Hi all. So here's the start of my rebuild thread.
I'm Peter, and I've owned the car since I was 19, so just a couple of years.
A bit of back ground. Never interested in cars that much when I was younger, I was bought up on aeroplanes... model ones mainly.
I'd heard of a Jensen Interceptor, but didn't know what it was. Learnt to drive at 18, and on recommendation from a friend of my brother I got a Mk1 Escort estate 13L. in Bronze. Blokes at college always called it Brown..... it wasn't brown it was Bronze ! Didn't matter it was a tool, it would take my mate and I and our camping gear, as for the car and motor bike talk with my college mates, I listened but had nothing to put in, and most of the time not much clue or interest in it.
But then ................ One of my class mates who was mad keen of what were then the fast Fords turned up with a Mk2 RS2000 in Midnight Blue.
That was it, what a car !!!
No way I could have one, he had a big loan to go with it, and that's just not my thing. But the seed was sown.
Trying to keep it short, I saw a picture of a Zakspeed RS2000, and that to me was just another level, and I could buy a body kit to convert a standard escort to look like that !
When my Mk1 Estate died, the AA man said to me the best way to get to understand cars was to take one apart and put it back together. He was absolutely right.
Problem was I had no facilities, little cash, and no experience at all. But why should that stop me ?
So I managed to scrape together a few hundred quid and found in "Loot" a suitable Mk2, 2 door. Suitable as in it had an MOT and was in my price range and had been patched up, so no welding needed, mmmmmmm ?
I persuaded a college mate who lived about 2 miles from me to let me use his council garage, which had no power or light, water and was quite narrow, if I covered the rent for a couple of months. Game on !! Fortunately there was a group of lads there older than us who played about with cars and one of them had a fair bit of kit including spray kit, so there was some advice to be got if needed, and it was often.
I cant remember all the details of how the time was spent, but over the course of 3 months working every evening after college or work and every weekend except one were I had to return home not long after arriving due to being in a bad way from some thing I ate my Zakspeed escort was born !!
Most of that time was filling and rubbing down all by hand. Now fitted with a rebuilt 16 X-flow engine and twin carb. It was painted in a grey and white scheme with a blue/green pastel flash/block on the rear arch. (I'll dig out a pic some time) in the drawing (which I still have) this scheme was very eye catching, that was done by the lad with the experience and spray kit who also painted it for me (out side), I did a bit to under his supervision.
A year or so later I bought my 1st home, and its most important feature was the wide garage with power, light, a pit and work area, it was also at the bottom of the garden !
This car was my only car, so was in every day use. As time went by I did a few more mods changed the engine a couple of times each one getting more modified. I also did a Mk2 "13 sport" as in modified engine, 2 door 13 popular, with RS alloys, bib spoiler, pink bucket seats and painted it a custom mixed purple, for my then girlfriend.
I also helped a mate do his Mk2 1600 with forest arches and a repaint. By now I was getting quite confident with this stuff. At some point focus on my car changed from a day car to making it a bit better performing and a repaint to something more sporty. So over a few weeks probably in the winter of 91/92 I took it in to the garage added the skirts and repainted it as seen below. I also around this time replaced the 7x13 Ally cat wheels with the 8x13F 9x13R Compomotive's that really filled the arches. Also replaced the black Hunt Master bucket seats with the Fishnet Recaro's. Suspension all got up-rated and proper lowered front springs rather than the clamps I'd had on before, quick rack, anti dive kit, harness's, re-wired a lot of the car, moved the battery to the boot, up-rated the lights, moved the fuse box in to the cabin on an ally centre panel with various gauges and replaced switches with toggle switches. replaced the "Sport" instrument dash with an RS2000 5 clock dash and various other stuff.
The car remained my main day car, but I took it to various shows and "run what you brung" sprints, track days, drag days. Never understood tear arsing around the streets when you could go balls out on a track ! On one occasion I was visited at my garage by the police ( the car was a bit of a head turner back then) who said they would give me a race up the new section of the A406 from the A13 to the M11. They seemed genuine, but I never took them up on it. I knew how quick it was and how fast I could get it from the track days. Unfortunately where I lived there were a few twats, and it was broken in to, was pushed of its axle stands outside my parents house before I had the garage, caught fire on a rolling road (electrical fire because they loaded the battery with a cooling fan rather than use a mains fan). hence the re-wire with very high quality silver coated multi-strand low smoke and flame wiring.
In 1993 I took a chance on a Mk1 that a mate had which was very badly rusted. But it had a full mk1 RS2000 interior, and I thought I'd got the experience to save it. The strut tops were 80% gone and what was left was rust, with replacement panels bolted on. Not sure this bloke realised that added no strength at all ! The floor was bad front and back as were the rear arches, and interestingly it was in it original "Bronze" colour with a black vinyl roof.
My mate with the forest arch mk2 helped me tow it the 2 miles to my garage. I really didn't think it would make it on the front suspension, so we did it late at night, but got away with it. Long story short (I'm trying) I rebuilt that car, and now I had 2 escorts !!! That gave me options ! At the time Paul Bailey was the top man in the Vector fast ford series, in his red cosworth powered x-pack RS2000 ! This was my icon car. By now I'm on not too bad a wage and I decide that when the tax on my Mk2 ran out in September 1993 I'd take it off the road and fix all the things I couldn't do originally, and had the big idea of fitting a cosworth engine and making it a pure race car keeping the Mk1 for day to day use.
So Sept 93, she goes in to the garage. In the December I changed jobs, and that and other social stuff started to take effect on my time. I found my self in a situation where I decided to buy a new house away from East London, so I stopped taking the car apart as I'd have to move it and needed it to be a rolling shell. A few months I thought to get this sorted and the new place would have a double garage or facility to build one. Well..... that was early 94, I eventually moved in to the new place in Sept 95. I had a garage but it was basic and no funds to build my new garage. But I got my car transported to its new home, and tucked away whilst I got my self settled. Life has a habit of changing direction.
Several relationships and one marriage, a house move (I kept the place the car was and rented it out, minus the garage) and a majoor career change and now its 2017 !!!!
Attachment 81088
1992/93
Attachment 81089
Bookmarks