68 replies to this topic

[dirtbag]

Hello again!


Well last year after toranafest I dropped my brothers hatch at its new home and grabbed this little brown MK1 escort 2 door. I'm the second owner and thought it would be an awesome car to put aside and maybe do up one day for my daughter.

Anyway, Simon decided he'd like it so now I'm going to build it for him : )


Here's the monster when we picked it up from Sutton about an hour out of Canberra.







Here's my big fat self and the original owner Dennis. I've named the car Dennis. I think it's fitting. He's giong to be a menace too I'm sure : )




Fully sick coil over shocks too!




So anyway, it cam home and got a wash.


One side was really good.





One side wasn't : )








Still, for a 71 model car it's not bad.

Plus it was one of the first cars ever into my new shed.





So after sitting around for nearly a year, it was getting a bit crusty, as it spent a bit of time outside. I thought an engine bay degrease couldn't hurt.





Nice poo!





Shiny : )





So finally it's time to tear the old beast apart.

Luckily it's one of the most rust free cars I've had to work on lately.






This is how one of the reverse lights was wired up. Awesome : )




There's a couple of teeny tiny rust spots under the stupid sill trims. Who the hell likes sill trims anyway??? They ruin cars!





I had to wrestle the windows out of this thing! Man they were hard to get out! Lots of glue.




The windscreen was already cracked, so it broke more getting it out even after razor blading the rubbers and glue. At least the other windows came out in one piece.




The front bits were a bit of a pain to take apart. It's almost like this car hasn't been taken apart for 40 years!




The next fun job was ripping the interior out.




I only found 20 cents. Ripped off!




The rear panel has a few issues, and new ones are fairly cheap so will probably get a new one.







There is also a very small rust bubble on the underside, and some filler from previous repairs. Still, for it's age it's marvellous : )


I removed the chrome trim from around the windows and drilled out the clip rivets as the trims aren't going back on. I'll just weld the holes up.





Big block : )





I've started taking a few things out of the engine bay, but not much yet. It's a start though!





I've just been doing bits and pieces in between other jobs.

I did have a go at the passengers front guard though as it has had a decent hit at some stage and doesn't line up any more. The guards are welded on so it's hammer time : )




You can see how much it sticks out past the door.





Here it is now.









So that's it for now. I'll keep posting as stuff gets done.

One thing I will say though, this is getting painted on the bonnet : )

[Mort]

Ooh Ooh, a unicorn Heman,oh ducky.

[dirtbag]

Nah no v8 for this one, it has to have rego. Just a 4 banger for this one as it's going to be daily transport. Still cool though :-)

[ReplicarSLR]

Cosworth dual cam motor, Big RS guards and minilite wheels ???

[dirtbag]

Well there's been a bit more work done, but still nothing too exciting.


The new rear panel arrived. Looks good.





It's been a long time since I've worked on an escort, but it didn't take long to remember how much fun it is getting the brake booster assembly and pedal box out : )

Then it was time to rip the donk.





Found some lovely in the top hose : )







The next thing I got to remember was just how bloody annoying the gearsticks are to remove. Took ages!!!!





Then the good bit : )





So if anyone is after a running 1300 and 4 speed to go in their A9X Group C racecar, here's one : )





I then pulled the rest of the crap out of the engine bay. All that's left in there now is the fuel line and the rear brake line.





I took all the main stuff out from under the dash too. Just some wiring, wiper motor and steering column in there now,





I even gave the inside a vacuum.





Bad news!!!! I found a rust hole under where the fuel tank was!!!





Then when I started striping paint off I found another one!!!! What am I going to do?








So that;s all I've done so far. I'll keep chipping away at the paint until it's nude : )

[lxsstorana]

Two rust holes..... you're got to be kidding.

Do yourself a favour and send it back to the owner while you still can.

[dirtbag]

Yeah I know Mick, I think it might be a write off!!!

[dirtbag]

Oh brother!

[dirtbag]

Well I did a bit more yesterday.


Well, after my daughter had finished playing in it, that is : )





So next job was to strip out the wiper assembly, door handles and side mirror. Then get cracking on paint removal.







The left rear corner is a bit ordinary, but it's fixable.






I found another little bit of rust. This is getting out of control! How will I fix that???







This is the front half of the left hand rear quarter. Lots of bog here. There was also a lot of surface rust under the bog. Not ideal. That's why I don't do bodywork on bare steel, always on epoxy etch primer.





I could even get my nail under the filler and pull it away from the panel.





The rear panel is getting replaced so I didn't bother stripping it.






I just like this pic : )





The bootlid and bonnet got stripped as well. And of course everything got a coat of rust converter.







Well I'm really happy with the few little things I found under the paint. Because this is going to be more of a restoration it's nice to start with something so solid.

[dirtbag]

Hi Steve, I used a 2 speed sander/buffer with 24 grit discs to strip the paint.


I did a tiny bit today. I just welded up the badge holes on the boot, bonnet and front guards. I also fixed the tiny bit of rust in the front guard above the headlight.











I still have to weld all the holes around the side windows where the chrome trims used to be. Even though this car is pretty much a restoration things like badges and trims are a nuicance.