Hi guys,
I'm in the process of planning a 4x4 conversion for my MK1 Escort so thought I'd start a build thread despite work not progressing too fast on it at the moment. Although I have the MK1 Escort I don't have a donor car for the chassis, I have started a thread on the Technical help Q & A board (that way anyone else planning on or in the process of a similar build can easily find the info they may need) that asks a few questions regarding what to look for in a donor car that I hope gets a few responses. I'd appreciate it if anyone in the know could have a look at that thread and reply with advice that may help me or other builders, link below.
https://passionford.com/forum/techni...onversion.html
As for my MK1 Escort, it's a 1973, Australian spec 1300XL that I've had since 2000 when I bought it from it's elderly original owner. It was mechanically and structurally perfect and very well cared for but the paint had faded and the interior had seen better days.
After a small accident in heavy fog it was taken off the road for a few months and had new wings & round headlights fitted, the chrome work redone and a respray in it's original red pepper colour scheme. The brown interior was swapped out for black soon after and a set of MK1 RS2000 4 spokes were added and it served as a daily driver in that trim for a few years.
I then bought a mid 90's Corolla for daily duties and started building it up to Group 4 spec with the front suspension and steering supplied by Gartrac and the RS2000 4 spokes swapped out for a set of Minilites to fit the Group 4 hubs. Soon after another small accident damaged the right front wing and it was again taken off the road with the intention being to finish building the car up to Group 4 spec but that never happened, I bought a Ducati and spent the next few years throwing every spare cent I had at it until I ran out of parts to upgrade before doing the same with a house.
The Group 4 parts have since been stripped from it and sold to a friend with another red pepper MK1 sporting round headlights, only his has a 300kW Nissan SR20DET under the bonnet and is making much better use of the parts than I ever did. The interior is gone, some sold and some stored away, all exterior trim and hanging panels are off and packaged up with just the engine and driveline waiting to be removed when I get a chance. Once that's out I'll get to work on bracing up the shell and removing the floor ready for a donor chassis.
In the meantime, here's some pictures of it when it served as my daily driver, I'll up date this thread as I go but don't expect too much just now.
