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Hurmeez' 1977 Mk2 Escort Estate


Hurmeez

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With the front end of the guards all set it was time to sort out the back end. The original welded A pillar mounting flange was pretty buggered so I chopped out all the rot and made a template to rebuild the flange. Then cut it out of steel and tacked it on.P_20170614_180718.thumb.jpg.4f37524941e0d940a9f6f01a796a8fc8.jpg

Looks good. So I fully welded it on. P_20170620_230049.thumb.jpg.a4b4d3d69fda36af08070c6f785d253b.jpg

Then I threw the door and bonnet back on to check the panel gapsP_20170617_111925.thumb.jpg.594a702c7467ab8432a440c8a8e25a0c.jpgP_20170620_230041.thumb.jpg.6f541d6099e9073d39bcb6bb23f5ff7a.jpg

Not too shabby. Next was to take the plunge and start putting holes in my panels. I started by drilling a 3mm hole through both top flanges while the guard was clamped in place to ensure the holes would line up perfectly. Then I pulled it all apart and drilled the outer flange out to 7mm and the inner to less than that (I can't remember what it was exactly but it fit the riv-nuts perfectly). I put the riv-nuts in place and pulled them up tight before throwing it all back together with bolts this time to check the fitment.

P_20170620_230250.thumb.jpg.adc67038118e4c41579caf451d86df02.jpgP_20170620_230238.thumb.jpg.e66df0136aae071fb88b2c5a911b6b60.jpg

Looks good to me. I learned that the final bolts I'm going to use can be and should be much shorter than the furniture screws I am using to mock everything up, but other than that everything fits up great. I didn't take any photos of making the inner and outer flanges on the top of the guard for this side, but I still have the other side to do yet and I'll be sure to document that when I do it. 

 

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Now it is a matter of working my way around each of the mounting flanges on the guard and putting holes and riv-nuts in the right spots. Before I could do that though I had to enlarge the flange on the scuttle panel that the front bottom edge of the guard would be mounting to. I used a paper template to get the shape of one edge of each part of the flange and shaped a piece of panel steel to fit closely. Then I welded it on.P_20170626_181641.thumb.jpg.e684d00ff0fb8edc2c820564b869effc.jpg

Not how I've used a hugely over sized piece for the job. This acted like a heat sink to help prevent distortion of the welded panel.P_20170626_181646.thumb.jpg.5f18ac71da8b138fe35896bfac827a4f.jpg

You can see the paper template for the very front flange folded over in this pic.

Then it was rinse and repeat. Tacked,P_20170626_193822.thumb.jpg.e5a0cb8d6581ef64e593e34407c25211.jpg

Fully welded (plus the front flange too)P_20170626_200859.thumb.jpg.0b79f0b9cfc4afd8acb4f1803db2e82a.jpg

Trimmed to shapeP_20170626_213502.thumb.jpg.8d91d1cd15a8027ab2f9252fbe0e5b3b.jpg

I then drilled 4mm holes in the desired locations for each bolt and clamped the guard into place firmly. By pushing a vivid into the hole from the back and spinning it I was able to find the location of the holes on the guard flanges. These were then drilled out and fitted with riv-nuts.P_20170626_213509.thumb.jpg.40806c00b8d309f831c7a85e2680cb88.jpg

Looking good. While this was happening I did a similar job on the A-pillar flange and got that all mounted up but neglected to take any photos. Again, I'll make sure I do when I do the driver's side guard.

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Finally got back into it tonight. Started on the driver's side guard mounts by rebuilding the rearmost part of the inner guard mounting flange. This started with the template I used for the passenger's side (I knew I saved it for a reason) and a piece of steel from the scrap bin.P_20170707_210012.thumb.jpg.508a33ef4a641cba6b6357ecb63d9f1a.jpg

Then I cut it out and made the slices necessary to form the factory pressed bracing structure.P_20170707_210017.thumb.jpg.1f90653cbc815b3efd10823065a4be9d.jpg

Started to form it upP_20170707_211723.thumb.jpg.da90b4a6b96c16489f3cc6abdf3add5c.jpg

And finished forming it up.P_20170707_233145.thumb.jpg.351a2c5eec39ac9705df6328ceb709ec.jpg

P_20170707_233149.thumb.jpg.f4333ec5874a4c3ee56dc1494aafaf53.jpgI've tacked it to the main rail part of the flange for now and that might come back to bite me when I want to fully weld the bracing triangle part up. We'll see. 
For now though that's it for tonight. Hopefully more to show tomorrow night.

 

As a bonus, here is the panel it is replacing. Hopefully you can somewhat see the resemblance.P_20170707_233210.thumb.jpg.3ca7e7126b7db47e4bf4f88f38ed64c4.jpg

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In the end I did snap the tacks and pulled off the bracing panel for welding. But after that I tacked it back on again and this was the result.P_20170710_170609.thumb.jpg.46d27d0cdf93049490ba1e7c767ee8eb.jpg

I ground it back after this photo to make it look a bit prettier but other than that this is the final panel.

Then I had to make the outer guard side of the mounting flange. This is the channel section I cut and folded at a local engineering shop (some jobs are just a little beyond dad's extensive tool collection). I marked on it where it needed to be stretched and shrunk to match the contour of the inner guard flange...P_20170710_173146.thumb.jpg.fce1576c8189399d46b5546cea434bfb.jpg... and then did exactly that.P_20170710_182909.thumb.jpg.3634b7bc5e8aa250ee11927a51a3098b.jpg

Sweet. Now to get rid of this abominationP_20170710_183059.thumb.jpg.4b09d01c513c87e4f56d61b4307fcd36.jpg

And replace it with thisP_20170711_154215.thumb.jpg.25f4d0b470fc7c7da1e88d1d8d538265.jpg

You can see the cleco pins holding the flange on for now. Eventually this will get spot welded together but for ease of fit checking I'm leaving it like this for now. I know from doing the other side that the amount of times I'm going to have to put the guard on and pull it off make this a very good idea.

 

 

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Then I had to rebuild the bottom flange too. I could have just enlarged it by welding more on the edge but when I looked at the state of them P_20170710_225925.thumb.jpg.6d24e00151a252e5da81f3b17239e947.jpg

It was better to do thisP_20170711_154157.thumb.jpg.012ce6e411d5a26e6b220812659cf89a.jpg

And then this.P_20170711_171327.thumb.jpg.e512a7ae5a76b72064488bd890880b1b.jpg

I'm leaving it just tacked for now to give it some adjustability for fiddling while I make it fit.

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If you hadn't picked it up yet I'm basically going around all the mounting flanges and making them big enough to take a riv nut and a bolt. So far that has meant chopping the original one out and replacing it with new steel or a more appropriate size. This one should be a simple weld on extra steel jobbie though.P_20170711_173641.thumb.jpg.c7561769ea5b5ce7e2b36ba87c011d7f.jpg

Well. Perhaps not. I had a closer look and there's some pretty decent hints toward rust being all up in that biz. So out came my handy dandy spot weld drill...P_20170711_174932.thumb.jpg.a713cab20eb5c81bf9f491c3fbcdd3a7.jpg

And out came the flange.P_20170711_174943.thumb.jpg.2c3042d9546f8695dfce0caa0366d3bd.jpg

Now I've done it I'm very glad I did. There's some pretty advanced rust going on back here.P_20170711_174954.thumb.jpg.7665da5efecfb4a0b82599c78d44bec9.jpg

I guess I could have just sprayed it with rust converter but I feel that would have done about as much as blowing on a forest fire.

While I was under here I noticed a sizable bulge that wasn't expressed on the outside of the guard. So of course I gave it a wallop with a mallet to make it a bit straighter. Which made this appear.P_20170711_175038.thumb.jpg.65a311e6e4d44100bd9f7d06157a18a2.jpg

But hey, on the bright sideP_20170711_175643.thumb.jpg.4f3bb7d872aeec745863e877ea0aaba3.jpg

I've got a Neapolitan car! Yum!!

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While I was under there, I smacked another lump and this fell out.P_20170711_224721.thumb.jpg.feece0a74205dadfb3a23897846104e6.jpg

You can see the rust holes that have come through and the other side is scaly and gross. So I guess it's another big ole' patch then. Before I began I taped the bog back into place to give me the shape I needed to reproduce. Sorry my phone camera is pretty crap in low light but you get the picture.P_20170711_211034.thumb.jpg.f9954c37f95ea39e71e078bec1c5689c.jpg

I started with a piece of steel measured to be well bigger than what would be necessary to give myself some wiggle room.P_20170711_211041.thumb.jpg.a734e3894d60bdd3222509846a5f20a5.jpg

Then I started to form it with a mallet and panel beater's hammers over a sand bag. I also used the shrinker along the edge to pull it around where necessary.P_20170711_215636.thumb.jpg.5edf4c960077c6d00fbc805b908cda53.jpg

Then I marked out a grid on the new steel and a corresponding one on the original guard (you can actually see this in the very first photo because I took them out of order). Then I used a shape transferring tool to make each line on the grids match as near as dammit. P_20170711_224350.thumb.jpg.432ff02be9f39bb2dd05f829833795b3.jpgNote that the tig weld spots aren't tacking it in place. I used the tig to shrink the compound curve on this corner to pull it down closer to the right shape. It's like using an oxy-acetylene torch but you don't have to worry about a huge flame going every which way. We also don't have an oxy-acetylene torch so needs must.P_20170711_224354.thumb.jpg.c8345962d7f0e28c5b173a1581adc8df.jpg

Once I was happy with the shape, it was time to cut away the old shitty "steel"...

 

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P_20170711_225515.thumb.jpg.81ae6f869d3cff83be17481fc7857046.jpgWell shit. No going back now.

With that cut out I trimmed the new section to fit the hole nicely and tacked it in.P_20170711_231908.thumb.jpg.0b5ef742fc7d7305b4686ca4cf36bd54.jpgP_20170711_231913.thumb.jpg.53811596e9825510746605961ef50f33.jpgIn hindsight I probably should have left a bigger root gap between the two panels to help with penetration and reduce warpage but I'm not too worried because worst case I can get a dolly behind all the points to be welded so I can bash it all back to straight if I need to.

This is me showing off how not quite bang on the two profiles areP_20170711_231938.thumb.jpg.b502253113824161e6c5f1bebeb3b18b.jpgAgain, nothing a hammer and dolly wont fix.

And the final tacked and ground panel before knocking off for the night.P_20170711_233000.thumb.jpg.fda609d0a4a9a2d906a30eca23100e3e.jpg

I'll finish this up tomorrow and move on to rebuilding the mounting flange panel that sits in behind it that I pulled out two posts ago.

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I figured I'd start the day by putting the tacked guard back on the car to check how it was fitting.P_20170712_124231.thumb.jpg.8271769e0f4383fd2fa0a69f14861603.jpgPretty good...P_20170712_124237.thumb.jpg.2795f64a926de91df97dc93e050c71fe.jpgNot bad

P_20170712_130242.thumb.jpg.4d7500ef7dc156149477459e7d763e73.jpgCould be much worse.

So I threw the grill on to check how it was fitting.P_20170712_131255.thumb.jpg.df5d3b7da775d49d37113b76e110362e.jpgIt's looking pretty good actually.

So good I couldn't help taking some "motivational" shots of itP_20170712_131237.thumb.jpg.7c00b4d80ece7915698daefe078f1fd8.jpgP_20170712_131217_HDR.thumb.jpg.56d867e098ccedca3c9d08d75fc95bd1.jpgIt's really starting to look like a car again.

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Back to business. This is the section I cut out. You can see the flanges on the front and right hand side that I need to rebuild.P_20170712_132007.thumb.jpg.19581961480748051704f51e51aeda06.jpg

I bent up the profile and drew the shape I wanted on a small section of sheet steel.P_20170712_132615.thumb.jpg.cdcab4214ecbc3c7127f1ed1d472a495.jpg

Then cut it out and tacked it on.P_20170712_134211.thumb.jpg.a0d4b2936f1ddf34581730ab1d98f2cd.jpg

Now the side.P_20170712_134654.thumb.jpg.a70bbc60487fd9b21e0c6cb89b69b8a0.jpg

Paper.P_20170712_134649.thumb.jpg.3170f7bd0e9b1561d3da19d39ce1135f.jpg

Steel.P_20170712_135701.thumb.jpg.6daeeeb952b2932c99086d3ea834cb2a.jpg

Now for welding it all up.

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Ok so firstly the photos of the inner front brace panel as promised.P_20170713_121139.thumb.jpg.61334fccb0cf133c697b3d15cf4bb849.jpgP_20170713_121400.thumb.jpg.08f44053e3989453eacc252ce8ab38c4.jpgThis was made particularly easy from saving the template I made to form the passenger side one. It'll be finalised and welded in later on but for now it fills the hole nicely.

Then I moved on with attacking the lower rear corner of the guard. This is was it looks like before I started working on itP_20170713_161129.thumb.jpg.5f713238f7c5c3687b0448afb4224361.jpgQuite the mess. 

The inner brace and mounting flange is held in by rolling the guard skin over the edge and crimping it up, much like a door skin. Originally I was going to split the skin the same way you would a door skin to pull out the mounting flange to fix up the rust. Then I would weld a flange back onto the skin and roll it back over and crimp it in. Then I realised that would be near impossible to get away with without some serious warping. Also apart from this lower corner the rest of the rolled edge is fine so what's the point in making extra work. I still needed to find a way to lift the rolled edge up a certain amount to pull out the rusted parts though. My solution? Chop the whole bloody lot out of course.P_20170713_162100.thumb.jpg.adc07a8485b8c2d708412ca01fdc25d8.jpgWell not all of it. Unfortunately this is a crap photo but I left the edge of the mounting flange tucked under for most of the guard. This gave me the angle to open up the crimped edge though and solved that problem. I also needed to modify this flange to be slightly closer in to the guard skin because currently it was holding the guard out from the A pillar so it needed to be chopped out anyway. 

Now to fill that gaping hole then. This calls for a template. P_20170713_173533.thumb.jpg.eff58d6353574ec79e8073538be757c2.jpgP_20170713_173551.thumb.jpg.046769c2b72341914036ff010dfb817d.jpgNow I can trace the edge you can see in the shadow and boom, I've got the shape I need.

Just need a steel version now...

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First,P_20170713_180253.thumb.jpg.52bf3ad0dbdf7c90422cdd79d22883b9.jpg

ThenP_20170713_183523.thumb.jpg.e691d7dd8ea96ce4fee3f4127cff3ec9.jpgI tweaked the bend around in about 3 stages on the sheet metal brake and finished it with a hammer over a piece of steel tubing that was near the right diameter.

ThenP_20170713_213843.thumb.jpg.6e6df9dd20114464c6971e080ec980d7.jpgReady to be tacked

And finally offered up.P_20170713_222211.thumb.jpg.40a9407e89e13b43a555fc9361d9106f.jpgP_20170713_222218.thumb.jpg.e7f7b290346b46b1d30d268c20b0d6c5.jpgP_20170713_225111.thumb.jpg.f610281ce99c810d7e98e618541e0a4d.jpgIt's sitting out a bit here but when it's pushed in it fits pretty good.

Sweet. Now to go and fix the whole reason I chopped it out in the first place...

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So to refresh the memory, this is how it looks to begin with.P_20170714_110817.thumb.jpg.d0b4c08cee5af833e368c02d2cae0ae2.jpg

At this point I realised that it would be much easier to do had I not tacked the mounting flange in. So I figured, that's why it's only tacked and split the tacks and pulled it off again.

Then I chopped out the affected area.P_20170714_123341.thumb.jpg.c1cc00e851b89aa4ca37431db5bb5fb4.jpgYou can see the pitting and rust on the support flange. My plan at this point was to replace everything hanging out. Then I stood back and had a head scratch before blundering on. I realised the only parts that really need replacing are the vertical (from this perspective) parts of the flange. If I can retain the original top piece I can keep the shape of the back edge right without fiddling about for ages. So that's what I did.

Paper templateP_20170714_124453.thumb.jpg.f663c0df71f7a4d92c206c6b0c2b0a4a.jpg

SteelP_20170714_130248.thumb.jpg.d54c301fec5e7d598d8e48054e2ea5e3.jpg

Tacked in placeP_20170714_132255.thumb.jpg.ea353b297ff1a2e0faf82d559b710f97.jpg

Fully welded and hit with rust kill. This way I can paint all the parts that will be inaccessible when the skin is on.P_20170714_134530.thumb.jpg.ab523c8d8d1400e906b9cb5bab333a80.jpg

Unfortunately now I have to wait a couple of hours for it to go off properly so it's time for lunch I feel.

 

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I went to the paint shop while I waited for the rust kill to dry because we're running low on primer. It's funny how there are the signs saying they're banned from selling spray paint to anyone under 18 and yet when I ask for a can of primer they happily hand it over to a minor without batting an eye. I suppose no young ruffian is going to ask for expensive primer to go tagging...

Anyway, I came home and slapped some paint over the now dry rust kill. I painted the top part where welding from the skin may come through with weld through primer to keep the weld good quality. Well in theory anyway.P_20170714_173749.thumb.jpg.c2644f8dc7b6d3145ecb1e87ad2349a9.jpgIt'll probably all melt off but it should certainly prevent some rusting in the future. Looks nice at the very least.

Then it was on to trimming up the skin patch. First I clamped it in and marked it up.P_20170714_175157.thumb.jpg.a0f537877b45ee8de2e05b481d46cdc5.jpg

Then clamped again and tacked.P_20170714_180424.thumb.jpg.a7ae8549e2defcea2c613a4586af2790.jpg

Fully welded and tickled the admittedly very minor warps back to straightP_20170714_190910.thumb.jpg.a95f56c28359d9afae7623c10803c9e2.jpgP_20170714_190936.thumb.jpg.78fd4bc5ffeeb186521b19ed30028513.jpg

 

Finally I started to fold the edge over part way before spraying this side down with rust kill. So it's another two hour wait before I go back out to put a top coat on and finish folding the lip over. P_20170714_191645.thumb.jpg.acef41e387bc78ef2ad7270624456090.jpg

I'm happy. Good progress being made.

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With the rust kill dry I sprayed a quick top coat on to seal it all up before I finished rolling the edge over.P_20170714_215129.thumb.jpg.65fa1813c720af69faa6f05c65d0e532.jpgThe profile from the other side turned out really well too.P_20170714_215150.thumb.jpg.b55b4f5fe46c5f32612d2541682399a5.jpg

Then I clamped it on the car as best I could to see how the gap looked. It's really not stellar and I'm going to keep working on it but it's looking like it's going to be a real mission. P_20170714_223712.thumb.jpg.4b76a6b9c93a78ff811a6187ad331f64.jpgP_20170714_231147.thumb.jpg.8f48103584b8cffe787795c3b3661df8.jpg

The gap at the top is pretty good but it widens out at the bottom. That said, the bonnet shut line and front panel are all damn near perfect, along with all the other gaps around the door, so I'm at a loss. I think the main issue it that the repro sill and A pillar aren't in exactly the right place but it would be such a major mission to sort that there's no way in hell I'm pulling them off again. Any suggestions would be very welcome. 

Tomorrow's job is to fully weld the rear mounting flange up after I tacked it on again today. Then possibly start working on putting some rivnuts where they need to be and bolting it all up, but that might be a push. 

Onward and upward.

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Not much of an update but I got some stuff done yesterday. I managed to wrestle the guard into a much more acceptable gap by brute strength and big old vice grips so I drilled some holes and stuck some clecos in there to hold it. You can see the improvement.P_20170715_105249.thumb.jpg.036a172921e52681aa67b324782970c4.jpgIt's still not perfect but a small line of bog down each edge should close it up nicely. 

I also fully welded the mounting flange up and ground it back to look somewhat presentable.P_20170715_122835.thumb.jpg.43f59065686f6b9be714b5808765a239.jpg

Next job is to work on fully welding the front flanges up before I can get onto riv-nutting.

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I didn't take many photos today because it takes way longer and I wanted to forge ahead and get this guard knocked over. That said I did get a few. 

I started by getting the rear flange all done and bolted up.P_20170717_223340.thumb.jpg.6c4f09502b467ae7da17863265195ce2.jpgThe very bottom bolt is different because the others were too long to fit.

Then I shifted to the top flange.P_20170717_223815.thumb.jpg.f6ee1b526a29897b3d95985e3cc2f0ab.jpgMy camera try is awful in the low light but you get the picture.

I wanted to put a bit more detail into the front mount though. So, here it is before I started:P_20170717_183130.thumb.jpg.d829af8ae9b13d139b453ae5107bdd45.jpg

Then I measured and marked the hole positions on the guard side flange and drilled them at 3mm. I then clamped it up and transferred the positions with a scribe. Then I thought why bother and just drilled through both panels with a 7mm drill which is the right size for the guard side of the flange but still too small for the black panel side. P_20170717_185905.thumb.jpg.cf52d8172ce1ae33df52c5b5828125f6.jpg

So I pulled the guard off and opened the holes in the front panel out to the riv-nut size and put some in.P_20170717_222243.thumb.jpg.2d1deab688c2bdf4bf8249cfc1149083.jpg

Then the guard goes back on again and bolts up to double check everything.P_20170717_223244.thumb.jpg.5083f31597a9b5a58027b97b76e51e10.jpg

Perfect. That's all for today. Tomorrow I'll finish the bottom flange on the front but it'll be a busy day. I realised I'm going to be one short on the riv-nuts so I'll have to go and grab some more tomorrow.

I also changed my mind about the top mounting flange. As they sit right now they are completely flat and when it rains the water is going to run down the gap and straight into the engine bay. Obviously that's not the end of the world but OEM it would have had a rain channel to stop this and it's really not difficult to add in. I could tweak up the edge of the flange with a small tool and work my way along slowly adding more and more angle but I won't for two reasons. 1 its pain in the ass and takes forever and 2 it will make my nice bolts look off center on the flange. This is obviously completely unacceptable (sarcasm) so I'm going to fold up two new flange sections with the channel as part of them. Also I need to go and fold up some new sections at the engineering shop anyway for another part of the front panel mounting panel process so I might as well. 

So that's tomorrows plan then. Can't wait.

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Off topic post and very wordy to prepare yourselves, but I've been thinking about my suspension. Here is the current set up that I've got for it.P_20170717_223952.thumb.jpg.b8d8662fc3175fcd0c7c12501b6e0058.jpgThey're stock Mk 2 Escort struts with new Munroe (I think) inserts and new bearings.

 I've known for a while that I'm going to need to buy new springs for them because the current ones have been cut down hard and rattle around in the strut when they're under no load which I know won't pass a cert. However, new springs are just over $300. And I know I eventually want to go to coilover fronts which will need their own cert. So I can either get new lower springs and cert them, then buy coilovers and get a cert again for them, or I could skip a whole step and go straight to the coilovers. That's what I've decided to do at this point.

It could be near a grand for the ones I'm looking at so far but before I pull the trigger I wanted to ask you guys if you have any experience with doing a coilover conversion on a Mk 2 escort. Is it worth trying to find some bilstein struts and doing the conversion with the threaded tubes or buying a fully done unit. From what I can see it looks no cheaper to do the fab work myself and it would save a hell of a lot of work to buy them premade. But like I said, what do you guys reckon? Any advice would be awesome.

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