I'll definitely bear that in mind. It's not too far, and if things still don't work out I'll definitely be looking for someone with a good reputation.... though I thought I had that here, via two different routes. You live and learn though. Probably could have painted it ourselves a couple of times over by now; once to learn how to do metallic/pearl and then again to do a proper job!Originally Posted by woodywoodpecker
Dad just called this afternoon to say that the car is in the spray booth getting paint on when he called by, and that the bonnet and boot were also getting finished offWell I never....
Could have been the weekend to pick it up, but a bit too busy working on my grandfathers old car (1952 Triumph Mayflower) that has been sitting in his garage since he passed away a good few years ago. It's currently taking up the bay where my car would go, so it needs to be finished and out of here before we can collect the Escort.
Fingers crossed that the quality of the job is in line with what I hope this time.
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Car is back and repainted. Dad reckons it looks good and a big improvement to before - I've not seen it yet. Still need to collect the boot lid and bonnet.
One thing that didn't get re-done was the matt black behind the grill area, so we'll probably end up doing that ourselves.
Better images to come shortly.
Looking good, now to start putting it back together again
Quite a productive day today. Started out by cleaning out the car, all of the dust, primer and polishing compound. Fortunately this time around the quality of the work seems substantially improved on the last paint job. No nasty masking lines and the only bits of overspray I could find were right down inside the door shuts and a few very small areas that will be hidden by things like the the door/boot seals and window rubbers. A few very minor imperfections in the paint; a couple of specks of dirt, but on the whole it's a far better job. I just don't know why it wasn't done this way the first time around.
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Also got all of the main glass in, rear screen, rear quarters and front screen and got the passenger door built up again. Still not happy with the quality of my door handles - they'll need changing at some point. But I can't justify £300 for new / refurbished handles with all the other stuff still to get, so it's on with the old ones. Door locks (Solex replacements) also back on and working properly. Quite a productive day!
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Here's my favourite....
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Last edited by MegatronUK; 13-03-2016 at 20:00.
Got the drivers door built up - seems we need to do a little more adjustment in the hinges as they both look like they've dropped a touch. Anyway, locks, winders and door release are all working again.
Started refitting the wiring today - managed to reuse most of the original lighting loom; chopped the old multi-plug off at the dash end, but kept and re-taped the rest of the loom to the rear of the car, but fitted some nice nylon overbraid. I'm also running two extra wires; two light gauge cables, one for fuel pump relay control and one for rear demister relay. Only need an extra long battery cable, then thats the rear loom sorted.
Dad got the engine bay brake lines refitted and we got both the alloy panels for the bulkhead fitted - these were made to cover all the holes in the bulkhead where we have the vacuum, fluid and electrical lines exit the engine bay. Looks good, I think!
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Gonna try and get the main wiring sorted this weekend and also get the sound deadening/insulation installed in the boot so that we can then fit the petrol tank.
its looking great
Cheers Graham!
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Refurbished rear lights (new lenses, polished new-old-stock chrome bezels, new seals from Billy London) now installed. Also got the rear lighting loom installed and clipped back in; on with some extra sound deadening for the inner rear quarters. Next is probably to refit the rear bumper, number plate and reversing lights, then the new tank, battery tray etc, so that the rear end is finished. Got to clean the boot out first though - it's still full of dust and polish.
Last edited by MegatronUK; 21-03-2016 at 18:08.
Lots more progress made this weekend!
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Started off by fitting the last of the sound deadening material to the rear wheel arches and quarters - it won't make a massive difference, but at least it is all done and it's a nicer surface for me to fit carpet to (I'm doing boot floor, the tubs and the large flat sections on the rear quarters; I know it's not a normal thing, but it should look okay.... I think!).
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Then we looked at the rear lights again. Although they look fab with the new lenses and lovely bezels, they just weren't sitting right against the rear panel. This was even with the benefit of brand new seals. So I bought a piece of neoprene rubber during the week and made a copy of the outer seals so that they ended up being about 5 mm thick, rather than 2-3mm. The neoprene squashed down on tightening of the nuts and it's made a much better seal against the rear panel - hopefully this will stop any water ingress draining from the boot down behind the lights and in to the wheel wells.
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As yo can see from the earlier picture, we also got the battery tray fitted. It's on two bolts which we welded to the chassis rail, and also supported by a steel bar which mounts from the boot hinge bracket. We didn't want it intruding into the main boot space, so it's as far over the spare wheel well as we could make it.
Also finally fitted the Pro Alloy fuel tank. It's a lovely piece of engineering, and I love the fact it's shaped to the Escort boot floor. Nice piece of kit. I'll need to make up some pipework at some point, as the main reason we went for this tank was that the filler neck is low enough the re-use the original fuel cap.
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We also mocked up where the Bosch fuel pump and associated fuel filters are going to be mounted. We're ending up with something like the battery tray; i.e. over the wheel well, so that the stuff is kept out of the main boot area. Should be quite neat. Pipework will ultimately exit the boot somewhere around where the original escort tank sat, albeit with nice bulkhead unions.
One annoyance is fitting the pipe to the goodridge style connectors. We tried one short piece (pump to filter, about 8" worth!) last year and it was an almighty pig of a job. We found the pipe was just too wide for the connectors (both -8, if I recall?). Any ideas?
Finally, the big thing that makes it all worth while was getting some more of the exterior bits on - this time the rear bumper:
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I'll not be keeping this particular bumper - it's not in the greatest condition, despite what the photos show, but it's good enough for now and it's that one step closer to looking complete!
Next jobs:
- Number plate light
- Fuel pipework
- Order a 135 degree goodridge connector for the pre-filter to tank hose
- Fit new grommets in boot floor
- Fit new battery cable to run to the engine bay
- Fit relays to battery tray to run the pump and rear demister (the orange and red trace wires in the above images are remote on/off for those relays; one to be powered by the ecu for fuel pump start, the other to be run from the new centre console for the demister), as I didn't want another set of high current wires to run the length of the car.
- Refit boot lid
- Work out what to do with the boot lock - thinking I may disconnect it from the lock barrel and instead have the boot on a remote release from the dash or something like that. Though my boot lock outer is all pitted. Anyone got a good one with a broken barrel???
Concentrated on the boot and fuelling system this weekend:
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Painted the mounting plate for the pump and filters to match the battery tray, and made up the main feed hose from the tank to pre-filter. Had to get some new ultra flow hose connectors from Torques on Ebay as the cheapy ones I got before wouldn't fit very well with the hoses. Managed to arrange things so that there is a minimum of hose length used and most is hidden under the mounting plate where it exits the boot floor to this:
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Also fitted the original mk1 tank sender into the Pro Alloy tank so that I can use original sender calibration values for the Stack dashboard instruments later. I'll remove the original blue sender wire and replace with something a bit neater and cleaner!
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Started to mock up the filler pipework too, I'll need a 90 degree bend something like this:
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...and then a short section of stainless pipework to connect to the original filler neck. Should be quite neat when complete.
I'm missing one 90 degree hose connector and a short length of hose to finish off the boot pipework, then that should be all completed. Just the relay for the fuel pump and rear demister to fit. After that, it's a case of cutting some carpet to size and it should be as I wanted it all to be!
Dad also found my original number plate light - I have no idea where he managed to dig that out from! Anyway, it's now cleaned, painted and re-attached behind the bumper - just needs the wiring putting through to the boot loom.
Ordered some goodies last week and they arrived over the last few days....
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Brand new reproduction badges - 2x RS2000 wing badges, 2x F.O.R.D lettering for the boot and bonnet and a ultra shiny, new Escort badge for the boot. That should put the finishing touch on the car when it's done
Shopping list for next week:
- Fuel hose
- 90' hose connector
- Fuel filler neck gasket
- Stainless pipe for fuel filler
- 90' black silicone hose for tank to filler pipe
- Selection of dual-fuel pipe clips/brackets to run the fuel pipe under the car
Also skipped ahead a bit and ordered a set of vinyl arch covers and rear seat riser covers from Aldridge Trimming, as they're yet another piece of interior trim that I've never owned!
Oh yes, I also got around to fitting all the floor grommets in the car. A small job, but immensely satisfying!
Boot is finished apart from one silicone rubber elbow to the tank and the carpet now:
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We got all the wiring done for the rear demister and fuel pump (including the last remaining fuel hose) - neatly trimmed in nylon overbraid to match the look of the wiring loom we put back in the car. All wires clipped out of the way and the two relays; one for the screen, one for the pump, fastened to the side of the battery tray to minimise length of earth and +12v cables. I must say that I'm quite pleased with the way it has turned out!
Also fitted today but not visible is a new gasket and bolts for the number plate light, so that's now finished as well.
There's a silicon rubber elbow on order (fluoro lined to take oil/petrol) to replace the (transit?) heater hose we've got on there temporarily, but other than that, it's just(!) the carpet to make and fit.
Tomorrow we're planning on fitting the cage properly, as we'll need to do this so that we can start work on the interior - door cards, under-felt, wheel arch covers and other bits and bobs before making our way forward to the dash. Might try and get the car back up on the two-post ramp so that we can remove the front legs, clean them down, repaint if needed and fit the Hi-Spec bells and calipers; it'll be much easier to work on the front of the car with it on the two post rather than the 4 post. I'll have to get the rear leaf springs sent back to Gartrac at some point as well so that they can re-decamber them to match (you may remember a while ago - page 5 or 6? I found that the camber of the springs didn't match, meaning the passenger side ride height is spot on, but the drivers side is about 3/4" - 1" higher). May as well do that while the front legs are off as well.
Really need to get the boot fitted so as to keep the boot interior clean, but I need a good condition boot lock - mine is rubbish. Anyone got a really good condition lock and outer chrome?
Looking great, is It going to be ready for the Summer..? Be good to see it out and about...!
I bloody well hope so!
Over the next couple of weeks I hope to get the majority of the interior done as well as remove and refit the suspension, front lights and grill. Probably 6 weeks or so until we get the engine and box in. Realistically we might be able to start her up by late June or early July.
Might pop up in mine this time home
...
Would love to see it 'in the flesh'!
Got a few more little jobs ticked off the list today:
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First of all, got the cage fully bolted in and tightened up, took the opportunity to fit the courtesy light at the same time, in case it would be awkward afterwards (answer: probably - depending on the cage bar above the screen).
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Also got the boot lid fitted again - I'm searching for a good lock; I've taken pot luck on a new mk2 lock, which looks similar - I'll try to make something out of it and my mk1 internal parts... we'll see how it goes.
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Biggest job of the day was fitting the rear seat belts. We got my mk2 rear seat temporarily in place and mocked up where the belt anchorage points would go (I already fitted captive nuts to the rear pillars before getting it painted). We ended up using the front of the wheel arch (the 'square' flat part) and the top tunnel near the nose of the diff.
Belts are Securon harnesses (model 514/30 - in red, naturally!) which are adjustable to whatever angle you want to run them at. Handy, since the possible mounting points on a mk1 are awkward! I think it's turned out okay though.
Lots of little jobs done today:
- New boot catch and bolts fitted
- Door lock button grommets fitted
- Fitted grommets in all the holes vacated by the Zeibart bungs when the car was new (mainly around door openings)
- Fitted my seat bases to the RST Recaros and modified them to floor mount to get the right space and angle for the seat
- Clipped in all the brake cables under the dash
- Tightened all the bolts, cables, bulkhead unions, and other odds and sods under the dash
- Fitted a lock to the fusebox panel under the passenger side dash to keep it up out of harms way
Should get the second seat base modified this weekend and that's virtually all of the mods for the interior done. We plan on stripping the suspension at the weekend to repaint the front legs (overspray from the paint job...) as well as remove the rear springs to send them back to Gartrac to get them decambered the same; one turned out odd, so the rear sits lopsided at the moment.
Also had a good chat with Simon from Hide n Seat who is going to re-trim both the rear bench seat and the Recaros in lovely leather (black bolsters with perforated black centre panels and red stitching) later in the year for me
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Soon we'll be looking at carpet and the wiring loom for the engine, that's when things will really start to look like they're progressing
Hat of to you,, looks the buissness..what fittings did you use for the cold air feed from heater bubble...i like the look of them...cheers mark
Cheers Mark!
The cold air feeds are these beauties for carbuildersolutions (T7 design also does them):
http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/u...lkhead-flanges
http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/u...ange-connector
I've fitted them to both the inside and outside of the where the heater bubble used to be:
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There's a cork gasket between the outer flanges and the bulkhead to stop any leaks and I'll probably put some mesh or filter over them aswell to stop leaves and crud from entering. I'm planning on running a powerful 12v DC fan (about 100CFM each) directly attached to each flange as the cold air blower. Heat is taken care of by a neat little aftermarket kit:
http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/u...car-heater-kit
Eventually there'll be an aluminium panel in roughly the shape of the heater bubble, over the top of that area, so that 1) it stops the majority of fumes/smells from the engine bay, and 2) it will give me somewhere other than the inner wings to mount the wasted spark system!
Last edited by MegatronUK; 21-04-2016 at 19:39.
Any tips on fitting the headlining mate nearly fainted at the price a trimmer wanted to fit one!!
Don't do it
Seriously though, it needs two people. Get loads of bulldog clips in addition to the normal metal clips and start from the front. The corners are the worst, and you'll probably have to shape, stitch or cut the headlining as (at least in my case) they are not quite the right shape. For the bit around the rear quarter windows use something like a credit card or a plastic filler spreader to stuff the headliner up behind the metal edging strip that it folds in to. You'll probably have to fold the headliner over 2-3 times to get it thick enough to stay in there by itself.
Oh, and only cut it once you've got it in place and pegged/clipped on. Don't leave too much material around the front and rear screens; just enough to fold over the edge.
The short version is, get a mate to help you, take your time, stretch it as tight as you can and try to do it with the car warm or at least in a warm garage.
Mine looks okay, but it's nothing like a factory fit.
lol sounds a right pain where did you get your headlining from??
East Kent Trim Supplies.
Spent today cleaning various suspension bits and painting them again, since the bodyshop managed to get primer and top coat pretty much everywhere.
Front legs started like this:
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Then cleaned the top mounts (one done, one to go):
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Gave the legs a key and then 3 coats of red 2K, then 2 coats of clear:
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I'll have to get some replacement Gaz stickers for them :-)
Also did the crossmember, anti roll bar and brackets, steering arms, rear spring shackles and top and bottom spring seats:
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Got the steering rack and track control arms and track rod ends to do, then give the axle and panhard rod a clean up. It's a pain in the arse having to do everything a second time though....
very nice
Thinking about trying to use my rotary polisher on the chassis to try and remove the bulk of the overspray - probably with some G3 if it will take the primer overspray off. Don't really want to have to use spray cans for the bulk of the underside
I'll have the engine bay to do as well at some point (remove overspray and polish), before we put the engine and box in.
So the half time scores for today are in, and they look like:
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John vs Front Struts - a clear victory, they look the dogs danglies now. Just need to buy some replacement Gaz stickers to complete the look. Alloy hubs and my Hi-Spec two-piece bells and rotors to bolt up next.
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John vs overspray on chassis? Hmmm, definitely not a victory here. Yet.
The entire under-body (and all the rear suspension) was painted by ourselves before the car went to the bodyshop, they were clearly told that it was finished underneath and to mask it off, but don't appear to have paid any attention to that. As you can clearly see. It's all covered with gray primer overspray.
We've got some paint left over from before which I've had put in to a few aerosols for more visible areas like the under-arches, but I'm trying to get as much overspray off as possible with a rotary polisher and some cutting compound.
Here's what 20 minutes at one spot in the tunnel looks like..
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Flat areas are working better, as expected, but with all the ribs and rails in the escort floor, it's proving a nightmare. I can't face respraying it again and it certainly isn't going anywhere near the bodyshop again. Looks like a lot of hard graft for the rest of the afternoon....
Managed to get quite a lot of the overspray polished off from under the car - I'm not going to say it's perfect, but it's a start. Ideally I need something more abrasive than the polishing compound I'm using (tried both a Turtlewax T5? and a Meguiars Swirl remover), really needs some G3 or similar, but I've not got any left.
It's a lot better in most places though - there's still some 'pink' underneath, but its an improvement and doesn't feel like sandpaper any more, and the engine bay is looking better too:
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Got the front grill area painted satin black again too, when the bodyshop took the car back to paint it a second time (more on that in a second) they forgot to paint it. So I did it myself instead this afternoon:
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Also got a few minutes before locking up for the day to key the rack and track control arms and give them a couple of coats of gloss black to match the crossmember and steering arms:
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Okay. That's all the good stuff out of the way. Now the bad news:
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That's the passenger front wing. Ignore the swirl marks and the odd streak. What you're mainly looking at there is not grit or dust, it's micro blistering under the lacquer. AGAIN. The same as f***ing last time.
I can't take the car back to the bodyshop again. I simply don't trust them to do the job properly. The only thing I can think of is to finish building the car up, leave the RS stripes off and then take it somewhere reputable to get the front wings resprayed. I wish we had just done the bloody paint ourselves - I don't think it would have been any worse than this.
That last photo's a really crap result, John!
I see the shocks in the rear going into to turret boxes but I don't see where the mount (finfish) in the boot or at the back seat could you show some details?
The look like they are the inboard turrets, is that correct?
Also are you fitting a 4 link or 2? I see some of the (4 of 2) bars going off at an angle. Is that a Milton link or?
Thanks
James
PS car looks Great
Hi James, it's using RS-style anti-tramp bars and a panhard rod. What look like shock / turret mounts are actually the mk2-style suspension mounts. The late mk1 Escorts got the same type of rear suspension mount as the mk2 - so rather than being mounted to a beam and then that bolted to the floor, the shocks go straight up through the boot.
I didn't want the intrusion of link boxes in to the car so went with the anti-tramp bars to help with the up/down location of the axle, as well as the panhard rod which stops the side to side movement. I've had the anti-tramp bars (which are standard fitment on RS models) for a while now, it certainly seemed to help from the various track days I used to do in the car. The panhard rod and tower is from Rally Design, but it's heavily modified; as supplied the tower wouldn't fit to the chassis rail and boot floor - their response? Beat the boot floor (original, undamaged) to fit. I think not!
Here's a bit of a better picture of the panhard setup, it's only the very top of the mounting tube that protudes into the boot:
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A set of small lowering blocks and -2" decambered single leaf springs round out the rear suspension mods.
Tell me about it. I'm as sick as a chip.That last photo's a really crap result, John!
At some point the lacquer is clearly going to de-laminate from the paint, as the blistering is spreading. I have serious doubts about whether they actually treated the wings properly when they got the car back the first time.
There's nothing I can do about it now. Legal action is about the only option left, but for what it would cost to pursue it with solicitors and the like I can't see it being a serious option. It's a proper bodge, I'll have to find someone really good to repaint the wings once I'm finished though.
I'm keeping a close eye on the rest of the car. I haven't spotted any reaction anywhere other than the wings. If anything does appear though, I'm not sure what I'll do; two wings, fine - I'll get someone I trust to redo them, but the entire car again????
Name and shame
Won't really do much but will make you feel better
Hexham and District Motorclub
New toys arrived this week!
First off, a set of alloy window winders and interior door handles - they're from different suppliers; I couldn't find anyone selling matching sets (that would fit a mk1), so I had to go for two different types. The alloy finish is slightly different between them, one is a polished, satin finish, the other is slight brushed effect. Overall I'm still pleased at how well they look for the money (about £30 for the lot of them):
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Also picked up the last RS2000 badge I was after - managed to get two new ones a month or so ago, but I was short a boot badge:
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Sourced some lovely wingard-style mirrors - they look the business! I know they're not originals, but the styling is quite close, and I'm more than happy these will look good on a mk1.
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Also got a set of new door sill / carpet edging trims. Never had these on the car, and since I'll be fitting some nice quality carpet (hopefully, if I can get a decent template to Coverdale Carpets, who said they will make one to suit), I'll need them
Also picked up a bottle of G3 advanced liquid this week, so i'll go over the underside of the car again before giving the wheel arches a rub down and paint with the under-body colour again. Then it's a case of trying to tidy up the rear axle, I suppose. Not sure whether to try and mask that up in-situ, or remove it completely and spray it off the car. It's already hanging down from just the anti-tramp bars, so it should be possible to do it on the car and not get paint all over the chassis. I got a set of new bump stops to go back on at some point as well.
Having a hard time getting a reply from Gartrac over my springs though - ideally I want one of them decambering a second time as they don't deflect identically with weight on them
The postie just dropped off another adult jigsaw puzzle:
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I think the RS decals will wait until we get the front wings sorted out for good though....
looking very nice...annoying about the wing..hope its just the wings...almost finished now...still love the color...cheers mark
Fingers crossed.
I'm keeping a close eye on the car every time I work on it. No evidence of it spreading to other panels; hope to god it stays that way.
First job today was respraying all four wheel arches - after a key and as much dust and overspray as possible from the bodyshop was removed:
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It's just with a couple of cans made up from the same paint we did all the chassis with (and was done before!!!), so it's not as glossy as when we used a spray gun, but it's a hell of a lot better than the sandpaper-like texture from all the primer and topcoat overspray from when it came back from the bodyshop.
After that, I got the adjustable TCA's rebuilt, refitted the wcxm and steering rack and fitted the anti roll bar again (tip for those with adjustable tca's, fit the arb with the tca extended all the way out - you can then screw it back in and no jack/level/ratchet-straps needed in order to compress the arb
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All with a fresh coat of gloss black and clearcoat on.... again to get rid of all the overspray
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Last but not least, got the alloy hubs with the two-piece Hi-Spec discs fitted and thought what the hell and bolted up the caliper as well
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Looks the business now!
On this side I've got a couple of new nylock nuts to source - one for the bottom ball joint and another for the track rod end, as well as new split pins to fit for the arb castle nut and the hub. Then it's just fit the pads and fasten up the brake pipe. Job done. Hopefully will get the drivers side done to this stage by tomorrow.
Did you get your front screen fitting better? I tried my quarter rubbers today were a shocking fit especially at the pointy end!
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