First Project

[tremayne92]

Hey guy's I'm Tremayne and I'm 21, just bought my first project car, a 1975 Mk1 Escort 4 door with the 1300cc hi comp x/flow. I am a bit obsessed with historic rally, GT and touring cars and want to be a competitor in some form of motorsport in the near-ish future.
Here's what I bought:

It's all original and has surface rust here and there, worst rust I have found is the corner of the radiator surround panel on the battery side and the lip which runs along the bottom of the heater bubble thing, it's sort of split open along the join. I'm sure there's more elsewhere but I'm yet to find it.
Car was last serviced in 2006 at 131,000k's which is the same year that the rego ran out according to the rego sticker i found under the dash. The odometer now reads 132,600 so I think it may be possible that those are genuine K's which would be a good thing!
Anywho first thoughts are a gravel rally car at a club level, that's been my dream for the past 3 or 4 years, also interested in hillclimb and khana-cross type things and also like the look of the circuit racing which IPRA do so I have to pick one.

Problem is I have absolutely no clue where to begin with building the car, I'm guessing I should start with the rust, got my eye on a mig/tig/arc welder combo which needs a 15A plug so i want to get a sparky to run a dedicated circuit in to my shed and a plug in the meter box as I only have a car port to work on the car and that's where the meter box is. Then I have to learn how to weld. There's so much I want to learn, the more I can do myself the happier I will be.

Anyway, any suggestions on how I could get started would be appreciated.

P.S Am I supposed to use the leaded fuel additive?

Cheers

[tremayne92]

Also, looking at the U.K parts websites I have noticed that most of the time they will only list parts to fit up to a 1974 escort and not a 1975, is this due to them stopping the production of Mk1 escorts in England in 1974? (according to Wiki). Australia stopped making them in 1975 hence why I own one.
For example, I should be safe to buy a steering wheel boss kit for my car if they say it only fits 68-74 Mk1s right?

[ozstang65]

Hi Tremayne, welcome to RSM! I've done a similar thing with a 2 door mk1, built to IPRA specs. Have a look thru my build thread, it might give you a few ideas . It's not road registered so there's no allowances for being street legal, so take that into account if you still need to drive it around.

[Neville Bertwistle]

Welcome Tremayne, glad to have you onboard

Scott's build up is a good one for you to look through as it will no doubt give you some ideas.

My thoughts would be to decide what you want to do with the car, give yourself a budget and start work on those things that give you best bang for your buck. Leave all the bouquet items 'till last and spend time now in the car learning how to drive it. It's surprising how quick stockish cars can be driven when you have the skill to get the best out of them, and that only comes with practice.

Also talk to other competitors and get as much info from them about the category you want to compete in. Most are more than happy to share their experiences and help newer recruits get out there too without making all the mistakes that they've done.

And above all - have fun!

[tremayne92]

Thanks that's a good read, a lot of work in a very small amount of time there, I'm sure I'll be the opposite.

I'll probably join the Melbourne Uni Car Club as they seem to be quite rally based and in the mean time work towards making the car roadworthy while taking part in their events helping out or whatever.

Car needs rear wheel cylinders (on the way), a seat belt and the windscreen replaced and some work to get all the lights working oh and the steering has a bit of play in it so I'm hoping I can rebuild the rack or replace it for not too much. Are those quick ratio racks worth the money or are they rubbish?

[tremayne92]

On the weekend I got a rebuild kit for the steering rack off a mate who works for a suspension company so I did that and sanded, primered and painted it gloss black and put it back in, didn't take a picture but the paint turned out good, don't know how long it will stay on there for though.
Received the correct wheel cylinders after I got sent the wrong ones, they were actually a bit of prick to put in so when I finished I rewarded myself by taking the car for a sneaky quick spin around the block (Don't yell at me! I couldn't help it!) and oh my god, it was awesome.
Really fun to drive even though I only did 4 left turns, it feels very nimble compared to my RWD Mazda 626 which is 200kg heavier. Steering felt good, brakes... worked but need a lot of pedal pressure to really stop, I may not have adjusted the drums properly though. Engine didn't miss a beat, gears are all there. Put a smile on my face .

Motivated to keep working on it now that I know it will be worth it!.

[gen mk 1rs2000]

drive it next time its raining !!

[Cam]

That's why we all love Escorts, they're a hoot to drive even when standard. Of course we all can't resist modifying them and probably making them worse.

I'm also doing up a Mk1 2 dr alongside my Mk2 rally car. I'm doing it on a very tight (read non existent) budget and have taken plenty of inspiration from Scotts build.

My 2 cents would be sort any rust, brakes and steering as you've done, then upgrade spings, shocks and bushes. Make a plan for the order you want to do things and then keep an eye out on the forums and on evil bay. Bargains do come up from time to time. Enjoy!

[tremayne92]

Decided to buy a compression tester yesterday and tried it out on the Xflow... Doesn't look too good.
From the front of the engine to the back i got:
158PSI
95PSI
140PSI
70PSI
After pouring a good teaspoon of oil down the spark plug holes I then got:
158PSI
125PSI
135PSI
80PSI
This was with the engine cold because I couldn't get it to start up.

I'm guessing that means cylinder 1 is ok but 2, 3 and 4's valves aren't sealing.

Surprising it ran (seemed to drive good that time) but after putting 5L of fresh fuel in the tank I've had trouble starting it.
Doesn't matter though, engine was going to get a rebuild anyway. I can get engine parts through a family member really cheap which is lucky.

[ozstang65]

If you're going for a rebuild, see if you can source a 1600 block. It'll be worth it.

[tremayne92]

Well, I can get a New Ford Racing block from the company my brother works for but that's a bit out of my price range of course.

I wanted to keep the 1300, I know the 1600 would give much better power but I'm after something which will rev out heaps and I'm assuming the shorter stroke of the 1300 will favour high revs. The 1600 would be the obvious choice for most but I'd like to be different.



This one is making 160BHP apparently, with fuel injection and forged steel internals.
I'd be happy to see 115-120.

[tremayne92]

Found that the hose between the carb and the distributor was disconnected, engine fired up without a problem after putting it on properly...

[ozstang65]

That vacuum line shouldn't affect it that much. Sounds like it needs a good tune.

[tremayne92]

Engine's coming out anyway, started her up last night and water started coming out of the bell housing drain hole where it meets the engine, I'm hoping it's just a core plug/welch plug whatever you want to call them, pretty sure there's one behind the flywheel. Car had no actual coolant, just water sitting in it for however long before i bought it so i assume it rusted through one of them.

Happy happy! Joy joy!

[tremayne92]

Turned out I was right about that welsh plug, there was about a 8x2mm hole in the one behind the flywheel.

Standard bore, standard bearings, this thing's probably never been cracked open so I should have plenty of room for machining.
Strangely, when i popped the pistons out, the rings fell out of 2 of them in multiple pieces, no scoring on the bores but quite a bit of blowby on the pistons.
A mate got the block dipped for me and I finished getting the old paint off with a brass wire wheel on a drill.





Still a bit of rust left in the water jackets as you can see, but it's all loose stuff.
I'm going to paint it a medium silver and am tossing up between gloss black and that ford blue for the stuff that bolts on like the oil pump and whatnot.

Remembering this is a 1300, can anyone point me toward some high compression pistons? Otherwise I will save up and order a set from JE.

[ratta tat tat]

[Matt1975]

Not sure on where to get pistons but the block cleaned up well.

Cheers

Matt

[tremayne92]

I've decided to get this car roadworthy and on club plates first off and enter some motorkhana and autocross events.
So far I've just spent a bit of time and some money on re-bushing the entire suspension and steering system and painting stuff while it's off the car. Just waiting on shock absorbers and I can put it back on it's wheels.
I discovered that the drivers side outer sill is rusted through all the way along under the trim so I've bought a new sill from smcka just waiting for it to arrive. I don't know how to go about removing the old one and putting the new one on so if anyone has some tips please let me know.

I picked up a running 1300 motor for nothing. I plan on running that in the mean time while I build the original 1300 I pulled apart/look for a 1600 motor.

Very slowly making progress...

[tremayne92]

CANCER!

[jpayne]

Not too bad.
Get yourself a spot weld drill bit about 6-8mm then wire brush in grinder the paint and crud away from the seams...under the door seal and where the sill panel meets the floor panel underneath, using a hole punch, centre on the spot weld has some benefit but not always depending on weld depth, drill through the panel to be discarded and with some practice you will get a feel for when you make it all the way through the upper panel, sometimes you'll see discoloration in the hole which is rust...stop there try not to push through all panels otherwise you'll be left with a hole to repair .
Use the grinder with a 1mm thick slitting disk and cut the A, B and C Pillar as low as possible but make sure you have enough replacement panel first...measure thrice cut once.
You may need a cold chisel to free up any remaining spot weld portions that weren't cut with the drill and remove the panel. Be careful not to mangle the inner sill while go to town on the one being removed and discarded. Don't fret if you bend or penetrate the inner sill, you can hammer and dolly it straight and weld any cuts, nicks or holes up.
Remember to get photos!.
Once the outer sill is removed use the grinder with a soft 120 grit flap disc and dress the spot welds and remaining mess up. repair the inner sill now if necessary. Front outside corners of foot well are common areas needing repair and are easier to do now that later.
Once all repaired wire wheel the areas to be welded (seams) and apply a weld through primer and apply paint outside these areas to both panels new and old. Clamp in place and weld, use a hammer and dolly to maintain the panels being clamped tight.
Much easier said than Typed and of course done, but plenty of help available here. plenty of tutorials on the net and look at plenty of photos.

JP