My Escort Mk1 project

[Darbo]

then i finnished the n/s door pillar it was fairly solid just needed a outer skin letting in


then the lower floor edge finished ready for the floorpan --i tried to put it back to standard but im probly going to use the rally front chassi skids so will probly end up welding over


then came the front floorpan
inside the chassi got a good coating of fe132 then red oxide primer then rustbuster chassi paint when its all done ill inject waxoil



both the inner and outer sill required patching and some on the floorpan
i tried my best to blend it all in
it still required some detailing befor 2k primered
but i dont think its come out to badly



this you can see the chassi as i found it after chipping off the stoneguard

[Darbo]

Decided to get the shell on a spit
Started on the other side floor and sill but was a mess with lots of layers of crap
Turned out it was easier to replace the entire inner and outer sill

So while im waiting on my parts to arrive I decided to clean off the floor to see what I had exactly

Its not to bad at all really one side jacking point needs repair work
And the odd spot of rust but most will be done as I link it all

Removed the anti tramp brackets and ordered my long link bolts and tubes from gartrac ready for installing the link boxes




Then I repaired the front bulkhead to floor section ready for when my sills arrive



Only problem is my floor pans will now be a mismatch as the replacement floors are crap really and don’t have rounded std type channels
May bash the one ive already fitted to make it look right

Next jobs fitting the tunnel ive just made

[Darbo]

tunnel is part fitted just needs detailing




ill be alot happyer when this hole doesnt exist
hopefully have it filled next weekend

[mk2escyphil]

nice work mate its looking really good keep it up.

[Darbo]

cheers for comments

done abit more
the drivers floor is in nearly finished



had to repair this little section a big improvment over the silicon sealer welded plate that was there befor



next to last job i did today was clamp inplace the outer sill for fit checking seems ok compared to the origional on the ns




the chassi needs a section in but didnt have any right guage steel in so itll have to wait



then my grinder slipped and i made a right mess
i may have to filler it

[Darbo]

finally got the floor somewere near right
still have the chassi to repair
but primered it all any bits i dont like ill rework
still need to fit my crossmembers but also need a exhaust tunnel so still have to remove a big slice

[Kalashnikov]

Looks really nice there!

[Darbo]

cheers
it does look better with abit of primer

did another bit tonight
the chassi rail as it had been bugging me leaving the hole there
so did a little bodge its not correct with the ridges welded on but near enough
and its a strong joint though so it will do

[leonmex]

some good work going on there,very nice.

[Ratters]

nice one mate

[PIG]

good work there m8,keep cracking away

[lee costello]

iam very impressed an greatfull to see another great mk1 being saved thats great work inthere iam loving that serious keep it up pal be done next week at this rate

[Darbo]

cheers guys

and that looks a very nice escort you have Lee Costello welcom to the forum

anyways done a little more
moved on to the rear turrets and tubs
had in my minds eye some larger rear tubs but didnt fancy forking out the £200+ so am making my own
fitted the rear turrets first
then enlarged the hole to take the tub
sofar ive only one side front section tacked in
it needs alot of finnishing yet but ull get the idea

[Darbo]

Carried on with the rear arch tub
got the back infill welded in
one of my swage lines went wonkey bit it adds caracter



then did some rear arch trimming and radded the end so it would be easyer to attach to the outer
which it was made it fairly straight forward
i still need to trim back my turret but still deciding wether to leave some as a partial stoneguard for the rear coilover
maybe even add some poly prop sheet round the coilover to completely protect it-just a thought



then tacked on my outer arch lined up to the bottom swage lines that i enhanced with black marker
had my high tech plumbob for alignment
still needs alot of bashing but its getting there

[lee costello]

cheers pal i defently thnk your very gifted ide love someone like you to work for me we would get so much done haha its bolllocks doing it all your self i can see so much effort gone into that minter i wanna say before you evenn get close to priming her its going to be mint an so so keep up that impressive impecable work i mean your what this countrys missing a go getter a mile seeker a torch holder you keep going son where all proud dow here

[harrysb]

as expected some fanastic fabrication skills here from darbo, its not just the building of escorts that darbo is good at, he is fairly handy behind the wheel, and may have even won the odd rally,but dont ask him about sweet lamb about ten years ago!!!

[Darbo]

cheers lee lol

and harry were never supposed to mention sweet lamb
was only a small cliff anyways

back to the job
was a little slow this week mainly cleaning patchwork fitted in a past life
but got the other tub made and tacked in
thought id share how i made them as it came out ok ish but there the first tubs ive made so was a learning excersize
maybe help someone else make theres

first i prepared the hole to the size i thought would do my job

then after the turret was welded in position i made a front and rear fillet piece 10mm larger than required
then radius'd the outer edge with dolly and hammer working my way round till it was approx 90 degrees
then marked the notch for the tub outer sheet to fit round the turret
after both front and rear fillets were made i welded to them to the tub outer
starting at the turret notch working my way round




then after both fillets were fully welded slotted the whole lot into position
took a few attempts to get it to fit right
bashing it were it needed bashing
then tacked inplace down the turret first
maybe there are better ways of doing it but it worked ok and may help someone doing similar



also flicked over the other side arch

[Darbo]

Managed to get the other side arch fitted
Changed the leading edge line from the first one i fitted it looks a lot nicer so will have to re modify the first arch minor alteration though



Then moved onto the rear wells
The wheel well was abit of a mess with a repair panel double skinning the original panel trimmed out all the double skinning using the original where it was in good condition
I ended up having to make a few small repair sections to let into the rear quarter well as it had lost its shape from past repairs
Still need to start on the tank well but its a lot simpler design to repair
also theres a nasty scab near the outer bumper hole that you can see pinholes of daylight through
my plan is to lose the rear skirt between the chassi rails

[cuttsy224]

some top metal work der, keep it up!

[Darbo]

cheers cuttsy
done a little more but have been buzy lately
ive ordered a full weld in cage that will be coming in a few weeks

done some more on the rear wells and rear panel
replaced a new outer tank well outer and then fabbed a new inner just cutting out all the rust and removing all double skinning



chopped out all the nasty bits from the other side it had accident damage some floor rippling and rust so removed all the bad
also tigged some new chassi end plates to tidy it up




welded in the rear panel corners
and cut away and bad bits that require small patches blending in




and finished off with a small skid plate to stop dirt collecting
theres still some small holes to fill but im happy enough with how its turned out

[Darbo]

after fitting my 4 link body brackets i started on the watts link boot floor modification
but found that even though the floor was mint from under the car inside the boot the front floor was very pitted



so i thought i would try make half a floor so the watts towers wouldnt rip it out
couple of hours later i had this



then welded it in





last job was a lick of etch followed with some gray



hopefully my cage shouldnt be to far off arriving but theres loads to do anyway
cars had a quater fitted in the past and the c post weld is all corroded so may fit a c pillar fuel filler
with a filler cap like this 1
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/mgb-c-gt-midge...item4cf0e34719

[Darbo]

just been doing bits

4 link skid plates and exhaust tunnel
placed a 2.5 inch stainless pipe in there for scale

next jobs the cross seat box sections
think im going to slit into the exhaust tunnel so the box section slides through cut off the overhang and tig it
hopefully will tie it all in nicely

[mk2 wizard]

Nice work its great to get some paint on after all that metal work

[xXII Escort IIXx]

nice to see that your doing it all yourself
how did you get the indents in the boot floor section that you made? what tool did you use?

Thanks keep up the good work

[sperrin44]

lovely welding mate i wish i had ure skill

[Darbo]

cheers guys

for the boot floor i used a bead roller with a inch die for the front to back lines but the across one i bashed in the vice with the jaws apart to get the shape and then finnished it with dolly and hammer

there are probly better ways but i just do what feels right smack here bash there untill it comes to

link to a ebay bead roller similar to mine

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SWAGER-ROTARY-...Supplies_Paint

[xXII Escort IIXx]

ahh cheers this should help me repair my boot section thanks very much
keep at it!

[justin]

Hi there, some nice work your doing, where did the arches come from? and did they take a lot of fettling to make them fit?

[alladdin]

ive got a Q as well nice write up on doing the tubs, now when you fitted the outer arch how did you determine the shape to trim the tubs to? at the point where you rolled them to meet outer bubble ?

[coby1]

no it arrived with a notched baulkhead were it had a v8 fitted once
anyway it was that outa shape i cut the lot out as its easy to correct it starting from scratch
the chassi legs and underfloor chassi on it is mint (thats the good bit)
have most of the measurements and my mate has a mint mexico i can measure to check

its only really the same work as notching a baulk head back for better weight distribution and fitting a new tunnel which all would need doing anyway
plus a little more maybe

but the shell is perfect for learning my new tig welder inside out
im aiming to tig as much as possible
more picks soon

all the best with the build mate ..brings bak memorys of building my mk1....not just as much work as that tho...

[Darbo]

Hi there, some nice work your doing, where did the arches come from? and did they take a lot of fettling to make them fit?

the arches came from ebay -think they may be expressed panels tho

and they did take some trimming and time to roll the edge and also put the kick out in the lower arch ( which you dont need to do but i think it looks better)

[Darbo]

ive got a Q as well nice write up on doing the tubs, now when you fitted the outer arch how did you determine the shape to trim the tubs to? at the point where you rolled them to meet outer bubble ?

the inner arch was trimmed until the arch nearly sat inplace
then i cut 1" deep cuts about a inch apart tapped them over then got the arch to sit were i wanted it
tapped any gaps back until the inner arch was flush with the outer
lifted off the outer and without disturbing the inner welded the slits up

i was trying to work it out as i was fitting them

then befor the outer is welded on fully measure and check it to make sure it all looks right

it is time consuming

[fordsweetTandT]

hi m8 very impress ; good work keep it going good choice of motor i got one of those ranger 2.3 and already bought cosworth bits from the u.s billet crank
piston rods ect , and got some very good toys from SBD dry sump 54mm TB exhaust, I will be following this trend as you go , keep it up

[Darbo]

started again bit of a delay but its full speed ahead as i want it on the road next year
been tweaking the door gaps and repairing my rotten doors then started tig welding my cage in as its more fun than patching

tried a different approach with this cage
propped the hoop in fitted the a bars and over the screen bar tacked the front triangulation
then slid the whole lot back with the hoop out of the way to fully weld everything
worked out quite good as i managed to get to everywhere 100% tigged thanks to my gas lens

still have loads of bars to fit but the hard parts done

piks below

[Darbo]

did some more this weekend
rear backstays and diagonals ,still to do the lower backstays harness bars and main hoop lower brace




also did the sill stand tubes the rears finished but the front needs to be tied into the cage foot platform





more to come

[RS4spoke]

Nice metal work mate, wish i could do that!

[Darbo]

tonight welded in the main hoop feet then also fitted the main hoop brace
this also gives me the point where my lower back stays meet the main hoop and the door bar welding point
brace will be tied into the 4 link box and diff tunnel when i get time

[Darbo]

finished working on the cage for the time being still the door bars harness bars and tying into the link boxes
lower back stays in



then started on the rear screen lower section
had some past bodges rivets sealer and plastic bag repairs plus the vents had been filled
lucky the shell came with a repair section so i made a cut






looks better with the new bit in

[LAWRENCEM]

very nice mate its obviuos alot of effort has gone into it how long do you think it will take in total?

[Darbo]

it just takes ages

cage alone would take a full week ,it would be quicker with the mig but tig is just nicer
the rear window took a full 10 hour day including tidying the new section and priming before welding in
would be quicker with the mig but i only have a tig