mk1 escort 1300e purple warior

[bodger rogers]

and so it begins my first escort build ive been raging around in minis for years but i fancied a change and some rear wheel drive fun. ive bought this car from a friend. its been siting in a leaky garage for around 3 years, it looks like the waters been sitting in the drivers floor pan bad rust here. but the panels are realitively striaght so heres a few pictures as she stands.

my mk1 escort 016.jpg

my mk1 escort 013.jpg

my mk1 escort 001.jpg

my mk1 escort 008.jpg

my mk1 escort 014.jpg

[bodger rogers]

the bad bits so far

drivers floor

both sills [ inner and outer]

the boot floor spare wheel end

i think the radiator crossmember had it aswell

my mk1 escort 011.jpg

my mk1 escort 033.jpg

my mk1 escort 056.jpg

[bodger rogers]

i started to cut the rot out yesterday and now my garage floor is covered in rusty bits off broken metal

cut the floor pan and crossmenber out it wasnt hard to remove it almost fell out

strip down 001.jpg

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i think i need a bit of advice here.when doing the floors what should you do first inner sill then floor pan then attatch them together, or the other way round im thinking because the floor panel and inner sill overlap would it be better to cut the excess off the floorpan or the inner sill. i would probably say the sill?

[4drmatt]

looks like you've got a good project there

keep at it and it'll soon be done

[dobuy]

Just did this floor pan and sill repair, I would cut the sill repair panel back and keep as much of the floor pan as possible.

[Ratters]

welcome mate doesn't look a bad project really

if you have a look at my 'project/resto' there's pics of what you might be wanting. the link is on the left somewhere under my name <----- i'm no pro, but i done the floor first anyway a while before i done the sills.

whereabout's in bristol are you?

[bodger rogers]

Thanks for the advice guys that’s just confirmed what I thought was the right way to tackle it but wasn’t quite sure. Thanks for the welcome too ive read quite a few threads on this forum that have gave me a lot of inspiration so I thought I would start one of my own, although I don’t think it will move quite as quickly as most of you lot seem to get things done. i dont plan to take years to finish it. I live in st george/kingswood area any mk1 escort owners nearbye?

[essyrwd]

Hello and welcome Nice to see another mk1 1300e Looks like you are getting well stuck in
What are your plans for the car and spec ,are you going to return it back to original ?
Got loads of pics if they are of any help feel free to pm me Keep up the good work

[Ratters]

I live in st george/kingswood area any mk1 escort owners nearbye?

quite a few mate you'd be surprised

[bodger rogers]

I have thought long and hard about what to do with the car, at first I thought I would just restore it to standard condition but this is not what im interested in although it’s nice to see a totally restored car as standard I don’t think is for me. For me you can’t beat the bulging shape of a de-bumpered bubble arched mk1. Ideally two toned like the 70s touring cars used to be.
escort_one_1110395554_016ma.jpg
so this is the plan paint wise.
i plan to have a striped out interior two cobra monaco bucket seats, rollcage five point harneses and a springalex steering wheel [if i can find one] i like the stripped out rally car look.
the engine will remain standard untill its on the road then i might be looking out for a pinto 2litre to build up and convert it.
its got spax dampers at the rear with capri 2.8i front struts and i have a good set of black revolution alloys to go on it.
my plans might change as time goes on but thats it for now anyways.

wheres a good place to get some fibreglass bubble arches?

[Ratters]

sounds like a cool plan

there's a few local cars in these pics here - http://www.turbosport.co.uk/gallery/...=3&userid=2399

if you need a hand or advice give any of us a shout mate me, trig & denzil are all bristol plus others too

someone will give you advice on fibreglass arches but most may recommend fitting steel ones.

[bodger rogers]

thanks mate its nice to know if your up shit creak someone locals got a paddle. im loving what trig has done to his mk1 that looks sweeeeet!

[mk1matt]

I do like a nice two tone mk1
Keep us posted

[bodger rogers]

maybey like this?

6DSCF0007.jpg

playing with a few ideas

[mk1matt]

Tbh i prefere the one in your avatar. Two tone always seems to work better with the darker colour on the bottom imo

[bodger rogers]

your so right but i was trying to cheat cause the paints quite good on the top of the car but naf around the bottom and ive got to do the arches but i prefer this really

7b3c_1.jpg

[essyrwd]

Sweet i just looooooove them bubbles just trying to talk my self into chopping my back arches off
Which arches you going for the rally bubbles or the saloon zakspeed ones .Ohh and i do fancy a two toned essy

some pics i got ,you might have seen them

[exboyracer]

This bloke sells genuine springalex wheels as well as repro ones, they're not cheap though! I bought a repro one.

http://www.retro-uk.com/

[bodger rogers]

im gonna go for the rally works arches i prefer the way they look. i might be persuaded to get a front bib too. then get it sitting nice and low on thirteens, i dont like the wheels to big i think they look a bit out of place sometimes

[bodger rogers]

i finally got my lazy arse out down the garage today and made i little bit of progress.
ive restored and painted one of my revolution wheels and tryed it on the car to see what they look like.

more strip down 001.jpg

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removed the wood from the interior and door cards.

more strip down 006.jpg

had to cut more bodges out of the floor

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should be almost ready for the floor pan to go in? i need to get some strenth back in to the sill to stop anything moving that badly buy now ive got the floor pan in place ready to weld with the inner sill. pictures to follow..........

[bodger rogers]

ive got the floor pan in where it needs to go all cut ready with the inner sill in place.

more strip down 012.jpg

more strip down 013.jpg

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theres a few holes that need filling with sheet metal but it seems to all fit okay.
now im gonna take it all apart and rustproff it with kurust and paint the inside of the chassis rail with hamerite, then remove the surounding paint ready to weld.

[dobuy]

I would highly advocate removing all the black paint on those panels with paint stripper before you fit them, it is nasty stuff and bubbles up as soon as any heat goes near it. Much easier to remove before fitting, rather than half way through.

[PERKY]

Nice project you got there, looks like youve got abit of work to do, but nothing to major. If your fitting fibreglass bubbles i'd remove your front wings and sell them (shame to cut up rs wings), use what you make to go towards fibreglass front wings with bubbles already in.
Keep at it mate gonna look great

[essyrwd]

Thought i would put on some pics of original floor for reference might be of some help keep cutting and grinding

[bodger rogers]

i have concidered taking the wings off and selling them to finance the bubble arch wings. but wasnt sure if i could take them off without damaging them cause they are pretty mint, or damaging the surrounding areas, is this possible. whats the best way to remove them anyway? i thought that it might be a lot easyer to just cut the mexico lip of the wing and sell that

i cant decide...........

thanks for the floor pictures bud!

and how the fooking hell do the door hinge pins come out up or down?

[mk1zetec]

how the fooking hell do the door hinge pins come out up or down?

Use the correct tool! And then top ones knock down and bottom ones knock upwards.
If your lucky they will come easily. Most likely you will need to give them a bit/alot of a soaking in WD for a while/ages and some heat if that fails.

[bodger rogers]

i got a bit more done today the sill is now welded to the floor pan kurusted the whole area and painted inside the chassis rails.

sill welded 001.jpg

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sill welded 003.jpg

i havent done much welding for a while and it shows!

[essyrwd]

keep cutting and plugging
The hinge pins the swinesas said lots of oil ,perhaps a bit of heat ,get a hinge pin remover

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/?_nkw=h...over&_osacat=0

after oiling try it ,loads better with wing off .One of mine shifted right away but others were stuck solid ,you can soon wreck the tool so if they didnt shift right away i used a high tensil bolt one the size of the pin and hit it to get it to move .
Then when its moved just a little bit go back to the tool .
As dave has said the bottom pin will not hit out straight down as it fouls the door ,only do this if you have a dremmel with cut off disks so you can trim it off as you hit it through .
hope this helps and keep up the good work

ps :get a lump hammer nice solid hits close to the hinge ,ohh and wear padded gloves the vibration kills your hands

[Dave]

Personally I would keep it standard, I think they are very nice cars like that, but if you do decide to scrap the front wings be very careful with them, they are worth quite a bit.
As has also been said, get that black paint off the new panel. It will wash off if you use a rag heavily soaked in thinners. No need for paint stripper. Then use etch primer on it.
It's a bit late now, but if you take the other floor pan off, use the chance to clean up and paint inside the chassis rail.
When it comes to the outer sills, it looks like you might need an arch repair panel as well to get past that rot. Some full length sills do come quite high up the arch, look out for one. They also save a lot of work, because it becomes much more obvious where they go if you have a full sill.
Best of luck.

*edit: I just looked at the pic again, you are going to need an arch repair panel. Even if you don't need all of it.
I will also add, before final decision on bubbles, are you up to doing the filler work? They take some doing to get looking right. (not a comment on your ability)

[bodger rogers]

today was quite productive ive now got most of the inner sill and front and back floors in place ready to weld in tomorrow.

nice shoes!
getting there 001.jpg
another hole
getting there 002.jpg

getting there 005.jpg
i'll fill this in later
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getting there 014.jpg
allmost finished, not.
getting there 017.jpg

i was just wondering whats the use in removing the black paint on the panel when its only going to be painted over again anyway?

nothings welded in yet so i will take it all apart tomorrow and clean the panels up before i weld them in. i know it seems strange that i havent been welding things in as ive been fitting them. while thats because i havent got any power in my rented garage apart from a small generator which i cant weld with because its not man enough for the job. so i have limited use of the person who im renting the garage froms shed electricity. i tend to work so i get as much fabrication work done as i can then plug in to the sheds electricity to get all the welding done in one go.

[bodger rogers]

kurusted.
getting there 019.jpg
ill leave this to soak in overnight!

[Dave]

The black paint is just a protective layer put on to keep the panel clean before it gets fitted. It is probably the cheapest, and therefore rubbishiest paint they can get. It does what it is supposed to do, but that's it. It certainly isn't good enough as a primer. (unless you have the coating that won't wash off with thinners, that is electrostatically applied, and the best you can get. That isn't what you have)
If you use the black paint as your primer it will flake off and go rusty sooner than you want.
Also, there is no point whatsoever in putting kurust over the top of it. That won't do anything at all. Unless you stripped it first without telling us.

Please don't take any of this as criticism, I am simply trying to give good advice that will mean it won't all need doing again in a very short time.

It might be a good idea to get some bits welded in, the more you take out, the more chance of something (panels, door frame etc) moving due to lack of support.

[bodger rogers]

thanks for the all the coments, they are greatly recieved and advice taken on board.

[Ratters]

keep at it mate progressing well

as has been said, get the black 'primer' off then kurust, then etch etc & don't forget to do the awkward bits first if you can

[dobuy]

Totally agree with Dave and when you start welding you will see how nasty the black paint is. I tried the thinners wipe thing but ended up so high on the fumes I have been using stripper instead with a bit of success, it's still not a nice job but for me, stripper, quick rub over with a wire brush on a cordless drill, then zinc primer has become my routine. It saves time in the long run.

[bodger rogers]

ive not done anything for a while but planing to get a lot done tomorrow i was thinking how to fit the arches and thought this looked pretty cool what do you lot think?

4eca_1.jpg

they look like metal arches to me so there are lot thiner than fibreglass ones i would imagine.

562e_1.jpg

this is where i need some help from anyone with a mk1 escort 2 door. the drivers door on my car has never closed properly but the front drivers side floor was already cut out when i bought the car. and somewhere along the way something has moved? just so i can check can somebody pull the rubbers back on eitherside and measure between the bottom front of the door aperture, where the door rubbers go on as in the photo across the top of the gearbox tunnel please.
my mk1 escort 025.jpg
this would be handy for me to kmow that its in the right place before i weld all the floors and crossmenber in place. for some reason the door seems to have a lot of play in the hinges but the hinge panel looks mint? this needs further investigation i didnt have a lot of time to have a look so will look closer tomorrow

[bodger rogers]

now im thinking like this is how i want it to look

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[essyrwd]

ive not done anything for a while but planing to get a lot done tomorrow i was thinking how to fit the arches and thought this looked pretty cool what do you lot think?

Attachment 27291

they look like metal arches to me so there are lot thiner than fibreglass ones i would imagine.

Attachment 27292

this is where i need some help from anyone with a mk1 escort 2 door. the drivers door on my car has never closed properly but the front drivers side floor was already cut out when i bought the car. and somewhere along the way something has moved? just so i can check can somebody pull the rubbers back on eitherside and measure between the bottom front of the door aperture, where the door rubbers go on as in the photo across the top of the gearbox tunnel please.
Attachment 27293
this would be handy for me to kmow that its in the right place before i weld all the floors and crossmenber in place. for some reason the door seems to have a lot of play in the hinges but the hinge panel looks mint? this needs further investigation i didnt have a lot of time to have a look so will look closer tomorrow

As requested the measurements from my shell which is as the factory ,all original and no accident damage measures across the the top of the tunnel 49 quarter inches or 1251 mm .This is to the inside of the lip for the door rubber so add approx 3mm each side for the 3 skins of metal .I am sure the shells from the factory do differ but this will give you an idea

[bodger rogers]

thanx buddy atleast now i can see if anything has moved that badly, if not i will have to have a look at the play in the door hinges

[Dave]

Are you sure it isn't the hinge pins themselves that are worn?
They usually are, and can be replaced, either with proper pins or M8 bolts.
The hinges themselves on the A post can be adjusted with an FBH to get the doors to shut better if need be.
Another method of adjustment is by trapping a 1/2" socket in the hinge as you close the door. I was warned not to use that method, but it is what they did in the Ford factory when they made them, and it does work. (if that adjusts them the right direction in your case)