THE KITNEY FAMILYS 'KISS MY RS' MKII FORD ESCORT IS BUILT AROUND  A  GENUINE  1980  RS2000. ORIGINALLY PUT TOGETHER IN JUST NINE MONTHS, IT HAS BEEN CONSTANTLY MODIFIED & DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS.

There isn't really a lot left of the original car. Roof, rear wings and 'A' pillars remain steel and largely standard, but everything else has been either replaced or modified. A full tube-steel perimiter chassis with integral roll-cage now gives the car it's structure. Removable Fibreglass doors, bonnet, front wings and boot-lid take away a lot of the original weight. The interior of the car is skinned in black-anodised aluminium with splashes of carbon-fibre (dash, door cards and transmission tunnel). Outside, it looks almost normal until you see........

....That massive power-plant which bursts out of the bonnet in a sea of polished metal. The first 385 series engine block we had was originally a 460 cubic inch Ford/Lincoln/Mercury block which probably started life propelling a Ford Thunderbird along the road in sunny California. Little did it know what was in store for it.........

Whilst a 460 (7.5 litre) cubic inch engine was nice (above), we decided during the last rebuild to add a bit more horsepower. so took the engine size to 512 cubic inch (approx 8.5 litre). Unfortunately that engine was nuked in early 2007 at our 'pre-season test'. We took it as God's way of telling us the engine was too small. The current build uses a brand new Ford SVO block that takes engine size to 557 cubic inch (about 9.2 litre). New aluminium cylinder heads have the biggest valves that can be fitted to a standard spacing head. The inlet valves now measure over 2 1/4". That's about the size of the base of your tea-mug.

There's no substitute for cubic inches, but it's nice to be blown! At the same time as the last engine rebuild we replaced the 'old' GMC 8-71 supercharger with a nice, new, shiny 'Littlefield' teflon-tipped, hi-helix 14-71 supercharger. That's about the same size as you see on the top classes of rail and funny-car engine.

And if that wasn't enough, the twin 750 Holley carburettors were replaced by a full-mechanical Enderle injection system capable of flowing in excess of 3,000 cfm (cubic feet per minute). (That is the big thing on top of the supercharger with the three big round holes on the front which you can see in the latest photos.) Unfortunately this proved to be a trifle unruly on the Queen's highway, so has now been substituted by twin Predator carburettors which flow about 2,000 cfm, and should allow the engine to reach it's full power potential without making it undriveable.

That's what 512 cubic inches of American Muscle with the biggest available supercharger and fuel injection looks like fitted into a 1980 English saloon. Imagine seeing this looming up in your rear-view mirror when you're on your way to Sainsbury's!

Fearing that all of these upgrades may not produce enough power, we also took the opportunity to plumb the engine with both Nitrous Oxide and Methanol injection systems. These are able to add up to 500bhp to the engine output. You can never have too much power!

The graphic on the back wing reads 'I live in my own little world - It's OK, They know me here". The rear tyres measure 18.5" wide EACH!. The door does fit, it's just not been shut properly!

The transmission is also a bit special as you would expect. Based on a Ford C6 automatic gearbox, we shook all of the original internals on to the floor, kicked them about a bit, threw most of them away, modified the rest and rebuilt the gearbox with Kevlar racing clutches and bands, a much-modified valve body and a nice high-stall torque convertor. It is now a full-sequential shift manual gearbox that should take the power. Sit with your foot on the brake and load the engine to 3000 rpm, then release the brake and floor the throttle. Three things happen: 1. The front wheels leave the road. 2. the windscreen is suddenly full of sky. 3. 60 mph comes up in less than 2 seconds.

The missing number 4 is 'You cr*p yourself' but we figured that was too much information!

The suspension it needs to stay on the ground is all tailored to the car. Leda shock-absorbers with coil-over springs keep all 4 corners off the pavement. Shortened and strengthened Escort front struts ensure that the journey down from a wheely is a gentle one, whilst the fully-adjustable 5-link suspension at the rear ensures that the forward motion gets to the chassis with the minimum of fuss. Since these pictures were taken we've added wheely bars at the rear and a splitter (spoiler) at the front, both designed to keep their relevant  ends in touch with terra-firma.

Sound system comes courtesy of two 4" diameter exhaust systems which exit just in front of the rear wheels. That's stereo! Unlike most cars you see, these are 4" diameter through their entire length and NOT just at the shiny end! Glass-pack silencers help quell the noise, but not by much.

Wheels are all by Centerline in the USA, 15" x 15" rear with Hoosier 'Quick-Time' DOT rated treaded tyres, and 4.5" x 15" fronts with Firestone radials. Rear tyres wear out quickly. Front tyres still as good as new. I think this must tell us something.....

To keep the driver safe, there's dual circuit brakes, 5-point 3" seat harnesses, fire extinguisher system, Ignition cut-out and a  Parachute.

To keep the engine safe there is a MSD / Mallory / Accel ignition system, with the nitrous oxide being controlled by a Jacobs computer.

To keep the car road-legal there are lights, wipers, washers, indicators, horn and treaded tyres...........

.............MOT Certificate, full insurance and a tax disc!

At present (September 08) The new 557ci engine is in place and running. Aside from a small ignition issue it's ready to rock!

Over the summer (summer - did we have one?) We've completed the rear disc brake conversion which is now mounted on our own in-house fabricated brackets, fitted a new transmission cooler and repositioned it more into the airflow, and fitted the new Aeromotive fuel pump. How I love anodised aluminium!!!!!!

In addition to all that, we've sealed around the rear inner arches (never got round to doing it when it was first built). It might keep some of the burnout smoke out of the passenger compartment now.

We've also re-vamped the Methanol injection system with a custom tank to keep the Methanol in, keep the air out, and look good at the same time.

Here it is sitting in the passengers footwell. 

All fabricated in-house with no bought-in components (except the pump and the AN fittings).

Isn't that carbon-fibre wonderful?

We've also added a natty little cockpit evacuation system which should suck out the burnout smoke. Damn clever these Japanese!

A massive thanks to our sponsors:

Blue Mountain Marine Ltd.

Meat & Cheese

T. J. Services

......without whom none of this would have been completed by now, and we could not have contemplated buying the quality of parts we now have.