MkII escort 4door forest arches

JordyCharlieBoz · 18-03-2009, 11:04 PM

The other day I was reading something about putting forest arches on a MkII escort 4door, explaned all that had to be done to the rear doors, but i desided that it was going to be to expensive. But now i have found some reasonable priced fiberglass forest arches and I wanted to figure out exactly how much work is needed to be done to the rear doors to put them on.

I have googled this but i cant seem to find the page i was on the other day. If anyone is able to point me in the right direction I would be in there debt.

Or if anyone has done this (fit arches to a 4door MkII) any advice/tips would be worth its weight in gold.

Puzzlescort · 19-03-2009, 01:26 PM

I havent fitted arches to a 4 door however, if you are putting them on to gain full advantage of the extra space they can create, the doors will need major work as the inner guard is heavily modified.
If you are only adding them for looks, you may be able to get away with out modifiying the front (leading edge) of the inner guards which means no major modifications to the rear doors
I have plenty of pics of guards on 2 doors being modified if that helps

JamesR · 19-03-2009, 02:15 PM

some info here.
http://rsmotorsport.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1160

JordyCharlieBoz · 20-03-2009, 10:52 PM

Thanks for the link JamesR
Puzzlescort, Im needing the extra space the guards create... on the front only lol. I have 205/65/13 tyres on it atm and the tyres on the front scrap at full lock =[. Im only going for the look at the rear. Any pics you would be greatly apprecated.

rag top · 20-03-2009, 11:16 PM

Would trimming with a grinder solve the clearance issue?
I ran 215/50/13's and had to trim the front nosecone slightly to get sufficient clearance at full lock.

JordyCharlieBoz · 21-03-2009, 12:47 AM

A grinder would more than likly fix the problem lol. But i want to make my car a bit tougher so im wanting to put the arches on it =]

Now i wondering how do I get the wheels to fill the arches? Wheel spacers are illegal, so is the only way to get new rims with more -itive offset?

whooligan · 22-03-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JordyCharlieBoz

A grinder would more than likly fix the problem lol. But i want to make my car a bit tougher so im wanting to put the arches on it =]

Now i wondering how do I get the wheels to fill the arches? Wheel spacers are illegal, so is the only way to get new rims with more -itive offset?

Wack in a Capri diff....They're a few inches wider than an Escort, allows 7 inch rims to fill the arches.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you are better off finding a rusty 2dr to modify rather than trying to fit arches on a 4dr. I don't think I have ever seen a 4dr with arches that didn't look "wrong"......Good luck with the project anyway.

eltel · 15-04-2009, 12:06 AM

hi there just found this on google and am now a member.i too am fitting arches to a four door,i bought the 1975 forest arches as the rears are not much bigger than the fronts so there is no need to chop so much of the arch out.there is still quite a bit of work involved but my arches are now chopped out and welded back up ready to except the new fibreglass arches.i have seen a few four door conversions and they are not that good they either weld the doors up and dont fill in the door gap or they fill in the gap but leave the quarter window in the back door and it dont look right so the way i am doing mine is i am gonna transfer the rear door shape to the arches and cut and fill them so the rear doors are still fully operational .im not gonna try and make the car look like an rs or a mexico coz it just wont work im gonna make it my own and keep the square headlights and i have a lotus twink to drop in there and the car will be badged as a gt the car that ford should of but never made it is work in progress and i do have pictures to post of the rear arches once i have found my way round the site and figure out how to post pictures

cheers all

tel

JordyCharlieBoz · 15-04-2009, 12:38 AM

Wellcome to the forum Tel.
I had decided to put my wheel arches on like an SLR5000. (just noticed your from the uk, this is an SLR5000 http://aussieexotics.com/drivers/alb...d_DSC_0120.jpg)
Part of the wheel arch it attched to the door. So the rear can still be used =)

eltel · 15-04-2009, 01:00 AM

hi mate yes that right its not gonna be easy and a fair bit of filler work but if done right it will look the nuts i think and as far as im aware there wont be another in the uk like it,i have searched hi and low on this subject and no one could help so i just went at it with the angle grinder and think its gonna work im just try and post some pictures for ya

tel

sorry mate for some reason i cant post pictures

:

eltel · 15-04-2009, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltel

hi mate yes that right its not gonna be easy and a fair bit of filler work but if done right it will look the nuts i think and as far as im aware there wont be another in the uk like it,i have searched hi and low on this subject and no one could help so i just went at it with the angle grinder and think its gonna work im just try and post some pictures for ya

tel

sorry mate for some reason i cant post pictures

:

the only difference being in the picture is when i chop my arches it is gonna follow the contour of the door so when you open the door it will follow the same shape as the inner wheel arch as you see it by the rear seat if you know what i mean

outback_ute · 15-04-2009, 03:22 PM

Tel, have a read of this regarding posting pictures: http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=20569

Jordy, don't forget the restriction on the amount you can widen the track width. Also if you have too much offset on the wheels you will overload the wheel bearings and upset steering geometry.

JordyCharlieBoz · 15-04-2009, 08:22 PM

Jordy, don't forget the restriction on the amount you can widen the track width. Also if you have too much offset on the wheels you will overload the wheel bearings and upset steering geometry.

Yeah i know about the restriction on extending track width... im sure every car on the road is legal :evil3:
But yeah I will be careful about the offset of rims. The rear is what has to be changed the most, probs will put a hilux diff in it so i dont need 0 or negitive offset rims to fill the arches Will be safer that way, and he front only has to come out a lil more will do that with offset rims.