MK4 Escort van project - Series one rollbar fitment prep 16/3
07-01-2012, 06:19 PM
#1
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
MK4 Escort van project - Series one rollbar fitment prep 16/3
Thought i should maybe start a thread here as i have a van that i am tinkering with.
I have always wanted to do a van and when the farrier who shoes my wife's horses offered me his one that had been sitting in his garage for four years with the intention of him turboing it, i couldn't pass it up.
So the deal was struck and Steve Cooper off here and the Twins kindly picked it up and trailered it to me!
It is a bare rolling shell but in surprisingly solid state.
All the arches are solid, the fuse box is mint, the battery tray has gone, passenger rear floor pan has a hole and a small hole at the front. The front panel and cross member are also scabby.
Parts i have already bought are brand new rear lights and seals battery tray, front panel, cross member, full sills ( in case i need them lol ), rear floor pans and i have lined up powder coated front and rear suspension parts and hubs off of Will ( PUSS )!
My goal on this van is for it to be mint, smooth engine bay and slam panel, Fuse box and loom hidden, battery re located, unsure on colour yet and still unsure whether a series one kit will be fitted. The engine will be a 2.0l silver top n/a, ( mainly to keep costs down as this is going to be a budget build ) but seeing how well the Twins track car goes, that'll be fine! I want to carry out all the work myself or with friends. ( except exterior paint! )
The van already had orion doors fitted with electric windows and central locking and the little sub looms which saves me searching for some!
I'm sure as i go along, i'll probably find some more bits but nothing that can't be sorted!
Here's some pics, I'll update when i can but it's going to be a slow project i think lol.
When i got it....
Then i had a phone call from the twins a couple of months back saying they'd found a mint mk4 4 door in the breakers so we set off and i bought everything from inside bar the seats ( probably will have buckets ) i got all the trims, seat runners, dash, carpet, deadeners clocks, door trims etc, all mint with all the bolts / fixings etc. I also got the headlamps, indicators and all fittings!
And a bit of a result as it was only a base car but had a high level loom with rev counter clocks and roof clock!!
Everything was bagged, boxed, labelled and put in the loft out of the way.
Then i set out to remove the front panel and cross member without damaging the wings as they are genuine. I'll leave them off untill i've welded all unused holes and stuff in the engine bay making access for me a lot easier
I cleared all the back out and found that the rear shock mounts in the arches have rotted out ( usual! ) so i had the idea of fitting car rear suspension so i can eventually run a fully adjustable link set up
As far as i know, no one has fitted the car stuff on the rear instead of the beam and leaf springs?
So today, we went back to the car and raped it... I wanted the rear box section where the wish bones mount, chassis rails maybe if it helps with mounting it all, trailing arms, wishbones, shocks and shock turrets.
Out came the generator and grinder :mass AND...
We also removed other bits that usually rot for future projects / bits needed like the rear panel, inner skins and roof lol
Poor thing, not much left of it now, was going to cut the floor out as it was mint but we were getting bored lol.
I'll update as and when i go, thanks for looking.
I have always wanted to do a van and when the farrier who shoes my wife's horses offered me his one that had been sitting in his garage for four years with the intention of him turboing it, i couldn't pass it up.
So the deal was struck and Steve Cooper off here and the Twins kindly picked it up and trailered it to me!
It is a bare rolling shell but in surprisingly solid state.
All the arches are solid, the fuse box is mint, the battery tray has gone, passenger rear floor pan has a hole and a small hole at the front. The front panel and cross member are also scabby.
Parts i have already bought are brand new rear lights and seals battery tray, front panel, cross member, full sills ( in case i need them lol ), rear floor pans and i have lined up powder coated front and rear suspension parts and hubs off of Will ( PUSS )!
My goal on this van is for it to be mint, smooth engine bay and slam panel, Fuse box and loom hidden, battery re located, unsure on colour yet and still unsure whether a series one kit will be fitted. The engine will be a 2.0l silver top n/a, ( mainly to keep costs down as this is going to be a budget build ) but seeing how well the Twins track car goes, that'll be fine! I want to carry out all the work myself or with friends. ( except exterior paint! )
The van already had orion doors fitted with electric windows and central locking and the little sub looms which saves me searching for some!
I'm sure as i go along, i'll probably find some more bits but nothing that can't be sorted!
Here's some pics, I'll update when i can but it's going to be a slow project i think lol.
When i got it....
Then i had a phone call from the twins a couple of months back saying they'd found a mint mk4 4 door in the breakers so we set off and i bought everything from inside bar the seats ( probably will have buckets ) i got all the trims, seat runners, dash, carpet, deadeners clocks, door trims etc, all mint with all the bolts / fixings etc. I also got the headlamps, indicators and all fittings!
And a bit of a result as it was only a base car but had a high level loom with rev counter clocks and roof clock!!
Everything was bagged, boxed, labelled and put in the loft out of the way.
Then i set out to remove the front panel and cross member without damaging the wings as they are genuine. I'll leave them off untill i've welded all unused holes and stuff in the engine bay making access for me a lot easier
I cleared all the back out and found that the rear shock mounts in the arches have rotted out ( usual! ) so i had the idea of fitting car rear suspension so i can eventually run a fully adjustable link set up
As far as i know, no one has fitted the car stuff on the rear instead of the beam and leaf springs?So today, we went back to the car and raped it... I wanted the rear box section where the wish bones mount, chassis rails maybe if it helps with mounting it all, trailing arms, wishbones, shocks and shock turrets.
Out came the generator and grinder :mass AND...
We also removed other bits that usually rot for future projects / bits needed like the rear panel, inner skins and roof lol
Poor thing, not much left of it now, was going to cut the floor out as it was mint but we were getting bored lol.
I'll update as and when i go, thanks for looking.
Last edited by Gadget; 16-03-2012 at 08:37 PM.
07-01-2012, 07:16 PM
#5
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i wouldnt change the rear suspension,it will be a lot of effort of nuffin.
have you ever driven a lowed van,they handle better then a car
much better turn in and no body roll and easy to lower
have you ever driven a lowed van,they handle better then a car
much better turn in and no body roll and easy to lower
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look forward to updates
08-01-2012, 07:28 AM
#11
A farrier with a turbo"d escort van!!!! Only in essex. Will be watching this as i do like a budget build and as your fiesta and s2 were nice cars with lots of neat touches i guess this is going to be a stunner. Is that a fuel tank on the roof of the van in the first pic??
08-01-2012, 07:36 AM
#12
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
A farrier with a turbo"d escort van!!!! Only in essex. Will be watching this as i do like a budget build and as your fiesta and s2 were nice cars with lots of neat touches i guess this is going to be a stunner. Is that a fuel tank on the roof of the van in the first pic??
I've wanted to do another car for years but not really had the time, Still dont really have much spare time now so it's just a case of doing a bit here and there!
The fuel tank on the van had been used as a jacking point so is about an inch thick now lol, I bought the ally fuel cell and external swirl pot from Steve Coopers Cossie'd XR2. Not sure yet whether it'll all be mounted inside or underneath, decisions decisions lol.
08-01-2012, 05:03 PM
#14
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
28-01-2012, 07:54 PM
#20
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
Dave and Stu aka the " TWINS " sourced these bonnet hinges for me a couple of weeks ago and last weekend, we spent a while messing around with them mounting them and offering up the bonnet etc.
We ended having them mounted in the correct positions but had a few " extra " holes where we did a few trials.
Today i did a few hours on it and welded up the unused holes ( just need to finish welding the gap where we've trimmed the return lip off the wing to clear where the bonnet would've touched )
One of the 3 mounts is stepped out so doesn't meet the inner wing
So a 17mm spacer was required
Quick tack onto the hinges
Now sits perfect
The hinges are only held on at the mo with self tapping bolts but once the inner wings are prepped for primer, i'll either add riv nuts, or weld nuts on the back of the inner wings.
Thats all for now folks!
We ended having them mounted in the correct positions but had a few " extra " holes where we did a few trials.
Today i did a few hours on it and welded up the unused holes ( just need to finish welding the gap where we've trimmed the return lip off the wing to clear where the bonnet would've touched )
One of the 3 mounts is stepped out so doesn't meet the inner wing
So a 17mm spacer was required
Quick tack onto the hinges
Now sits perfect
The hinges are only held on at the mo with self tapping bolts but once the inner wings are prepped for primer, i'll either add riv nuts, or weld nuts on the back of the inner wings.
Thats all for now folks!
28-01-2012, 08:02 PM
#21
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
Also, during the week i made a dolly for the front so i could remove all the front suspension, Once the front end is finished, i plan to make a spit to start on the rear end / underside.
The front brakes have not seen any action for a while
The front brakes have not seen any action for a while
29-01-2012, 05:07 AM
#25
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
Dave, May need to pay you for a trip up here at some point to help out with the rear section of the sills, I'm confident cutting out and welding, but on stuff thats in direct view, a bit more in depth, i'd rather a pro tackle it!!
Plus, I've seen Dave Platt in action with a grinder and it scares me
30-01-2012, 03:54 PM
#27
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
I just used a sheet of ally and bent it at 90 degrees in two places so it fits round the ecu, then added a small return lip at the bottoms allowing the ecu to slide in and out! Then mounted the bracket to the top of the glovebox! Simples!
Just needed to trim the rear of the glovebox out to allow the ecu in deep enough for the door to shut!
Hope that helps.
16-03-2012, 08:35 PM
#29
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
I managed to get hold of a Series One RST rollbar / tiebar assembly so i thought i may aswell add the extra mounts into the mk4 cross member to tick another job off the mahoosive list lol.
First up was to bolt the crossmember on using the Mk4 rollbar plates ( not welding the crossmember on until i have smoothed the engine bay )
Then, once it was in position, I unbolted one at a time and replaced them with the mk3 mounts with the holes that already line up. ( just need to add one on the o/s inner wing, one on the o/s of the x member and one on the n/s of the x member )
Hole drilled
And the inner wing hole
some tube so the box section doesn't crush when the bolts tightened
Welded in
And then the nut added
Sorted
Then i removed the x member and put it back in storage ( back of the van lol )
Hopefully will do a bit more after work tomorrow.
First up was to bolt the crossmember on using the Mk4 rollbar plates ( not welding the crossmember on until i have smoothed the engine bay )
Then, once it was in position, I unbolted one at a time and replaced them with the mk3 mounts with the holes that already line up. ( just need to add one on the o/s inner wing, one on the o/s of the x member and one on the n/s of the x member )
Hole drilled
And the inner wing hole
some tube so the box section doesn't crush when the bolts tightened
Welded in
And then the nut added
Sorted
Then i removed the x member and put it back in storage ( back of the van lol )
Hopefully will do a bit more after work tomorrow.
18-03-2012, 08:07 AM
#34
Spanner monkey
Thread Starter
I'm trying but bodywork really isn't my thing, and there is sooo many little bits that need doing it's dis heartening and so bloody time consuming, welding loads of small holes up, grinding them flush then on to the next ones.
Then still needs filler
Then still needs filler
