100E Cosworth project

Our brief for this build was 350 BHP Cosworth and 17 x 10’s inside standard bodywork, and no cage.

This car was sandblasted to bare metal and had been left untouched in another restorers back shed for 6 long years in this sorry state, before it came to us for what is to be the ultimate road going 100 E, probably.

Over the years some work had been carried out on this car, the Cosworth engine and T5 box were fitted, the bulkhead had been modified and the roof gutters removed. Capri front struts were installed along with rack and pinion steering, but that was where it was left. All the above was fairly straightforward for almost any restorer, but when it came to fitting 17 x 10’s inside standard rear arches, work ground to a halt.

When we collected the car for the customer, we knew we would be starting again on this project. The first job was to sandblast it again to see what we had taken on. The standard of workmanship was average to poor, and nothing coming out of our workshop was going to be dragged down to that level. We knew what we had to do and it wasn’t long before the plans were drawn up and agreed by the owner to make a full chassis running independent rear end, based on Sierra Cosworth, but using our own fabricated narrow version, as seen on Lee’s 105E Anglia we made last year.

The first mock up with the floor and bulkhead out of the way. Rears are ‘only’ 11 x 15’s here but close enough.

After sandblasting we could see the extent of the filler and the dodgy repairs. We only sandblast firm structures like frames and corners. Previous blasting of flat panels had caused distortion.