fiestaturbo.com

[jimmyesh]

Nice find with the new bottom end

Top work so far, I know how you feel about the £2.5k equipment bill - it's a nightmare when you have plans on what you want to buy for the car then something crops up and takes your cash away

[muz]

Tell me about it Jim, I wasn't expecting it untill January and I get my pay rise in October so thought I could cover it by then.

Updates. A nice empty bay ready to be worked on.







Firstly the good bits. Both inner wings MINT











Origional battery tray has a little scab in the middle underneith but seems solid







Average bits. The fuse box are needs a small patch re doing that I had to bodge weld at 10PM the Firday before FOrd Fair for the MOT







And the bad bits. Both front bumper mounts need a little work











Also plan on removing all the un needed s**t form the old wiring loom as its never going back to MFI so why bother keeping it.







Cosworth loom is in a right s**t state as well. Probably why I was having so much trouble with misfires, fuel surge etc.



The high amp wire from the ECU to the fuel pump was made up of 4 completely different grades of wire all wrapped together unsoldered and insulation taped up! One section, as shown was only 8CM LONG!















This black wire from the replay was worrying. One end was straight, one end was twirled loosley around the straight bit then MASKING TAPED together before being taped up at a later date again.







These wires weren't insulated just left like this taped into the main loom







ECU end. This wire has a small joining peice soldered on then scotched blocked back together?







Etc etc, So I'm going to completely re solder/wire it back and get some proper loom braid, then hide it all away, a-la Platt style.



The other thing I'm going to do, straight out of the Dave Platt school of modifying is smooth the engine bay. Welding up all the holes on the wings and little recesses just to tidy it up abit.

I'll update you with progress.

[muz]

are thoses shoes standard equipment when you work on the engine hahaha

Don't you wear Paul Smith shoes when working on your car?

[HCS PIMP]

hhahah na i wear either dc or kanckered old boots hahahaha do they make paul smiths in size 15

i got big feet from the wellys my mum filled with manure hahahaha

[muz]

Size 15 feet and you drive a MINI! Whats wrong with you?

[HCS PIMP]

hahahah i an animal lol

the saxo was much much worse due to the pedals being sooo close together

[muz]

Just got home from the barn sorting my loom out.

Jano told me to get a non injection loom and sell my MFI loom on. But on further inspection it had more cuts than someone at a Slipknot consert so wasn't really worth much. Thanks very much for the help with it though.

Started with this...



and now got this...



It's not going back in the origional place though. I'm going to see if I can mount it under the dash some where. SO I need to get it back in the car and see where everything needs to go before braiding it.

Next was he abismal cossie loom...

Removed everything that wasn't needed and ended up with this...




Same again really, all the wiring will be hidden, so need to get it back in the bay and mark where everything needs to go and how long it needs to be.


This is what was removed. Should make hiding the looms a little easier.

[muz]

I don't think there is such thing as a MINT battery tray. :evil:

Mine was 100% solid, I poked it through the holes, didn't go through, no loose paint apart from a tiny 5p blister in one place....




So the plan was to drill the spot welds out and keep the original bulkhead pannel...


Oh dear.

It was rusty under the spot welds and behine the bulkhead behind the dash on the inside of the car. Very odd.



I cut out slightly more than was needed just to make sure it wont come back.




Cleaned off the surface rust on the inside and galvenised it.



Made my own repair panel and tacked that on.




Welded



Ground flush



And put the first layer of fibrerfiller on top ready to start smoothing. Not bad for someone who doesn't weld and sells disigner clothes for a living





The underside of the repair panel I then seam sealed and coated with can-galv. It's never gunna rust again.


The battery tray is going here as Its spotless.



Then I started work on the inner wings.

[jonboisescort]

looking good moved my battery to the back too as my tray was also rusty not as bad as that though

[rsonblackwheels]

nice work dude

good on you for having ago yourself, repect due

the wiring looks like good fun

keep up the good work

[muz]

looking good moved my battery to the back too as my tray was also rusty not as bad as that though

I'd take a look behined the dash at the bulkhead Jon on yours. Sad to say but if theres rust on top I will bet its 10 times worse underneith. All you could see when I took the tray off, before I got the hammer and screwdriver to it, was a 5p sized blister! I should have taken a picture. There was also rust UNDER the seam sealer that was 100% hidden The reason I cut such a large area out was to make sure it wasn't hiding anywhere else.

[jonboisescort]

i know what you mean mate my tray looked fine from above but when i noticed water coming in i was like ummmmm
so looked behind the dash and saw rust along the edge

[muz]

Did some more welding on the engine bay today. Both seam welding, and smoothing. It's 90% finished. Only the two big plates, on on either side to do now. Can hopefully do those, and grind down the welds on Wednesday.



Should be as stiff as a gypsy's hankie now.















welded

[Ratspeed]

Woah, thats some work your putting in mate. Welding looks very good too

[jayrs]

coming on well mate

[Turboboy67]

You'll be able to go rallying now with all that seam welding

Good work fella, must of taken you ages doing it all though

[muz]

Took 5 Hours in total Shaun. Revmoving the old seam sealer in the panel joins so the welds were clean was the biggest headache.

[Dave G fsi]

Looking really good there mate, nice work!

[muz]

Well started the day by trying to buy a couple of old Fords. There's a chap down the road with a MK3 XR3, MK4 XR3i and a Mk2 Escort under a cover. Neither have moved for many many years so I knocked his door, after he caught me taking a picture and looked very angy and asked if he wanted to sell. But basically told me to go away.







Then, feeling abit gutted, went upto the barn to crack on.



Smoothing is getting there.



















Then the farmer came round and asked if I wanted a steel locker for free. Bargin!



So filled it up with all the expencive bits.







And tidied my work area. Also got myself an engine stand.

[jonboisescort]

lookiing very nice mate

that bay will be great when done

[muz]

I forgot how long it takes to sand filler down! I'm trying to smooth the seam wels in too so they dont look like welds, just raised areas on the seam.

[MAD_Adamski]

that guy is well moody mate i know i bloke who spoke to him before about selling them he's a prize fanny! however you do know theres a mk1 escort there dont you that he'll not sell .. what a waste

Ad

[muz]

Is it a mk1 not a mk2 under the cover!?! That's even worse

[muz]

I was on my way to a meeting for work as well so I was dressed very smart,pulled up in the Subaru, was polite to him. I said sorry to bother you, you can tell me to sod if you like, but I drive past everyday and see these cars and want a new project and I'm interested in buying a couple to restore. He said what money we talking? I said depends entirey on condition etc but I know what they are worth, you know what they are worth so I'm not trying to con you, but I'm interested in the MK3 XR3 and if thats a MK2 Escort under the cover, which I think it is, I want that as well. And without even saying about price etc he said I think you should go and we'll leave it shall we and closed the door?

[jayrs]

some people just wont let things go, i put a note through a door to a house with a E reg xr2 on the drive, boot lid on it has got more rust than the whole on my C reg xr2, yet i never got a call about it, and i did state i would buy it from them if the price was fair, so some people just hold onto things for no reason.

that said mate, i was offered a mk3 escort about a month back, bro inlaw said it was a mk3 escort xr3i, failed mot on a few bits, mine for jack if i wanted it 9not bro inlaws car though) i never got back to him as i wasnt really interested.... is this the part you tell me i should of got it
if your interested and willing to travel i can find out if its still about..? bear in mind im on the isle of wight mate

[muz]

If IT's avaiable Jay And not a total rotter I would be. I really fancy one as a run around.

[jonyb4]

this project has moved on a bit since i last had a read through, car is looking stunning mate and the whole tread is pawn

good job mr menswear salesman

[Dave G fsi]

Doing really well with that engine bay mate, will look awesome when done!

And as said, some people just hold onto things, I left my number on the windscreen of a mk1 fez down the road a few weeks back saying I was interested in buying, not heard anything since.

[muz]

this project has moved on a bit since i last had a read through, car is looking stunning mate and the whole tread is pawn

good job mr menswear salesman

Cheers mate. It's great that I've got the bug back. I'm actually enjoying working on the car again, and watching it come together, thinking "I'm really happy how thats turned out, rather than going up the barn with a list of jobs to do and rushing them to get it on the road then thinking, well it's not pretty but it will do.

Just little things really like mounting the coil where there was already a hole drilled so it wasn't where I would have wanted it etc

Doing really well with that engine bay mate, will look awesome when done!

And as said, some people just hold onto things, I left my number on the windscreen of a mk1 fez down the road a few weeks back saying I was interested in buying, not heard anything since.

I'm not overly bothered, as I know they aren't going anywhere. When this cars doen I can just save a grand and wave it in his face, he might let them go then. At least they aren't parked on grass

[jonyb4]

lol grass - water, spiders, moss - no good

[rsonblackwheels]

@ jonyb4

engine bay looks fantastic dude, going to be well worth it when its done

this has got to be fav Escort RST

keep up the good work

[jonyb4]

[Excursion]

Alright chief, what brand of filler are you using?

[muz]

I always use U-Pol products Mark, filler, high build, etch primer etc. The filler is U Pol easy sand. It's always worked for me. I even thin the filler down with thinners and it works well as a stopper.

[Excursion]

I always use U-Pol products Mark, filler, high build, etch primer etc. The filler is U Pol easy sand. It's always worked for me. I even thin the filler down with thinners and it works well as a stopper.

Thanks mate.