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Panko

Panko's Mk1 Escort (Round 2)

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So with us being in hard lockdown yet again, nothing much has been happening to the Escort. 

 

Ive been finding little things I can do from home on it. 

 

I pulled down my tail lights and cleaned them thoroughly, including polishing the cast alloy housings to (hopefully) make the light dispersion a bit brighter. 

 

Left (brake) has been done, right hasn't. can see a bit of a difference there. 

 

MNGqWje.jpg  

 

I also cleaned up the backs of the housings, so when I open the boot, Ill see nice shiny polished light housings :D

 

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I then attacked the chrome rings. I carefully wet sanded these with 600 and 1200 grit paper, then polished them with Bowden's Own metal polish. 

You can see the sanding marks a little bit, but they aren't bad and in the direct sun you can't see the sanding marks. 

 

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The reason I did this is shown in the below pic.
The bottom tail light was before, I did the polishing. Notice the dirt stained into the chrome along the bottom edge of the light? 
Now look at the above tail light, and that is the one I sanded and polished. I tried a few methods, but wet sanding was the only way to remove the crap stained into the chrome 

 

YkotnBg.jpg

 

Today my big brake kit arrived. 

These are a reproduction "M16" calliper. M for metric. These were fitted standard to Mk2 Escorts. They are basically the same as my P16 callipers on my Mk1, but with a few upgrades. The pistons are marginally bigger, and the piston seals are a much better design. 

The major difference with these ones are, they are manufactured wider than standard M16s, to take vented discs. :D 

M16s are a split calliper, and normally to run vented discs, you can buy spacer kit that goes between the two halves of the calliper, which widen it and allow a wider disc to go in. These, are built wider ready to go for vented disc. 

 

They are a bolt in kit, other than 2 things that need to change. 
Firstly, the hard brake line that goes to these need to be custom made with an imperial fitting on the car end, and a Metric on the calliper end. 

Secondly, my two piece hubs, the wheel mounting flange needs a chamfer machined into the inside of it to clear the callipers. this is only because im running standard 1300 hubs. If i was running Mk2 or 2L hubs i wouldn't have to do it.  

 

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I decided to go for the optional, matched pair slotted discs. This kit should well and truely stop the car :D 

 

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This is from a fellow RSOCV member's Mk1 just to show what the brakes will look like when installed. **i dont have coil overs** 

 

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Because I can't go work on the car, I am basically getting everything ready to go for the day I can go back to the shop and continue on the car. 
So this includes new hard brake and fuel lines. While we have the use the of the hoist in Mark's shop, I will replace the brake lines. Bundy tube is cheap. I bought 6m for $45. that will be enough to do the entire car. 

Ive got all the new door seals sitting waiting to be installed when I can go over, boot seal, everything I need to nearly complete the car on the outside and get it rolling again. 

 

Im also getting the ball rolling on the last of the "big ticket" items, like my seats. they are the last big expensive item that I need to spend money on. 

 

I found this photo online. this is the exact scheme im going for on my Recaro seats. Saddle vinyl trim on the outsides, and Sahara tweed in the middle 

 

bFjGK1R.jpg

 

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3 hours ago, Fingers said:

Looking good.

Where did you purchase the brake upgrade from?

The brakes are from Smcka Performance. 
 

Yes the business name is spelt like that without the A 

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I spent today cleaning up the inside of my NOS Hella replacement headlights. 
 

 

hWeyV5I.jpg
 

For reference, this is what they looked like before cleaning.
This is the second set ive managed to find. I sold the first set (pictured below) onto a mate. For some reason they go white hazy inside when stored their entire life in their boxes. 

My old orange beast. I do miss that colour sometimes 😂 

 

rxPCMeM.jpg

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The reflective film is actually a thin layer of aluminium. Over time, it oxidises with a white surface. Don't wash them in a dishwasher... And don't ask how I know that

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk

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16 minutes ago, gerg said:

The reflective film is actually a thin layer of aluminium. Over time, it oxidises with a white surface. Don't wash them in a dishwasher... And don't ask how I know that

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk
 

I dont think i have to ask. 
i can picture it now. 
and the look on the misses face when she found them in the dishwasher 😂 

 

i used rubbing alcohol and giant cotton buds. You know, the type they use for anal swabs ;) 😆 

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I dont think i have to ask. 
i can picture it now. 
and the look on the misses face when she found them in the dishwasher  
 
i used rubbing alcohol and giant cotton buds. You know, the type they use for anal swabs   
Lol the ex was gone by then, didn't have to worry about that s***

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk

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Bloody cars hey 

 

*rant warning* 

 

This post doesn't start with a rant straight away. 
So yesterday, I had enough, I was a bit naughty, I went and visited Mark and the car, and grabbed my front struts to bring them home and clean up, and fit my new brakes. 

All was going well today, until it was not :(

 

Firstly, I pressed the spherical bearings out of my strut tops, because they were worn and had a bit of slop, time to replace. I called the local bearing wholesaler, and perfect timing they were just placing an order, so I had them by lunch time...only I didn't. They did get 2 x 20mm spherical bearings, but they didn't get the right ones. So the fella was going to investigate more and get back to me. 

 

This one originally being from Germany, it isn't a common type, in the sense it is a very high rated bearing. 240kn load rating. apparently that is the hard bit. 

 

2OAkQYr.jpg

 

So I currently don't have useable strut tops until they are sorted. 

In the meantime, I gave the strut tops a nice polish up. Definitely no pro job, but I am happy with the results. *they speak for themselves ;)

 

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Once I had done that, I started playing with the new brakes, getting them fitted. this is when my day turned to crap :(

 

So they are big. I dont think I fully comprehend how big they are over the stock brakes...

 

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And here comes the rant. 

I bought these, after being told by, 2 guys who are very well known in the small Ford community here in Melbourne, and abroad, 1 of which owns and runs arguably the biggest parts supplier for English small Fords, in Australia, that this brake upgrade kit would fit standard Escort struts. I questioned it, and they both said yep they see no reason why not. Now, I have been dealing with these guys, and will recommend them to anyone. 
But I went and spent a good amount of money, on this brake kit, admittedly from a different supplier, also very reputable, for cost reasons, to find out today, first hand, the (bad) intel I was given by two guys who should know better than anyone else, was completely wrong. 

What does this mean? 

I NOW HAVE TO SPEND ALMOST AN EXTRA $1000 TO UPGRADE MY STRUTS! 

 

Ok, yes, the obvious fix for this is not use the brakes, send them back, keep the stock brakes. But I am not comfortable with that. The original discs, are below minimum thickness, they were not fantastic with the 1300 in there. they certainly are not going to be confident inspiring with a warm, heavier, 1600 in there, with near double the power. 
Can i replace the original discs? Yes I can. For some STUPID reason, these little, solid rotors, are crazy expensive to buy. like more than 1/3 of this brake upgrade kit, just for 2 solid discs. 

 

And for the benefits of these brakes, it was money well spent, but on TERRIBLE BLOODY INTEL 🤬

 

So you can hopefully understand I am dam furious. 
Because to setup a set of struts to suit the brakes, I have purchase the following;
- 2L struts including hubs

- new inserts. Ill go with Gaz adjustable again to match what ive been running in the 1300 struts. no they are not interchangeable

- bearings

- tie rod ends to suit the metric taper of the 2L struts

- paint to make clean them up

 

So I am angry, and I am still coming to grips with it. Progress had stopped due to lockdown, now it has stopped because I haven't got a functioning front suspension to get the car rolling and out of Mark's shop. 

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Damn, hate it when that happens. guess you don't want to refit the old stuff back in until the new stuff arrives, risk of scratches and extra work. 

 

what WOULD you have done if you didn't buy the big brakes if you were told they won't work? bought new stock discs only?

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1 minute ago, deankdx said:

Damn, hate it when that happens. guess you don't want to refit the old stuff back in until the new stuff arrives, risk of scratches and extra work. 

 

what WOULD you have done if you didn't buy the big brakes if you were told they won't work? bought new stock discs only?

 

two very good points. 

 

1st point. Yes I definitely could put the original stuff in to get the car rolling. I would not hook the brakes up, because i have to custom make the hard brake line on the strut anyway for the metric calliper fitting. But i could get it rolling yes

 

2nd point. 

 

Thats a very good question. What would have I done, if? 

 

I would probably have kept the original equipment for now. I would have kicked myself for not working it out earlier. 

Id have just done it in stages. got the struts sorts, then the brakes. 

 

In saying that, id not want to do it twice. 

The car is being built, ground up built, so what is the point in doing things twice? do it once, do it right. 

 

I do have to laugh as i say that...because the rear end will still be stock standard, and in due time, it will, get an upgraded "english" axle (Australian Mk2 Escort diff). This is because they are basically a smaller version of the Ford 9", and ratios and LSD centres are readily available. 

 

 

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Ahh Aaron thats cars for you Mate.

 

I bought a lovelly 345 diff for the falcon only to realise the fantastically polished PROstars i love so dearly dont clear the calipers. Nek Minit had to drop $1800 on new 15" wheels to clear the calipers.

 

Then i decided they dont suit the car as much as i hoped and colour coding the bumpers was important, however, i didnt want to paint the originals so i sourced more.

 

And so on and so on.

 

Dont lose heart bud its how our cars evolve!

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14 minutes ago, Panko said:

In saying that, id not want to do it twice. 

The car is being built, ground up built, so what is the point in doing things twice? do it once, do it right. 

 

ah yes BUT! 

i've seen many examples where "do it once, do it right" doesn't work , even project binky had to cut up a perfectly sculpted front suspension area and the floor a few times and they planned, planned again and still changed stuff. 

i could rattle off several from this forum that have had to redo on bad or new info or just didn't know until hindsight kicked in. 

 

so don't be hard on yourself, just do what's best to continue forward as usual. (you are doing very well already in these trying times keeping it progressing)

 

another question on the big brakes.. did they still fit in the 13" rims? i can't remember if you checked earlier. 

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1 minute ago, deankdx said:

 

ah yes BUT! 

i've seen many examples where "do it once, do it right" doesn't work , even project binky had to cut up a perfectly sculpted front suspension area and the floor a few times and they planned, planned again and still changed stuff. 

i could rattle off several from this forum that have had to redo on bad or new info or just didn't know until hindsight kicked in. 

 

so don't be hard on yourself, just do what's best to continue forward as usual. (you are doing very well already in these trying times keeping it progressing)

 

another question on the big brakes.. did they still fit in the 13" rims? i can't remember if you checked earlier. 

 

Yeah I hear you. 

I spoke with Mark today when I realised the issue, and he was great with information. and very sympathetic to my problem. 

 

Its been a crazy ride so far. I had a self imposed finish date, basically 12 months since the accident, so December this year, to have it finished. And it is still possible. but there is every chance it will blow out passed that, and thats ok. 

 

Yeah the 13s do fit. Minimum wheel size is 13" 

 

 

11 minutes ago, hendrixhc said:

Ahh Aaron thats cars for you Mate.

 

I bought a lovelly 345 diff for the falcon only to realise the fantastically polished PROstars i love so dearly dont clear the calipers. Nek Minit had to drop $1800 on new 15" wheels to clear the calipers.

 

Then i decided they dont suit the car as much as i hoped and colour coding the bumpers was important, however, i didnt want to paint the originals so i sourced more.

 

And so on and so on.

 

Dont lose heart bud its how our cars evolve!

 

Yep thats cars. 

And Fords ridiculous engineering. where they change hub, strut, stub axle, across different models, hence forth why im in this predicament. 

 

Its getting to the fiddly and annoying parts, the stressful parts, and I know that it will all pay off the day that I turn the key, and drive it down the street for the first time.  

 

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34 minutes 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

They need to be 2L/Mexico/Twin Cam/Capri Mk1 struts 😂 

They need the larger hubs and the mounting tabs are further out to accomodate the bigger calliper. 
 

The English axle in Australia was only fitted to special cars, like twin cam, Mexico, and RS in the Mk1s i thought. 
standard in Mk2 

Aussie Mk1s generally had BW diffs. 

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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 :D

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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.

Sent from my S21 using Tapatalk
 

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. 

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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. 

 

Xk9znQH.jpg

 

NyC2YIb.jpg

 

8azzOSg.jpg

 

 

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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. 

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) .

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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. 

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7 hours ago, Panko said:

 

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 :D

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

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