M_C

Cheers guys. I thought of taking the thread down a size. But its a coarse imperial thread so the minor dia is quite small for the soft copper material. Then I pulled it appart to see if the stud could be swapped, but it had an oddball head and the guts of it looked old with repaired wires etc. Ending up being quite easy for the guys at Onehunga Auto Electrical to sort out a new one.

Very exciting day! Front wheels on the ground for the first time in quite a while! Followed closly by getting her on her feet! Still getting used to how much lower she looks when not up on axle stands. Rolled her outside to get a proper look. Needs more lowness. But first just want to get her running. Keep getting the hard word from a mate who is the appointed Mission Creep Control. Good idea to seperate critical to run items from nice to have items as I want to drive her, not play in garage for the next few years. Critical = Brakes working and engine running. Nice to have = swapping 4 speed for 5, lowering etc. Plenty of time for tuning and modifying once we know how she goes.

Getting ready for basic wiring to for some track days. Found a shagged thread on the starter solenoid. Tracked down a die nut to clean it up, but not enough meat left in the thread to withstand any torque. Darn. Time for a new solenoid.

Newbie question time. I just found this thread, two days late, Douh. When are you meeting next? Same place? Cheers

Cheers, I had not heard that. Those lines on the rear brakes are some of the very few lines I have not replaced as they looked pretty new. I think the car has not been run since the hilux diff went in so they should be unused. The Low Volume Cert guy who looked over the car and started the LVC process before I got started working on her didn't mention it so hopefully he won't change his mind!

Catching up on some of the build pics. Shot of the diff and rear brakes. (incase you couldn't work out what is was...) Brake adapting plate. Didn't show up clearly in earlier pics.

Who can spot the mistake? Had a bit of a saga trying to bleed up the brakes. The skyline callipers that came with the car on the rear disks have no provision for cable handbrakes. I figure it would be easier to run a hydraulic handbrake, but got the plumbing wrong going in the out and out the in of the handbrake cylinder. Made it a bit hard to bleed. Then when I did get it a bit firm pullng the handbrake up pushed the foot brake. Hm, that can't be right. Got the fittings swapped around without dropping too much brake fluid through the car. Then re-bled the brakes from scratch perfecting my technique and wearing out the third peddle pushing helper... Stop the weary expression on my brother. I think his legs wore out a few minutes before this. Still not very firm despite putting over a litre of fluid through it and now its leaking out the master cylinder. Finally worked out the reverse pressure from the handbrake popped a seal between the reservoir and the master cylinder. Easier to fix than I thought after pulling apart on old master cylinder to see how it works, just push it hard back in. Phew. Onto the forth brake pushing helper with another complete bleed and still not much of a firm peddle! Getting frustrated now. Maybe it’s the brake booster? Started the engine and hey presto the peddle is not bad. Need to get them tested now.

The car did come out of CHC so possible she's one of those. I understand she has been in pieces for quite a while. Original paint was red detailing on all mechanicals and black(?) body. Looking at the '96 declaration cert she already had the engine and bubble arches and been on the road back then. Must have been "interesting" as the declaration lists standard brakes... Not sure how it worked with the state of the rear arches! They were not mini tubbed before the bubbles went on so must have been '80's style jacked up rear or the tires would be sliced to ribbons with the butcher job on the old guards. The cause of much swearing to sort out without damaging the nice job of the bubble arches. Photos to come. I'm not looking forward to getting the cage out, pulling glass etc. Hoping to find a friendly plasma cutter. Good time to replace all the rubbers I guess as she leaks like a sieve.

When my escort grows up it wants to be like yours QCADTA... And Low'nSlows too

Not sure what the top plates are as they came with the car. Plently of adjustment though and look like decent kit. Helped when getting the alignment done on Tue.

Metalskills are good customers of ours at work and all round good guys. Check out their truck signwriting and calendars... Gave me a hard time making parts for a Ford as they are Holden guys. I drew up a dxf file to make it easy for them. PM me with what you need and I'll see what we can sort out. Cheers

All bolted up. The spacer between the hub and disk is just visile. A lot of work for a small piece, but spacing is spot on. Getting excited about nice big brakes and can't resist another comparison photo

Building up the front struts. Had a mate laser cut out some adapters to mount the calipers. Nice difference in bolt spacing between caplier and strut made the adapter easy after lots of fussy measuring.

Your cage sketch is pretty much my ideal cage. Has there been much discussion on cages? I had a quick search for roll cages in the forum but didn't see one amoungst the heaps of results. I am thinking along the lines of, for example the cage to shell gussets. Are they cheap and easy to do and have a big benifit, or diffucult to do and have limited benifit? Starting out with the basic 6 point cage, what are the best bang for buck additions? My goals are a budget track day car, safe, basic racing and eventuallyTarga. Cheers

I wasn't too worried about my brakes Low'n'slow unitl I read your build... I have a new standard 2 circuit escort master cylinder. The size is about the same as the Mazda RX7 one the brakes came off so fingers crossed. New brake lines throughout, Cheers Just Brakes in Onehunga. New exchange brake booster plumbed into the front line, Mazda RX7 aluminium 4 pots on the front with dia 283x22 disks, Skyline rear disks. Most of the setup was already there. I figure I will get the car going with the minimum of alterations and see how it works. The posts are a bit behind the build progress so will try to catchup. I just had the brakes tested on a rolling road and they look good. But not sure on how they balance front to back or will perform on a track. Side to side balance is good and effort seems good?

Slowly catching up on the build progress. More bits bolted onto the motor and ready for first start. Red bucket is because she wet herself with a problematic water hose. Awkward angle, old hard hose and miss-shaped water pump outlet ganged up on me. New hose and hey presto no leaks. Well, until the rebuild water pump decided it wanted to leak from the shaft seal. A new water pump is cheap insurance. And she is alive! Very happy for first time rebuilding an engine. As Mr Clarkson says "How hard can it be?" okMjZbWshFs

Yeah, the welding is definitely a WTF? As a forum newbie, what is the protocol for naming guys and firms you have had good experiences with? Is this a good thing, or nono to post in the forum? One of the first things I did was get a experienced motorsport guy and scrutineer look the car over. The cage design is good with nice runs for the tubes, hence I am happy to do basic events, but nothing serious. But the welding…? When re-doing it I’ll add a few more tubes. Likely double door bars and tie the bottom of the main hoop to the bottom of the rear uprights. Above the basic cage design, what are the best additions for driver safety? Is this a personal opinion thing? Been discussed before in another thread?

Note the “enthusiastic” cage welding. And no papers and main hoop too small for new rules. Will do a few track days once the car is running then have to pull the cage out and start from scratch. Douh. May be able to do some club days with the cage as it is? Surely its safer with a rough cage than none at all? Well it was known before buying the car so just add it to the to do list...

Cheers for the welcome guys. Impressive how active the forum is. Flew to CHC to sight and pay for the car planning to help bleed the brakes for transport. The front callipers were not bolted onto the struts so no front brakes. Turned out to be a good reason they weren’t bolted on as would not fit over disks, and if they did they would hit the hubs. So isolated the front circuit by butchering the line and folding over itself. Trying to bleed the rear brakes and couldn't get any pressure. Master cylinder perished? Ah well, there is the handbrake. Ah, no. The skyline callipers on the rear have no provision for cable handbrake so the end of the cable is just taped up. Ah well, maybe engine compression may slow her down? Ah, no. the heads are just sitting there and not bolted on as the engine is in pieces... So the sign was "WARNING, no front brakes." Then crossed out to no foot brakes at all, then added no handbrake, then added no engine compression braking, -NO brakes at all!" Minor stress over the transport back to AKL but arrived without a scratch. My first ride was down the transporters ramp slowed by the guys from the factory, then pushed into the warehouse. Yes hubs are five stud. Custom front hubs must have been done to match the Hilux rear axle. I think the rims are Hiace ones? They are growing on me. Brakes have been a bit of a saga. Will post more later… Not my first choice for airflow at the front, but long way down the list to change it. Besides the Essex will generate a bit of heat. No go on the cage. See the “enthusiastic” cage welding pic posting now. And no papers and main hoop too small for new rules. Will do a few track days once the car is running then have to pull the cage out and start from scratch. Douh.

Definitely old old school. Car came with 80's declaration cert saying engine and gearbox are from Mark 4 Zodiac so early Essex. Cheers for the offer, one of the first things I bought was a Zodiac Mark 4 Hanes manual to work out how to put the engine back together. Essential piece of kit! Engine is pretty standard appart from warm cam so not huge hp, but should sound great and have a few torques for the light bodyshell. Corners may be interesting with the weight up front? Guess I am about to find out. Picked up a mates bare essex block to the other day and wasn't as heavy as I thought. That's what I keep telling myself any way...

Cheers, Planning it as a "Friday Car" Get her going, then re-complied for the road. Mental health days driving to work on a short Friday, track days learning to drive properly -hopefully before my enthusiasm overtakes my driving skill... Then casual racing. Targa eventually.

I figure brakes are kind of important so sold on the vented Capri dia 245 disks and M16 calipers that came with her to help fund some dia 283 Brembo's and RX7 4 pots for the front. Bit of a size difference to the original brakes on the right. Better make sure the calpiers will do what they should.

Had Wade Automotive check out the heads before bolting them back on. Resisting the temptation to get more work done than the essentials to get her going first. Almost ready for first start

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/31527-m-cs-69-escort-v6-coupe/ Cheers

Finally got myself a ManToy for the garage. Picked up a project off Trademe Quickly worked out that Project is spelt with a Capital P... Discussion //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/31528-m-cs-69-escort-v6-coupe/ She had been in parts in the guys garage for 5 years, and the guy before that for another 5 years! Best intentions not to let that happen again. Old 3litre Essex V6 and 4 speed manual, hilux diff and disk brakes all round. Kids approve... Traditional boot full of bits. No brakes sign for the transporter. Arrived in one piece! Now how does that engine go back together?