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666DAN's 1980 Mk2 Escort


666DAN

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Have been working through some of those small issues that pop up when you first buy a car. 

The radiator had a small split in the bottom tank, so I pulled the radiator took to work and repaired. 

 

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So last night I chucked it back in the hole, fresh coolant and bled the system. All went well.

Temp gauge wasnt working, extended the wire and reconnected. The drive belt was also loose due to being slightly too big, adjusted for now but I have got a better sized belt ordered.

Got a list nailed to the wall and so far this week I have marked a few off but for everyone that gets crossed off two get added!

 

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Not much of an update but progress is progress!

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Survived the first "out of town" drive but not without minor hiccups

 

Drove her to Southwards swapmeet, drove there flawlessly. Great little drive with my wife and 3 daughters. Parked up (next to a 55 Chev Nomad!!! My all time favourite car) and enjoyed the displays and even managed to pick up a workshop manual for cheap.

 

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So after doing the rounds and the kids getting bored and over it we piled in and left to come home. All was well until Pukerua Bay, felt an abnormal vibration and a rattling noise. Nursed her home and 100m from home I hear the ting ting ting of a bolt.

Managed to vibrate the exhaust flange bolts loose causing the exhaust system to twist and vibrate against the floorpan, the ting noise was one of the nuts.

 

Found a couple of new nuts and spring washers and realigned system. Sweet!

 

My left front wheel bearing (adjusted yesterday) also loosened off on the way home. Readjusted and put the correct sized splitpin in place of the shite that was on it. Fingers crossed that sorts that issue.

 

All in all an uneventful voyage and I definitely learnt a lot more about her characteristics. Heaps of positive feedback from those that stopped to talk.

 

I <3 the Oldschool vibe !

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not too much of an update but an update none the less.

 

Over the last couple weeks I have had it on stands and pulled shit apart, re assembled, lubricated, adjusted and spanner checked everything I could. Wired in the temp sensor that had been butchered.

 

Yesterday I replaced the front tyres with some Nankangs and got well looked after by the boys at Beaurepaires in Porirua who also did a wheel alignment for me too.

Spent a little time this morning giving the arse end and bootlid a massage with my hammer and I also chucked my Mooneyes "foot" gas pedal in. 

 

This car is just getting better and better and the amount of people that stop to chat about it is absolutely mind blowing! 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Not a lot has happened except being washed a few times and doing a few k's.

Yesterday I cleaned and waxed the engine bay and painted the washer bottle to tidy shit up a little.

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And so today I cleaned the underside of the bonnet, gave her a wash and went for a small cruise. Took a heap of (shitty iphone) pics cos I friggin love this car 

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Tomorrow the rear bumper is coming off to be massaged so its a little straighter and I may massage the bootlid some more too. Basically just doing what I can without spending coin until after it goes to get pulled.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The last couple weeks I have replaced front wheel bearing and front pads and rotors. Bugger me she is a different car to drive now!!

 

Took her for a spirited jaunt over Paekakariki Hill Rd this morning and for the first time I could enjoy (with confidence) how well she handles etc 

 

I friggin love this car!!! 

Couple pics at the top...

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Being Wellington Anniversary weekend this past weekend, The Kapiti Horowhenua Zephyr club held its Ford day at Kapiti School and just up the road The RoadRunners Inc HotRod club held its annual picnic at the Otaihanga Domain.
 
I spent a few nights after work during the week polishing and cleaning the Escort so she looked pretty for the events, I also managed to score a new RamFlow filter nice and cheap.
 
Pilled the wife and kids into the Escort nice and early on Sunday morning and headed to Paremata to meet up with a mate and his daughter in his F100 truck. We convoyed into Paraparaumu and headed into the Ford event. I managed to park up and pop the bonnet before being inundated with people who were keen to chat about my Escort and Escorts in general. It was actually really friggin humbling. 
 
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We left The Ford Day and headed up to Otaihanga to check out the goings on and what we were greeted with was amazing. HotRods, classics, muscle cars, mini trucks and modern cars around the entire domain with barely a park left in the place.
 
We did the walk-about and talked shit with all the different people from different clubs, dipped our toes in the river and pretty much just soaked in the atmosphere. 
 
As we were leaving my mate Louis from Western Bays Street Rodders managed to step in front of us and snap pic. Here is the link to his page if you want to see more from the Domain https://www.facebook.com/LJDphotographix/?fref=ts
 
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Did Paekak hill on the way home and generally just drove as much as I could as she is such a happy little car at the moment.
 
 
 
Which brings us to Monday morning. I got a text from the boss saying he was at work doing some shit on his Impala, so I headed down. 
 
Since I have had the Esky the drivers seat has never been 100% bolted down due to the mounting bolt in the floor being pulled through and some of the steel torn and being that I don't have the gear at home to do it I have been waiting for a good time to do it at work.
 
Pulled the seat out, pulled the carpet back and ground the area back to bare metal. Persuaded the steel into a better position with my handy dandy hammer and  stitch welded the tear back together. I honed out the hole where the factory mounted nut would have been and welded a new bigger one in its place. Cleaned welds up, painted and reassembled.
 
Seat is now mounted and another thing is ticked off the list!
 
 
 
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  • 3 weeks later...

The weekend just been was the Wellington British Car Day. Headed along with my mate Corey and our families in our Escorts. What an absolutely fantastic event, it is my favourite of the summer season so far. Didn't get many pics of the day unfortunately but I managed to get a couple of quick snaps outside my place and when we had arrived at BCD.

 

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Haven't really come across too many pics on FB either so I am a bit bummed that I didn't take my camera. My mate Kelvin took his tho and here is a bit of a write up he did if anyone is interested

http://www.tasteslikepetrol.net/2016/02/14/british-car-day-2016-pt-1/

 

 

Today I pulled an old aftermarket steering wheel out of retirement, it was originally on my old CRX so there are a few good memories attahed to it. It has seen better days but after a clean up its not so bad.

Reason for changing is pretty simple, the one that came with the car is ugly as fuck and had also started splitting on one of the spokes as you can see in the pic

 

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UGLY

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and my old faithful

 

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Looks so much better now

 

 

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/50660-666dans-1980-mk2-escort-discussion/page-2#entry1660429 Discuss

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On Thursday I headed to a Panel Beater that a mate recommended to me to get a quote, top bloke and really got enthused about my wee car. Got my quote and decided to pop down to The Surgery (where this was rebuilt) and see if the owner Mike would be interested in shedding some light on the history of my car.

 

Mike is a good man and at work we do The Surgery's exhaust work so when I said that I owned the car now he was thrilled. He talked me through a lot of what was done and I finally got the true figure of what was actually spent on this thing and I can tell you it was LOTS. We had a good chat, I told him what I paid for it and he told me I was an asshole, but went on to say he would dig out the build pics and put them on a disc for me and drop them off at work.

 

After leaving I stopped in at work to see the boys, we are currently building an exhaust system for a vintage Landcruiser The Surgery is building and the tailpipe was sitting back at The Surgery. Well I had no problem heading back to see Mike and he just so happened to be waiting at the computer to show me build pics of my car.

 

Holy shit some serious work went into this Escort body! The Engine and Gearbox were rebuilt and I should be getting all the receipts, I should also be getting the Upholstery receipts and when I asked Mike what he thinks I should do with the damage he said I should get a Crash Repair shop to pull it straight and then him and I should talk about him/The Surgery doing the repairs.

 

I am still unsure of who is more excited me or Mike. He is super stoked that it has a loving home.

 

In his words, He really likes me but hates me at the same time.

 

 

 

This brings us to today, what a fantastic afternoon for cruising with my ladies (Wife, 3 daughters and the Escort) in The Best City! 

 

We started off heading from Whitby out to Makara Beach from J'ville side. Love NZ back roads, this wee gem just eats up the corners. Got to the beach, chilled out for a while then carried on through to Karori.

 

Cruised through Wellington and parked on the waterfront next to a Ford Galaxy and an Impala both of which had broken down! The Galaxy had a fucked Fuel Pump and the Impala was having Transmission issues. 

 

We carried on around to Oriental Bay for a perv. You really can't beat Wellington on a good day! 

Cruised home via SH1. 80km round trip for a Sunday arvo was awesome!

 

Couple of pics of The Black Pearl down at Makara

 

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I love the community feel of this forum! LOWMK11/Andrew who was a complete stranger a part from talking on these pages said he had a rear bumper for my Escort and sent it down to me. He even did this with no cash exchanging hands.

Top bloke.

 

So seeing as I received the bumper I chucked it on. It is chrome rather than black like I had but I wanted to see what it looked like.

 

I love the chrome!!!

 

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  • 1 month later...

Not a huge update but an update none the less.

 

First off, yet another OS member has been generous enough to donate to this car! After seeing my pics and noticing my temporary oil cap he hooked me up with a spare one he had at the last OS meet!! Much love brother!

 

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After searching for number late lights that don't cost $60 odd dollars each from Palmside I decided to go with some LED ones from Repco. They were a good price, look modern, are hella functional and don't look like shit. To me that is a win.

 

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Next up with another functional piece of equipment. An aftermarket Tach. I have mounted it for funtion and IMO in the least horrible place I could.

 

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I also put the first sticker on her. I'm not going to plaster decals everywhere but this one seems to fit the car really well.

 

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and finally...

For my birthday my lady put my personalised plate on layby :D Looking forward to getting it on the car once it is all paid!!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The rocker cover gasket has been leaking for some time but due to the summer season, working 6 days and having car events on most Sundays it has been put on the back burner.

 

 bought my $7 gasket this week and then last night I got all motivated and decided to start pulling shit a part in order to paint the r/c while it was removed.

After a couple of hours and a cup or 2 of coffee I was happy with the prep'd surface.

 

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Got up nice and early this morning and laid down a couple of layers of silver basecoat

 

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I then layered on the anodized purple

 

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and ended up with this

 

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Chucked the gasket on and reinstalled

 

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While I was waiting on paint drying I painted the rear bumper satin black to match the front

 

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Pretty stoked with the outcome. I have intentions of relocating the battery, changing the route of the heater hose, painting or wrapping the extractors and getting some pretty HT leads but as with everything it all takes time.

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  • 1 month later...

The last month has been a good one. Relocated the battery to the boot and did a sound enhancement using a coby in place of the center muffler.

 

Potato pics incoming

 

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Coby

 

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I also found some pics online of when she was getting painted 

 

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  • 1 month later...

My plate arrived :D

 

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I also replaced rear wheel bearing today as the L/R was getting noisy as hell. It was surprisingly pain free for a Sunday morning job using the bare minimum tools which was nice. The difference it has made is fantastic!

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

Driving the wheels off the little Escort at the mo and really enjoying just cruising!

 

Been a good couple months for EVLSKE, has had its pic printed in the Petrolhead mag a couple times within 3 months :)

 

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I also lowered the front slightly via makita one coil removal and it has evened up the ride height somewhat. The exhaust scrapes going in and out my driveway now. Chucked a nice sedate stainless tip on the exhaust too

 

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Attended the Dec Petrolhead Breakfast with Mr Bwarp and Charlie earlier this month

 

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and probably the most exciting part of recent times is being given louvers for the Escort! Now both my Fords have them

 

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Looking forward to summer cruising and hitting some of the events happening around the show!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

As much as I love my wheels tyre rub is an issue since lowering. I am running 175/50's but rubbing with any weight in the boot or back seat. I took a chance last Sunday evening and pilled the kids in the back to go for a short drive, turned out it was a real short drive. Sidewall wore right through within 4km then the tyre popped.

Long story short I want to get some new wheels that suit my lifestyle better, 13x7.5 -19 offset is just to aggresive and tyre options are a bitch. I am probably going to get some new repro Hotwires in 13x7 +3 offset.

Until then I have borrowed some old  13x6Cheviot Hustlers. They have seen some life and been on many a car and stored for years so are a bit rough.

Spent a few hours today cleaning them up, pretty pleased with how they have turned out. Will put my tyres on them tomorrow, buy some new shank wheel nuts and then do some driving.

 

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