1972 AVO Mexico coming back from near death experience

[skandimike]

Hi Guys. just thought I would like to share with the rebuild of my 72 Mexico



GFL 653L is my precious metal. it is a 1972 Type 49 AVO MK1 Escort Mexico that I purchased as the second owner in 1975 following a bad paint job in 1979 it was taken off the road to repair the paint, it was stripped and put to one side until I had time to carry out repairs, ooops 33yrs later i cracked open the container nd took a peek in.


oh dear what have I done , time has taken its toll, what on earth do I do now.


original or fast bubble arched track/road car

Well thats it with a sudden rush of enthusiasm. i got the car home a couple of weeks ago and got started with plan A, I stripped the old girl down to the bones with the help of my grandson Lewis and took her down to Tim and the guys at Pro-Strip , Nottingham to get rid of all the rust ,paint and under seal to see what I have as a starting point.
A week later I picked her up and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no undue surprises with the normal rot areas under the wings and suspension top in amazingly good condition. as the photos show not bad for 41 year old original suspension tops




Keep Watching for regular updates

these are just a couple of my old photos of the car as it was in the 70s




e

[skandimike]

20121231_102925 1.JPG

The sorry state it was when I opened the container door

[skandimike]

First task was to strip it down to the bone and sent her away for acid cleaning
so away she went down to Nottingham. once she had been thru the process I had a good idea of all the work ahead.

[onecamohv]

cool story|!! i often wonder how do you forget about an escort mexico for 33 years?! looks pretty darn ood to me for something in a non insulated container for 30 odd years - good luck with the build!

[skandimike]

Many thanks for the reply. unfortunately the main floor and boot floor took the worst of the damage of being stood for so long. but the chassis has survived well. I am lucky that very good panels are now available so it will not be an impossible task to bring (what a few years ago would be a basket case.) back to life

floor corroded inside out due to standing water

looking up at the lace boot floor

[wayne69]

Hi I have a brand new boot floor surplus now due to change of plans if your interested

[skandimike]

Many thanks Wayne but I already have one , I am on with fitting it now
Mike

[wayne69]

Ok Mike no worries good luck with the build ,Wayne

[mk2-mad-ad]

Brilliant story looking forward to reading you progress

[skandimike]

Managed to reach my target before Christmas and got the dreaded rot cut out of the boot floor. New boot floor., new bottom corners and back panel.

[skandimike]

Hi Guys thanks for the private messages but unfortunately I haven't yet got the required postings to be able to reply.

Kowalski you are correct with the surname but the only Chris is my better half

[KOWALSKI]

I meant Paul....sorry.

[EVOGUY]

Keep up the good work UTB...

[evans2822]

Wish I'd locked a few away years ago lol

Nice work btw

[skandimike]

Well that's it. Christmas is over for another year and my garage ban lifted. So time to get back to living the dream.

Chassis repair today this is the joint between the mid and rear sections. could have patched it but again these are good quality sections so decided to replace first one completed.

[skandimike]

[Longman]

Top work mate,

Did you fabricate that chassis section yourself?

[skandimike]

unfortunately not I bought them in.

[Longman]

Best to do it right rather than plate it, especially on a genuine Mex

[Auld]

Looks like its going to be a lovely project! Can i ask how much the dipping process was?

Cheers

[skandimike]

That's it for today both of the chassis joints replaced its looking quite good , just needs cleaning and priming.
next job are the rear bubble arches. I'm looking forward to that one.

[skandimike]

started the first of the rear arches today, I know there are various opinions of how to do this but I decided to go for fitting the arch behind the existing panel then plug welding it into place . This will keep the amount of filler down and limit any heat distortion if the plud welds are staggered


initial alignment with swage lines and cills




Marking prior to cut




Cutting the panel , I used plasma for this.




Trial fitted once the cut had been made




Arch remover again and existing had holes punched in for plug welding




Arch refitted again and plug welded




Once complete all welding dressed and excess material taken from the bubble arch






That's it just ready for blending but I will do that that at a later stage when the other arches are fitted and other repairs completed.

[mk2-mad-ad]

Nice work your doing a top job and not hanging round either lol

[Jimmythedimmy]

great work, will be a proper looker this one

[skandimike]

Thanks very much for the positive comments guys much appreciated .

I have made a bit more progress today, managed to get the N/S rear arch fitted and that's it now till after the new year

be back soon

[skandimike]

2016 Hopefully a good year when I hope to complete the old girl.

Now with the low level rust taken care of by means of new floor and boot pans, sills and lower corners replaced and rear arches fitted it is time to move onto the front end. My first task it to repair the scuttle panel, the corners were badly corroded as was the N/S hinge panel. the parts for these are ridiculously expensive But expressed panels have a sale on the complete scuttle panel at the moment and it works out a lot cheaper than just those three panel alone so it was a no brainer complete panel it was. when weighing up the repair fitting the complete panel will probable easier than the repair.



For those interested I do have a video of fitting the rear bubble arch but I find it easier to do the fitting than I do trying to upload the video to youtube ( an age thing). still I,ll get there eventually

[donnie]

Great read and cracking job. Enjoying reading this one and looking forward to seeing it done.

[eric]

For those interested I do have a video of fitting the rear bubble arch but I find it easier to do the fitting than I do trying to upload the video to youtube ( an age thing). still I,ll get there eventually

I would like to see your video if you can upload it, looking to do my mk1 poss later this year and nice work on the escort keep at it

[mexzetec]

I would like to see your video if you can upload it, looking to do my mk1 poss later this year and nice work on the escort keep at it

+1

[skandimike]

Thanks mexzetec will post it when I can get a younger techno brain on it . I take it by your name you are running a zetec in your mex. how are you finding this combo as this is an option I am looking at. I already have a new engine but really still hovering with the final choice of power unit.

[MegatronUK]

Love the work on the steel bubble arches, very neat!

[mexzetec]

Thanks mexzetec will post it when I can get a younger techno brain on it . I take it by your name you are running a zetec in your mex. how are you finding this combo as this is an option I am looking at. I already have a new engine but really still hovering with the final choice of power unit.

haha!! the mexzetec is a work in progress, i bought a bare shell about three months ago but i already have almost all the components needed to test fire the engine. i chose the zetec because they are readily available as are all the parts. i've gone for bike carbs, type 9 box and a nodiz ecu. i'm buying panels as i go awaiting the completion of my new garage. it's certainly all go!!!

[skandimike]

As promised my first attempt as recording the history of the build, hopefully if this is successful I will continue. please give the link below a try

https://youtu.be/QnkuiTcK53Q

[skandimike]

Mexzetec thanks, from the start I have wanted to fit a black top zetec with all the retroford dressings,
I also would like to fit a single throttle body backed up with a supercharger, the only issue with this is that I will loose the sound, but saying that I will have fistfuls of smooth power

[wildo105e]

As promised my first attempt as recording the history of the build, hopefully if this is successful I will continue. please give the link below a try

Very impressive video considering you have no tech skills , i am not bubbling my escort but watched from the start to finish brill.

Where the wing meets the rear quarter will you need to seem weld that to prevent flex and filler cracking etc just curious.

[skandimike]

Thanks wildo105e I considered that so I fully welded the bottom 6" front and back. first time I have attempted this but I think it will be ok.

[mexzetec]

As promised my first attempt as recording the history of the build, hopefully if this is successful I will continue. please give the link below a try

https://youtu.be/QnkuiTcK53Q

superb. i'm not afraid of welding but was dreading fitting bubble arches, you make it look easy!!

[skandimike]

its the same as any fabrications measure twice ( or however many times you need) then cut once. its the first time I have attempted the bubble arches. but did a lot of MOT repairs in the early 80s for a living just getting my hand back in now.

[mexzetec]

nice to see people using cleco pins, surprising how few people know about them

[skandimike]

Bit more rot removal this week



Rust eating away at the drivers side scuttle panel. the top of the door post is not so good either and needed repairing




As I am replacing the whole panel I roughly chopped the top corner away to gain access



Likewise with the passenger side bad case of rot




Passenger side door post top repaired



Top of the bulkhead flange and hinge panel badly corroded



Once the door post repairs had been done I used the plasma cutter to remove the remainder of the panel



cant beat the clean cut of the plasma when removing old panels, spot welds were removed with a belt sander



old panel removed completely




bulkhead flanges repaired both sides