Panko

this better last a long time. i dont want to have to go through all that again any time in the future lol

yeah dean the original coupling is a piece of enforced rubber, a bit like an x series coupling (the soft disc between the metal parts) and the original escort units are riveted. to repair them you have to grind/drill out the rivets, and the kit comes with a Whiteline urethane disc, with 4 crush tubes, and 4 nuts, bolts and washers. the coupling has the same shaft on the other side, just 90 degrees rotated to the side in the photo.

Ive made good progress this week. Not much more to do now. sway bar with fresh subframe black paint. sway bar, new control arms and tie rods fitted. steering column dropped to repair the steering coupling steering coupling repaired, cleaned. looks nearly new interior all back together discs freshly machined up new springs bit of height difference. apparently only 1" lower when in the car...we'll see lol old vs new. just goes to show what some cleaning can do. all I've replaced on the "new" strut is the springs. the shock inserts are the same, all the rubbers (shock sleeves and bumpstops) tops and all are the same ones, just been thoroughly cleaned. passenger side back together, and thats where i had to leave it for today, as i have to go to work shortly. Turns out you can't put the struts back in with the sway bar installed, so i had to remove it from the car entirely again more to come tomorrow if all goes well, it will be on its wheels by tomorrow night.

Im having pretty good luck with the car. The front end is entirely out. and have started putting it back together. So the new tie rods are in, sway bar is painted ready to be re-fitted. New control arms are ready to go back in. sway bar bushes, brake pads. the last things i need to get are the steering coupling and brake hoses. I'm also just awaiting my new springs to come. once i have the springs the front end can go back in, and it will be rolling again. wheel alignment, diff alignment and it should pass roady and have plates on it by next week

Got up this morning to find this on my door step Twin barrel manifold for my down draught weber I then gave the car a wash and took it for its last drive until i get the new front end it. If you look close at the boot lid you can see where i did the test cut and polish And this is how i left it for the day. Tomorrow work begins. Fun times ahead

my dad made one for me...welded it up using an old socket and some flat bits of steel. works a treat

So i got the car home and it took prime spot in the garage next to the XF I decided to have a crack at giving the old paint a bit of a cut and polish. test patch on the boot lid. Before... After... So it has plenty of scratches still, but has taken the cloudiness out. Ill leave the rest to be done professionally, its definitely beyond my expertise. Today, I decided i would give the under belly of the car a scrub, and i mean scrub. degreaser and a wire brush kind of thing lol. 41 years of dirt, oil, lead to my driveway looking like this.... this lot came from the front RH wheel arch on its own its much cleaner underneath now. Thursday, I plan to start pulling the front end out. whole front end, minus steering, is coming out to be rebuilt.

well today was the cars kind of maiden drive, or at least proper drive since i bought it. I have now brought the car home to my house to start working on it. Freeway all the way home, about 1hr 15minute drive, did it without fault. loves singing along at 90km/h on the freeway. it has some very interesting vibrations though. id say wheels are out of balance, maybe tail shaft also.

and i have a 28 day permit on the car at the moment. So challenge accepted, i plan to try get it done within that 28 day period.

So the car went in for its initial road worthy inspection.... so it needs a lot of work. entire front end rebuild, metal brake line from the master cylinder to rear brakes. all rubber brake hoses, radiator hoses. engine oil leaks, which could mean head off. fuel pump gasket leaking, rear seal on on gearbox leaking. Im hoping the engine rear main isn't leaking. i really dont want to have to drop the gearbox out. front rotors.

hahaha that sounds dangerous man. KaBoom!

yep i haven't forgotten about the Big Pig little pig, just been crazy busy. The Escort is going in for its initial inspection this week so that will decide how long before it makes an appearance. So i was wrong, it did need the choke to start today. but once it was running, idled pretty good without the choke. i took it for a spin around the block, and yeah its good now. maybe a touch too far advanced in the timing, so i might try backing it off just a bit. but otherwise its good.

So a small update. I ordered my electronic dizzy, and it was on my door step the next day. free over night express post from QLD to melbourne. pretty happy with that Ive installed the new ignition system, and wow. starts and runs perfect. doesn't need choke to start when its cold, and now that the timing is all back to the correct setting, it actually has ok power for a 1300. and sounds cool can't wait to get my 32/36 weber on they sound grouse with a bit of induction noise. I'm heading back up there today, so hopefully the ignition system will prove its worth, and start first turn of the key after sitting for a couple days.

Ok well nothing has changed on this just yet. Michael did get it running, however it wasnt quite right. he put the spare dizzy in and tuned it as best be could be ear, having no timing light. anyway, i picked the car up to drive it back to where the car is being kept for now, but it didnt feel right. a bit under powered, and then under heavy load i heard what i feared, it was pinging like a mofo The car made the 30 minute drive, but it was getting a bit warm, so i knew something was wrong. Last night, after driving back to Melbourne from SA for 8 hours, i decided while i was with the escort id get the timing right. we tried sticking the timing light over it, but not good, we couldn't get it retarded enough. so we resorted to the workshop manual... following the workshop manual's guide, we did a base static time on the engine. it turns out, the dizzy had been put in 1 tooth out on the camshaft hence why it was way advanced and pinging and getting hot. thankfully its now running like a dream again, no misfiring, no coughing. i haven't driven it yet since getting the timing right, but its idling and revving up perfect. the worst part is, i have to redo this all over again when i get my electronic dizzy for it.

My bad. I didnt know all the way to Sunbury though? Thats a long way for you

I paid about the going rate. Perhaps a tad on the low side, but well within the going rate. Its only minor changes that i plan on doing, all bolt on or off. Mostly cosmetic things, just to clean it up a touch.

Oh yeah its angry, like it will destroy your XF man hahahahaha No really the hand brake isnt great lol.

once its registered chris i just might yeah corner bumpers. i like being able to see the nostrils at the front below the number plate.

Some pics Michael sent me after he got mine off the trailer and running and driving again today. his blue beast is badged as a 1300XL like mine, but runs a 150HP 1600 in it. its just a tad angry. Oh, and when he gets it registered its his new daily bahahaa for reference, those wheels on the front of Michael's car are my wheels that ill be running on mine eventually.

Plans...not much really. Get it roadied and club registered, no rush though. twin barrel carb and extractors just to get it to breath a bit better. My wheels i had for my last Escort (15x6" Saab interceptors) maybe a touch lower. corner bumpers for the front. and thats about it. all of which I've pretty got already. Electronic ignition after this episode haha. yep points dizzy. remember my other one did it as well, and you fixed the dizzy at my house. original wheels, colour coded, no hubcaps.

yeah I'm interested to know as well...because the GLS utes didnt have the tacho dash like S packs did. but had similar style package though.

Yeah that should work. Sika Flex will do the job you want. My brother, my dad and i all use it on various applications and always been successfull.

My grand father made a good one up. its a piece of running tube thread, with a bolt out each end. sit it between the two ball joints, and load it up by turning it, works as a spreader, then whack the ball joint housing your trying to crack with 2 hammers, 1 each side of the ball joint. it doesn't often crack the first time, so once you've got it to move a bit, load the spreader up again, and hit it again. usually cracks after 3 hits. i got all my original balls joints in the xf to crack in 1 or 2 hits. if it was in my garage id go grab a photo of the tool, but i think its in my grandfather's garage.

Ok guys, so i want to seek other peoples opinions. I had a very very close call today in the wagon. its very rare i drive the car in the wet, but when i did today, i noticed at the first round about i came to, that the car was spinning the wheels in 2nd gear, and later discovered that it would also start to slip mid corner in 3rd gear under acceleration. I used to drive the car as a daily, and can not remember it ever having the poke to do that. keeping in mind it has 320,000km on it, stock EFi crossflow and 5 speed. The close call happened when i was mid corner, on a slow up hill corner, travelling at around 50km/h, as i went to accelerate lightly out of the corner, in 3rd gear i lost control of the back of the car, but somehow managed to save it from nosing into a rock face next to the road. I have never had this happen before in the car, its strangely slippery for it. so now I've explained why i am posting this thread, onto the details and question of the tyres. The tyres have been on the car for nearly 3.5 years. and have done approximately 40,000km. They still have maybe 2-3mm of tread above the wear markers. they are Yokohama C Drive 2s, in 225/60R15. Its been a long time since I've driven the car in the wet, maybe last winter, but these tyres have always been really good with grip, dry and wet, so why now have they gone to shit? Could it be that the compound has just gone hard and no longer grip? what tyres do you guys for everyday street driving on your snowflakes?

Hey man, where are you getting those control arms from? Do they bolt into the factory position, but have the drop built into them? is that the idea?