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Thread: My '76 RS Mexico

  1. #1
    Bodger

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    My '76 RS Mexico

    I've been a huge fan of the Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts for as long as I can remember.
    I was finally able to by this 1976 Mexico, rebuilt and converted to a RS2000 rally car back in 1999 by Skids.
    He sold it to a fellow rally racer which rebuilt the car again, adding on the wide arches etc.
    From what I know, it was originally white, then yellow and eventually painted in the Belga team colours.







    I had it shipped across the great pond and then railway shipped across the continent.
    It eventually made it to my house a month later.



    I'll be doing quite a bit of work on it over the next year or so.

    It's currently set up for gravel/forest stages, and I'll be using it for tarmac events, rally events and TSD/hillclimbs.
    It's going to be a well employed car when it's all sorted out.



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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Nice one, thats a rare car to have in the US!

    If you dont mind me asking, wast it much hassle and expense to ship the car over? (private message me if you want) My wife is from the US and there is the possibility that we'll move there some day, so i always wondered what it would cost to ship my car over there.

  3. #3
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Thanks, very rare to see these over here.
    Shipping was a breeze. The cost is dependent on how far the car has to go.
    I had mine shipped literally driveway to driveway and that ran me just over 8 grand. Nearly half that was the transport across the continent.
    It wasn't cheap by any means, but I paid that amount because it was a long voyage all taken care of by the shipping company. They did everything paperwork-wise, and jumped through all of the Customs hoops.
    If I just had the car shipped from the UK to the East Coast of the USA it would have ran me 4000 if I had the car in a container, or just 2600 for roll on/roll off.
    The container is very much worth it as it keeps the car safe from getting bits stolen from it.

  4. #4
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    thanks for your reply, its more expensive than i thought, but worth it to hold on to my MK2 if i ever move!

  5. #5
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    It's for sure worth it to get the car over here.

    The first plan is to get the carbs re-jetted to run off of N. American gasoline.
    One of the carbs has some damage to the venturi due to a pretty drastic backfire (which actually melted part of the air filter!!)
    So, the car isn't currently running which is driving me crazy as I want to give it a go around the property.
    In the pic you can see the air filter cover has seen a bit of fire!



    The car has a fiberglass piece, that's been on this car since '99, and from the looks of it...it's been on other Escorts before mine.
    It had a billion layers of different coloured paint on it.
    Since it's been through hell and back many times, I figured I'd give it a new lease on life.
    So, I worked all of the waves out of it, as well as sander divits/etc out of the surface.
    It's much smoother, nearly that of a steel hood. The huge X shaped support piece is still a tad prominent but much better for now until I restore the car properly.
    Here she sits with the guide coat getting worked down.


    Finally painted and blocked down...



    And looking lovely once again all buffed out.


    I updated the looks of the grille, adding in silver accents.



    And put together for now.


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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Whats the spec

  8. #7
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Converted to RS2000 spec many years ago.
    Has a 2.0L Pinto with the twin 45DCOE's, stage 3 head, injection rods, 205 block, forest cam, tony law exhaust.. etc.
    It maintains the 4 speed, although set up with straight cut gears.

    I'm really looking forward to getting it running again. I cannot believe how long it's been down.

    Here's a piccie of the Pinto, without the carbs or ignition.
    Getting the ignition system sorted out in the meanwhile. It was in a sad state.


  9. #8
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    The boot lid had a few spots of rust lurking underneath the spoiler, so it got repainted...It looks good for now!





    I power washed the underside of the car as it was filthy...still many remnants of the last time it was rallied by the previous owner.



    And I spotted a few bubbles on the far side front wing...


    Luckily, it was just old body work being rejected by the car...no rot found...yet.


    After all the bottom side was washed a few times, it was apparent that there is a lot of surface rust on the car. No surprise, as it has been used on gravel stages.



    And it cleaned up well..finished off with a fresh coat of epoxy.

    Last edited by Sepp; 07-06-2018 at 05:15.

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I neither hated or loved the Belga livery....but when the issue with the wing showed up, I decided to give the car a quick respray.


    The mud flap mounting hardware was held on with some very rusty bolts..it took a bit of time with a dremel to cut them off.
    I have stainless bits ready to go back on when done.


    The car got a quick onceover and was shot in white...there's plenty of blemishes on the car still, and they will all be sorted out in a few years.
    I don't have time to do a complete resto on the car, just time to take care of any major issues that arise.



    The wheels got resprayed in Argent Aluminum Silver and look good for now. They are in very sad shape and are in need of replacement for any kind of tarmac events.

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I think the biggest issue you will have running on low octane american fuel is detonation, unless you run lots of octane booster!!

    Looks a fun car.
    Last edited by Erikmex; 07-06-2018 at 10:15.

  13. #11
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Thank you!
    I will be running the car on a mixture of high octane race gas (110 octane) and something here called (92 octane) "clear gas" as the regular fuel here has ethanol. 10% and it's crap for older cars with carbs.
    I'll have to run the car with varying amounts of each to see where the detonation cut off is.



    While I was waiting for the paint to cure on the car, I tried to get tidy up the perspex windows.
    My trusty rotary buffer and some fine cutting polish.


    Before..


    After just one session..


    Some deep scratches on the passenger door window..


    And a few quick passes with the buffer. More to do as the door lock was in the way.

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  15. #12
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    This is a bit out of order, time wise... but I added a side stripe.
    Is there a name for this type of stripe on the Mk2's?

    I liked the looks of the white Lotus Cortinas with the green stripe, but went with BRG stripe for a little darker colour.





    A base coat of black looked great.


    And on with the BRG



  16. #13
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    The transmission has a minor leak, so I'll keep tabs on it over the next few months.. and pull the unit to replace the seal this upcoming winter.



    I did a good bit of wet sanding on the body, 800/1000/1500/2000/3000 grit. It's such a small car, that the work went by quickly.


    Various strengths of cutting compound and an old school rotary buffer made quick work of getting the paint to shine.


    The car is currently cut down with fine compound and swirl remover...still has to be buffed with glaze compound and eventually waxed.

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    When I taped off the car to respray the black door accents, the tape pulled away some of the green stripe paint on the doors...



    So I re painted the door stripes, and they came out better than the rest of the car!!





    The damaged carbs were rebuilt/repaired and put back in the car. It runs great again, but requires replacement gaskets, (small vacuum leak) which are on order.
    Last edited by Sepp; 15-07-2018 at 07:31.

  19. #15
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Progress has ground to a halt lately, as I've been very busy with other things.
    I did get the chance to hang the rear bumper and get the lights back in place an wired up.
    They all work!...except oddly enough, the reverse lights were disconnected and this car supposedly went through a MOT before I bought it.
    Do they not test reverse lights in a MOT?


  20. #16
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    until recently reverse lights were not testable, but even now they are only a "minor" which means they should be flagged up as a defect but a minor is not a failure

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Thanks Graham! One less mystery with this car!

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    My 13x8s have arrived from across the pond! Super quick shipping. i was impressed.


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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I like the Audi Coupe in the background!

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Quote Originally Posted by MemphisTwin View Post
    I like the Audi Coupe in the background!
    What you mean the bmw e30 m3?

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Also an Audi Quattro

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Yes, currently restoring 2 Quattros! one of them belongs to a friend, so we are doing them at the same pace.
    The M3 is thankfully well sorted. I was able to buy it when they were cheap many years ago.

  28. #23
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I've been very busy lately, and haven't even touched the car in over a month.
    I finally mounted the flaps again, and have blue zip ties that instantly add 5 horsepower each.


    Luckily, the car has been well sorted and fires right up. After a brief warm up it idles nicely and drives very well.
    I'm looking forward to getting some miles on it hopefully soon.
    It was good to get the car out in the sun for a while and run it around.
    Some small bits still need to be put back on again.

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Here's a few pics of the destroyed carb bits...The venturi were completely blown off, and were sitting inside the air filters.
    the air pattern was so disrupted that the plugs were dripping wet when I pulled them out.
    Luckily, all is sorted and the car runs fabulous with the rebuilt pieces.



    I finally had a chance to mount the 8 inch wheels today and give the car a quick shakedown run on the road.
    It still needs some fine tuning, but runs very strong.
    I will be locating a different CWP for TSD rallies as the car runs 4000 RPM at 55 miles per hour.




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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Quote Originally Posted by Graham View Post
    What you mean the bmw e30 m3?
    Nope;


  32. #26
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    More done, as time goes by quickly!

    Sorted out the front indicator lamps. (bad earth)


    I found some old lights in the shop, and made them look a bit more classy with some sparkly Ford decals.


    A good friend gave me a bunch of chrome stick on letters. So I added a few coats of black and did my best to spell Escort.


    I got some plastic pop rivets and installed the tail lamp guards



    And used some temporary paint on the wheels to see if I really liked them in a gold colour.


    And I truly do!!!



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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Hi
    I'm in California and have 2 MK1 escorts
    James

  34. #28
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Awesome!!!
    Are you the one that bought that green car on BAT, that was owned by the Greek Priest?

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    It's been a while since I posted an update, but much has been done.

    I upgraded the interior,
    I sprayed the center switch console in matte black and added a 12v plug so I can charge phones, or use a GPS device since this car has no speedometer.



    The old door cards worked well, but needed some updating as well.



    I sprayed the jambs in the same epoxy paint that I used on the body.



    I always loved the red door open pull straps on the Porsche RS, so I used some marine grade vinyl and wrapped the door cards, as well as modifying the cards so I can use some red strapping as a pull loop.
    It came out rather good in the end. For sure worth the effort.
    It's a tad basic, but it's a rally car. No need to be overly fancy.





  36. #30
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    And we've moved on from the green flank stripe to red, all in a weekends work.






  37. #31
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I put a good number of miles on the car the other day and the temperature ran a little high.
    I purged the cooling system and gave it another round of spirited driving.
    All sorted.

  38. #32
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Nice. Why the change of colour on the stripe ? Both suit the car well

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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Looks great!

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  42. #34
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Thank you both! I really like Jason Pritchards Mk2, so I reckoned I'd give the paint scheme a try.
    I do like it a lot, even better.

  43. #35
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    I've been busy getting the car sorted for gravel events.
    It had a 2 inch drop on it, so I ordered a 1 inch kit, to give it a little more clearance.



    And since I had parts off the car, that was a good time to bring them back into better shape.



    And no big surprise, I found some rust issues where the leaf spring mount is...
    That was after clearing off old sealer and rotted metal.

    Last edited by Sepp; 23-02-2020 at 06:18.

  44. #36
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    It was time to dust off the old welder!



    The interior section was so far gone, that I made a new one.
    It tacked it on place and seamed in in fully



    I was too busy for more progress piccies, but I ended up overbuilding the whole section, using 16 gauge sheet.
    It's ready for more abuse.



    And the car, as it sits...it needs to get driven to level all out and make final height adjustments.
    Coilovers in the front make it a breeze for height adjustments.


  45. #37
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    One of the few things i've wanted to change on the car is the lower surround cutout angles below the rear bumper.
    They were cut away at different angles, and since I was addressing some rot in the trunk area, this was the first issue I sorted out.

    The only old pic of the rear of the car...


    Prep work, getting measurements of the NS, so I can fabricate a piece to add in, on the FS



    New sheet metal added in, filled and painted (ignore the runs, the paint is temporary)


    And not a great picture, but it's sorted for now. Looking much better with new paint on the rear silencer.

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  47. #38
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    The FS front indicator started acting up, after the car had sat for a few months.
    When I pulled it apart, I found that instead of being fastened to the bumper with 2 bolts, it was fastened with 1 bolt and a zip tie.
    That would explain the faulty electrical ground...




    And also, speaking of bumpers....I have no other Escorts in the area to compare notes with...but this was not correct.


    So I sourced some grommets and they turned out to be a perfect fit!!!
    Now, I need to get some better looking hardware

  48. #39
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    The car has some of these anti slip floor guards, riveted in place. There was a bit of surface rust beginning to appear on the floor near the plates, so I removed them to get a better look.



    A fair amount of dirt, surface rust and rot were hiding under the plates on both footwells...




    So they both got stripped back to bare metal and all the rot cut out...
    The rot on the FS footwell continued on into the lower door jamb support...
    A hefty pile of Ford sheetmetal cut out.



    New support plates were added into the rebuild..
    Double seam welded.( I did the welding, upside down, so there's a few shots that were not truly straight hahaha)



    Halfway through the lower jamb-to-floor replacement....more holes to fill in, on the floor pan...



    Both floor sections mended, epoxy coated, with epoxy coated floor guards.
    Good enough for now!

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  50. #40
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    Re: My '76 RS Mexico

    Took the car out for a very brisk run around the block, over the mountain and through the woods..


    Probably the last drive for a while, as I really need to replace this old (in car) fuel line. it's not legal for use in sanctioned events here in the states.

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