sorted the drivers side end chassis rail out had some rot in the end when I chopped it out there was some in the boot floor under the bumper bracket the fun never stops
Well been busy over the summer finishing all the small bits remove some of the dents in the car and getting the seam sealer etch primer and primer on and the wings and bonnet back on sort out the slam panel bonnet catch hole and front grill fixing holes extended under the front wing rail just the doors and the rear panel to sort out /replace
some pics of the summer removal of paint and the bonnet and boot after a trip to the acid dippers only surface rust on them so happy with that ,the last pic shows some filler under the original primer so guess it was done at the factory when made
Im always totally amazed at how these things come together. Consider myself pretty handy but you guys on here are real craftsmen. My mentality would probably be the biggest handycap, how you keep motivation is what impresses me most.
Hats-off to you 10/10+
Push-on you will have a great car and the best bit is..YOU BUILT IT. Priceless.!
I am a plasterer by trade but always messed about with cars as when i was younger i could not afford garage repairs so, with a little help from some friends . As for this Rs its my second the first i still have as it was the first car i bought after passing my test massive sentimental value this one i an doing now was the spare parts car i brought six months later in the late 80`s so cheep by todays prices but still a few quid back then. its hard some days to be motivated to get down the garage especially when its cold or the sun is shining and you could be out in your Rs, but you have a mountain of other stuff as well to do, so plug away a little at a time think its been about 3 years so far with this one. As for craftsman i prefer Bodger as the nickname on the profile suggests also you can pick up some great tips from other folks restoration projects just try not to rush it and make sure your happy with the work you have carried out I have done some work the started again as i am not happy with the way things look but its great to get feed back from the folks on this site and can be a great motivator with your project just keep at it. Thanks.
Its not just the actual welding efforts on this that impresses me, but the panel gaps you are achieving! Was it white originally?(window surrounds under rubbers and heater pipe plate etc look white)
Started life out as Olympic blue then looks like it had a very expensive re spray white where most of the blue was removed from the outside of the car and painted white inside over the blue then it was re sprayed Red over the white then back to blue the blue was still in the covered places rear quarters boot excreta inside the heater bubble was traces of blue also but due to the long list of previous owners i have no way of knowing the exact history of the body shell the guy i got it from was going to use it for rallying but after doing some work to it decided it was to far gone and moved on to another car back in the days you could pick them up very easily i bought it for a parts car and have never driven it, It was a type 49 shell, checked when i got it but had a huge amount of patching on the front end three skins on the inner wings had passenger chassis had 2 sections rotted out and the rear skids and spring hangers had rot holes in them and the anti tramp brackets were in bad shape really rusty the bar for the rear shocks had been removed and holes cut for turrets for the rear shocks not much left of the floor and panels well rotted as for the top of the panels by the bonnet hinges were full of rust and it the spent 24 years unloved in various garages every time I closed the garage door I had to sweep a bit more of it up so decided that before it disappeared completely i should set about bringing it back to life so the journey began
when I started removing the paint from the car every now and again i came across the original blue paint under the white in places like the door jams where it was harder to remove
Superb job so far m8.love looking through these build threads and seeing the skill that so many have.my build has taken 4 yrs so far but is in paint and rolling with brakes.keep up ur great work bud👌
you end up with dents in the roof tried to push them back out with no luck so tried a little head and most sort of popped back outwith a little heat, at one point when i first looked at the roof it was so bad I thought i would have to have a new roof skin but with a little gentle persuasion and a skim of filler I think it will be ok
been busy sorting out the engine bay loom been butchered had extra relays added for spot lights and thicker alternator wires on spade connectors with lots of black tape and head light connectors cut of a real mess
the coil wire was rubber coated with a material rapping but the rubber had started to break down and fray so I cut it out removed the outer sleeve slid over some 2mm heat shrink then some 4mm heat shrink after i re-joined it before it shorted out and catches fire
the alternator plug had corroded and had been repaired on the front box section where the front pulley had damaged it a few times so i decided to do away with it and replace the wires back to the loom in the original brass ring joints
I also replaced the wires to the main beam relay at some point the had been butchered to add spot lights the old part of the loom is in the first picture
and wile i was doing so well i decided to build a spare loom just in case i ever need one
Plasterer you say...you sure your not an electrician.? I never met a plasterer that could make a wiring loom. Come to think of it dont think many electricians could either.
There is always a bit of banter between spreads and sparks on site they never fold the cables into the boxes always leave to much cable hanging out of boxes or ceilings so we just leave them full of plaster, so in my opinion electrics, easy it takes real skill to be a good plasterer though.
Pretty easy really if you have the right stuff for the job open the loom up and renew the damaged wire to either a factory join or make a splice using a blue straight connector take the blue plastic off the outside which then leaves you with the metal crimp open it slightly on the join so when you squeeze it together one side passes over the other making a nice tight connection I used a pair of pliers to start with then a pair of Grips to put plenty of pressure to make sure its tight and add some coloured heat shrink to match the colour wire it looks a more daunting job than it actually is i used old looms for the wires and connectors that were missing you can buy new alternator plug and you can buy replacement wires for the lights and main beam relay on the inner wing from Trevor at stage one the live Red wire for that comes out of the factory crimp in the main loom where the alternator live joins the main loom and the others White And Yellow come from the factory crimp joints in the loom for the lights .I find it best to just start one wire at a time very time consuming to get the right terminal ends for the starter coil and other bits took about Two weeks on and off to sort out both looms but worth the effort as i now have a spare loom for my Rs2000 .happy days
Well time for a little update been quiet last year as I had engine issues with the Yellow Rs which Graham has sorted now ans the other half’s 50th birthday to sort so decided to get things moving this year and try and get it to paint in the next few months still have a small amount of welding to do on the back end and the gearbox mounts to move for the 5 speed box on order from Mark at MKF updated with a longer first gear the doors are off at the moment being re skinned and I have been searching eBay for hard to find parts and other essentials so now looking for some one to paint the car will post some pics soon
Well Graham now has the engine for the Blue Rs to work his magic on hoping to squeeze a few more horses out out of this one already have a problem with Uber 4 cylinder so new pistons and rods looking forward to see what Graham does this time will ask him to post a few pics if he gets chance
as john said, ive got the engine, at first glance it looked not to bad, the head has been mildly tickled, its fitted with an FR1 cam which was in good shape, and the bores looked good, without any wear ridges, infact it all looked fairly decent until i pulled the pistons
once the pistons were out again the bores didnt look too bad apart from some water damage which will probably hone out, number 4 piston was another story though!
typical broken cast pinto piston caused by too much compression, boost or NOS. i wasnt expecting that, the engine didnt look to be ott in any respect, quick check of piston height, head gasket thickness and cc of the head, showed it actually had 10.88:1 CR, cast pistons cant cope with that for any length of time, and will be in real trouble with any timing or fueling issues
i did chuck the flywheel in the lathe and trimmed it down from a hefty 17.8kg down to a more sporting 12.6kg
Early and late group 1 exhaust manifolds note the change in the size of the manifolds and size of the exhaust ports and thickness between 3 and 4 ports the casting has got wider
Had a few test fittings of various bits had to fit a mk2 Mexico engine as Graham is still working his magic on it had a few issues the air box and washer bottle are to close so will have to make a bracket to move it for clearance
looking good, haven't seen the grp1 airbox for mk1 escort before, big difference to the mk2 looks lot stronger and less prone to craking unlike the mk2 one.
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