Petes Mk2 Escort 1600 Sports

[Petes mk2]

Bought this car 15 years ago after helping my son restore a 1971 Escort XL. Was being used as a farm run about. Got it home and used until Rego expired, then parked it up in shed and put rego on hold. Previous owner had replaced engine with 1600 Cortina motor which was a good runner. The old motor came with car so hope to put back in once reconditioned. Over the last 15yrs, have had numerous people call in wanting to buy after seeing parked in shed.

First job was to see if we can get motor running. Fuel tank out, drained and cleaned. Tank put back in, plugs out and spanner on pulley but couldn't turn motor over. After applying more pressure got some movement and finally turning over. Put in new battery, replaced spark plugs and hit key. Oil light went out and fuel made it to carb but no spark. Another hour and decide that we need to replace the condenser. Another try and she starts up straight away. Sounds pretty good considering she has been sitting for so long. Time to make some space in shed and start the big job of restoration back to how it was new.

[Petes mk2]

Have decided to start work on the original motor. A Friend of a friend works for a motor reconditioner and has kindly offered to help. So packed up all the bits and pieces and off to his place to access what is needed to be done. After pulling apart and cleaning we have a list of things to do and parts to buy. Block looks good but needs to be bored out, Crank just needs a polish. Had two old pistons and two new ones in it so don't know what was going on. To buy, set of pistons,rings, oil pump,water pump, clutch kit, timing chain and a few other bits and pieces. Fly wheel is going to be lightened. Cam is getting reground to a mild sport profile.

Head is in a bit of a sorry state with all exhaust valves badly burnt so four new valves and hardened seats put in. Also going to port head for some extra power.Time to start spending some money.

[Petes mk2]

Finally made some space in shed and have a work surface and cupboards for storing parts in. Car is going to be repainted so plan is to get it to rolling shell state. Time to start removing fittings and find out what is hiding underneath. Quarter bumpers off, indicator lights out, Grill removed which is in good shape just a bit faded. Headlight buckets out which brings to light the first major case of rust. Lucky it is just on the right side.

Started work on the back and removed rear bumper,  tow bar  and cleaned out boot. Spare tire well has a load of bog which once removed shows more rot. Going to need a panel beater I think. I'm sure there is more as have seen signs of other bogged areas

[Petes mk2]

Finally got round to removing all the seats, carpet, door cards, kick panels etc and are now $3.25 richer. Only found three more areas of rust that will need to be repaired. Two in the floor pan in front of back seat. Not a big area and should be easy to replace. The other area is in the side wall of the passenger foot well. This might be a bit harder to fix. Most of the floor pan is covered in sound proofing which looks to be in good order. Have cut this back around areas of rust and it looks like new underneath. Some surface rust which just needs to be treated with rust converter.

Also decided to take overriders of bumpers which proved to be harder than expected. Two screws shared off and had to be drilled out and tapped. The others took a lot of patience. Bumper are matt black and will need to be refinished. Not sure if painting or some other finish is needed.