My 1976 mk2 4 door escort

[jw6277]

HI im Jake im 16 and the escort is my second car.
I bought this car off Ebay for $1200.
I bought it to be my daily because my other car has been modified a lot and i think it might attract the attention of the canary people haha.
The specs:
1.6ltr 3 speed auto.
completely standard.
A few Photos from when it was in one piece:







On the way home from picking it up there was some smoke coming out from behind the dash, turns out it was the home made ignition wiring from one of the previous owners, we made it home with no problems apart from that. We had it for about a week before i decided to have a closer look around it, which is when we found:




So we decided to pull the engine and gearbox because they had both had an oil leak which had made a giant f***ing mess all along the underside of the floor.








My dad helping or hindering depending on what day it is.

More to come when i find my camera

[maxrs]

Welcome Jake,
Feel free to ask silly questions, and we can get you running on the road reliably.
Wiring in a Mk2 has never been strong point, and rust around the firewall is standard.

Loving the dust covers on top of the front struts.
Good luck with it.
MARK
ps. Not mine, but some inspiration here might give you an idea? Especially if it's a pre pollution Mk2. It would be canary free still.
http://www.classic-ford.org/forum/topic ... hichpage=9

[Cam]

Oil leaks like that are great, they stop the underside rusting!

Nice looking car, enjoy it.

[jw6277]

Thanks Mark im almost certain i will come up with some weird questions.
Thanks Cam, I dont think the underside will ever have a rust problem now.

[jw6277]

Found my camera, now i these are the photos that are up to date.
My storage area:


Floors and more storage:




Firewall:


Rust removed


Inner wheel arch where some one has done a cover job



Floors cleaned up, close ups of holes:





Because my car is outside most of the time and it isnt water proof yet i have primed and painted the floors without fixing the holes so the water can drain out if it rains:









Firewall replacement pannel test fit:


The outside of the car still looked normal, you might not notice but along the drivers side it extremely wavy and doesn't line up:





Firewall in place and primed, primed photo looks way better than real life:





More when i get some spare time.

[MK1_Oz]

You look like you know what you're doing and are well underway. Good stuff!

[Roger Miller]

jw6277,

Nice car.

You are doing the worst part of owning an old car. Stick with it.

Qu. Where did u get the heater bubble lower replacement panel ?

PS. Dont forget the splash? plate.

[jw6277]

Thanks mk1_Oz
To Roger miller i got the replacement panel from Peter at Twin Cam Services in Seaford. iv been there a few times and he has always had exactly what iv wanted.

[gen mk 1rs2000]

i havnt seen oxy braizing like that for few years
the old traditional methods seem to be lost
with mig & tig nowadays
quote
dad hindering or helping ??
sounds like my 1st car

[David W]

Welcome aboard.

You want to be careful - if your doing metal work like this as a 16 Yr old, I reckon there will be a few people wanting tips. I can't even light the welder and I'm a bit older then 16.

[jw6277]

The welding was done by my grandfather, he has always been around to help out thankfully. if i didn't have him around we couldn't have done most of the work so far.

[gen mk 1rs2000]

well done grandpa good to see you teaching these young
whipper snappers a thing or 2
old age & treachery outweighs youth & skill most of the time !!!

[jw6277]

Just an update. i have been collecting parts lately so i can put in a full weekend of work in and not have to run off to supercheap every 5 minutes. the parts that i have gotten are lowered springs, centreline wheels, leaf spring bushes, firewall heater pipes seal, single down draft webber and manifold, water pump, ignition leads spark plugs and some other stuff.

[jw6277]

Just the photos to go with the other update.

[jw6277]

Got some new tyres, 2 205/60/r13 for the rear and 2 175/60r13 for the front.


Have been working on the firewall and the floors and they are both finally finished.





Test fit of new wheels


Gearbox clean compared to what it was




Repainted extractors


Shot of the car



Next on the to do list install the engine and gearbox.

[Darren W.]

The repair work on the heater bubble was a master class (does he do house calls?) and it's a shame to cover it up again. With workmanship like that your mk2 will be better than new when finished.

[Roger Miller]

[jw6277]

Thanks for the positive feedback.
To Roger: Yeah, i spent about an hour today cleaning the crap off the gearbox with a wire brush and the pressure blaster, i have to clean the engine as well cause it had leaks from the rocker cover and the sump, after that will clean the engine bay and maybe give it a cut and polish while I'm at it.

[jw6277]

Pressure blasted the engine bay and some of the underside of the car, found some surface rust on the chassis rail but i cleaned it up and painted it so it looks new again. Engine and gearbox installed but not completely connected just yet, i also recondition the starter the other day at work and got the radiator flushed and repaired so i have some nice clean parts to go on. I have been doing some research on an electronic ignition conversion, i want some opinions on weather or not its worth it and if you were going to do it would you use the adapter that goes in the distributor or would you get a electronic distributor? any opinions will help

[Matt1975]

Awesome work. Couple of questions.

1. Did you permanently fix the heater bubble on or did you make it removable so as to sus things out in the future?

2. How much was the repair panel from Twin Cam?

3. You need a new camera!

I need to do the same thing to my 4 door MK II and will look to follow your steps. Where are you located? I am in Doncaster.

Great work

Matt