that because its a bit of a weird pump and especially if the chinese one fails it might be hard to get a replacement you can drop it. It'll also be heating and cycling the same fuel around and around rather than giving it time to cool back in the tank. Probably not a big issue, I dont think there is a wrong answer. Your pressure should be under 4 bar at the engine, so I think 4 bar from the pump should be ok in s normally aspirated setup.

[Chuff]

Thanks Antus,

I would NEVER buy a Chinese fuel pump. I was just referencing it as it was the only site that gave me a fuel pressure figure. I have been unable to find any information whatsoever on a genuine Bosch pump which surprises me with all the Bosch information on the internet.

I did consider the fact that the fuel may warm up a little but I'm not sure if that will be an issue. I figure if they work in a Merc, I can't see it not working in an Escort.

Chuff

[brindo]

On my WB, I got hold of another full fuel line and chopped that up to use as the fuel supply line, and the original became the fuel return. I’m guessing that spare fuel lines for an Escort are pretty scarce though. Is a full rubber line from tank to fuel rail legal? That would be easier.

When I had the original fuel tank in, with the factory sender, I drilled a new hole to move the sender wire over as far as I could. Just ran a machine screw through it sealed with fibre washers - never leaked.
For the pick-up, I bent up some Swagelok stainless tubing in 1/2” and just copied the original pick-up so it ended up in the same spot and silver soldered it in. Swagelok make a decent range of strainers. Can’t remember what micron I got but just bought a brass one cause it was the cheapest and ran that on the outside of the tank.
Where the sender wire originally went through, I drilled this out to 5/16” and silver soldered in a short piece of 5/16” pipe for the return. There looks to be a fair bit of room on that sender to do something similar.

Without a surge tank it was far from perfect but it worked ok. Just never went below 1/4 tank of fuel. I was running just 1 Bosch 044 pump near the tank and a generic filter with barbs under the cab towards the front. Used EFI hose from the filter to the rail.

[delcowizzid]

You see you can buy brand new escorts now can get them in bare unpainted body upto fully painted caged assembled rally cars

[vlad01]

Could always run one of these if there is enough room above the tank. That way you can retain the original sender and just cap off the pickup. This will have both supply and return and handle surging without needing an external surge tank.

https://aeromotiveinc.com/product/phant ... el-system/

[Chuff]

On my WB, I got hold of another full fuel line and chopped that up to use as the fuel supply line, and the original became the fuel return. I’m guessing that spare fuel lines for an Escort are pretty scarce though. Is a full rubber line from tank to fuel rail legal? That would be easier.

Some later model Escorts that ran the 32/36 Webber carburettor had a return line. Regardless, all Escort fuel lines were black plastic lines, no steel lines back then. Full rubber from the tank is illegal from what I have read.

You see you can buy brand new escorts now can get them in bare unpainted body upto fully painted caged assembled rally cars

Yeh, and they're built better than the originals back in the 70's. Not cheap & can't be road registered as being a new shell it has to comply with current ADR & safety standards and that will never happen.

Could always run one of these if there is enough room above the tank. That way you can retain the original sender and just cap off the pickup. This will have both supply and return and handle surging without needing an external surge tank.

https://aeromotiveinc.com/product/phant ... el-system/

I've seen such a unit fitted to an Escort side mount tank which is located in the boot on the driver's side & that's the tank I've got. There's no room to mount it without major cutting & shutting of the tank.

I've been considering whether to use the Bosch or Mercedes pump and I've decided to use the Bosch pump. It's higher pressure may be important if I decide to install the turbo kit I have at a later date.