I tried to create this thread on tapatalk but no photos!
so try again....
I’ve been inspired to write a resto/rebuild thread after reading Zakspack’s epic build!
This is my mk2. Ive owned her for 17 years and it’s been running and driving for about one of those - life gets in the way, as do other projects...
It’s a very late car, registered in September 1980 to the BBC and after 4 years it retired to the seaside and spent the next 19 years living in Bournemouth with an old dear, always garages and covering 64k miles. It was zeibarted from new and this explains its remarkable condition. I replaced both front wings and front panel because of dents and scrapes, other than that there was a 50p sized hole in the boot well. That’s it.
The escort tax hadn’t really kicked in in 2003 but even so, £1000 for a 1300 popular plus with low owners and no real rust was a steal. It was painted terracotta though - a colour like factory red oxide primer.
The original plan was to throw some suspension on it, paint it black and do track days. Then there was some scope creep.
Plan #2 was a zetec on jenvey tbs.
To cut a VERY long story short it sat dormant for many years due to other projects and motorbikes, kids family etc then I had a bit of spare cash so decided to pay someone to finish off the zetec conversion. They did but some of the other work was a bit poor. The type 9 gearbox wasn’t up to and the standard rear suspension setup, with rs springs and gaz shocks couldn’t handle the power and axle tramp on track was something of an issue. Then the zetec went bang at oulton park and instead of just dropping another ex-taxi 2l silver top in I thought it needed more power. That was in about 2010.
ST170 installations weren’t very common and the lumps were expensive - I think I paid about 800 for a low mileage engine.
Then the little wheels got turning and I thought I’d better get it 4 linked. This time however I was going to get it done properly! Or so I thought.
It was booked in to somewhere that had a good reputation. I’m not going to say where but suffice to say if he was still around then there would have been court action. I’ve had to redo much of the 4 link work and paintwork. To give you an idea of the standard the axle brackets weren’t symmetrical - 8 ½ inches from one end, 9 ¼ from the other. The big tunnel was held in by self drilling screws and had no paint underneath and the inside had been painted by a blind man in a sandstorm.
So she sat in the garage under a blanket. Wheeled into the corner whilst other projects cane and went.
Mate of mine then bought a mk1 mex that had spent 30 yrs in a heated garage. It was a rally car from new so not pretty but the ensuing rebuild in my garage has given me my escort mojo back. This time though, if anyone is going to f*** it up then it will be me!
It looks well in the picture but its far from being drivable.
The original intention was just to get it running but it’s turned into something similar to an Un-arched gp4 rebuild. Scope creep.
I’m hoping that this thread will keep me motivated....
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