bmxnz11's Ford Escort MK2 Van

[bmxnz11]

Ended up going with signal orange 79. It's an original color for an escort, but not this van. Sampled a blue and a different signal 77 orange but settled on this. Have been spraying it in sections. Engine bay, interior and inside of the doors. Still a while to go before I can spray the outside but its certainly progress!

[bmxnz11]

Have sprayed a few more items. Battery tray, all door jams, bonnet and had redone the engine bay 'bubble' because it was easier to do the whole thing then to fix a couple of runs. Couple of areas had to be touched up as I didnt wait long enough between coats and had solvent boil.

Aligned the rear doors for final assembly before paint. Will put some seam sealer around the hinges to lock out any water. Put in the new door pins on the drivers door and sealed in the drivers guard. The sealer is a soft material that will provide protection from the wheel well but wont 'glue' the guard on permanently. Originally the guards are welded on but I've decided to reattach it with sealant and bolts. Will align the passenger door with new pins then I can start prepping the body for paint. Also made up a new base plate for the subframe and welded that on.

[bmxnz11]

Finally getting back into this after a few months away. Have decided to paint the outside in two sections which hopefully makes it a bit more manageable. The obvious way was to section off the roof. The other reason for doing it this way is to ensure there is plenty of paint in the gutters which are prone to rust. By sectioning it off, it gets painted when the roof is done, and again when the sides get done. This ensures maximum paint without making a mess.

Have been sanding for the last couple weeks. My weak little office arms really struggled with painting the roof today but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

[bmxnz11]

I'm still working on this. Havent had as much time as others, as I've been working from home during lockdown. I sanded back all the guide coat and spot printed areas where I hit metal. Will give this a final sand and then its onto color. Pretty keen to get this done. Well and truly over block sanding.

[bmxnz11]

More sanding and prep work. Picked up some rebuilt princess 4pot calipers and fiesta side mirrors. I was originally going to run chrome bullet mirrors but these provide a greater surface area and will match all the black trim. Painted behind the grill black and painted the calipers and brake parts. Is there any performance advantage to ditching the brake booster?

[bmxnz11]

It's been a super long week but I finally painted the body. Its come up pretty damn straight but unfortunately I also have a few runs which will need sanding out. Absolutely stoked to get it to this stage but plenty more work to come.

[bmxnz11]

 

[bmxnz11]

Spent way too long cutting and buffing the entire outside but it was worth it. Super smooth and straight now, just needs a polish.

Since then I've been working on fitting the rear seat. Van's never came factory with rear seats but it was very common to cut out the front section of the rear floor and have a rear seat made and fitted. Most seats fitted were home made out of ply wood and were very roughly mounted in, this one was no except. Escort estates had seats were fitted from factory and had a metal floor backing so when folded down and not in use, it looked like it was just an extension of the floor. I have been looking for one of these for years and was hoping to have one before I painted it, as I would have to weld in mounting points. Didnt end up happening and found this one afterwards. Untwisted it and it will need full upholstery at a later date but it fits (Temporarily fixed).

Started making mountings for this, the first being the towers at the front of the lower half of the seat. Have made these so I could use the original alloy hinges. Have welded a plate into the bottom and tapped some 8mm threads.

Started working on the rear upright half of the seat. The starting point of mounting the seat is based around making the back part completely level when folded down. Some temporary brackets were made to find its final position. After the front towers were made and welded in, I started making the mountings where the upright section would swivel down flat. I made these cups, which will be welded in to close the gaps between the wheel tub and seat frame, using the correct fine threaded seat belt bolts and fixings.

Once these are welded in there final spot, I can start working on the last mounting points which sit on top of th wheel tub and hold the upright section in place when in the correct seating position. Again, from factory these were pretty poorly thought about. I have a few ideas of how to improve this with an automatic locking mechanism.

[bmxnz11]

Rounded the cones by hand, had some round pipe as a guide. Found there final spot and temporarily drilled into place to try with the seat. Made some hinges out of 5mm angle line, which will later be trimmed up, driled for counter sunk screws and zinc plated. Primed everything and welded into place.

I've maxed out the adjustments to have the seat level with the floor with folded flat. The floor section will be color matched the van, and the upright will be painted black to break it up.

Plug welded in place. Will be primed and painted orange.

This the last mounting point to be made. It holds the upright in place when in the seating position and should lock in it so in an event of an emergency stop, it shouldn't fold forward.

Looks like a big gap but this is the normal and there is no room for adjustment when folded flat. Thinking some post which would encase a locking mechanism like the below would be the go. I like the idea of pulling the seat up and clicking it into place, and having a release lever when needing to fold it flat. Any other ways of doing this? Needs to lock it in place, and support the back rest.

[bmxnz11]

For sometime I've been keeping an eye out for some better front seats, such as mx5 or recaro, to replace the prelude ones which came with the van. Last week I ended up getting some NA mx5 seats from just around the corner. Tiny bit of wear on the drivers bolster but will do for now. The plan is to make an adapter plate for each seat so that I can use the original anchor points in the escort, and use the standard mx5 rails. The thinking is, if I find a better pair, I can just switch them straight out, or put original escort seats in.

Have made the adapter rails out of 5mm flat bar, it's overkill but all I had at the time so I may drill some speed holes in them at a later date. I'll need to press some shapes out to fit to the bottom of mx5 rail feet, and make some towers to suit. The final position will be 20mm higher then the wooden block below.

[bmxnz11]

Made some hats for the seat rail feet to sit into. Next step will be to make some towers to join these hats to the flat bar which bolts to the original holes. Made up a couple of dye's out of flat bar and used these to press in the shapes. They fit pretty well and will look correct once tidied up.

[bmxnz11]

Playing catch up..

I welded a plate and a nut on the back of those cups which hold the recessed/step down shape snugly.

I then made up a dummy seat frame to hold the seat rails in place and bolted the newly made cups to that. I then spend quite some time working out the best position to attach the cups to the metal base straps.

You can see the bottom left corner I have started boxing in the shape, whereas the far left is just hovering in place.

I did this for both sides, drilled some speed holes and painted them in 2k black.

These bolt straight into the original escort floor seat holes so I have the option to have these mx5 seats or the standard escort seats.

[bmxnz11]

Back to the back seat. I didnt like where the support mount attached to the back seat when it was upright, it just sat way too high on the wheel arch. The cardboard cutout shows just how high it would need to sit.

I added a drop down bar on each side to bring the mounting point down.

I then made a housing which had to house the latch, look flush and bee able to come apart incase the latch needs to be fixed or replaced. I made this housing in 2 pieces. The mounting holes on the latch pull the 2 covers together and they both bolt through the wheel arch. The bolts go up from under the arch and through the housing so that from underneath only the heads show and they shouldn't interfere with the tyres.

To release the latch, theres an arm on the lever on the outside so you dont see it. It now makes the all satisfying "click" when pushed into place. Both sides have a latch each.

[bmxnz11]

Finished with the back seat mounts which were all welded in. I welded an extra plate under the wheel arch, below the backseat mount/stop just for piece of mind. Since then I've been slowly stripping and painting various parts including the seat frames, diff, leaf springs etc.

Should be painting the seat backing this weekend all going to plan.

[bmxnz11]

Slowly been chipping away at bits. Have cleaned up and painted most the underside parts. Still trying to find some good axles so I can build the rear end and attach it to the van. Looks like I will have to get the axles resplined by a local engineer.

Pulled the heater box apart to check it all out. Need to find/make a new resistor? So I get the 2 fan speeds, then that can be reassembled.

 

[bmxnz11]

Things are moving at a glacial pace. A family friend managed to bore the block to +40 and he's giving me a hand with building the motor up. He's an ex engine reconditioner who knows a few tricks. Ordered a bunch of parts from burton so once they arrive that should move things along. The crank is still standard size but will need maching out. Anyone have any recommendations for a crowd in welly? Also on the look out for a decent set of +40 1300 pistons.

 

[bmxnz11]

I ended up repairing the heater fan resister with a new board and 1 new pin.

Tested the heater box core, had to straighten the pipe ends and fix 3 small holes. All reassembled.

Have made a few odd parts as I go along such as new tab washers for the front hubs.

[bmxnz11]

Slowly been sorting out the front and rear suspension and steering components. I pulled apart the 3x steering racks I had and have used the best parts to build one. Everything has been stripped to bare metal and painted in 2k.

[bmxnz11]

With most parts prepped, I've started to reassemble parts and attach them to the van.

I've purchased alot of new parts locally and from the UK, including all new nolathane bushes. I've always replaced the old hardware with new stainless or zinc where possible. The mk2 van is actually a mk1 from the windscreen back and uses both imperial and metric, so requires a bit of extra thinking.

I made up some spacers for the rear springs and played around at home and set up a little zinc plating station.

[bmxnz11]

I opened up the petrol tank which has been sitting around for awhile. To my suprise it was like brand new inside. Cleaned it inside and out, and installed.

The fuel filler neck was a bit odd. It didn't quite sit flush to the side of the van. I ended up removing some of the floor with a die grinder to lower the fuel filler and get it all lined up. Potentially it was this poor from factory. New gasket, a lick of paint and its done. From the outside, the fuel cap covers the entire filler neck face.

I went so far as to even replace the fuel cap screws which hold the locking tongue on from self tappers to stainless caps.