2redrovers

Oh you have corner bumpers on that van i see. 
 
🤔 they happen to be the same as the front.  

Yep

I must be an Escort train spotter  .
I noticed the lack of reverse lights straight away.
I presumed you had deleted them on purpose.

I went and visited the car yesterday to confirm we definitely need to black out behind the grill. We held the grill up to the car, and it looked odd seeing the green behind it. 
 
for the trainspotters, you may have also noticed there was no provisions for the reverse lights. 
this was something that Mark and myself completely missed until we saw it in paint  
the new rear panel did not come with holes for the reverse lights, because early cars didn’t have them (the new panel is technically from an early Mk1 not a late Mk1 like mine). Thankfully there is a twin to my car in the workshop at the moment, so they will make a template off that to then drill the holes in the correct locations for my reverse lights. 
 
Mark also had a little surprise for me. He asked his painter to paint the underside side of the car body colour over the stone guard. I was expecting black, and the colour took me by surprise to say the least. He isn’t charging me for the extra paint because he made the call without asking me. 
he did raise a great point. The stone guard itself would be a turd to keep clean, but now it has paint on it, it will be easy to clean and wash under its belly. 
Am I disappointed about this? Not really. It definitely took me by surprise, and its not what i was expecting, but im definitely going to enjoy the extra detail and cleanliness underneath. 

I also got the 1600 down off the workbench and bolted it to the subframe. Looks a little better than the dirty old 1300 in the background 😬 
 

Hang on, we'll use the digital caliper to get this right..... *drills hole in exactly the marked spot*
What the? How the heck did that end up too low?

It's a metallic pesto coloured escort... It's Pesky, IN COLOUR!

It's a metallic pesto coloured escort... It's Pesky, IN COLOUR!

Hang on, we'll use the digital caliper to get this right..... *drills hole in exactly the marked spot*
What the? How the heck did that end up too low?

hmm maybe we'll set up the drill press next time

Let's just say that three sets of holes were made....... The die grinder was involved in all of them before the lot would bolt together 🤓

haha yeah....
i dont know what the s*** happened there. i thought it was just me, but then you too...on the same bit of steel. 
 
something up with that bit of steel

One day I will watch Project Binky  haha 

It's project Bonky IN COLOUR ? 
doesn't have the same ring to it

I had the day off work today, so spent the day on the Escort, and it just got better and better as the day went on  
 
I started the day by getting the 1600 bottom end back together. 
 

 

 
Once that was done, I dropped the flywheel off to be machined ready for the new clutch. 
 
Then spent the afternoon with Rod working on the gearbox. 
We nearly finished making up the jig to weld the shifter in its new location. 
 
We have basically set this jig up so that this conversion can be done with or without the need of the entire gearbox, but rather just the extension housing and shifter rod. 
 

 
Now, for the moment we have all been waiting for (or at least i have ).....
 
IT'S IN COLOUR! 
 

 

 

 

 
I haven't seen the car yet in the flesh. these are just photos that Mark has sent me. 
 
The front still needs to be blacked out behind the grill. 

lets hope so, because the subframe black that i used on the crossmember and brackets was epoxy based. so hopefully it stays on there and stays black for a long time 

Today was a good day  
 
I got a preview of the car in colour today. I actually had butterflies in my gut as i walked into the prep bay to check the colour out. 
 
No i didn't take any photos, because they have only sprayed the inside of the boot thus far. 
 
The stone guard coating is done on the underside, colour is going onto the body on monday. the days following will be doors, bonnet and boot. 
 
Once they are all painted, the rear suspension will go back in, because they need the rotisserie for another Mk1 Escort going into the spray booth asap. 
The front of my car will just go on a dolly, because I am still a long way from having the front end and driveline ready to go back in the car. 
 
Also today, I finished spraying the engine parts. 
I started bolting the bits back onto the engine, starting with the fuel pump, and im missing that 1 gasket from the "full engine gasket kit" 😕 so thats a bit of a bummer. Im not sure if i have any gasket material either that I could cut one out of. 
 
So instead, I bolted the steering rack onto the crossmember. It looks so amazing. Its going to be way to clean and shiny to want to drive haha BUT, I am super excited to actually drive it, but will be reluctant to drive it in the rain lol. 
 

I picked up all my parts today. 
 
Im excited to start putting it all back together. 
 
The camshaft has me excited. it's peak power is 1650rpm, and runs out at 6000rpm. This is going to be fun having such a big power range. 
 
The steering rack, to my surprise is brand new. I thought the quick racks were refurbished cases with new internals. but the entire thing is new. date stamped 03/19 and then stamped 02/21 for when it was built as a 2.9 quick rack. 
 
I also priced up a brake upgrade. 
 
Yesterford can supply BRAND NEW M16 (Mk2 Escort) brakes. Someone out there is making brand new M16s. with the correct rotors, and the little imperial to metric brake hose adapter to suit a Mk1, for $620. 
Then in the future, if i want to go better again, i buy a spacer kit for to space the split M16 callipers and install wider, ventilated discs. 
Im going to wait for the final bill from Mark before I buy the brakes, but it is definitely the way I will go. it has always been a little lacking in the brakes, the little tiny front brakes have always struggled a little. And, for some stupid reason, the discs for standard Mk1 are nearly double the price of the bigger solid discs that come with the M16 brake upgrade kit. go figure  

I don't mind the blue, but Kents were black originally for a reason... To hide the Pommy oil leaks

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Ok I have been a bit slow with the updates. but there is progress  
 
 

 

 

 

 
I also have my engine and gearbox, and front crossmember home ready to be cleaned up, and prepped ready to go in the car. 
 
Stripped the 1600 down ready to get a basic freshen up, and a couple go fast bits   
 

 
i was a little surprised to see the baffles inside the stock sump. 3 lots of baffles in total. not bad for a stock sump. 
 

 
I hate the blue paint on the block, so i started hitting it with paint stripper, to find under the horrendous blue paint, horrendous green paint haha. 
The blue is coming off super easy, the green wont budge. so, im going to keep the green as base coat and go over it with engine black  
 

 
 
Ive also ordered a big chunk of parts, which i pick up tomorrow. 
 
All the engine bits needed, such as full gasket kit, GT/Fast Road camshaft, new followers, clutch kit, 2.9 ratio quick steering rack, water pump, timing chain etc etc. all the service parts. 
 
Its the first big chunk of money ive spent on the car so far, and its a little daunting. I haven't even paid for the panel work yet 😬
 
Fun times ahead
 
 
 
 

Rear mounted transverse 400 v8 falcon..... Should wheel stand pretty easy

Rear mounted transverse 400 v8 falcon..... Should wheel stand pretty easy

Rear mounted transverse 400 v8 falcon..... Should wheel stand pretty easy

Rear mounted transverse 400 v8 falcon..... Should wheel stand pretty easy

I picked up the 400 std bore and pieces looks complete almost ? 1st look it seems to be identical to the last one

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Pretty sure the first version of the XDRIFT XD sedan with IRS used an AU IRS setup. From memory there was some good detailed pics of it back over on xfalcon....


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