Escort/Capri

[jay395]

Has anyone use a solid axle like the escort or Capri in the rear of their kit car?

[Big Vern]

Has anyone use a solid axle like the escort or Capri in the rear of their kit car?

Haynes roadster was designed around the Sierra indepednent rear end its too wide for the escort carpi type rear axle.

If you want to use the escort/capri style running gear then you want to be looking at the ron Champion locost

[jay395]

Oh right thanks, will stick to the sierra ones in that case.
Thanks

[Not Anumber]

I'm presuming you are asking this because you have a donor Capri on hand waiting to be reborn into a kit car ?
The Haynes came about amid concerns that rwd Escort and Cortina donors were no longer widely available. It is also has the benefit of being a stronger design than the original Ron Champion locost and was made wider at the rear to accommodate the wider Sierra IRS.
If you did want to build a Haynes Roadster but with a live (solid) rear axle you would need to integrate parts of the Ron Champion book (or McSorley etc) design when locating the axle and rear suspension. A mark 2/3Capri or mark 4/5 Cortina axle could be made to fit but a mark 1 or 2 Escort axle would just look too narrow for the standard Haynes bodywork.

As you will see when reading posts on the forum a version of the Haynes design has been developed using Mazda MX5 running gear throughout. Compared to that it should be relatively easy to modify the chassis design for a Ford live axle and there is always a chance one of the chassis builders may be able to make a suitable chassis for you. It's worth noting the development on the Mazda based variation was due to concerns about the future availability of Sierra parts- they can still be found now but likely to be a different tale in a few years. Everything moves forward as older parts become scarcer and newer parts become commonplace.

[Big Vern]

I'm presuming you are asking this because you have a donor Capri on hand waiting to be reborn into a kit car ?
The Haynes came about amid concerns that rwd Escort and Cortina donors were no longer widely available. It is also has the benefit of being a stronger design than the original Ron Champion locost and was made wider at the rear to accommodate the wider Sierra IRS.
If you did want to build a Haynes Roadster but with a live (solid) rear axle you would need to integrate parts of the Ron Champion book (or McSorley etc) design when locating the axle and rear suspension. A mark 2/3Capri or mark 4/5 Cortina axle could be made to fit but a mark 1 or 2 Escort axle would just look too narrow for the standard Haynes bodywork.

As you will see when reading posts on the forum a version of the Haynes design has been developed using Mazda MX5 running gear throughout. Compared to that it should be relatively easy to modify the chassis design for a Ford live axle and there is always a chance one of the chassis builders may be able to make a suitable chassis for you. It's worth noting the development on the Mazda based variation was due to concerns about the future availability of Sierra parts- they can still be found now but likely to be a different tale in a few years. Everything moves forward as older parts become scarcer and newer parts become commonplace.

Main problem would be axle width/rear track when using the live axle.

Sierra/mx5 have a much wider track and the haynes chassis is wider

You would need to find a suitably wide live axle which may not have suitable axle ratios available.