Chris K Posted January 16, 2003 Share Posted January 16, 2003 Hi all, Iv read through the archives about the upgrade route from ital to Escort (timken appears to be the name) axle, but 1 dont know if I can afford the extra expense of new wheels, tyres, front hubs.. So.. is it poss' to have a escort axle with ital pcd??? who sells the conversion kit?? contact details?? or am I barking up a fake plastic tree.. ❗ TIA Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Sewell Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 I hate to say this but the cost of replacing the wheels is the least of your worries. After all, you can buy new wheels, get your old tyres transferred and then sell your old wheels to recover some of the money. However, in the mean time, you'll need to get the chassis modified, source a new rear axle (possibly new Aframe and radius arms?) and front hubs. That lot will ertainly cost more than the offset in the prices of a set of wheels. Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Hi Chris, Going throughthe Ford axle change at the moment. Yes it is possible to retain the Ital pitch. You will need to have the half shaft flanges drilled with the Ital pitch and then the drums drilled to match - the old holes welded up as well. As for who to go to - I got my axle built by HTR and am pleased with the result - very nicely finished and the box sectioning seems a much neater solution in my eyes. I was offered the Ital pitch mod but decided against it as I wanted the benifit of being able to change wheels/tyres more easily (a set of track wheels will be easier to find with Ford pitch). HTR are on 01474 872888 Other alternatives are Chris at The 7 Workshop who did this on Tony Boyds car (union flag car) and SPC who built up Ford axles also. Graham, If you retain the Ital pitch you will not need new front hub (£125 + £45 for bearings), nor new wheels or tyres, you can use your current A-frame, radius arms and dampers. The only expenses will be the built axle itself (reduce by not having an LSD fitted), some longer wheel studs (£12), Propshaft shortening (~£80) and some rear brake lines (not sure yet but ~£30-40 should cover it). I have modified my own chassis and it is quite straight forward - although not been tested yet! It still isn't cheap, but retaining wheels would save you approx. £300-350 depending on the state of your wheels for selling on. Phil Waters You mean you can drive these? I thought it was just there to polish 😬 Edited by - philwaters on 17 Jan 2003 08:32:01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris K Posted January 17, 2003 Author Share Posted January 17, 2003 Cheers Phil, Graham, I called Bruce at Arch n he told me that I shouldnt have to modify the chassis, its just a case of bending back some ali' and checking clearance from diff/prop to the reciever for the drivers left lower seat belt mount.. Chris warm out today.. only -1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary-Cornwall Posted January 17, 2003 Share Posted January 17, 2003 Make sure you get the smaller of the escort diff flanges to help with the clearance. I'm currently doing the conversion myself having dropped in the Vx 2.0 16v and we went down the route of keeping the ital pcd and re-drilling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonycaterham Posted January 18, 2003 Share Posted January 18, 2003 Chris, I did the conversion last year but converted to Ford PCD. I sold my Ital PCD wheels on Blatchat and bought two sets 2nd wheels through same. I would recommend you change especially if you are going to do trackdays because if you want to 'try' someones else tyres out at an event them most will be running Ford pcd. Also buying additional sets of wheels is easier. As to chassis mods with small flange on diff then I only had to 'massage' the panelling at the rear of the transmission tunnel. You can buy the prop flange from Tran-X (www.tran-x.com) I was told they supply them to Westfield but cheaper to buy direct from Tran-x rather than go to Westfield! If you want more details email me offline and then we can discuss over the phone. P.S I do not know where you are in country but I got my proposhaft shortened by Burgess of Bradford who do an excellent job (supplied me with new smaller prop flange and whole lost cost me about £60 including re-balance and painted!!. See their website wwww.propshaft .co.uk Tony Pickering 😬 Hmm just realised you live in Finland so some of the above may not apply but Bradford is in the 'frozen north' of England!!! Edited by - tony7 on 18 Jan 2003 08:42:54 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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