Fingers

Mark sent these through today. 
Bonnet and grill fitted and aligned.  
 

 
This makes me smile seeing it look a little more like a car again 
 
 

Today was a big day. 
the car is finally back on its wheels after about 12 months. 
 
Subframe and driveline looks good in there 
 

 

 
The modified Type 9 gearbox fits perfectly, to a tee. @2redrovers
The boot is a steering rack boot to seal the shifter from crud. 
 

 
Brakes well and truely fill the 13" wheels. 
 

 
I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but it is at least back on its wheels and rolling. 
 

 
Thanks to Peter for the following photos. 
Me with my head somewhere under the car lining things up. 
 

 
getting the gearbox to line up...its close, but perfect to a tee. 
*cameo featuring Mark's crazy Zetec powered panel van* 
 

 
Done, and on its way back down to earth. those brakes, though
 

 
last bit of spanner turning for the day
 

 
 
Its nice to have it rolling again, and should be home within a couple weeks. 
I still have loads to do. the front seats are off getting upholstered now. 
once its home the assembly can start. 
I have a bit of electrical work to do, to neaten up the engine bay, couple more brake lines to make, fuel lines to make, paint the brake booster bracket, rebuild booster, paint fuel tank. lots of work ahead of me, but at least it can now come home. 

Yeah, did the same with my Fairmont. Kept every part in the shed, in case I wanted to put it back to stock

thanks mate. 
 
it certainly turned out to be a bigger build than originally expected, but yes there has been little expense spared. I figured I’ll never be able to afford to buy another one, so build this into the car I want. 
 
best thing is, its all reversible back to 100% stock if i wanted to. 

better than new!

This car is going to turn out really nice

Yes we are lucky. 
but the shed too is a project in itself. 
currently it is not water tight, so i won’t be parking any cars in there. 
there is no spouting on it, so water runs off the roof and straight in above the sliding doors and pulls on the floor of the shed. 
also isnt the most secure door on the laneway side. 
so for the time being the wagon is at my parent’s place until the shed is ready. 
same with the Escort, i won’t bring it here until i know the shed is good to go 

It is a shame. 
We stumbled across the original title to the property yesterday morning, from when it was a vacant lot. signed back back in 1932. so its about 90 years old. We also have the original banking book for the guy who built the house, the original title holder. we found the book under the old carpet when we started the renos. 
 
As for the shed, it does indeed have a good shed  
 
We have a laneway behind us. the shed runs along the back boundary, and has sliding door access from the driveway, then offset on the opposing side has a sliding door out to the laneway. so I can park the wagon and escort side by side, across the width of the shed. one from the drive, and one from the laneway. 
The shed internally is about 5.2m W x 7.8m L, and clearance is about 2.2m under the doors. the steel roof trusses are lower, but they are between the door access. that means I can fit my Land Rover Discovery straight in from either side too, if i need to work on that. 

On the driveway side of the shed, there is also a 1.5 car sized carport. long enough to get my Disco and about half of Elise's Corolla under. 

Shame how they build such crass apartments around lovelly old homes. Has it got a good shed?

A Falcon/Commodore/Nissan BW75/78 is probably overkill for most street Escorts.
That said, something like a turbo YB Cosworth is definitely going to need a strong rear axle.

V8 T5 has the longer input shaft.
6cyl T5 is the one you need for any single rail or top loader bell housing.
input bearing retainer needs to be turned down a smidge to fit in the back of the bell housing.
I used a 3 speed V8 bell housing , redrilled top holes to bolt up the box and something similar for the two bottom holes.
been in the car for ten years, seems to be holding up fine, but then I don’t do epic skids.
and I have a couple of spares.

No unfortunately, the project has come to a grinding holt for the last 5-6 weeks. 
 
Where I left you all, was me chasing a set of Mk2, 1.3 or 1.6L front struts and hubs, to suit my big brakes. 
I did not want Pinto 2L struts because my adjustable inserts would not fit, so id be up for around $1000, out of budget just to build front suspension all over again. 
 
In that time, my partner and I have spent the last few weeks renovating a house owned by her parents, ready for us to move into. 
Keep in mind, the house is a 100 year old "bungalow" (the name used to describe the style, not an actual bungalow) house in Box Hill.  So that has taken priority. We decided to set ourselves a move in date, and work to that, which was last weekend. So our first night in the house was the 29th of October, last Friday night. And we have not finished with the house yet. we still have 2 rooms and the hallway to renovate and paint, but we can do it while living here. 
 
So, where is the Escort at now? 
 
Today, I FINALLY picked up a set of complete Mk2, 1.6L struts. 
From here,  I have to build them up, with the new brakes, my inserts, struts tops etc, and then I can take it all over to the workshop and drop the subframe and running gear in, and she will be a rolling car again. hopefully in the next few weeks Ill have this done and the car back on its wheels. 
The only challenging part is I am still using my father's shed in Berwick as the workshop, so all parts and tools, and spray paint i need for the Escort is about 35-40 minutes drive away from where we are now living. 
 
If you ignore the apartment buildings either side and office building behind, this little photo that I edited to make it look a bit older, kind of shows the vintage of the house. 
The outside is pretty rough, but inside has had a complete makeover.  
 

If you can fit an elec water pump in the lower rad hose area of the bay, then you could cut the whole front off the pump and cap it up.

A Falcon/Commodore/Nissan BW75/78 is probably overkill for most street Escorts.
That said, something like a turbo YB Cosworth is definitely going to need a strong rear axle.

I broke one with a stock 1300 many years ago (I was a teenager)

Correct.
Smaller, weaker, basically garbage

I broke one with a stock 1300 many years ago (I was a teenager)

Correct.
Smaller, weaker, basically garbage

If it's the same centre as my TF corty, no they're not that strong. I think they're a 6.8" crown and were also used in Aussie Sigmas in the day. While I didn't blow mine, it wore out much more quickly than it would if it was a 75 or 78 (which came in the TE), probably not helped by being behind a 250 crossy. It just had heaps of backlash in the gears, mostly in the spiders. Was a 2.78 ratio.

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No its smaller i believe. 
 
these aren’t very strong. My new engine could easily break it if im not careful 

I just grabbed my Escort parts book, dated 3/72.
It seems that all MK1 until August 1971 had English axles, then August onwards, most had Borg Warner.
Of the 3 MK1 2 doors that I have currently, 2 are 1970 build with English axles, and 1 1974 with a BW.
The 1972 car I had years ago had a BW, but I replaced it with a 4.125 ratio English out of a MK1 van.
The 1975 MK1 van I have now  has an English axle, but that now seems likely it has been replaced at some time.
 
 

I just grabbed my Escort parts book, dated 3/72.
It seems that all MK1 until August 1971 had English axles, then August onwards, most had Borg Warner.
Of the 3 MK1 2 doors that I have currently, 2 are 1970 build with English axles, and 1 1974 with a BW.
The 1972 car I had years ago had a BW, but I replaced it with a 4.125 ratio English out of a MK1 van.
The 1975 MK1 van I have now  has an English axle, but that now seems likely it has been replaced at some time.
 
 

There you go. 
there isn’t many early Mk1s in Australia. 
both of mine have been 1972 and this one is 1975. So both BW diffs. 
 
on the flip side, the good thing about BW coming on board is we got the Type E 4 speed (single rail) fitted to our cars from 1100 upwards, but the UK only got them in GTs and upwards. Their standard boxes did not have removable bell housings. So our Type E boxes are quite desirable to the UK folk because they are rare over there 

I just grabbed my Escort parts book, dated 3/72.
It seems that all MK1 until August 1971 had English axles, then August onwards, most had Borg Warner.
Of the 3 MK1 2 doors that I have currently, 2 are 1970 build with English axles, and 1 1974 with a BW.
The 1972 car I had years ago had a BW, but I replaced it with a 4.125 ratio English out of a MK1 van.
The 1975 MK1 van I have now  has an English axle, but that now seems likely it has been replaced at some time.
 
 

I mentioned a while back.
If you have increased the handling of the car, and you drive it to suit, you will use more brake capacity, even though you have not increased the power of the vehicle.