rednfast

Replaced both front tyres and the 70-80km wobble is gone.

The brake wobble is still there but I swear it does not feel as bad as before. I haven't taken it for a long drive yet so cant be sure.

is the wobble more on the left front than right?

I am not sure how I would tell that, the steering just wobbled side to side at 70-80kms or so. The steering pulls to the left even after wheel alignment so its hard to tell with the brakes without crashing as it pulls hard left when braking hard.

How did you check the ball joints. Unless you got a pry bar and really tried to move them around you havent checked them properly. I argued with a WOF guy one time that mine were fine and I got shut down pretty swiftly hahaha

I pulled them out of the car and had a look. Got the mechanic fitting the one piece bushes for the control arms to have a look. They were both nice and stiff with no breakage in the rubbers.

The steering ones are brand new so I am guessing they're ok?

Are you running steel rims or mags ?

I have experienced similar wheel vibrations with mag rims if they don't have a spigot locating ring.

I am running on the orig steel rims. This explains a problem I had with an older car though

It is probably bad tyres causing the wobble. Getting them balanced will not fix the issue, it will likely make it worse.

I will try putting some new tyres on the front, hopefully that will fix atleast the wobble while driving. Then I guess Ill have to shell out for some new discs/bearings.

I had a Mk 1 with a violent steering wobble once, so violent you could not hold onto the wheel, that was the bottom ball joints.

I'd checked all the ball joints when I had it apart they were all good n tight.

Thanks for the replies all, helped confirm my suspicions

So I have replaced all the front bushes with Superpro (Control arm, Swaybar, Swaybar/Control arm mounts, and Steering rack), put in new Shocks since the old ones were completely busted. Put in a recond steering rack, got wheel alignment/balancing.

Still at about 70-80km/h I get a steering wobble, and also when braking. Its way better than before I did all this but I am really unsure as to what it might be now?

Only I ideas I have is the front tyres are a bit old (8 Years or so, and it sat for 4 of them), Ive heard they can get out of shape?

Also could wheel bearings cause this?

I am guessing the wobble on braking might be the front discs being warped? I recond the whole brake system not long ago apart from the discs.

As for the gearbox...

When I start the car from cold there is this intermittant scraping kinda noise which goes away after the car has been running for a few k's (engine temp does not seem to affect it).

However once I have done 10k's or so, and I shift into 3rd or 4th at about 3k rpm it will make a rattle/scraping noise even on light throttle (definately not pinging, at ~2k rpm foot to the floor it will not make the noise till it gets to 3k). The sound then goes away after about 3.5k rpm.

Could it be a stuffed thrust bearing? Or maybe the clutch itself?

Any help apprectiated.

Contact Paul through his site, http://www.classiccarbumpers.co.nz/

He is based in Whangarei and will be able to help you.

Gave up on this place in the end, took forever to get any response.

Ended up going through an Aussie place YESTERFORD - ESCORT MkI & MkII

Just phoned him, what a gold mine! Thanks so much! 

Awesome thanks for the replies, never thought about the Classic Ford magazines (can't even remember the last time I bought a magazine for that matter).

Will give palmside a ring, and that bumper one is super handy as my rear bumper needs replacing as well

Hi Guys,

I am having a heap of trouble finding new Escort Mk2 parts in NZ. Rarespares has a bit but mostly rubber trim, local auto shops like Butlers Auto mart have a lot of the disposable parts (points, pads, etc).

But other parts seem to be near impossible to find, my Wife has a Mini so I have part availability envy.

At the moment I am trying to track down a bell housing gaiter for the standard 4 speed gear box.

I was also looking for the rubber bump stops around the bonnet, found a place in the UK that has them all, but its like 200 pounds for the lot (rare spares only have the front bump stops not the small ones that run around the outside).

Other small things like new switches, interior plastic panels (like on the B/C pillars) also seem to be non existent?

Any help with where to go for various bits would be much appreciated

@DJZ

Yup its push rod, Ive had the cover off, didnt see anything wrong. Both in and ex valves move freely.

@glen

Not really fussed about 1600, had one before. This is just a round town car.

@Rookie

Ive heard about the hardened seats, isnt that due to the unleaded change over? Im 99% sure this one still has orig valve seats and valves.

Hiyas,

The inlet valve on my escort mk2 1300 appears to be faulty. I did a comp test and No1 gets 90 psi, 2,3,4 all get 135ish. So pulled off the inlet manifold and the inlet is carboned up like the flame wall has been escaping into the inlet manifold from No 1 cylinder.

I will pull off the head to confirm, but I want to know what I should look at doing? Replacing just the valves + springs for cylinder No 1? Or will that cause some issues? Should I replace them all at once?

Also thanks to everyone who gave advice in my other post a few weeks back, this it seems was the issue.

Nvm, getting my inch and mm mixed. Ive been setting it at 0.25mm inlet, 0.01".

0.2mm for inlet? The haynes manual says 0.1mm for inlet, and 0.55mm for the exhaust. Ive got it set at 0.1mm atm, but that might just be for a new engine?

Ok I did the valve clearances while the engine was dead cold, and its way better. It still does it a bit, but it feels kinda like it did before in 4th gear. I was setting it while hot as thats what the gregories manual stated to do. So Im guessing if I open them up even more it would go away? Is there any downside/side effect from increasing the valve clearances?

Its only a few years old, probably done about 1000ks tops.

Changed the condenser, no diff. Gonna do valve clearance and comp test when I have a mo. It seems to be related to the heat of the car, it is much less or non existent when the car is cold and progressively gets worse as the car heats up.

I chucked the recond starter in, which fixed the unrelated noise problem. Then reset the points gap to 0.6mm, reset the timing. Removed the PCV valve. No difference, still misses while cruising.

I guess Ill try rechecking the valve clearance, and do a comp test. Failing that Im gonna head down and get some new vacuum tubes.

Well mine is pretty square still, I may just have to ignore the dwell and set the gap instead, its possible the dwell meter thing is off. Its pretty old.

Once I get the starter back in Ill give these two things a try. Removing the PCV and plugging the inlet manifold. And setting the point gap using feelers rather than dwell meter.

@coldturkey

That is interesting I went and checked it... The gap is supposed to be 0.5-0.71mm or so. But when I check the dwell its only at 40deg at 0.71mm gap, so I need to close the gap. Closing to to obtain the correct dwell of 50deg takes it below the minimum of 0.5mm quite alot below, its at like 0.3mm or so. How did you fix that in the end?

This is with brand new points btw.

Hadnt thought of that. I did put a new PCV valve on the crankcase vent a while back, as it didnt have one before. It was just venting to atmosphere with the intake bit plugged off.

Idle is set to 900rpm at running temp (about 1/4 on the gauge). Mixture set by winding in till almost stall then back to clean idle and another twist after that. I did notice that after the car has sat for a while after driving and its started while still hot the rpms drop pretty low like 7-800rpm or less maybe, assuming this is because the water gets even hotter after it sits around for a bit?

EDIT: Its an auto choke carb.

Guy from quality rebuilds said vac advance was fine, and accuracy upto 6k rpm was almost perfect.

I have set clearances to 0.25mm Inlet, and 0.55mm Ex. Should they be set hot or cold? I am guessing that might make a diff?

EDIT: The car is a 1300 mk2 if there is any diff between models?

Changed them twice since this problem started. What plugs should I be using just incase I got the wrong ones? I have Bosch WR7DC+ in there atm with 0.6mm gap.

Hiya,

I have a problem that when I am cruising (foot steady on gas) in my Mk2 the car seems to miss intermittently, almost like one cylinder is dropping power occasionally. The feeling is similar to dabbing the brake for an instant. There is no change in note in the engine. It does not do this while sitting idle and holding the revs steady, so only happens under load. It is noticeably worse in lower gears, by 4th its almost non existent but still there.

Just a note on what has been done to the car recently...

New alternator.

Single Barrel carb reconditioned at carb shop.

Distributor checked over by Quality Rebuilds, both dizzy and vac advance check out fine according to him.

Replaced the points and rotor.

Coil is a new unit about 3 years old.

Set the Dwell (50deg) and Timing (10deg).

Starter is in at shop getting fixed atm as it was making a horrible noise (intermittent screeching) for ages after start up (10 mins sometimes).

Any ideas would be great, I'm kinda stumped at this point.

Door cards have been recovered and installed. Really happy with the job, a couple of minor issues with the bit that goes between the card and the window nothing major tho.

Dunno if you fixed this, I had the same issue. Id had the carb recond, points/timing done etc. Turned out to be the Inlet valve clearance was set too tight, by about 0.05mm or so. Opened them up to correct setting and it runs perfect now. No bogging at all when accelerating.

Few months ago did a bodge and sprayed the car with several cans of red dupicolour. Shes water proof now atleast.

Have replaced the Alternator as the one I got from a spare motor was shot, has a shiney new one. Carb is in at the Carburettor Shop, old guy is giving it a refurb as it was stalling a bit on cold starts.

Door panels are in at Canterbury Upholstry getting black vinyl trim put on, and replacing the window seal bits that run along the inside of the windows. Will post some photos once I get them back. Asked him to make them as simple as possible as I want a real minimal look inside once its done. I have removed the centre console to help cut down on clutter.

Next up is new carpet, then I need to start saving pennys to get a respray done.