Another old escort made it’s way in for a Watt’s linkeage, some seat mounts and a few other bits and pieces. The watts linkeage is designed to control lateral loads on the axle and stop it moving about when cornering. We just had to weld the mounts in to the body and axle ensuring everyting was lined up correctly. The car already had 4 link boxes and slipper springs fitted so it won’t be long until this one’s back on the road.
Progress has been slow on our residential MK1 as we’ve been very busy of late. the snow in January stopped a few customers reaching us we had the time to get some done on it. We left it last time with very little floor and as welded began so more rust became apparent and more floor needed replacing. The metal that wasn’t rusty was like tissue paper so welding in structural modifications such as 4 link boxes or a roll cage without extra strength being added wouldn’t have been wise. After much welding, grinding, swearing and welding again the car finally has a large proportion of it’s major components and a floor pan strong enough to build in to. There’s a few finishing touches underneath then on to the roll cage.
Another Mk1 Escort joined us recently and this one had already had all the welding done on it. The shell certainly seemed solid and it was built to a simple, honest, budget DOES matter standard and I loved it. It’s so nice to see one that hasn’t just had thousands heaped on it and is too valuable to use. This car will see some road rallies and maybe some stage rallies in it’s future. The owner wasn’t happy with the seating position or the seats so we made some subframes to fit some mazda mx5 seats. It also needed an alternator to solve a charging problem and some brackets making up. Nice easy jobs and a great car.
Our old friend the solid Mk 1 escort came back for more work. The list was endless although jobs were small. We had to remake the exhaust, make some brackets for the navigators trip computer, adjust the door hinges, fit a lower temperature thermostat, make pipes and t pieces for a capillary oil guage and lots more litle jobs on top. Most of these I think the owner could have sorted himself but it’s far too cold for working on cars at the moment and we love working on these cars no matter what size the job. The car went away a little closer to reaching the rally stages.
In early 2009 a MK1 escort shell was pushed in for a little TLC. The owner wanted to carry out as much as possible himself but when it came to taking an angle grinder to his precious shell he was happy to pass that responsibilty on. It was fitted with 4 link boxes and a panhard rod to locate the axle and a pair of rear turrets for some coil over dampers. He then took it away to carry on the long process of rebuilding the car.
Work started in full on another MK1 escort shell we’ve had for a little while now. This is a proper type 49 RS Shell whcih isn’t in bad condition either. The owner plans to fit a YB Cosorth engine himself and use it for a weekend and track toy. It’s a well trodden path to easy power and he’s dow plenty of research on his final spec beforew’ve started cutting his shell up. We debated over slipper springs and 4 links or 5 link and turrets or my favourite keep it simple approach of axle location and leaf spring. Theres pros and cons for all but with it being a decent type 49 shell I felt bad for cutting it up! The floor is mostly cut out now for bulkhead mods, diff tunel, transmission tunnel, 4 link boxes and a few general repairs. Turrets and a custom cage will follow.
