1981 Mercury Capri BDA Cosworth?

[FoxChassis]

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/your_g...ars/9143.shtml



Bob Fehan and Ron Fournier built this one of a kind BDA Cosworth Capri, all the body mods were fabricated in STEEL, the 350 hp Cosworth put this on top of the pony car charts, 5 speed ZF Gearbox, Ford 9" 5 bar link suspension, Koni shocks, Racaro seats. Stright line performance was 0 to 60 in 4.5 sec and 1/4 mile times were 12.9 sec. one more thing it pulled just under 1G on the skid pad. Thanks to Bobby Fehan and Ron Fournier for building cars like this almost 30 years ago.

[1982 niGhTmare]

man that is flippin sweet

i like the wide body and chin spoiler, but not so sure on the scoop in the side.

what is BDA?

[FoxChassis]

The title of the page says "DBA" but the main body says "BDA". Recaro is misspelled as Racaro, so who knows what is what....

[1982 niGhTmare]

i guess its BDA

The BDA series

Cosworth increased its association with Ford in 1969, by developing a DOHC 16-valve inline four cylinder engine for road use in the Ford Escort. Working from the Kent block, Cosworth created a 1,601 cc (97.7 cu in) for homologation purposes. The camshafts were driven by a toothed belt, hence the name BDA, literally meaning "Belt Drive, A type". Running in Group 2 and Group 4 on either rallying or touring car racing, this engine could be enlarged to a maximum of 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in). The nominal homologation at 1,601 cc (97.7 cu in) capacity meant that BDA-engined cars competed in what was usually the top class (1600 cc and up) so were eligible for absolute victories rather than class wins.
In 1970, the BDC evolution received fuel injection for the first time. Two years later, the BDA series was being used in Formula 2, first at around 1,800 cc (109.8 cu in), until reaching a maximum of 1,975 cc (120.5 cu in) in 1973, as the developed BDG form of the engine, which also received an aluminium block.
The block could also be shortened, starting with the 1,599 cc (97.6 cu in) Formula Atlantic engine in 1970, followed by the 1,100 cc (67.1 cu in) and 1,300 cc (79.3 cu in) variants for SCCA club racing and sports car racing.
In the 1980s, the engine saw its final incarnations, the 1,700 cc (103.7 cu in) BDR, used in the road-going version of the Caterham, and the 1.8 L BDT, which powered the never raced Escort RS1700T, and the more competitive Ford RS200, which was created for Group B rallying. A 2,137 cc (130.4 cu in) evolution model was developed by Brian Hart just as Group B was cancelled by the FIA. The BDT-E turbocharged versions gave over 600 bhp (450 kW) in Group B rallycross configuration.
In 1970, Ford asked Weslake and Co of Rye to build the BDA Engine for them, and by the end of 1970 the production line had been installed at Rye and production was under way.
The Hart 420R owes much to the BDA series, being essentially an aluminium-block derivative using similar heads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosworth#The_BDA_series

[FoxChassis]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110376033492

[dburdyshaw]

man that is flippin sweet

i like the wide body and chin spoiler, but not so sure on the scoop in the side.

what is BDA?

man, i'd hope that nobody would ever flip something that sweet

i like the wide body and the scoop on the side, but not so sure 'bout the chin spoiler.

well, DBA is commonly "doing business as" ---- but who knows 'bout BDA.

[dburdyshaw]

oh yeah, love those rims, too.

[evlgt85]

http://foureyedpride.com/fep_bild/v/...orth2.jpg.html

[FoxChassis]

Well there you go! I guess that paragraph I quoted is pretty much useless.... says 350 HP and the FMS SVO postcard says 185 HP. And they couldn't even spell Recaro right. Heh.

[mattquerio]

That is one bad bad fox, over 1g is the number that got my attention, its pretty common to see a fox run a 12.9, but a fox that will pull a G on the pad is a sight to behold.


Maybe Jay has modded it, I mean he did put Nitrous on his 1 of 7 shogun.....

[1982 niGhTmare]

That is one bad bad fox, over 1g is the number that got my attention, its pretty common to see a fox run a 12.9, but a fox that will pull a G on the pad is a sight to behold.


Maybe Jay has modded it, I mean he did put Nitrous on his 1 of 7 shogun.....

yea over 1g is pretty bada**.


i guess i can get credit for finding out what BDA meant?

anyone?

yes?

hello?

i'll stop now...

[negusm]

That postcard has also been here since before time began....

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Literature/PostCards.htm

[NAVYCAT]

where is the car now?

[crimsoncat66]

good question!

[tORMENtOR]

where is the car now?

Most likely sitting next to the PPG Pace Car

[mattquerio]

Most likely sitting next to the PPG Pace Car

That sounds about right, right where it belongs really.

[Chris Wood]

Almost 1 g dosen't really impress me--sorry. My Gen I Lightning pulled 1g back in '94. In the years that the Gen I were built ('93-'95) they out handled the 'vettes.
The car is cool though, I like the chin spoiler and the "extra" flared fenders. I'm not diggin' the side scoop--although I imagine it was for rear brake cooling or possilby to provide airflow to a cooler (tranny or differential).

[mattquerio]

Still very impressive, we are talking 1981, my brothers 86 vette was tested at .91g if I recall correctly.

[85XR7Project]

Almost 1 g dosen't really impress me--sorry. My Gen I Lightning pulled 1g back in '94. In the years that the Gen I were built ('93-'95) they out handled the 'vettes.

Have you ever seen the body roll on a lightning, its CRAZY.

[Chris Wood]

Have you ever seen the body roll on a lightning, its CRAZY.

Yep, there are actually a couple of fellas over on NLOC.NET that road race / autocross 'em.

[xctasy]

where is the car now?

Its b-a-c-k....The Fehan-Fournier built prototype Cosworth Belt Drive "A" 1980 or more likely 1981 Capri is for sale again.
This is still a less than 500 mile prototype Fox with a cool history.

According to my Hemmings email on 21 Dec at 3:10 AM my time, the re-sale takes place from January 3-13, 2019, at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida.








This car is a text book example of

a) guard pumping and metal work in steel

and

b) how to make 97 cubic inch Kent engines make 186, or 215 hp in full race 97 cube form. Its happiness was belt fed.

With Race fuel systems (still with carbs) and with cams that come on song at 6500 rpm but pull hard to 10000 rpm, it can go over 225 to 265 hp. Injected, Turbo-ed or with an enlarged iron 1803-1975 cc or alloy 2137 block, they go over 350 to 650 hp in race trim. Cosworth raced to reinvent the modern production pent roof 4 valve per cylinder engine in 1969, and they quickly made a much stronger than Lotus 1600 twin cam head for the same 1600 Ford engine block, just the same as the 1969 Pinto and 1980 Fiesta base engine. In terms on a factrory bolt on head, it was effectively a more simplified belt driven version of the gear-driven FVA in line four and DFV/DFX V8 3.78" bore spacing 4 valve per cylinder head. Christened the BDA, it was totally half a Cosworth DFX head with Belts.

[qikgts]

Here is the Mecum listing...

https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0119-35...osworth-capri/

[KCoker]

yea over 1g is pretty bada**.


i guess i can get credit for finding out what BDA meant?

anyone?

yes?

hello?

i'll stop now...

Yes, you are correct on the engine. It is about 185 hp from a non turbo 4cy which is pretty good, I need a BDG 2.0 for my McLaren race car. It was around 250 hp.

[evlgt85]

It's great to see that this car has escaped the fate of so many other one-offs. It'll be interesting to see where the car goes and for how much.

[xctasy]

Yes, you are correct on the engine. It is about 185 hp from a non turbo 4cy which is pretty good, I need a BDG 2.0 for my McLaren race car. It was around 250 hp.

Excuse the keystroke stutter, my devices remote keyboard is acting up...



I guess you know already that the whole project of letter BD's were initially all based on stock iron Kent blocks from 1969 to early 1973. If your stuck, drop me a line on what you need. Block, carbs. I know you had the back up M81 245 hp race car, which was supposed to be a 2 liter alloy block engine.

To get that kind of power from even a 1975 cc BDG, they needed DCO 55 Weber's with 48mm venturi's. Miniliteman on the TS forum makes 260 hp at 7600 rpm and 200 lb-ft at 5800 rpm. To do 245 on a 97 cuber, it would have to rev to 9500 rpm and more. Any engine that makes 1.65 lb-ft for cubic inch is an absolute dynamo! I think aftermarket stroker Modular 5.8's are only making that now with variable vale timing.....Ford were doing it back in the late 70's with 1.6, 1.8 and 2 liter BD Fours....what an amazing, elastic engine!!!!!

You find the BDG's around in fair numbers, and the cost of building them has dropped, so a block pick-up is now easier than during the Works rear drive rally Escort days, where Ford wanted to own each one. People are lazy, and don't realize how to build them right. Down here, the old works RS 1600 and RS1800 cheap out, and use Nissan and Toyota twin cam 4 and 5 valve engines, rather than spend the time finishing the bores and pistons right, tuft-riding the crank, and torquing the head right to avoid costly failures. So much sensational info exists, and parts are around in droves.

One of the things the late Kenneth Duckworth said of all small bore spacing Cosworths was that they weren't really designed as endurance engines. Like the old 3.9 Ford Lemans V8 racers, they were being pushed to hard for a small bore center engine. The BD's just happened to do Endurance events really well, by having a great, wide torque and power band, and sounding just fantastic for a sewing machine engine. That very engine is still on the top 5 famous Noises of international Rallying.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG-T...ature=youtu.be

IIRC, early G's were made as furnace brazed or vacuum welded liner engines from a good stock 71M block. They had over bores up to 237 thou, which was just possible with the South African blocks. To get into the 90 mm piston zone (3.543 and bigger) that would need a massive 356 thou over bore. They did it by linering a stock engine United Kingdom Kent block. Then they went to an alloy AX block for the 73 onwards Rallye and circuit cars, and life was astoundingly grand!. But the Siamese block had less than 15/64th of an inch between cylinders, just the same as a 40 thou over 400 Chev, an engine known for rigidity problems and gasket failure.

Like the same bore centered DFX and DFV V8 (just two co-joined FVA's to make a V8 ) despite a track history of wins, those narrow bore spacings made it and the Little BD's non endurance engine when turbo charged with big bores and longer strokes. The DFX was a de-stroked DFV, and it survived on 80 pounds absolute!, but all of the early BD Cossies were not enduro engines. The last RS200 Hart BDT-E was still a 3.78" bore spacing engine, just like the Ford designed, Mazda built 2.3 and 2.5 fours are today. Since they too are based on the same BDA dimesions, bespite not being a BDA, they have the same bore spacings. That was ultimatley the problem with small Ford fours.

Ford USA prempted the development of the twin cam four...the 2.0 Pinto was German OHC with a 4.016" bore spacing engine. By the time it was made in the USA in 1974 , it got reworked with a Volvo B series average bore spacing of 4.17", It may have taken a while, but a Volvo 16 valve head (Like the Yoshifab California B234F head swap to SVO 2.3) bolts right onto a Ford Lima OHC from a 2 liter Ranger, 2.3 Mustang , or the last 2.5 Ford OHC Rangers. Ford were on the right track with bigger engines. Adding a 16 valve head smoothen's the 4 cylinders engine vibrations like they do on all engines.

The emerging European Chrysler in the C160/180 ( later used in the Talbot Targora, Matra Murena and the Peugeot 505 STi ) were all 4.074 bore centers.

The Lotus 2 and 2.2 liters, Jensen Healy and Vauxhall 1.6/1.8/2.0/2.3 were all 4.125". Despite the bad mouthing and frustration on the alloy block "unrealiabity" the best versions of the Chevy four was the 2 liter Vega Cosworth. It had a mammoth 4.40" bore spacing because it used the SBC V8 and in line L6 transfer line, and if the block was production engineered correctly, it was a superb engine. The Roy Lund Kent engine survived because of its narrow bore spacings. Ford had other engines for other applications, it was all an experiment!

Right about then (1976 to 1983), Brain Hart went to the Big Bore 4.15 and 4.2" bore spacing Hart 415 and 420R's were full on Formula 2 and 1 engines, with a full water jacket and other features, designed for turboing.



That Mercury Cosworth is a 186 hp at 6800 rpm engine, with about 135 lb-ft at 5000rpm, with a 1:1 top gear ZF Escort "Works" gearbox with circuit ratios. A "normal" street-able 97 cubic inch BDE runs at 170 hp at 6200 rpm, and 126 lb-ft at 5500 rpm on 10.5:1 compression.

Emssionised, it would have had to become a 1778 cc engine with Cosworth Vega style port EFi, and its hard to see how it could have weight in at more than 136 hp at 6500 rpm and 124 lb-ft at 4200 rpm when de-smoged on regular gas for the early 80's.

Even the 1981 Lotus 16 valve Twin cam in US emissions wasn't making more than 136 hp back then. Toyota took years to get its 1600 and 2000 twin cam 8 and 16 valve engines to the same level, and emissions compliance took an age. The 4AGE and 3SG engines had to use a lot of twin runner EFi work to get to there 136 to 170 hp emissions legal offerings in the mid to late eighties. The BDG was basically an engine in need of the September 1982 Essex developed Escort EECIV EFi and TFi ignition. The 1984 EXP Turbo and 2.3 EFi Mustang got it in 1983.


If it shared , say, the Escort RS 1700T engine (turbo BDT), it would have taken the world over. A turbo would have made it to the production line with a minimum of 190 hp and 170 lb-ft. The best BDE 1. 8 liter made only 245 bhp non turboed, to make 180 was easy, but not so easy to pass regular emissions.


That Mercury Cosworth was a very special experiment! Numbers never stacked up with a 97 cube engine and non turbo or Big Bore block. Anyway, the recession hit, and althoug little engines should have sold, the only game in town became the United States 1600 Escort EXP Turbo, the 1983 145 hp and then 1984-196 to 175 or 205 hp 2300 EFi, and they were all SVO breathed engines.

Then the re-fortified 2 and 4V and Port Efi 5.0 easily met the better than 4 cylinder horsepower and emissions targets with ease.


Fords desire for small capacity BD engines was probably all because of how smooth and sweet a 16 Valve 1.6 to 1.8 liter engine is at 10000 rpm in 225-245 hp race form. In a tin top sedan based car, they sound a lot deeper than the best Formula Atlantic BD'S. Alfa Romeos and the best Fiat twin cammers sound tame by comparison...


You can see why Ford wanted to purchase Alfa Romeo in 1986! It had a lot to bring to the table.

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotu...72-t19020.html

The thing that is hard to convey is how these engines rev and pull when set up well
they are very eager and I found quite drive-able in most driving conditions
and when you put the boot in the sound is unforgettable

I love the work done on making the Mercury Cosworth and M81 Cosworth McLaren happen. Its very special.

A lot of work went into dry sumping those engines!

When you compare the narrow engine bay (with struts and ITB Webers) and long bay (with engine)





The turned in at Mercum 2016 auction M81 Cosworth McLaren Race Car Serial No. 001. This was the brother to the 002 shaved Firestone HPR 1981 24 Hours of Daytona McLaren M-81 with naturally aspirated BDG.












After crashing out early, the gaffer taped M81 piloted by Tom Klausler and John Morton would finish 21st overall in the 4 cyl Mustang. They were the highest placed finish for any American car that year




Looks like Fournier did the hammer form metal work on that car too, I'll bet....


to, say the Lotus Elan's Big 8 Valve to 16 valve BDE conversion





You know, kind of Wide underhood with no struts and a very, very short underhood.....







Those Dry sump boxes sure take up some space! The engine set back is the same as the 2.3, but the front of the engine is back another 1.56 inches. Its almost a front midships engine!

Without power steering, and 255/55 15's, I'd bet that the steering with a tiny 265 pound engine rather than an over 315 pound 2.3 or 400 to 470 pound Windsor V8 would be pretty good.