Fingers

Im pretty sure i held 5th at speed up there. I don’t remember really having to work 4th. 
 
i think once it was at speed, it could hold 5th up hill fine. 
i can cruise around in 5th at 60km/h for example. 

Well there hasn’t been much more work on the Escort, even though it still needs some finishing touches. 
 
Today however, I drove the car up to my good friend Michael’s house in Sunbury. Michael is the friend who found me this car for sale way back in 2016 when I bought it, and he hasn’t seen it since the accident. I figured it was about time i took it up to him to finally see it finished.
From place its a bit over an hour, and a good bit of sitting on highway with 110km/h speed limit. 
Today in Melbourne it was around 29 degrees. The Escort, sat on 110km/h, or a bit more, with ease. That 5th gear has made it such a better car to drive. This was also the furthest from home (as the crow flies) i had driven the car, and the most highway, and highway speed driving it has done. 
everything was good. Temp was good, oil pressure, rpm, sat on about 3200rpm at 110km/h. 
I think today was a really good test for it, and it seems to be good and sorted. I was a little nervous being that far from home in case something happened. 

I really like the look of the RS wheels

For more peace of mind about whether you sealed the holes, get something like penetrol or similar wicking agent. Squirt a bit around all the clips, repeat a couple of times over a couple of weeks and it should get a good barrier layer in there to help prevent (or at least dramatically slow) any corrosion.

Thanks guys. 
Its a huge effort, and its something i don’t want to do again. Ever. well at least not from a smashed base. Id probably be ok with building a car from a good base, but not from something thats been stacked. 
 
There will always be things I wish I had done differently. 
I wish i had replaced the roof lining. I was convinced to leave it because its original and to be fair, in good condition. I may still do it in the future. 
Im on the fence with the carpet. The rear is in great condition, front for obvious reasons is worn out. 
There are things like the P clips I used in the engine bay for wiring. Most of them reused existing holes but most had to drilled larger to allow for nut inserts/rivet nuts to go in. I have no memory, of touching up the bare metal after enlarging these holes, although it’s something im sure i did, i took no record like photos of proof that i did. So i hope i did, or im sure ill start seeing minor surface rust. 
 
there are things I will probably change in the future like the fuel supply line. The hose is fine, the way I’ve pinned it to the chassis could be better. 

Otherwise I am just happy to have it back on the road, and now I can just enjoy it. 
 
on the note of the wheels, i had a deep think about wheels for it about a week ago. 
 
I look at my wagon with the 18” Snowflakes, and I can safely say I found “the wheel” for that car. You know, the wheel that just finishes the car off and suits the car better than any other option. 
 
With the Escort, I haven’t found “that wheel” yet. 
I love the 15s, for their lightweight design, the style and the look it gives the car, but they are 15s. 
The RS 4 spokes look amazing when they are in good condition, mine have deteriorated and don’t have the appeal at the moment. I took them off because they were letting the rest of the car down. But when finances allow, ill have them professionally restored. 
 
In the meantime, im going go a different path. I have a set of genuine ROH manufactured, Lotus Cortina 13 x 6 steel wheels. Their offset is approximately 10mm further proud than factory Escort offset, which is why I had the guards rolled. 
I plan to have these cleaned up and powder coated in silver, and im hoping these will give the car a more aggressive, but period correct stance with the wide steelies. 

Ok I should probably update you all. 
 
its a month since my last update and well, the car is very close to finished, with only relatively minor things needed to finish it off. 
 
I only have the photos on my phone, so i will get to them in a seperate post, but I'll give you the run down. 
 
The interior is all back in, including the new mass sound deadener/carpet underlay, which made a massive difference to cabin noise. 
 
The brand new reproduction inner sill trims/carpet trims are in. 
 
I was under pressure from the RSOCV guys about getting the car "finished", or at the very least ready for display at Small Ford Sunday 2024, which happened Sunday just gone. So I had a lot of work ahead of me, with less than 4 weeks (since my last update) so get the car sorted. 
 
Needless to say, i made it. I had the car at SFS24, running and driving under its own power. 
 
Although it made it to SFS, the stereo wasn't wired up, thats not a big deal, but as of Friday morning the car nearly didn't make it. As of Friday morning, the car was not drivable. I was shattered. 
The car was having gearbox issues, which scared the crap out of me, given Rod and I had modified the gearbox, I was terrified something with the gearbox went wrong, but it was the aftermarket short shifter. 🤔
How? well i wouldn't have believed it, if I didn't read it on a number of UK based forums, that some cheaper or lesser quality short shifters randomly fail, causing issues with being able to select 1st gear. In my case, I could not engage 1st gear at all, and it was crunching into 5th 😑
The fix, was to refit the standard shifter, and sure enough, problem solved. 
 
Friday, 2 days out from SFS, i still had a few things to sort out. 
- Fix the gearbox issue
- finish polishing the outer sill trims, replace black stripe, and fit back on the car (pop riveted on) 
- and change the wheels to something presentable. the 13" 4 spokes are nice, but the black paint is flaking again, so need a pro resto job. so the car is back to running on the 15s. 
 
 
 
Ive been putting some decent kms on the car, driving back and forth to my folks place to reassemble the car in stages. the fuel consumption is the best it has ever been in the time ive owned the car, returning 9.8L/100km on the first tank i recorded. It will definitely go lower on the open road, and when I stop using so much throttle 🤣
 
with the new carpet underlay in, the Recaro seats, and the 5 speed, the car is comfortable, and really nice to drive basically anywhere. i can sit on the freeway and cruise in it at 100km/h no worries. its not noisy, it feels tight, its not working too hard, and it doesn't get hot. 
 
So, whats left to do? 
 
- I need to add headlight film to protect the lights
- look at the thermostat/cooling system. its not building temp. i suspect the thermostat is stuck open. 
- Stereo is all wired up, and sounds great
- Front seat rail adapters have been painted today, so tomorrow the front seats can go back in for the last time, 
- waiting on front bumpers to come back from chrome platers. 
 
Other than those few things, the car is mostly done. interior is complete, once the front seats go back in. 
 
exterior is 95% there. 
 
 
So on that note I am just going to leave these two pics below as teasers. In my next update I will add more pics and details of what I went through the last few weeks. there was definitely some challenges. 
 
The top pic is the first drive around the block with the stock shifter back in the gearbox, and the 15" wheels back on. as you can see its a bit later in the day, so it was my only chance to test things out before SFS. 
 
The second pic, is a bit like a proud dad moment, driving the Escort into Small Ford Sunday to display the car. first time I have been in over 3 years, and in my own car again, was a such a great feeling. and the number of people who came to me and wanted to talk to me about the car, because they had heard its story, and what it had been through, was a little overwhelming. 
 

 

Could be points bounce, could be coil, could be vacuum leak, could be timing, could be old fuel, could be spark leads, could be i got no idea what I'm talking about.
Let us know what ya find.....  Love this little Esky.
 
...........and this one too.!
 
 
 

That was something my first Escort suffered

Well some good news. 
 
I do have oil pressure. 
 

 
i went to my dad’s place today and he helped plumb in a mechanical oil pressure gauge. 
Not very fine increments, but that is reading around 30-35psi. 
at the same time the VDO inside was reading 20psi. So my VDO sender appears to be playing up. 
 
Ill just leave the below pic there for you to all enjoy. 
 
first time the Escort has been at my parent’s house since it was off the road. 
 
A quick snap with my father’s S2 Land Rover, affectionately known as George, 1 of 2 specially built, fire service vehicles for Sydney Showgrounds. Unfortunately George’s brother is nowhere to be found. While George has had a full tear down, nut and bolt restoration done by the previous owner. 
 

could also be POINT BOUNCE, i recall it being an issue on something i had, gap too wide possibly but mine was caused by worn dizzy bushings 

I got the driver's side doors finished
 

 

 
 
I needed to make a bracket for the overflow bottle. 
the engine bay is getting pretty tight, so trying to find a spot for it is a bit of a challenge. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Below is what I came up with. 
 
It has a "U" shape in the bottom for the bottle to sit in, and it bolts to an existing Horn bolt. Neither the bracket or bottle touch the body of the car anywhere, except for where the bracket is bolted in at the top. 
 

 

 

 
And to hold the bottle still, i used a velcro strap. simple. 
 

 
Painted the radiator black and reinstalled. Im much happier with it being painted black, really suits the car. 
 

 

 
I got the chance to paint the battery clamp today, so for the first time since its been off the road, the battery is clamped back in the car properly. 
 
I've come to the realisation that, the car is very close to being able to be driven on its proper maiden drive. So, while I have this week off work, I am actually planning to have the car out for its maiden drive by New Years Eve on Sunday. 
 
To make it legal to drive, i have to do the following;
 
- rear rego plate
- rear view mirror 
- wiper arms
- driver's seat belt. 
 
the things i WANT to get done before i drive it, to stop double handling; 
- dash wiring tidy up
- install centre dash panel, which includes my gauges and choke cable and wiper switch
 
I will be over the moon if I can take it for a drive beyond the end of my street, by the end of this weekend 
 
Watch this space. 

well its been a month since the last update 😬 
 
Whats happened in the last month? 
 
I looked into getting the radiator repaired. It will need a complete re-core, which was going to set me back over $600, thanks to the cost of copper at the moment. I just can't quite justify that at the moment, especially after paying $250 for the unit originally. One day I will get it done, but at the moment I think im just going to keep that aside. 
In the meantime, many of the guys from the RSOCV, rave about the cheap eBay alloy radiators. so at this stage I am probably going to take a punt on one, and see how it goes. for about $200 delivered, i could get a few years out of 3 of them before i have spent the some coin on re-coring the copper unit, which given its age could very easily spring a leak elsewhere in 12 months time. 
 
For now, I have the original 1300 radiator in place, just to keep me going, so i can start and move the car around. 
 
Its a little smaller than the upgrade behind it 😕 
 

 
I fitted the original front seat for now just so i can move it around. 
 

 
Got it out of the shed, around into the driveway to wash the 12 months worth of "barn" dust off it, ready to go in for the exhaust 
 

 
Grill back in, number plate on the front, and it looks finished at the front. well it basically is, but i do need to remove the grill to do one more task that i forgot about. 
 

 

 
Next, it was ready for the exhaust. 
 
This was a fair challenge getting the trailer down the driveway. 
I decided to load the car onto the trailer the night before it was going in for the exhaust, because the shop doing the job for me was about 45 minutes drive from home, and they wanted the car by 8am.
The trailer track width was wider than my driveway, so ran down the grass both sides, and bulldozed some of the bushes down the LH side with the mud guards 🤣 
 

 
The Escort on the trailer, fits under my carport comfortably, so once the trailer was loaded i backed her up under the carport to keep it out of the rain. 
 
*race tape on to protect my headlights from any rocks coming off my tyres on my Land Rover* 
 

 
The exhaust shop who did the job absolutely nailed it. Exhaust Fix in Lillydale if any Melbourne people are looking for a good exhaust shop. His freshly restored XD ESP maybe a known car, "RAREXD" is its plates. 
Mick did a 2" system from the headers back to a high flow muffler right before the diff, with a flange upon my request before the diff, to a resonator in the tail pipe. The flange is there in case I want to make it a little louder, he will make up a straight pipe at the back for me. 
The workmanship is spot on, and it sounds perfect. 
Has the perfect little raspy crack to it while not being too loud. 
I can not wait to drive it properly on the street to hear it. 
 

 

 
 
Preparing it for cavity wax and rust protection, Ive been trying to wash out what ever is left of the years of dirt built up in the cavities that are hard to get into. 
after all this time, its incredible how much shit is still coming out of the sills and chassis rails. 
 

 

 
 
Ive been having a bit of trouble getting the car in and out of the shed, because of the step down, onto grass/dirt before the laneway. I bought a pair of gutter ramps, but needed to extend these due to clearance underneath. At the moment this is the solution i have, some timber blocks to help reduce the angle of the drop. and so far its been easier to drive it in rather than back it in, due to traction issues on the grass at the bottom of the ramps. nearly impossible to reverse in

Its a work in progress as I come up with a new idea to help. 
 

 
 
Replaced the dash lights with some low output LEDs. including all the warning lights. 
the photo makes the dash look really bright, but its not. that is at full brightness (mine has a dimmer being a 1975 model) 
 

 
The Oil pressure and Alternator charge light (Amber and Red lights at the bottom) are insanely bright now with the LEDs directly behind them. But I am not mad about that, because if i lose oil pressure, I want to bloody know about it 🤣
 

 
The upper dash is now all back together. 
I just have to tidy up the wiring under the dash so i can install the centre dash panel back in, which will also give me my choke cable back. 
 
Today I picked up my new kenwood amplifier and 8" sub for the car. I previously was running an amp and sub from a BA falcon with premium sound, because the sub fits in the parcel shelf of the Escort with no mods, but they didn't cut it over the engine noise. 
So I am fitted new Kenwood stuff. The amp goes under the passenger seat, and will power the front door speakers as well as the sub in the parcel shelf. I just have to setup the front door speaker wiring to take signal from an amp instead of the head unit, then tidy the rest of the wiring up and tuck it away, and then the dash will be finished. 
 

 
 
So the car is getting close to being done, but whats left? 
 
Once the wiring and dash it back together, i still have to finish cleaning, rust converting surface rust in any cavity i can get into, and cavity waxing, the inside of the doors, the sills and anywhere else that may be appropriate. 
I have some of the original shitty sound deadening up behind the dash I still have to get out. 
then its clean the floors, install new sound deadening, carpet, seats, and door cards. 
At that point, the car will be complete, but not finished. 
 
I still have to find the jets for the carby which have gone MIA, and jet the carby for a 1600 again, at present its set for the 1300. 
I still have to mount the rear number plate. 
Replace the interior light
Replace the number plate light
Put clear protective film on the headlights
Order, and fit new radiator that will keep the engine cool. (and paint it black. they alloy ones all come polished 🤢 )
I still have to remove the headers and get them ceramic coated
And, the last biggish one, is i have to get the dizzy regraphed. 

Pretty sure they're the same as all falcons and USA fords - mustangs etc.
There are new ones available.
 
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/314416055288
https://www.autoware.com.au/shop/classic-mustang-falcon-ford-pickup-parts/1979-93-mustang/fuel-1979-93-mustang/1965-86-fuel-sending-unit-filter-5-16-or-3-8-diameter-line/
https://nationalmustangs.com.au/products/1965-1973-ford-mustang-3-8-fuel-sender-filter?variant=35243107549336
https://themusclecarpartsgarage.com.au/product/sender-unit-fuel-filter-3-8/
 

Well I have the radiator out of the car again, pressure tested, and found the leak. 
The strange part is, that after a few minutes of being under pressure with the pressure tester on, it stopped leaking, and began to hold constant pressure. 
 
So I will pressure test again and go from there. I think unfortunately it will need to be recored. 
 
In other news, I have the car booked in for its exhaust to be made in a couple weeks. 
 
And I also have all the exterior lighting working, and the boot interior light. 
 
The restored and LED retrofitted reverse lights should hopefully be more than bright enough. 
 


The NOS H4 Hella headlights are in and working well. I fitted the globes that came with them, still brand new in their boxes. Old Philips 55/60w globes, that are god knows how old, but new in box. Wonder how long they’ll last. 
 

 

 
Boot light is working also. 
 

The heater box is in after a bit of stuffing around, and the cooling system is all hooked up. 
 
I ended up having to add an extra 12mm thick run of neoprene foam to the top of the heater box to seal it against the body of the car. the replacement seal that i bought from the UK, was miles too thin, and when bolted up, there was a decent gap between the heater box and the body of the car. 
 
Heater hoses are all hooked up. 
All the vents tubes are in as well inside the car, so I can start tidying up the wiring under the dash. 
 
Getting close to starting it. 
all thats left is to mount the coil, add water and fuel, and i need some hose for the brake booster and PCV so there are no vac leaks. 
I also know the jetting in the carby is all wrong, because i had it set for the 1300. but i should be able to idle it and run it in. 

I have had the engine running previously, so it will for now 
 

Great to see an update! definitely good progress and a good plan. 
that cable end kit looks a great idea
 

Next on the agenda;
The dreaded heater box. 
 

 

 

 
This thing was filthy. 48 years worth of dust, leaves, and rotting foam. 
The core has been replaced, so thats a good sign. I have pressure tested the core and it seems ok, but I am going to do it again today. im not convinced i tested it properly. 
 
Also, someone had used what looks like windscreen sealer to reinstall the lid when it was apart previously 🤦‍♂️ when in actual fact, its meant to be foam to seal it. I have bought all new high density foam, not the open cell shit that rots away, and am currently in the process of resealing it and assembling the heater box. 
 
 
I got a little stuck with this lever for the main vent flap. its pressed onto a spline. I couldn't get the internals of the heater matrix out until that lever, and its flap were removed. 
 

 
Of all things, a $19 tap handle remover from Bunnings worked perfectly at getting that lever off 🤣
 

 
After I got the internals out of the box, the rest of the mess from 48 years of crap was revealed 😬
 

 

 
 
** This is where I am currently up to. The heater box is the last thing I need to do to make the car 100% water tight. 
I also have another radiator for it, second hand but pressure tested ok. its also larger. technically from a Cortina, but they are the same as what was used in Mexicos. So i has a larger top tank, and larger cores. Once the radiator is in, technically I could run the engine. And with the brakes all up and working, when I book it in for the exhaust to be done, it will be great to be able to drive it on and off the trailer instead of winching it. 
 
In between all this major stuff, I have done a lot of little things that I haven't really documented. Ive replaced all the door seals now, rebuilt all the latches on the doors, mirrors are on etc. so from the outside she looks almost complete. 
 
As you would have seen in above photos from inside the car, the wiring is still a mess. its a job I am not looking forward to doing. the inside of the car is another project in itself, to do it to the level I'd find acceptable. There is wiring to sort out, small bits of surface rust, lots of cleaning to do in cavities that aren't easily accessible. I need to clean all these out so I can then cavity wax them and keep them safe from future rust. 
I need to tidy up the wiring, install sound deadening before the carpet goes in, and order and install the new amp and wiring for the stereo, because as much as i love the sound of the weber and the exhaust, on longer drives I need decent music. 
I want to say its not that far off, but it is. My expected finish timeline keeps getting further and further away, so for now I am going to say that if I can drive it out my shed under its own steam, for its first test drive by christmas, it will be the best christmas present ever. It will also mark 3 years since it was written off.  

wow, so sorry its been so long between updates....
 
Well here we go. 
 
The bolts I originally used for the shifter were too bulky, and were touching the body, so I fitted smaller round headed bolts, and loosened the gearbox mount and resettled its alignment, which seems to have given more space. 
 

 

 
I then need to sort out the shift gator. This is a steering rack boot, that happens to actually fit together up inside the original interior shift gator. so now the short shifter mechanism and the body are both sealed. 
 

 

 
 
Next was the brakes; 
 

 
I replaced the booster with a new one instead of trying to use mine. 
 

 
Rebuilt master cylinder by myself, was pretty happy with that. And new booster all mated together. 
 

 
All installed. I was wrapped to see that my new brake lines that I made, purely off copying the old ones, fitted perfect first go. 
 

 

 
From there I went onto the wiper mechanism. It was in pretty much perfect condition. I just stripped it, cleaned it, gave the motor and gears a clean and regrease and reassembled. 
 

 

 
Next, I went onto the throttle cable. 
I'd had this vision for ages, to run a throttle cable like Mk 2 1600 Ghias had. The Mk2 1600 Ghia had a 1600 with a factory 32/36 Weber. basically my exact setup. now they also had a unique throttle cable, where it was super short, and came from the firewall and straight to the back of the carby. I have the same setup, including the Mk2 Weber throttle bracket. Problem is, Mk1 and 2 throttle pedals are different, and cable ends are different. I had a custom cable sitting here, suited for a 2L Pinto into Mk1. Basically its a Mk1 pedal, but Mk2 at the carby end. However it was way too long for what I wanted because the carby on a Pinto is on the opposite side to a 1600. 
 
My solution;
I bought a generic cable end and ball from Aeroflow. That gave me the ability to cut the cable down to the length i needed, and set it up how i liked. 
 
Can see the cable end in the below photo. 
 

 
The kit came with a larger ball, so I had to cut the original one off the linkage and the new one was a bolt on arrangement. 
 

 
AND this is the end result 
 

 

 
 
** there is more to come. Still sorting through photos** 
 

Sorry neither of those autos have a bellhousing to suit crossflow, years ago I did hear of a "factory" crossflow btr but I later found out that it was a bellhousing someone had made and tried to pass it off as a factory piece, as far as trans options for a crossflow using factory parts you are limited to what was available in 3 speed automatic xp, and xr to xf as they are all the same bellhousing pattern, so that's Borg warner 30/35 &40, c4, 3 speed manual (non synchronised 1st) synchronised 3 speed manual, 3 speed top loader, top loader, single rail, aisin 5 speeds that were in 3.3 xe's (made of glass) and t5's (good news is with the crossflow t5 bellhousing you can use any falcon 6 cylinder t5 from xf to el) anything else will need adapters or a custom bellhousing to work, ford changed the bellhousing pattern when they went ohc in ea so that rules out the later automatics, once you start talking adapters and modified torque converters the price of a c4 becomes far more affordable   
 

Also 6 cylinder c4 can be made column shift and will fit a falcon tunnel

a very long awaited update. 
 
I've taken a bit of a step back, and am back working under the bonnet, sorting out engine mounts 😕 
 
I bought brand new Pacemaker 4-1 extractors, and very quickly discovered they do not fit  well they do, but not on my car. 
After much research, talking with Pacemaker themselves, and other club members, I discovered my engine mounts were a bit out of whack. 
 
Bit of a story behind this. ill try keep it short. 
When I bought the car i had to replace the engine mounts. the original 1300 style mounts are not available, so the best option is to use aftermarket engine plates, and "pinto" rubbers. 
According to the UK supplier, for a kent crossflow, i need to run 1 x long engine plate, 1 x short engine plate, 1 x 52mm rubber, and 1 x 42mm rubber. back when i fitted this setup, I had to modify the long engine plate to take 10mm out of it. they seemed fine, but the engine always looked a little crooked in the engine bay 🤔
 
Jump forward to present day, extractors wont fit due to the engine mounts. doing some research, i appeared to have them ass about. So I am now slowly in the process of trying different engine mount combos to get the engine sitting correct. so far i have managed to get the extractors to bolt up, but engine is sitting too high, therefor they are just touching the passenger side foot well. 
I also have the driver's side of the engine sitting on a block of wood to stop it from dropped 😬
 
Why you no fit? 😡
 

 
why you STILL no fit? 🤬
 

 
🖕🖕🖕
 

 
success 🕺 ... sort of. they are on but touching the floor. 
 
**don't worry, they will be ceramic coated silver** 
 

 
This is how the engine is sitting on the driver's side at the moment to get it sitting correctly. I have another set of engine plates to try tomorrow on my day off. 
 

 
 
Now for the more exciting news....... 
 
*enter suspenseful music** 
 
I got my Recaro seats back from the upholsterer  
I am so in love with these seats. 
 

 
 

this is the ute the sohc is going in ..   its got everything from a ltd added to it 
 




 

Same hemisphere as a 2.77
 
Yeah, but whats it good for? 2.77 is too tall in my opinion

Same hemisphere as a 2.77

Agree 100%
 
I cant understand why anyone would want a 2.53 ratio crown and pinion, other than to say they have one