browndog

Hi Shane, Jack at Metro polishers did them for me, $60+gst per wheel, and that includes getting the kerb rash out of 2 of them He has polished a lot of wheels and other parts for me over the years, top bloke, very reliable, does a good job, and not expensive. Yours will probably be less, as it is just the rim edge? He is in Parity place, Glenfield. I can also give you the details of a painter who will do the centres, and is not expensive. Polish first, mask, then paint next.

Got the Cheviot Tridens back from polishing last week, painted the centres and wells, and had the tyres fitted on. Bolted a couple on to see how they would look. Rear arches need flaring, and front needs lowering an inch or so, but appears to be plenty of clearance. What do you think, slot mags with white letter tyres, doesn't get more 70's than that does it? Or does it? I guess I could remove the rear lowering blocks and jack the back right up with airshocks, and paint the diff yellow, THAT would be the 1970's look! Now where did I put that brown leather jacket and those flares?

oooh, the firevan is a beauty! Looks like you even had a shave and put on a clean T shirt for the photo shoot Driven plenty of American muscle cars. I can appreciate the appeal they have for some people, but they just don't do it for me sorry! Has the Moosestang arrived??

give me a yell when it turns up, keen to see it!

yep, but at least the Escort is IN NZ, WOF'd and rego'd

Had a bit of a close call last weekend, driving around a two lane roundabout near Kumeu, in left hand lane, dad ,mum and kids in Rav4 in RH lane beside me, both of us taking same exit (two exit lanes off). Dad decides to switch lanes at the exit, only problem was I was there alongside him and muppet dad did not look or see me! I am hitting horn button while turning left to avoid him, and damn horn is not working! Anyway, I ended up with both LH wheels on the grass, and RH wheels climbing up the kerb before he sees me and moves back.I wound down the window and gave him a burst, he looked quite shocked, obviously in la la land and didn't see me there. Got home that night, repaired the horn only to discover it was a pathetic "beep beep" single tone horn that would'nt wake a spider sleeping inside it, so I found the LOUDEST airhorn I could find on TM and hit the "buy now" button. Stebel Nautilus Compact Truck Horn, 139DB at 300HZ of badness. Hooked it up to a battery, it is LOUD And picked up these today as well for a it of extra "added noise", a pair of RS2000 44 IDF's on original Ford manifold:) Conrad

No offence taken! I know the bubble arches aren't to eveyones taste, but I am okay with that:) And yes, they do look really good when done like the ones here, gives it a real "factory" look

I spoke to him about it before I bought it (I know him through our other strange obsession with old Transit vans which we share!) He purchased it from a guy in Hawkes Bay 5 or 6(?) years ago. It was painted all gold, with an airbrushed dragon on the bonnet. It ran on 17"s at the time, I remember it being for sale on Trademe, I didn't like it! . Jackson bought it, swapped the bonnet (he kept the dragon one) and painted the bonnet gold. The paint on the side of van was bubbling, through a preparation problem, so he decided to respray the sides in red, for the Alan Mann look.Swapped the 17's for a set of Minilite replicas, sorted the suspension and some other bits, then used it as a work vehicle for his plumbing business. Sold it to buy his Transit, to another friend of mine. I literally "tripped over" it a couple of weeks ago when I went to get a WOF on my Mk2 Cortina, and when told it was for sale bought it straight away. Conrad

nice fabrication/panelwork skills there

Jackson?? post some pics, I am interested to see how that goes. I have to panel in some side windows on a Transit van in a similar way too. Conrad

Hmmm, I better put in a remit at the next AGM!.............................

holy shitballs Batman, that is some serious rust repairs going on! Nice work!! The random side windows seemed to be a NZ thing, I am not sure if the dealers cut out the panel and fitted them, or if they were done at the assembly plant in Lower Hutt. The Transit vans that were built around the same time had exactly the same thing going on, nearly always had a window fitted in the side loading door on the LH side, and then randomly fitted side windows. A friend of mine has a Mk2 Tranny that had 2 windows on the LH side, and none on the right!!! Has since panelled over the LH side ones. Pretty sure the bubble windows were only factory fitted to the Sundowner. A few of those made it over here, I wonder how many survivied? Becoming quite sought after in OZ now. Fitted with 1.6 or 2.0 OHC, full headlining, high back bucket seats, plus those very boy-racer stripes!

can you pm me me details and price please? cheers sorry, read the club rules and constitution - full membership will only be granted to owners of COMPLETE vehicles in roadworthy condition. No crashed vehicles, trailers, or Vauxhall Viva's in drag will be accepted Forget about that dirty old Mustang and buy this instead, full membership to "the club" will be automatically granted http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=740757848

look forward to seeing it. Where do you plan to cut/weld the sides? I am thinking I might make the filler panels with a "joggled" step on the edge, cut the piece in between the windows out so it is like one big window hole, and glue the panel in with 3M panel bond (the stuff they glue new car panels on with) Should require minimum filler, and no distortion. Apparently stronger than spot welds if done correctly

Auckland, sounds like we might be able to start a "Mk2 Escort Van Owners Sub-section of OS":)

playing around on the computer, thought I would see what it would look like with side windows removed: with: sans: I quite like the "window delete" option, if only it were that cheap and easy to do in real life Conrad

OKay the rad is part fo the problem, the outlet is in the wrong place, and someone has bodgied the top hose. Here is a pic of my old RS2000, and shows what the top hose should look like. And a standard RS200 for comparison: It is possible your engine is mounted too far forward, or has the wrong rad fan. The engine does fit in there, but its tight!

Not whinging at all, you have a few issues to sort, thats all:) Okay looks like you might still have a 1300 rad fitted. Put a pic showing the front of the engine, looking towards the ground, to show gap between rad and fan. I don't think you are too far off there. I had an original RS2000 some years ago, and that shroud was mostly still there, just had the top of it cut out a bit more as rad was larger than what you have there. Fan always ran very close to the rad on that car, maybe 15mm? Alternator is not original Pinto, which wil explain alignment problem. They usually had Lucas ACR type, or a Bosch one fitted.Similar to: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/ford/electrics/auction-741934450.htm The adjuster bracket bolts to a threaded lug on the water pump. Throw that alternator in the bin and get a Lucas type one, they are pretty reliable anyway.

In one of your pics, looking through the front of the grille, it looks like the rad is tilted back towards the top of the engine?????? It should be bolted flat to that front panel, not tilting backwards. Bottom crossmember should be cut out (like yours is) but boxed in with sheetmetal.

find me a pair of black fishnet Recaro's!!!!

The front pair of side windows have been blacked out on mine, painted inside I think. The rears have preforated black vinyl on them, so very dark too. I could live with zero light getting in there I think. Here ya go! Basically the whole original panel that the 1300 rad attached to has been cut away, and the 2.0 rad bolts flush up to the front panel. Pics probably explain that better..........

here is what your brake discs SHOULD look like

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/43966-brown-dogs-1980-escort-van/ discussify

seems there is a bit of an Escort van thing going on, so here are a few pics of mine, that I bought this week. Has a 2.0 Pinto and type 9 5 speed, and goes pretty much like you would expect one to (now that it gets full throttle and not just the half it had!) Someone has spent a lot of money on it (not me for a change) and it is quite a nice old thing to drive. Thinking about panelling over side windows, and converting to "proper" panel van. Not sure I am sold on the 14" Minilite replicas though. I think I like these old 13x7 Cheviot Tridens with BFG's better, for a bit of 70's style bling! Longer term plan is to fit Mk1 bubble arches, and 15x8 Miniltes. Also sport quarter bumpers, and a couple of big Cibie driving lights. And basically anything else that you did to an old 2.0 Escort!! Conrad discussification thread: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/43967-brown-dogs-1980-escort-van/

yep, especially when there is a fresh project waiting!! Went and picked mine up today, and drove it around this afternoon - loving it too! You are right about it being a Mk1 with a Mk2 front grafted on, and I don't think it would be too difficult to convert into a Mk1. Front guards, bonnet and front panel would just about nail it I think. The RS 4 spoke wheels were from the right era, first seen on Mk1 RS1600's, RS2000's and RS3100 Capri's in the early 1970's. But getting a bit "common" now that those MWS (?) replica wheels are everywhere. What engine/box does your van have?