Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Field Marshal Dr. Opti on 17 December 2025, 12:51:36
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https://youtu.be/320uuNY6TxU?si=2yIq_QRKB_DGHAgG (https://youtu.be/320uuNY6TxU?si=2yIq_QRKB_DGHAgG)
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there are some very clever/skilled people out there! :y :y
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there are some very clever/skilled people out there! :y :y
I like the fact that it looks very similar to the original from the fifties......even down to fake peashooter exhaust. :y
Doesn't sound quite the same though. >:D
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Love it! :-* :y
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Terrific 👍
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A 5 litre lump with 330bhp of Detroit V8 is what the baby Austin should have had to begin with.... ::) ::) 8)
Who decided on the nancy boy 803 cc or 948cc lump. ;)
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A 5 litre lump with 330bhp of Detroit V8 is what the baby Austin should have had to begin with.... ::) ::) 8)
Ford 302 Windsor, so either Canadian, or made in Cleveland :y
Pointless pedantry aside, a great film and I absolutely love these sort of projects, thanks for sharing! I have to say, depending on when it was done, I think the builder applied the DVLA's rules rather liberally to retain the original numberplate and Austin designation on the V5. :-\
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A 5 litre lump with 330bhp of Detroit V8 is what the baby Austin should have had to begin with.... ::) ::) 8)
Ford 302 Windsor, so either Canadian, or made in Cleveland :y
Pointless pedantry aside, a great film and I absolutely love these sort of projects, thanks for sharing! I have to say, depending on when it was done, I think the builder applied the DVLA's rules rather liberally to retain the original numberplate and Austin designation on the V5. :-\
My bad. ::)
I tend to think that any old lump V8 of pig iron is made in Detroit. :y
As a very small child I would occasionally be given a lift home from school in a baby Austin. Can't remember if it was the earlier A30 or later A35, but it was finished in depression grey and had a huge indicator switch in the middle of the metal dash.
Also...it had Austin of England proudly displayed on the boot lid. :y
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I have a strong desire to do something not dissimilar with a mk4 escort 3 door estate. It was my first 'normal' car and I've always had a hankering for another one. But 41yr old me knows that the 60bhp the 1.3 had from the factory won't feel all that quick to me now, and certainly not like the rocket ship it seemed when I was 17. ;D
I have an idea to put the 2.5T lump from the focus ST in one. Should develop around 330bhp with a map. Combine that with a 900-950kg kerb weight and current performance should align nicely with my rose tinted nostalgia! 8)
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I have to say, depending on when it was done, I think the builder applied the DVLA's rules rather liberally to retain the original numberplate and Austin designation on the V5. :-\
That's what I thought! ;D
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I have a strong desire to do something not dissimilar with a mk4 escort 3 door estate. It was my first 'normal' car and I've always had a hankering for another one. But 41yr old me knows that the 60bhp the 1.3 had from the factory won't feel all that quick to me now, and certainly not like the rocket ship it seemed when I was 17. ;D
I have an idea to put the 2.5T lump from the focus ST in one. Should develop around 330bhp with a map. Combine that with a 900-950kg kerb weight and current performance should align nicely with my rose tinted nostalgia! 8)
Was this the same 5 pot lump used by Volvo, Jimmy?
900-950KG......I wonder how many, if any, cars weigh this little in 2025/6. Most cars are fat bastards these days.
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If you want crazy, then this has to be up there (with Opti's favourite Signum engine featuring :y)
https://youtu.be/xWCRuovk210?si=x_tmnAitIcNtQ4tT
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If you want crazy, then this has to be up there (with Opti's favourite Signum engine featuring :y)
https://youtu.be/xWCRuovk210?si=x_tmnAitIcNtQ4tT
It's amazing what an 'ordinary Joe' can do with a lathe, a big turbo, and a Vauxhall Adam. Way out of my league.
2.8V6 Turbo from the mighty Signum has 250bhp as stock, and lots of low down torque. I think it is a great engine but then I would say that. >:D
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Was this the same 5 pot lump used by Volvo, Jimmy?
900-950KG......I wonder how many, if any, cars weigh this little in 2025/6. Most cars are fat bastards these days.
Yup, it pops up in all sorts of places, including the c30, mondeo and s-max. I mean, they probably sold about four in the UK, but a 300bhp people carrier holds a certain appeal. I reckon if I spent a bit of time parting out the donor car, the engine and box would be more or less free. Three door escort estates are a bit of a rarity though (can't imagine why) so finding the actual car wouldn't be easy to begin with. :-\
950kg might even be a bit of an over estimate, I think the original 1.3 tipped the scales at around 800kgs!
If you want crazy, then this has to be up there (with Opti's favourite Signum engine featuring :y)
https://youtu.be/xWCRuovk210?si=x_tmnAitIcNtQ4tT
What a beautifully insane little car. :y I wonder if the underbody temps will actually lift the paint at full chat ;D
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Hmm I bought a scrap A35 in the early seventies to transplant the four speed and ‘powerful’ engine into a Morris a thousand which was equipped with three speed and 803cc of roaring hell. It was sort of a success but so much power you could get the tail out around roundabouts on skinny cross plies!
It didn’t last long as the new found power showed up serious flaws in the rotted chassis that were hidden by pieces of duck hams oil can gobbered in place with underseal. Massive negative camber on one side was not a good look.
Not my finest moment, the rolling shell with no brakes engine etc had to go.couldnt tow it to a nearby village tip as mostly downhill. A mate offered to follow and nudge it as necessary the 2.5 miles to the tip. I had a six foot fence post as a sort of emergency anchor to throw into the transmission gear lever hole. I did meet someone without incident and the gate to the tip was fortunately open and there was a fridge to ram to slow me down.
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I remember in the early seventies a lad that lived local to us put a V8 lump into a MK1 Escort & that was it , no upgrades to the braking system it obviously didn't end well.
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If you want crazy, then this has to be up there (with Opti's favourite Signum engine featuring :y)
https://youtu.be/xWCRuovk210?si=x_tmnAitIcNtQ4tT
Was thinking about this on the way home tonight. I reckon it'd be better doing this swap into a meriva, proper OAP spec. You could certainly bait a few folk with that!
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I remember in the early seventies a lad that lived local to us put a V8 lump into a MK1 Escort & that was it , no upgrades to the braking system it obviously didn't end well.
Many years back, a Ford Escort MK3 pulled out of a side turn in front of us. He gunned it down the road and suddenly the front end slammed to the ground and both front wheels went rolling down the road on their own. We stopped and retrieved his missing wheels for him.
I knew what he’d done as soon as I glanced at his car. ::) He’d fitted wheel spacers but had kept the original length bolts in place. ::) ;D
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there are some very clever/skilled people out there! :y :y
Yes, massive respect to the engineering behind those projects. :y
My toolmaker apprentice master had a Jaguar engine and running gear in his MK2 Cortina. He’d cut and re-rolled the arches so that the wheels fitted, and chopped various other parts as well to make it all fit.
My mate fitted a 4.7 litre Nissan diesel engine in to his brand new Land Rover 90. Plenty of mods required on that as the exhaust manifold is on the opposite side to a Land Rover, and the original drive shafts were too long. It got some shocked expressions from people as we overtook them whilst towing the hot rod. ;D
On a lesser scale, I fitted an Escort RS2000 engine in to my MK3 Cortina, but apart from fabricating a new exhaust to meet up with the tubular 4-2-1 manifold, it was relatively straightforward. The exhaust was gratis, courtesy of my MOD employers stainless steel from stores. If questioned, my apprentice master said it was ‘training’ on a mandrel bender, sheet metal bender training for the silencers and Tig welding training for welding it all up. Just reminded me how much I miss that place and their tools and machinery. Oh, and their stores. ;D
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The exhaust was gratis, courtesy of my MOD employers stainless steel from stores. If questioned, my apprentice master said it was ‘training’ on a mandrel bender, sheet metal bender training for the silencers and Tig welding training for welding it all up. Just reminded me how much I miss that place and their tools and machinery. Oh, and their stores. ;D
the cats back stainless exhaust on my Senator was courtesy of Hallls Mentholyptus .... the bends were either sections of 90 deg bends or the gentle bends were achieved using a hydraulic pipe bender & 'toffee' inside the thin walled 2" DPL stainless pipe to stop it from collapsing ::)
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The exhaust was gratis, courtesy of my MOD employers stainless steel from stores. If questioned, my apprentice master said it was ‘training’ on a mandrel bender, sheet metal bender training for the silencers and Tig welding training for welding it all up. Just reminded me how much I miss that place and their tools and machinery. Oh, and their stores. ;D
the cats back stainless exhaust on my Senator was courtesy of Hallls Mentholyptus .... the bends were either sections of 90 deg bends or the gentle bends were achieved using a hydraulic pipe bender & 'toffee' inside the thin walled 2" DPL stainless pipe to stop it from collapsing ::)
We were years ahead of the likes of Powerflow Andy. ;D :y
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The exhaust was gratis, courtesy of my MOD employers stainless steel from stores. If questioned, my apprentice master said it was ‘training’ on a mandrel bender, sheet metal bender training for the silencers and Tig welding training for welding it all up. Just reminded me how much I miss that place and their tools and machinery. Oh, and their stores. ;D
the cats back stainless exhaust on my Senator was courtesy of Hallls Mentholyptus .... the bends were either sections of 90 deg bends or the gentle bends were achieved using a hydraulic pipe bender & 'toffee' inside the thin walled 2" DPL stainless pipe to stop it from collapsing ::)
We were years ahead of the likes of Powerflow Andy. ;D :y
:y :y