1300Gt New Restro Project

[savvi]

Just got my 4 door up to Mot standard and a local mate phoned out of the blue asking if i wanted to buy his 2 Door 1300Gt with 2.1 Pinto and 5 speed fitted.


He bought a couple of years ago and had been using it daily until the cam started to get noisey, so he took it off the road and ended up stripping the arches and wings down and intended getting it re-sprayed etc.

It seems he saw a very nice Mk2 Cortina up for sale low miles and 3 owners and had made an offer on it so the Escort needed to go.

I wasn't intending on buying but it was too good to turn down with all the goodies he'd fitted.

So this is how it was when he bought it :







However it now looks like this :









The worse bit is where the 1/4 panel has been cut out about the swage line, he's tried to patch it but i'm not sure how best to tackle it yet ?

Luckily he had bought all the panels so i have arches, sills, front panel and the Mex wings are still in good nick.

[123ESCORTS]

thats a nice repair mate!!!!!.... cut it out get on the phone to a escort breaker and buy some sections be quicker in the long run mate pluus they will be the right shape...

[Ratters]

looks a smart project. i reckon you're gonna need filler anyway with how that's been cut out so depends how well it's been done so far & if the swage line is any good or not??

[bigdaz]

here is the cortina i bought and as for the escort the rear 1/4 had a massive dent from the sill to just above the swage line i thought i would have a go at fixing it my self but later thought better so i had a body shop look at it (whos work i no to be very good) and he said the rear 1/4 would be no problem to fix he was going to fabricate a new panel im quite sad its gone but at lest i no colin will put her right

[savvi]

Well it been a while .................. I've had this stored since i bought it a mate of mine has been slow in his building business, however he used to be a panel beater and offered to help me catch up on some of my projects for a small donation !!!!

So today he's cut off the slam & front panel then started to fit new top plates set in correctly as the old ones were overlapped, he thinks most of the welding will be completed by the end of the week.

[trig]

Nice to see it being worked on

will this be joining the cruz to santa pod this year???

[savvi]

Quite possibly depends on time scale and how much it is to get it painted ............. also how busy i am work wise between now and June

[PIG]

remember this before im sure he pm'd berkshire body shop regard ing work on it.dont look to bad tho savvi

[savvi]

Yes he did speak to them and a few others, the prices were varying and he needed a car for work, he used this everyday, the Cortina came up so he thought it a better / easy option.

He's since sold that and bought my Golf Tdi Gt older cars were getting a bit much through the winter for him !!!!

[gorilla1q]

Coming along that mate

[exboyracer]

Nice to see progress on this one

[savvi]

Cheers for the comments:

Done a bit more today, set the N/s top plate in & cut out the O/s, however found some previous repairs that he wasn't happy with so he's cut the whole peice out and made up a new panel ready for tomorrow.

[savvi]

Todays update:
















Lined up & gaps set ready to be welded on tomorrow:

[trig]

Wicked Bud

[123ESCORTS]

looking good mate!!! i bet i know someone who's kicking themselves about this!!!!!.....

[PIG]

getting there mate,loks a good job as well.you going to pant the engine bay or just the tops etc mate?is it a keeper or you selling it on?

[savvi]

Cheers Pig

I got some paint mixed for the engine bay today, i'm hoping to touch in where i need to with the engine in situ, it wasn't done all that long ago.

As for the other i have 3 of them now and will only have space for 2 by the end of the year, the van will be staying so i need to decide between this & my Mk2 Ghia.

[gorilla1q]

looking good mate!!! i bet i know someone who's kicking themselves about this!!!!!.....

Who's that then?

[savvi]

Well we had a slow day today, his power steering pump broke on the way home, but we had the door on lined up the wing, had to plate the door pillaras we found a previous repair that wasn't great.

Monday he will finish the drivers wing then onto the rear arch.







He also managed to sort out the bonnet, the fan flew apart when Daz was driving it and putting a big dent from the inside out .

[dalmarshall]

Wow you're really cracking on there, looking good

Love the interior colour too

[PERKY]

Coming on well Col, he's done a nice job with the o/s inner wing top. have you sorted headlights for it yet? I had a as new set of 1300e headlights but sold them last year, but my mate has mk1's coming in to build into rallycars all the time so will see if he has anymore.

[savvi]

Cheers

It was great to see him hand make the flutes on that inner wing, he said today, he's really enjoyed working on this one.

I have the original headlights but also have a new set upgrade comming in from Oz hopefully.

[savvi]

Both wings fitted now, a small amount of filler applied to smooth it put under the bonnet.

Wheel arch now started couple of pics but i'll get some better ones next week.

[essyrwd]

[savvi]

A few more crap pics, i need to take my proper camera over there next week to show how good it looks !!

[123ESCORTS]

oooooooooo........lookin good mate realy taking shape now and that shape is GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............be runnin by next week...

[PERKY]

Yeah looking good now, are you tempted to fit a 1300 back in there to keep it original?

[savvi]

I did think about fiting a 1700 X/flow i have ................ but i think it will need to go when running as i'm running out of space and work is too busy to have anymore toys !!!!!

[Ratters]

looking good bud he's doing some nice work on it

[savvi]

Called over to the workshop today and he's left me a nice birthday present !!!












He even used the spot welder on the sill edge to keep it nice:



This has made my day, been worried about how this bit would turn out, he's back in the morning to give it a small scim of filler to blend it all in then he's finished his bit ................... so he thinks ................. i think i'm going to get him to replace the other arch as it now sticks outs further then this one

[exboyracer]

Excellent work there, this one is really moving on!

[savvi]

Cheers really looking forward to getting some paint on it and get it running again.


Decided to get the passenger side arch replaced properly to make it equal on both sides, then be saving up for a full respray.

[savvi]

Had a little spare time today so went and started to prep the engine bay and try some paint on the front panel:






Not too bad a colour match !!!

[gorilla1q]

Looking good that bud and a good move to get the other rear arch done, it wasnt that noticable but with craftmanship like that to hand why not

[e321]

Keep up the good work, i had a 1300gt back in the early 80,s, fitted pinto etc, then after a while sold all the running gear to someone with a mk2 and sent the totally solid never welded shell of to the scrap yard. what a shame but had no value back then and i wont mention the complete but rusty mk1 mexico i also sent.

[trig]

Nice bit of progress bud will be ready in time for CF at this rate.

[savvi]

Not much done this week, got the rear 1/4 sorted and a bit of primer on it, little more done under the bonnet.

[meXEco]

Lovely job mate-get the other side done next.

Lights will be in the post tomorrow-should be with you Weds.

[trig]

Ah looking good bud

[savvi]

Not much more done, managed to get the passenger side arch replaced, just needs the filler work to be done.