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Ben's MKII Escort


Benno

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Hey guys, been lurking for a while and thought I should get around to posting a build thread.

I bought my Escort about 6 months ago. Previous owner had bought the car from new and drove it until he died. Only 136,000kms, a lot of which were at highway speed between Chch and Rangiora. Interior was in great condition, body had a few scrapes but nothing major and was basically rust free.

Probably going to be pretty slow progress to lack of funds, but will hopefully get painted over this summer.

Discussion thread

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  • 4 weeks later...

So now I've had a bit more time I've got stuck into some work on the car.

For starters I put in a new head unit, the old one was making crackling noises with aux in and just generally being gay. Also got some cheap kick panels and had a go at making some speaker pods. Came out alright, stick out a little further then I would prefer though.

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Fixed up the bit of rust in the spare tyre well and painted the boot black. Looks a lot tidier now. Didn't want to pay big money for a new boot seal, so grabbed a couple from Pick-a-Part. Fits almost perfectly, and certainly beats paying over $80 for a new one.

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Starting to get into getting rid of all of the dents and scratches. Currently the paint job is a classic case of good from far, but far from good.

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Still undecided if I want to keep the chrome trim on it or not. Thoughts? If I do end up keeping it, anyone know where to get these clips from?

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Not sure whether to keep it white or do a colour change, potentially to red. Door jambs and door inners aren't in all that great condition anyway, so will end up being a similar amount of work regardless. What do you guys reckon, keep it white or something different?

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  • 3 months later...
Guest phib3r_0ptik

Been pretty slack on updating this.

Got the body reasonably straight and primered. Couple of panels not quite perfect, but a lot better then it was.

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The waterpump blew on it, so I replaced the mechanical fan with an electric fan at the same time. Currently have just got a relay wired up to the ignition switch, but will sort out a temperature controller

sooner or later.

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Paintjob isn't perfect, got a few dust spots on it, but looks a lot better then it previously did. Can't complain too much for a garage-spec job. Bought some 13x6 superlite wheels for it.

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  • 10 months later...

Haven't really done much on this piece for a while. Have been focussing on bikes and only really driving this when the weather is crap or need to move something too heavy for a backpack.

 

Finally got around to installing some (moderate) low. Haven't got any 'after' photos as my camera fucked out, will try and get some later on. Not quite as low as I would like, but can't really afford to trim anything off without losing captivity and the price was right (box of beers). Need to lower the rear a bit now, anyone got any reset leaves or blocks they want to sell me? 

 

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Keeping an eye out for a cheap 1600 motor in need of rebuild and a 5 speed.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Haven't really done much on this recently. I managed to purchase a rebuilt engine for it from Horse25, so have been tidying that up a bit and painting it before I get ready to plonk it in. Will probably tidy up and paint the engine bay at the same time as well as getting a new exhaust made up for it.

 

Not entirely sure what my plan is for intake yet, got a Weber 32/36 and manifold off i500gt which I have (probably badly) rebuilt and will use to get things running at least. Still contemplating if I want to go down the bike carbs or sidedraught route in the future. If anyone has any opinions or suggestions feel free to let me know in the discussion.

 

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Been continuing getting some work done on this. Got pretty much everything bolted on and was doing well when I managed to snap off an inlet stud in the head. Bit of a pain in the arse, but hopefully my mate can give me a hand to sort it with an easy out. 

 

Did a round headlight conversion on it today, pretty stoked with the outcome! Managed to get a grill pretty cheap off trademe, the buckets are universal between square and round headlight then just needed to get some retainers. BNT couldn't get anything, so went to palmside. They didn't have any new ones in stock so got some 2nd hand ones cheap from them instead which worked out well for me.

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Got some new crystal headlights off trademe. 

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Pretty stoked with the outcome. One of the existing headlights had had moisture in it, so needed re-silvering or replaced anyway. The whole conversion round worked out to be pretty cheap too, very happy with it.

 

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Also, my car is currently registered as an "Escort 1.3". I am wanting to change it to that standard just "Escort". Other cars aren't like that, eg it's honda "civic" instead of "civic 1.5" etc. Rang the NZTA, was emailed a MR16 form. However, I require "supporting documentation" to prove that is the case. Just showing evidence that other escorts are just as "escort" isn't good enough. I would even be happy if it was changed to "Escort MK2". Any suggestions or ideas? I don't have an original manual so can't just scan that and Avon City Ford were no help at all.

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  • 1 month later...

New motor has been running like a dream. Only issue is it has been running a little on the hot side. I have got a Honda Civic alloy radiator for it, just need my mate to move the top outlet and weld some plates on the side and should be away. Will update with some pictures once I've got it done and in, if everything works though it seems like an awesome cheap upgrade - multi-core alloy radiator for $140.

 

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Got a new steering wheel from i500gt. Pretty stoked with it, the old wheel was getting pretty fucked.

 

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My front bumper was never straight, had had a whack in the front before I got the car and I got it kind of straight but the chrome was still rippled etc. When bmxnz11 offered up some free bumpers I snapped them up to make some quarters. Thanks again bmxnz11 for the bumpers and beaver for picking them up for me.

 

Cut one of them up to make some quarters today - very average photo sorry, but I'm very happy with how they have come out!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around to fitting up the Honda civic alloy radiator. At $140 delivered from STA I am pretty happy with it. Just needed the outlet moved and a strip welded on either side to mount it. So far seems to be awesome, stays cool as and doesn't even need the fan. Will take it for a good drive after I get someone to have a look at the timing - I stuffed round with it and think I set it to 12 degrees, but it now doesn't run as well as it used to so I've probably fucked it. What should I be aiming for for static timing? Unsure about cam specs which makes things tricky.

 

The cores of the radiators are basically the same dimensions, honda civic is just a little taller and less wide. Alloy radiator is multi core too.

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Fits into the car perfectly, stoked with it.

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Have ordered one of those alloy drink bottles from Aliexpress to strip and use as a catch can once it arrives

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  • 1 year later...

Haven't really done a lot with this lately. A while back I fitted a single side draft carb to it (Weber 40 DCOE). Have been fiddling with jet sizes and watching the wideband, but still haven't got it right. Will probably need to cough up some money and get someone who knows what they are doing to look at it. A lot better then it was to begin with though. Sorry for the potato pics, will find a better camera some time.

 

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Had a bit of a wiring tidy up, not motivated to do a full wire tuck but have re-routed and hidden some to make it look a bit better.

 

 

 

Did a grass khana with it a few weeks back too, was a lot more competitive then I was expecting.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Got a front lip off a MK 1 golf from Brdflu. Put it on the car today. Not sure if I like it or not just yet. The front of the car isn't dead straight, collecting a couple of cones at grasshkana didn't help, so it doesn't fit up quite right. Might keep it on for a bit, if I do change my mind it's only 4 screws holding it on. Crap photos, will try get something better next time it's out.

 

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  • 3 years later...

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