Christ, is it really 18 months since I touched the car?
I should be ashamed of myself, still I've been catching up on the cracking restos the rest of you have been doing, and I'm getting a strange stirring feeling. Either it's the curry, or I'm starting to get motivated. Another 6 months of viewing should do it
Simon
Nice work m8 wont be to long to finish now.
Well, it will at this rate.
Just a small hint, perhaps you might want to check posting dates, although I do appreciate your motivational posts.
Simon
PS. I'm gradually getting an urge.....
Great work fella. I know how hard it can be sometimes to find the time to get back to the car
1970 Mk1 Escort Tarmac Rally Car
Good work I need to get back to mine
come on sion get cracking m8 you've had long enough now fella.good to see you posting again as well m8
blimey... & there was me expecting an update & pics.....
some work going on there mate .
Pig: Yeah yeah, I know. At least looking at ebay its value has increased while it's been sitting there, and it hasn't got any worse!
Ratters: One thing at a time, at least I'm here
OK, so where were we?
Oh yes, the rear arch. I think this has to be one of the deciding factors that made me find something else to do all this time. Anyway, after some deep soul-searching, and getting motivated by the awesome work going on by others, I decided it was time to get back into it.
When the project was stalled, the rear arch looked like this:
I had already replaced the inner arch lip before taking any photos (motivation got the better of me)
During the course of doing this, some perforation was revealed in the top section of the wheel tub. I don't recall ever having seen rot in this area before, and I've welded up a few Escorts over the years.
So, it has to come out
A little bit of tin bashing on my favourite galvanised sheet later
There was also a small perforated section below it too, which was also duly resigned to the scrap bin. Here it's all closed up and treated to some nice worm killer.
Next job is to source a lower corner repair (where have all the panel shops gone?, I hate ordering online and waiting for the bloody postman!), then I can think about putting the outer arch on.
Stay tuned rust fans
Simon
Top work..I wish I could weld like that,
Keep the pics coming,
Russ.
looking good keep at it mate will be well worth it in the long run
OK, after a trip to Kent to those lovely folks at classiccarpartsdirect.co.uk (MC Trading), the work on the fuel tank well can continue. This is what we are faced with
The extent of the rot has spread into both the inner and outer pieces of the fuel tank well. Now, unusually for me, I decided to buy new panels rather than fabricate from scratch as this should speed up the job.
Upon trying the lower corner panel, it didn't fit. I then noticed the MK1 has a swage around the flat section on the bottom, and the rear corner is much shallower than this new panel. I can only summise by this that, as been said on here before, the MK2 and MK1 panels really are different even though they seem to be sold as a common panel between both models. Shit, what to do now? A little bit of measuring revealed that the difference, apart from the actual radius of the corner, lies in the position of the fold along the bottom where the two halves meet. So, it's either a case of refolding the bottom, or cut a bit out, like so.
The cut can now be closed and welded. While this does make the fit much better, it takes time. In fact, it might have been quicker to fabricate the panel after all, and save 25 quid in the process. So much for speeding up the job! I can only advise anyone looking to buy a rear lower corner for a MK1 NOT to buy a MK2 item unless they are prepared to cut it about to make it somewhere close to fitting. Here we see that the newly modified panel isn't to far away from fitting nicely now. *sigh*
The inner half of the tank well, although again sold as a MK1/2 item is different again (unless the pressing quality really is that bad) but with much less work will fit perfectly. The true extent of the replacement metal can be seen here.
That just leaves a bit of welding to do tommorrow, then fill in the hole in the tub again. Stay tuned photo-fans
Simon
Great work,loving the handmade stuff!
Well, there isn't any handmade panels, that was the idea of buying them, although they ended up being hand-modified
Anyway, on with the show:
Cutting the rear lower corner off makes it easier to weld in the inner half of the tank well
Then our freshly fettled outer panel. Due to the thickness (or lack of) in these new panels, tacking a small section at a time to keep the heat down saves lots of distortion.
Now we need to start filling the hole in the wheel well.
A spot welder saves lots of hassle here. If you have access to one, it is a highly recommended tool for this kind of work and means theres no cleaning up of plug welds.
After plenty of cooling between, the outer section is finally welded.
That just leaves a final trim, and fit the outer arch. Again watch the heat, and the spot welder came in handy again too.
To finish this side, the welds need to be ground down. This also generates a surprising amount of heat, so watch out for distortion. Do it in small sections again, just like the welding.
Passenger side next, I wonder what surprises lie in there
Simon
Great work, glad to see your getting back into it.
seriously neat repair loving the build
I told you before you bought it that the corner panel doesn't fit.
Nice to see it is in progress again.
Well, there goes another year, doesn't time fly by? Especially when you are doing your hardest to avoid working on rotten cars
Anyway, after fitting a wheel bearing to my van at the garage today, I decided I'd have a look at the Escort....
There's a nasty little hole in the corner of the valance that needs sorting, and a few bits of welding that was never finished when doing the lower corner. So I thought it was starting to look a bit rusty again (this could be like painting the Fourth Bridge), some primer was needed. I decided to tackle the unenvyable task of grinding down all those welds...
Time for some yellow stuff...
Now its a toss-up between scraping the shit off the underside of the floor, or the rot on the passenger side. Choices, choices
Last edited by runoutofrigos; 03-08-2011 at 10:07.
Just don't rush into it and end up making a silly mistake.
Rush? This is me you are talking to
Simon
all sarcasm aside...... glad it isn't completely forgotten about
It's never been forgotten about, just ignored....
Simon
less chat more pics simon lol
MY MK1 ESCORT (Now turbo'd)
5 hours with a wire wheel on the grinder got me this far. Jeesus, what a shit job, I got covered in old underseal, congealed dif oil, and god knows what else.
And just as I was getting on with it, it looks like I've wrecked my knee which may need surgery to correct. Getting old gracefully? More like falling apart, just like my cars
Simon
Found some time and motivation to get up the workshop and crack on with scraping the floor. Jeesus, what a shit job this is, thank god I'm nearly there...
floorcleaning1.jpg
floorcleaning2.jpg
Of course, once you start cleaning, you see things you didn't before.
chassisjoint-rotted.jpg
So time for a spot of cut and weld
chassisjoint-cut.jpg
chassisjoint-filled.jpg
Getting there now.
floorcleaning3.jpg
That's the bulk of the underseal removed, now to clean off the old paint.
floorcleaning4.jpg
Stay tuned photo-fans
Simon
Brill
Its only taken 5 years so far as I can see, no rushing these things...
Russ.
Absolutely
And at this rate, it's likely to be another 5 years, this is the result of a days graft:
floor.cleaning6.jpg
Simon
Finally, I've finished scrubbing the floor clean. Just needs a final clean tommorrow and a nice coat of etch primer.
floor.cleaning7.jpg
Simon
Nice work getting there
And there it is, at last. Hooray!
floor.cleaned1.jpg
Now I can finally get back to the welding. NS arch looks to be the next job.
ns.rear.arch.rotted.jpg
Simon
Some excellent work your doing here, keep it up!!
your doing really well and it does take a lot of time to do it right. brings back memories of doing my 1300e that had gone in all the same places as yours. keep on welding n grinding buddy
if it aint broke, break it!
You give the word "motivation" a real meaning.
OK, a bit later than I expected, but here's the progress on the N/S arch:
After using the new arch as a template to mark around, the old arch was removed with the faithfull air-hacksaw.
arch.removed.jpg
Next, tacking the new arch in place gives us a guide as to where the inner arch repair should fit.
arch.tacked.jpg
Some of the inner arch has already been removed so that it will sit inside the new outer arch correctly, allowing us to mark around the repair panel and remove the entire section.
inner.arch.removal.jpg
After welding in the repair section and more cleaning up with the wire brush, we are left with this.
inner.arch.welded.jpg
Hmm, nice shiny metal again
inner.arch.welded2.jpg
Finally a coat of etch primer to keep the brown stuff away is required.
inner.arch.etched.jpg
Lastly, we coat the outer arch repair panel with a coat of etch prior to fitting to try and hold back future rot.
outer.arch.etched.jpg
As I have to go into hospital for surgery on the dodgy knee again, I'm guessing it will be a while before fitting the arch. I'll post the pictures once that happens.
Simon
Last edited by runoutofrigos; 28-11-2011 at 12:16.
Looking good mate! Nice to see you keep coming back to it, good luck with the knee bud.
I remember stripping the underside of my MKII down to the metal.......still makes me feelthinking about it now - very, very hard work but very, very rewarding
you must really not like doing rear arches if you damage your own knee to get out of it lol.
nice work btw
track fiesta on all the right bits.....
fan bloody tastic, excellent read there and cracking work, im dreading the under floor of mine lol
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks