The front of my kermit escort.....what happens when your front end is not really made of metal at all! (the scary thing is that this picture is taken AFTER dad had already attacked the front with a hammer to straighten it enough to get the engine out! Unfortunately I was too upset at the time to take a picture straight after the accident..)
Very glad I was not going very fast at the time of impact....
After buying (and on-selling) 2 more Mk1 shells I finally found this one which wasnt in great condition but was the best one I was able to find!
The inevitable stripping of the shell.........Thankyou sooo much to all my mates that came to help me lift the cars to drop the engines out!
Dad and I did the stripping and sanding of the shell ourselves-with the occasional mate dragged in to help on a saturday morning (usually had to bribe them with the promise of beer afterwards!)We were going to do the paintjob ourselves too after ringing around and finding that no-one was willing to take on a silver paintjob for anything less than $2000!!! I hit a brick wall for a while but then a mate at AZTECH panelbeaters said that he would give it a go..and he did a mint job !!
Collecting my pride and joy from the panelbeaters to take it home!
Dad and a mate dropping the engine back in... the engine is just a straight 1600 (Kent), Weber carb, pretty standard-but it goes so well I dont have the heart to change it ! Also has a big-bore system on it (but not over the top-no rice cannons for me thanks!) and a good set of seats out of an integra-the closest you can get to Recaro shape without paying the horrendous Recaro price! Still a 4spd manual too. Yeah okay so its a bit noisy on a long run but thats what the "UP" button on your stereo was invented for if you ever get tired of listening to the engine! Low-ratio diff so good acceleration. Gas-shocks and sport springs....the aim is to eventually enter it into the local hill-climb comp (Te-Onepu) and then just see where we go from there! But for now it is my daily driver so no cages or race-harnesses yet!
My car- the day it all got certified and WOF'd and REG'd....I wasted a whole tank of gas just driving for the hell of it........- well it had been over two years off the road!! I missed it!
My car as it is now! The wheels were my xmas/dbay pressie from dad (THANKYOU DAD!) -the only catch was I had to sand them and repaint them .... handpainting in all the black bits is a nasty job....!
All finished........except now I want to start tidying up the interior...but thats expensive stuff so will have to wait for a while!
UPDATE TIME: Have installed new stereo/speakers/ recoloured interior seats/door cards/trims etc. Still trying to find decent matching set of door handles/window winders but this is proving to be difficult!
Needed little spring for carb but dad ended up with a whole cortina engine from the wreckers after asking for the carbie on top of the engine!
Whipped off the drive shaft and got all 3 bearings replaced before going to nats...not a cheap exercise but cleared up a number of annoying squeaking noises that had been bugging me for months...
Have just bought a back sway bar since I dont currently have one! looking for a fatter one for the front and saving to buy new shocks (my springs are ok!)
Big Thanks to my Dad for all his time and help- basically he knows how to fix anything that goes wrong! Dont know what I would do without ya Dad!
Sept 07 Update. Crash time.
For those who havent heard...I got rear-ended. Sitting at an intersection minding my own business and had a mitsi mirage run right up my boot. Guy driving was unlicensed and in his own words "Man I didnt even see you man-oh sh*t". Hit me without even having time to brake at all before impact so no skid marks for cops to measure to guess his speed.
So. Esky is now at panelbeaters awaiting insurance assessors decision (ie. are they gonna write it off or not....). Pics of damage. (almost makes me cry to look at....)
Oct 07 Update
Esky made it into the paint shop yesterday- Ross has done an awesome job straigtening the back end! Should get car back tommorow just in time to take it to the MTA Parade in Feilding this wknd!
Big ups to Ross at Aztech Panelbeaters in Napier, and again to Dad for all his help again too!
