made in England - Ameri-tuner

Archive for made in England

Team Foskett

admin / December 14, 2011 / No comments

[pinterest]

Malcom Foskett, a name you may know by heart by this time. If not he is the man behind Team Foskett. They are a anything on wheels and we’ll race it kind of team. He runs the show over at The Norfolk Drift Team as well as does some Saloon racing, which to us Americans is circle track. He has sent some pictures of one of the Saloons they are running over in England. Oh and by the way if you are sure what a Saloon is, that is a sedan type of car here., not a bar…

Here are the picks of another Ford from England

Category: made in England, project / Tags: foskett, team, Team Foskett

The Dark Horse Is On It’s Feet

admin / December 14, 2011 / No comments

We have another part of the great 59 Ford Build from England, In this section our friends get the suspension in and the front fenders mounted, and we get to finally see it on the ground. This has been thus far a great build and a sweet project car. It’s not your usual car which makes it a lot more special. For all the Details take a look below.

With the bulk head finished we (Marc) are all set to sort out the bits that stop the car rubbing the floor, although I doubt knowing Marc it will sit very high! Yes the suspension, but before that starts there is again a mass of measuring taking place, the more I look at the pics of the bulkhead the more I think ‘that’s so bloody cool’ I just want people to see it now,

I have been amazed and pleased at the amount of interest this car is now getting, as far away as America, I have taken the photos and just randomly shown mates and work colleagues who even as non Ford fans have to admit that it is a very nice piece of work, it’s the NON motorsport people that have made me smile though, they all say the same sort of thing, is that from the factory? Is that how it was from new?, And my favourite, EEy malceo, ies a magnifico, said the Canteen chief!! (guess Italian! but from Basingstoke,)

I have looked at the original pics we started with of the ‘spare car’ and I have to say, yes it is, Ford are clever people and the engine placement in the 100E is nicely set back, I am sure that the car designers said, ‘’listen guys, in a few years time I can see some bloody loon trying to fit a V8 in here so lets humour them and make it easy!

What they didn’t expect was for that idea to be used, then HUXLEY’d, so yes the car is as close to the shape and size as it was when it accelerated (slowly) out of Dagenham for the first time, yes, Marc has recreated the chassis rails and the bulkhead but this is a race car so to go to the effort of matching to original is way above the call of duty, and more to the point this is a passion for him, I just sit here waffling and with my mouth wide open!

Anyway back to the plot Malx. This is the finished bulk head from the inside

And from the outside. Pretty aint it.

Marc found that the what we thought were just beefed up strut towers, were in fact bent, battered, over engineered (over 6mm thick plate) and not in the original place, hence the removal.He has recreated the towers and the strut tops the car was born with, admittedly we can move the suspension legs within the towers for camber and caster, but the important item for us is that they are were they should be.

Marc used cardboard templates made from the spare car’s towers to get the shapes, again would have been easy to just make them square, and with constant measuring got the bends and the straight bits just right,

And both sides fitted up with suspension and steering.

And with the finished towers in place and suspension mounted it is starting to come together, Marcs measurements also found that the cross member was a little out of line and in the wrong place so relocation of the cross member was also required and is amazingly now in the stock 100E position.

In the constant battle to reduce weight Marc has been let loose with his fancy hole cutter, the areas are non weight bearing and will be linked into the roll cage anyway, Hence the name multi point cage! Which I just no is not only going to look good but be rather sexy! And of course very strong.

Category: automotive, made in England, project / Tags: 59, ford, project car

Team Dark Horse

admin / December 7, 2011 / No comments

From the Looks of it our Friends over across the big blue have been quite busy. We have another part of a great build story for you, our readers, to you know read. Plus we have more of your favorite part, pictures. I would like to thank Malcom for sending us this great story.

www.teamfoskett.co.uk

The rear of the car is now all welded in place and strength is the key to this build, the new areas Marc has created all run along the same dimensions as the original car,

With the inner arches complete we will be running the same wheel base as in ’59, the difference being the shock absorber towers and the 5 ling boxes for the up rated suspension, (ford escort rear axle) and of course the bigger gear box tunnel,

And a brace across the link boxes has also been fitted.
And then a final seam weld of the rear floor, Marc could easily have just riveted a few plates in at this point (like the last owner!) but that was never going to happen, for the extra hours spent the finish and the build quality are all the better for it.

The more I look at this picture the more I see a single rear seat fitting here, I really want to get as many people as possible to enjoy this car, we have at the drift practice days at Norfolk focused on giving people the chance to experience the thrill of a race or drift car, and I want to continue that theme with the 59, time to look around for a ‘small’ seat!!

And ALL of this is hand made, epic start and all done by Marc on his own, after work, I feel more humble by the minute.

What’s this I hear you say; it’s a 2ltr pinto, not any 2ltr pinto but an alloy 2ltr pinto! (More build details later)

As we said we want to be able to try different engines in the 59, the guys at Burtons are always trying new stuff, so we want to repay their faith in us by ‘testing’ what ever they send, to that end Marc has based the gearbox tunnel, the front bulk head (more on that coming soon) and the fitment of the front cross member to accept what ever they throw at us, the largest engine will be the Duratec, but this will be the first engine in 59, rated at OVER 250 bhp on throttle bodies! Got a bit nervous then!
For us the Guys have ‘de-tuned’ down to just a mere!! 210bhp on carbs (still going to need a fresh under wear set handy), but the torque curve is amassing, and it will mean that we can use a bigger power band rather than just a 2000rpm window you would normally get with a wild cam motor, with the total weight of the car and the podgy! driver the BHP per tonne figure is going to be rather good…
SO we need a good gearbox!!

We have also received a offer of help from Tran-x, the gearbox and axle group, they have, in conjunction with Burtons offered to build a gearbox not just to cope with the power but with gear ratio’s that will help us drift, drag race and do a few circuits as well.

Again Tran-X are a well renown company with world wide support from the racing industry, I hope to visit the factory to see the box being built and report back when we have completed the build.
Tran-X has over three decades of experience in the development and production of high performance Drive train components.
Based in Coventry, our 25,000 sq ft facility offers the latest technology in every aspect of product development: Solid Works CAD modelling, Prototype development, Lifetime failure testing and Final production release. All aspects of this process are quality controlled, ensuring we meet and exceed the exacting standards set by this specialised industry.
Our current product range encompasses a wide selection of Differentials, Gearboxes, Driveshaft’s, Gear Kits, bespoke gear kits and much more. Installed in isolation or as an entire drive train upgrade, the end result is guaranteed to offer the pinnacle of performance and reliability.
Our customer base could not be more diverse, and include: Specialist car manufacturers, Professional motorsport teams, Club racers and Car enthusiasts alike.
Our technical team are here to help so if you have any queries or just need some further information, please call and they will assist you in any way possible to meet your needs.

Tel:
02476 659061
Email:
sales.enquiries@tran-x.com

Mon-Thurs: 09:00-18:00
Fri: 09:00-17:00
Sat: 08:00-12:00

With the drive train slowly coming together and the rear floor pan sorted its time to move to the front END

The bulk head had been hammered and patched and did look ok’ish, but Marc decided to remake the whole thing, we have a spare car (well Burtons do) to take all the shape and measurements from so that we can remake the front bulk head, to original 59 spec, once all the rather bright paint was removed we also discovered that the chassis legs had massive plates welded to them, for no apparent reason and the front chassis rail had been damaged and covered in filler to make it look straight, considering there is so little rust in the body and floor of the car Marc decided to remake the rails, so with them removed and placed on the workshop floor, measurements were taken and we also took Pic’s of the rails in the spare 59 pop,

Now at this point I am thinking that we need to ring someone for help as we think Hux has gone past his sell buy date!! I would have been laying in a heap crying by now with the extra work.

But undeterred or apparently ‘bothered’ at the extra work Marc has re built the front chassis, as said before we will be running the same wheel base as the 59 was built with, the front tracking width will be slightly wider but we are going for as near stock sizes as we can.
With the front end removed, stored and measured its time to start ‘making stuff’
First up is the front of the foot wells, left and right, to keep the style Marc has had to hand roll to get the curves, he has opened them out a bit to allow the wheels to travel on more lock, but still to the original lines.

And now fitted.

Although this is a race car! And if it had been anyone else I doubt if this pic would exist, because a lesser builder would have used filler and paint,, the fact that Hux has a passion to get it right is a credit to him, the look and quality is what I am getting at here, it’s a race car, lap 1 it could well get bent! And then rebuilt again, But there are no short cuts, to my mind that deservers applause, the next project for Marc will be another POP for the road and I get a strong feeling that the dedication and passion is the same for all the cars he works on.

With the Hand crafted front rails now fitted the front towers can now be replaced, but we are starting with the bulkhead, as you can see its not a straight forward job, we could have just made it straight but we want to keep the character of the car, and the big lip on the top is great for putting the cups of tea and chips!!

This view shows the work involved to make the bulk head, again hand crafted, and matched to the original, including the main section for the start of the gearbox tunnel, the shot below shows the small amount of space available and again some nice detailing on the ‘kick plates, that will probably not be visible, but there ‘because he can’