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Eski boi's Ford Escort mk2


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Well I paid $300 for it about 3 years ago when I was 14 :P , it was red, rusty and neglected. Only had one owner, but he became unable to drive so it sat in his backyard for 7 years.... :? )

Done all the work on it myself to get it to the stage its at now:
Sorry, no before pics as yet :(
http://img45.echo.cx/my.php?image=317nm.jpg
Pretty much fully stripped and rebuilt everything - suspension, brakes etc, so even the underbody is mint :P

Its dropped 4" at the rear and 1" at the front, on cortina struts. The pinto should even up the ride height tho, if not then I'll raise the back an inch or so....

I just started the 2.0 litre, 5 spd conversion last weekend. Only got the block in there at the moment because im still finishing off the head. Also still need to get hold of the gearbox. Heres a couple of pics on its progress so far anyway:
http://img20.echo.cx/my.php?image=2ltr1zi.png
http://img51.echo.cx/my.php?image=2litre1ik.png
They were taken from a phone, at night so theyre not the best quality. Also not the best angles because I had to avoid the glare from the light, so yea. Ill post up some better ones soon anyway.

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  • 1 month later...

Well the 2 litre is now running, and just about ready to drive. Im getting the exhaust done on saturday, and hopefully will have fixed the idle problem by then too...

When I fired it up the other day, I went to drive it but the car wouldnt move.. turned out I had the wrong clutch release bearing in there - it was a Cortina one, which turned out to be quite abit thicker than the Sierra one. So it was like permanently pushing the clutch in halfway, if you know what I mean :?

So.. I had to drop the mofo of a gearbox and replace the bearing with the correct one, then refit it all.. did it in an afternoon :o

So its sorted now, and if all goes well it should be driveable on Saturday 8) ......Now for the Cert hmm......

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  • 4 weeks later...

Quick update:

Ive pretty much sorted out the idle problem, turned out that it was the idle jets after all. So thanks to 2FKNLO I now have some bigger jets and thats helped things heaps :D.

Still isnt perfect tho, like its a little bit rough for my liking and it seemed a little bit rattly too. So I reset all the valve clearances today, they seemed to be abit out of order :? So yea Ill see how that goes.

Also found that the oil rail thing to lubricate the camshaft had snapped around the rear bolt and was being hit by the cams as they rotated :o Which would also further explain the rattling... had a spare one tho so its all good.

STILL no updated pics lol :lol:

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I went for a quick cane today, and I think the head gasket has shat itself.... I put my foot down abit and it just didnt seem to pull like it usually does, I was like hmm thats abit wierd.

As I pulled up to traffic lights it started to idle really rough, sounding like a rotary.

So I decided something was wrong and that I should go home.. just down the road from the driveway my mate noticed smoke coming from under the car so I quickly pulled in, turned it off, and had a look underneath.... there was oil EVERYWHERE like dripping all over the ground and off everthing underneath the car :shock:

The oil level was just on the minimum line (very lucky I turned it off when I did...) so I topped it up and turned the car on to see where it was leaking from.. It started pissing out at the rear of the cylinder head where it joins the block :?

I took the head off and the bolts seemed rather loose, I hadnt re-torqued the gasket, its one of those ones where you 'supposedly' dont need to re-torque it... I guess it just couldnt handle the extra compression and shit, on top of not being retightened so it shat itself...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got a new headgasket and chucked it on last weekend.. seems to have sorted it out, no signs of leaks or water being used, and power is back to normal :D

Still need to get the hole in the transmission tunnel welded up, and put the carpet back in and then I can go for the cert 8) ... when I get money haha.

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  • 3 months later...

Havn't updated this in ages.. so for a start its now certed and the engine is run in, with all the minor problems sorted out. Lowered the front to match the height of the rear (about 3" drop all round).

Got a new bonnet to replace the old dented up one (thanks rs2000 8)) but yea its been in primer for the last few months, will get round to painting it soon hopefully.

Done plenty of other stuff to it during/since the conversion, but cant think right now so that'll do haha..

And in no particular order, plans for the near future are:

fix gearbox leak, get adjustable cam sprocket/get the existing one modified, tints, paint bonnet, fit stiffer springs up front so it doesnt keep bottoming out over pot holes etc, change diff to a 3.5 or 3.8, and uhh get a proper 1/4 mile time (in the dry with a few practice runs this time haha :P )

And a couple of pics (same as ones in the links above)

esky25jl.jpg

esky8tx.jpg

Will try to get some more from different angles and of the engine bay soon..

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