Panko

10 minutes ago, gerg said:

Do you think it might be a crook coolant temp sensor which is giving you a bum-steer, as in it wasn't the ECU after all?

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it would explain running rich when it does decide to start, but would it allow it to start and run for 10 seconds then conk out? 

Hi guys, 

 

It's hard to believe that after owning my Ghia wagon for 14 years, after my dad owning it since 1992, i am here stuck with a car that refuses to start. 

 

I believe its 100% self inflicted but am after advice. 

 

During 2020, I experimented with converting the car to run an EL ECU with J3. I had some success with it, but in recent months its been a total pig, and not reliable. 

 

Ive been trying to convert it back to the original XF ECU. Ive swapped everything back to how it should be for XF. made sure the ECU pinout is back to how it should be, plugged the vane AFM back in. as far as im aware, everything as it should be to run on the XF ECU as per factory standard. 

 

The issue is, the car will start and run for about 10 seconds, very richly, then die, and refuse to start again. after sitting for half hour or so, it will start, blow lots of black smoke, run like a pig, clear itself, run fine for less than a minute then die, and the process starts all over again. 

 

I don't know what ive missed, and I miss being able to just turn the key and drive it. 

 

Before i attempted the EL ECU conversion, it was always reliable, and ive fucked something up, and my poor car is suffering. 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. 

15 hours ago, hendrixhc said:

Very nice, love the colour.

i can’t wait to get it out in the bright sun. Being metallic it changes colour in the sun. Really pops. 

Big day today. 

The Escort is home at last  

 

Covered in dust

 

 

First time washing it since December 2020 *not me in the photo* 

 

 

all nice and clean at last. ready to go into its new home. 

 

 

this is how you clean the inside, right? its fine, there is no interior at the moment 

 

 

Engine bay looks so pretty 

 

 

 

In it's new home. the shed is a little squishy with the car running this way across the shed, but once i get some shelving into the shed and a bit more storage ill have space to move. 

 

 

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 

 

 

26 minutes ago, 2redrovers said:

".. Hahahaha I'm a livin joke.."

That's awesome to see. Car is going to be perfection when it's done.

Wonder if that other box is back together and functional too?

Close to perfect. Will never be perfect 

 

I haven’t spoken to him since. Id say not, or if its together, but not in the car. 
 

id imagine mines the first one to go in. 

55 minutes ago, deankdx said:

#rotissaryrestoration

looks amazing! 

 

CV joint boot came to mind for the tunnel to gearstick boot.(might go over where the rack boot where the zip tie is even)

 

is that @2redrovers panel van there? looks almost finished  

I have the interior rubber Boot that goes onto the body. Hopefully fits over the rack boot. 
that is not Rod’s unfortunately :( 

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. 

10 hours ago, bear351c said:

Wow..!    This is going to be spectacular.  Well done mate, all the good gear, in a sweet little Esky. Will go like stink, and stop on a dime!

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. 

I spent yesterday afternoon making all the engine bay brake lines

 

not bad for a first timer 

 

 

 

This is where I am up to. Progress has been really slow, because I am now back at work, and we are smashed at work at the moment now that restrictions have been all but lifted. 

 

This is the driver's side strut complete. 

 

 

I had to get the hubs machined down on a lathe, which I knew was the case, to replicate Cortina Mk2/Capri hubs. 

 

Very very little space. I potentially will need to get a tad more off yet. But it does clear and run freely. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Fingers said:

You are fortunate to have a decent shed and parking.

Many people in greater Melbourne would be very envious

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 

On 11/7/2021 at 9:19 AM, hendrixhc said:

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

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. 

On 10/30/2021 at 9:03 PM, Fingers said:

Any progress now that you are out of lockdown?

 

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.  

 

7 hours ago, deankdx said:

 

i can't remember exactly, but i know the Ghia/fairlane etc doesn't have that spacer ring a stock GL steering wheel had, so the boss kit for ghia takes this into account (that you wouldn't have the spacer if you had a ghia)  

i'd like to confirm this with @Panko or @Mr Polson perhaps. been a long time since i had one and it was second hand. 

 

Dean is on the money but I can't remember the specifics either. 

I originally bought an XF boss kit for my Ghia, and it worked but i did not have cancelling indicators because no spacer. I got the correct one which is longer to account for lack of spacer. 

 

If you get stuck, send me a message on here. I do have the original one i bought, which is for a GL 

The best options for these are either the Atlas Diff, which is out of a Capri, and I believe that is potentially the bigger BW diff, but they need to be shortened to fit an escort, or the English axle (mini 9”) which also have off the shelf LSD centres available 

5 minutes ago, deankdx said:

is it same as a falcon/cortina centre? if so should be able to fit LSD easy? and different ratios

No its smaller i believe. 
 

these aren’t very strong. My new engine could easily break it if im not careful 

6 hours ago, 2redrovers said:

Ta daaa

... Yeah... I don't know what I'm looking at...

Standard aussie borg warner diff

9 hours ago, Fingers said:

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 

Just now, Outback Jack said:

Ok cool, so about 110hp, same as a stock Pinto.
I had a MK1 with stock brakes and 200hp pinto. The stock brakes with better pads are more than up to the job.
Compression braking with the motor into corners will help with saving the brakes.

Wanna race after were done???? Hehehe

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Oh look the standard brakes were up the task once upon a time. 

And I know Ive "over braked" it now. 

but nowadays parts are hard to get for the P16 brakes, and expensive compared to what I paid for this entire brake upgrade kit. the discs alone new, are more than 1/3 of the cost of the entire brand new brake upgrade. 

 

 The way i see it, i would always rather have plenty in reserve than on the limit. 

 

As i said above, it will get driven spiritedly on plenty of twist roads. We are not far from plenty of mountain roads, big hills. I have previously run the car out of brakes on those roads. 

 

I have always wanted to get the car on the track, just to stretch its legs legally. Ive always been hesitant because of killing the 1300 haha. 

 

So, I am happy with the brakes. 

 

As for the race, you will have to drive to Melbourne first. Your premier will never let us in, so you can come here instead  

1 hour ago, Fingers said:

I have had quite a few Escorts over the years, Ford Escorts that is, and only 2 have had the BW rear axle.

 

strange. 

My original books, workshop manual and lots of other owners of Mk1s in the car club all say the BW diffs are what were fitted to Aussie Mk1s. 

 

the RSs got them, and Mexicos got them. 

 

in the UK, all Mk1s had the front loading diffs. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, 2redrovers said:

Mate put bigger and slotted brakes on a stock manual bombadore. People would comment similar saying what's the point of that etc... The point was he USED them to the limits keeping his race track skills on point. Hot laps around the local "track" out front of the shop. Having too much brake is rarely a bad thing (unless you can't depend on them when they are cold and some idiot cuts you off on the street) .

 

Yep thats my feeling too. 
Also, this car will get driven in the hills. on the twisty roads. 

Before lockdown, a few of us would get together in the Escort, a classic Mini, a twin cam AE92 Corolla, and go for drives up over the Reefton Spur, up Mt Baw Baw. places where the brakes get well used. 

I did have a bit of a win today finally. 

 

I cleaned up and restored my reverse lights. 

 

New lenses, new lens seals, polished the frames, the reflectors and the housings. Cleaned the rear rubber gasket. 

 

 

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, Outback Jack said:

What's a double horsepower 1600 put out?
My kit car runs standard MK3 Cortina brakes, solid discs and has an LSD.

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I mean nearly double HP of the 1300 

 

The 1300 would have been sitting around 40-45kw. On paper with the engine specs of my 1600 (1660 actual capacity) it should be producing between 70 and 80kw at the crank. 

 

Yeah I will not lie, everyone ive spoken to in the club said I have over braked the car for street use, but it will be nice for the odd track day, or hillclimb event that the car club runs every year, which ive never run in because too scared, to know that i have ample brakes. 

14 hours ago, Fingers said:

A question. Do they have to be 2.0L struts, or just MK2?

And

English axle was also in MK1.

3 of the 4 MK1 Escorts I have here have English axles

 

I stand corrected. 

 

I have some good news. 

 

The front struts and hubs do not need to be 2L. They can be any Mk2. Fingers, you were right. 

 

2L struts are larger diameter, 51mm, whereas all other struts are 48mm, same as my current struts. 

So i will be able to transfer over all my components, springs, shocks, bump stops. only thing i have to change is my bearings and tie rod ends. 

 

So the bill to fix this will be a lot less than first expected