shizzl

Cars are stupids new head gasket chucked in. Banged it all back together. fired right up…however there was a knocky knocky twack twack sounds coming from deep within. didnt sounds like rod knock but to me it sounded more like wrist pin knock. But how. then I noticed some wobble in the alt belt, hmmm. Sure. got it to temp, let the coolant guzzle away and bleed off. Topped it up and she hasn’t drank any. oil pieces are looking good still. so I biffed it up on the hoist, and found the lower alt mount bolt was loosely goosey . Torqued up or stripped, either way it’s now tight. no more knocky twack sounds. only have some slight lifter tick now. I call that a win. also the underbody is immaculate. let’s do gravels drifts

Yeah it’s at his place now

A bit more skiving off was done today. moved everything around in the workshop. GTX is now on the hoist and back up and running. Started refitting carpets into the hunter, then the console. mocked up how I need to make a new centre plate for the console. then turned a golf ball into a gear knob haha. just having carpets and a console makes it look so much tidier. then I remembered I had a pair of used mk2 escort arches floating around. Taped them on for effect. actyal think they look alright. the moulding on the front piece fits perfect to the moulding on the hunter. the back section just ends abruptly. but it sits flat and really well.

Some massaging required haha

Hunter meet hotwires, hotwires meet tyres, tyres meet hell muahahaha picked up the new tyres for the new rims. I’ve run these vigour formulas on the hunter for a few years now. I find them quite grippy, low road noise, and great price. so for these I went with a throwback size of 215/50/13, and with raised white letters. beastmode

Looking at the head again while it’s off, the exhaust ports look like they have shit growing in them, this makes me want to confirm that water was indeed exiting the exhaust, so getting into the cylinder. I didn’t pull the intake though. definitely no cracks in the head. there is some kind of thermostat on the side of the manifold that water passes through before it travels through to the throttle body. would this be the cold start system? would it spaz it out if these lines were disconnected altogether? hmm

These were pricey, but the bonus of being a tapered nut fitment instead of the shank nut of yesteryear. just need centre caps and some mad polishing. will run 215/50/13s on them.

I just didn’t think it was possible to get more throwback than a rotor swap and fishnets. im not doing camo or matty b though

In another throwback move……… thoughts on running these 13x7 hotwires???

Looks like a zakspeed style kit on this mk2 .

Here’s my inspiration that I’m basing it off, although it will end up with a wider stance, better wheel width

So yeah, decided to chop the pillars off the roof cut I saved. looked at the cross section of the pillar, and it made itself very clear. only had to unpick 2 pieces from the sandwich. Drilled out some spotwelds and ripped it out. Super easy 20mins per pillar to prep them. the stock pinch weld seam thingy slots straight into it and locates it really mint. the top of the pillar sits flush as. with the new pillar location, this makes the front door 240mm longer, which makes the door 80mm shorter than the gtx door. So it’s a huge gain but not as much as most coupe doors. can’t remember what a mk2 escort door is in comparison for 4dr-2dr. I know they are way longer though. the rear 1/4 windows will be lexan. I’ll add a flange to the window frame and bolt them on.

So with a hold up on the green hunter engine build. I’ve jumped into this for a bit. decided to make a decision on the direction I want to take with it. see following images for my decision haha

Yeah Pretty sure it does, hmmmm

So I never updated this thing. so one day I set out to hit out some solid run in kms, until a heater hose blew off when a champ failed. Pump out all fluid. great. since then I filled it up to see if it’ll hold water or leak out. thermostat open, water just disappeared then it start misfiring. So I shut it down. thinking yup blown HG. took 4 weeks or so to get motivated to look into this. whipped the head off it today, gasket is fine, head appears fine, block looks fine. No visible cracks etc. so where the hell could the water have entered to make it run like a bag? turbo? confuzzled

Ugh roadblock. engine build has been halted. centre plate is a bit skanky, so on the hunt for a better one. this shall be fun, and expensive

It’s almost like they knew it was going to leak

I have also considered this as palmside do the lhd racks.

Because we’re on a roll The mintex pads arrived from palmside. chucked them in along with the new calliper bolt retainer lock thingys. bled it up when the mrs arrived. No leaks, epic pedal feel. then I decided to swap out the oldschool wheel nuts for the crusty chromes off the other car, just to see how it’ll look, I’ll replaced these with new ones at some stage. Also added in some centre caps I picked up ages ago. it really finishes it off I reckon. got the invoice for the engine parts, so once those arrive it’s rebuild time. engine is getting all new seals, springs, rotor bearings, unbreakable apex seals, devconned water jackets for the j porting, port matched intake, tidied exhaust ports. Balanced rotating assembly along with the lightened flywheel.

might be a better option to find a later model car to rob the entire crossmember out of. I see alot of people use S chassis stuff and can utilise running coilovers and powersteering.

Someone is on a roll.. having a deadline kind of creates some much needed motivation. pulled the rear drums off to inspect the brakes. So minty fresh in there, bone dry, lots of meat on the shoes, drums looked clean as. chucked the guard roller on and pushed the lip up slightly just for a little extra clearance. then went about degreasing as much as I could off the diff, it was 20mm deep in some spots. 50 years of oil leaking 4 banger will do that. Checked the diff oil, she’s good. then I tripped over the swaybar, dang I need to sort that out too. so I knocked that off the list, was actually simple and only a 30min job once I worked out a plan. this is actually getting me motivated to start on the other hunter once this is on the road

Brakes are on!!!!! hoses and lines connected. have ordered some pads from palmside for “fast road car/high performance “. once they arrive I can fit them and bleed it all up. Check for leaks, apply electrical tape and cable ties, walk away. also altered the gear stick angle for a more rearward position. Easier to reach 1st now. post cert I will get new carpets fitted. next on the list to do: shifter hole cover and boot, adjust rear brake shoes, bolt check. Wait for engine to be built. Add in the extra resonator I have. Modify the centre console for the new shifter hole shitchea!!!

Finished bolting in the fishnet recaros this morning while waiting on materials to arrive. also picked up some wedge lock washers for the brake discs. I don’t know why, but the hunter brake hoses fit the escort calipers, even though the internet says Theyr different threads. So what if Theyr cross threaded right