other than collecting pats over the last 4 years, since I last drove it, I have now washed it and tried on the new to me wheels. 15x8 ex sierra race car rims.
tight fit at each end, never liked the fit of the rear arches so time for some extra wide ones I think, and spacers on the front bas it just rubs the stryt casing.
Anyway also pulled the many boxes of nice new parts out of the inside and once I have a new place to live its rebuild 3 time.
JP
Get some elastic bands on those tyres and it will look goooood
Other than buying a house and nearly another piece of land, staring our business and generally missing the Uk I have found some time to dedicate to the escort;
One step forward a more expensive one backwards.
Ordered the tilton hydraulic throwout bearing for the T5 gearbox about 18 months ago knowing I still needed the correct thrust bearing. Ordered that during the week to discover when offered up to the piston/carrier that the bearing was right the carrier was wrong. Hadn't opened the box and discovered an incorrect part. Too long ago to chase up so ordered the new carrier/piston.
Anyhoo nothing cash wont fix.
Had the cosworth T5 bell housing modified to suit the bearing base which also replaces the input shaft bearing retainer. why it didn't fit I don't know but the bell housing hole needed opening up by about 5mm. Had the faces of the belhousing machined, 10 thou one side and 60 thou to get the faces parallel so now await the right part and I can mate the engine up to the gearbox.
Have also managed to pull half the old engine out, with all ancillaries, exhaust etc removed and mount bolts undone. ran out of time to rip it out. but its all progress
JP
No going back now!
All glass out, all wiring removed from cabin, oh and the seat rails and side intrusion bars from the cage cut out!
Never liked the cages side bars as they prevented the seat getting low enough. Well I cant see the bonnet and Im 6+ foot but I could go 50mm lower. What was good to see was I did get penetration in the welds...
Looks like I should be able to clean most of the old welds and remaining stubs up pretty easily before the new lower bars go in. Looks like I was going to have to get the cage redone anyway due to the new regulations.
Bought a sandblaster so going to strip the interior, engine bay and underside again! have ordered new front floors and mounting rails so they are getting done too.
Cheers
JP
slow progress with Christmas and work and heat
more parts on their way including new seat rail boxes.
have started the cut-it-out process, having unpicked the two wings of the tunnel stiffener to free up the floor space for cutting and welding soon. Post Christmas holiday period cant come soon enough. spare time and cash to spend!
No rust just poor previous repairs I was never happy with. and new roll cage rules mean that needs amending plus building car the way i want it not to class rules. Not going to play with the big boys anymore...
JP
Last edited by jpblue; 21-12-2013 at 07:55.
what a great read!
cheers mate. glad you liked it
JP
Justin, looks good mate ;-) looks like you have been a busy boy mate
Hope you a lovely Christmas mate and will chat soon
Old skool forever
Just don`t tell the wife
how much it really costs!
FFS,
Christmas holidays almost over and barely anything to report. How do I get myself so involved in others business!.
Bigger holes cut. I like to call them exploratory but the reality is they are cutting my previous amateur mess out. Hope my new found patience and belief I have skill through Knowledge pays off. 6 months on its side to return to the same point I was a month ago would be um disappointing.
All I can say is who did this!
But nice new shapely bits
Still after an Auto tunnel. Or I might re-repair this one or go aftermarket
I have also decided to go all out on this one. Stuff IP rules as to be honest, with a 'Grand design' on the new house coming up, new business etc I doubt Ill ever spend the cash on an IP season with all their FIA lifed components, entry fees and damage etc. Private practices, 6 hours, hillclimbs, sprints is enough for my proposed budget.
And If my 'skilz are as mad' as I hope I enjoy the idea of the restoration as much as the driving.
JP
Last edited by jpblue; 31-12-2013 at 06:11.
Update seems pitiful, but hey I also have two nice new ceiling fans installed, a new driveway, assembled the Christmas gift BBQ, welded in a drivers footrest to the subazuki and installed new speakers and amp in the ute!
Slowly unpicking the mess. Spent 2.5 hours grinding of seam welds to help undo a previous repair
After grinding away old welding I had to panel beat the front firewall 'tub' after it warped, has better shape than ever before. And lots of measuring before cutting. I'm going to try and save this tunnel. Well the top anyway.
JP
steel going back in.
new front inner sill. decided to cut the roll cage foot out to get the the inner sill. at some point in the past it has been hit and was a bit crumpled. hammering, dollying and straightening. also plugged the chassis rail back together after old spot welds were removed. Also finally after 20 years of owning the car fixed the rust in the door aperture seam
new bit welded in.
Got fancy with the new metal bender, lots of measuring and checking and hey presto. good fit, Im happy with it too which is important.
nice fit
will trim up the rear floor and butt weld here I think,.
5 hours of work. 1 x 150mm long 90 degree angle made and welded in,
this 650x190 floor section and about 450mm of inner sill welded in.
Oh and about 1kg of weld smoothed out!
JP
After attempting to do this myself recently i can say that you have done a bloody good job of that,
i struggled to get that curve as per your last picture so mine remained straight.
good job mate!
Thanks mate, I had a bit of roll bar tube left after I cut it out and it proved perfect to hand roll over, several tweaks to get that bit.
Cheers,
Next is to form the rib and indentation just seen under it.
Justin
Good job Justin
thanks mate...
heatwave over 7 more hours gone, but something positive happened!.
Metal was welded in, not all of it but some the seat mount box is tech-screwed in for fitting. Also ran out of gas in the mig!
the floor panel needed the sill edge reshaped so was cut to allow to re-bend as it was miles out. and I have to grind the welds down yet but most importantly the edges are even and match one another
Now the complex bulkhead and wheel well. I do hope its easier and quicker on the other side!
Bough myself a nice new air tool, an edge flanger or joggler. looking forward to using it somewhere probably along the remaining edge of the trans tunnel to allow the new flat piece to be smoothed in.
JP
Last edited by jpblue; 20-01-2014 at 10:15.
as they say it gets worse before it gets better...
rather than mess about with trying to shape the front wheel wells and have a patchwork of bits of steel I went and purchased this
The breaker yard has several similar 'cuts' of different parts and about 5 mostly rust free escorts awaitingthe teratment, god bless the sun in Australia!.
This is a Mk2 'A' pillar cut so Im hoping in an educated way uit fits without too much messing about. Will be drilling spot welds out for a mionth I think to seperate the bulkhead panel fomthe rest then I'll section the left and right footwells and insert into mine. So Im not doing the compleet bulkhead as the top and middle of mine are fine.
look at those scuttles and upper bulkhead...!
JP
The UK guys are going to hate you for this post....
Shaun
i hate you for this post
nah just kidding, i only wish we had rot free shells so easily available here.
i'll discuss a move to oz with the other half later
Very nice
Thanks Popee and everyone
cardboard doesn't keep the weather out or maintain structural rigidity
so in with some steel
before (left) after (right)
such slow going measure, measure and do it again, trim, measure measure trim some more then throw it away and start again...
but I have a template for the other side now so as I keep saying it should be quicker
have to finish of under the roll cage leg but will do that part with the leg mount soon.
JP
Bit more done,
Trying seat location before I start the other side, as the seam between new and old will now be a seat rail set into the floor. Will need to cut some tunnel edge out and square it up to get the seat far enough across as its narrower down lower against the tunnel than the old seat position.
and mostly removed...as predicted so much quicker the second time. a bit of trimming back then rail repair and cleanup then new metal on its way.
JP
weldathon day two! pretty much reverse images from the last round
small repair to front sill corner
then
repair bulkhead to inner wing flange
then new floor filler and jacking point
floor reinforcing
and inside
next I need to strip the front wheel bowl and trim and weld the floor, bulkhead/bowl repair and final flat between bulkhead and floor. these are the easy bits and then the grindathon
Just bought a new proper race seat with wings and its about 80mm Narrower than the Velo GP90 so should fit without cutting the trans tunnel to get it far enough across as the GP90 wings hit the door so needs to be tilted or raised too far. arrives next week
cheers
JP
Bit more done after 3 false starts,
floor and trans tunnel finished
Turned my attention to the bulkhead. Need to remove the lip below the heater bubble for engine clearance. discovered a bit of rust, just in the seam, so out it came
then a 300x10mm replacement piece welded in
and the heater hoses and fuse block holes filled
Next step for the front is the seat and seat bars. awaiting the new seat delivery hopefully this week. then roll cage feet and intrusion bars. then engine in to fabricate the chassis mounts and gearbox mounts onto the new floor then the rear end starts.
Class car buddy
Thanks MadMC
why do photos show welding worse than what it is! Anyhooo
last photo shows more damage to the bulkhead lip so out with the cutting disks and shaping hammer to fix it. Somehow lost the photo of the infill panel with curved flange, Learning so much about metal shaping, and proving I Still know so little.
And Santa came again! so much longer and bigger than in photos
will probably mount the filter elsewhere, probably before the surge tank
and started filling those little holes.
and went to the recycling yard...56 Kg of steel recycled, bar the falcon compressor most of it from the Mk1 and leftover bits from the Mk2 Bulkhead! yikes! And the shop Vac is full of grindings and paint, another 10 kg's there.
Shaping up lovely
Thanks Madda. better be worth it!
Cheers
JP
looks great
Ill be glad when the use oft he grinder stops. constantly waking up with dead arm suggesting vibration causing issues with arm nerves...damn cars.
Started cutting the floor for the 4 link boxes...what a mess. coincide with old damage, thin floor and where the tramp bar brackets were. will have to oversize the hole and back fill with folded angle into a joggled edge to rigidise and repair. will work well but more complex like usual. No photos just complaints.
JP
No going back now!
damn floor crumbled when the slitting disks came close. To thin metal from removing something in the past and from the welding of the radius arms. Ended up with 60mm wide holes to get back to decent metal to fit the 50mm wide link boxes...Damn it
But nothing a few folded and radius-ed angle sections couldn't sort.
Used threaded rod to get the holes aligned and then started the 2 hour alignment process consisting of a trim here grind there a tap here and a twist there a tack there a tack there and then a big hit over there and another few tacks, measure all again another big hit and hey presto parallel, square and even...pity the rest of the car isn't as good.
Don't know what I'm putting more photos up as you all know what they look like
alignment
welded
from another angle
Cheers JP
A week off and back onto it this weekend
Link Boxes finished
Drivers side Turret opening cut and flanges formed. not sure on the fitting yet, turret doesn't sit flat against chassis rail and is also curved. big hammer time I think
Also have to have the link bars thread repaired as all bar one are too tight!
New front panels arrived but no Flitch panels, A miss-order there so wing rails not finished. Going to mount seat on floor utilising longitudinal flats under the whole seat mount rather than on tube running across car. Will be lower and better supported.
Progress is slow but getting there.
JP
A few family health issues caused pause but a few hours on our recent long weekend!
I know you've all seen it before but...
cleaned up the old bulkhead remnants of the rear tubs and cut the second hole for other turret.
all fitted aligned at 8 degrees towards the centre and equal height and offset from centerline.
Thinking about using ratcheting type straps for the fuel tank...any comments, advice, experience?
Received a set of Nitto Nt01's 205/50 and 225/50 15 (thought worth a shot given the good positive feedback Ive found at a fraction of the price of A050's), a set of compression struts, mastercylinder for clutch, new brake rotor tabs... sold my onlty set Ahh, and am awaiting the new coilover conversions for each end, new catch-tank, new gearknob to go with the new T5 short shifter, am also awaiting a new wiring loom from the US, local guys wouldn't or couldn't answer my questions so lost business there.
JP
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