6 months ago I got banned from driving for 12 months, had my van for a few years now and it did me well never missed a beat. 1.8 flat diesel couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, anyways long story short, Iv been doing project escort, spending my little earning on the old girl, so anyways this is her to begin with
First I tried turboing the standard 1.8 diesel did increase the power but the standard ib5 gearbox will only do 85/90 flat out no matter what the bhp, so that was a failure, so the local scrapyard got a 1.6 16v zetec escort in 70,000 miles on the clock and well maintained, so I bought the lot stripped the van, the engine, loom inside & out the lot, and dropped in the new 1.6 so she's officially petrol powered!
Il list every thing she's had so far
1.6 zetec conversion
New wishbones both sides
New track rods Botha sides
Drop links both sides
Reconditioned steering rack
New brakes & pads
Second hand Gmax springs and shocks (not low enough lol)
New headlights
There's more but this is the majority for now
Iv found a hole on near the rear shocker needed patching up so
I bought myself a mighty mig 100 gasless special and set to work and it's done bloody well in my opinion I found plenty of surface rust on the underneath so Iv been attacking it with the flat head and the wire brush, after a good stubbing I coated everything in hammeright direct to rush black paint then over that again with underseal!
Then the rear axle was removed and saddles flipped round lowering it around 80/100 mm lol didn't want to use standard ford ones so opted for iforwilliam trailer ones heavy duty not cheap but in my opinion a safer bet, sticking with standard shocks for the moment, but if anybody knows of any upgrades I'd love to hear from you,
I don't know what tank to use as I modded the diesel tank to fit a petrol sender for the time being just to move her from here to there any one know if there's a petrol tank that will fit these my 6 escort van?
Iv got my hands on a set of weller wheels nice deep dish style but they came crome not what I'm looking for to blingy, so I'm going to spray them a different colour but still trying to figure what colour. No rush still got 6 months to wait and work. Here's a pic of how she sits after the axle flip...
I wanted to make this thread so that I'll always be able to find my portfolio if you will if I brake my phone or lose it then all my pics and info are gone this way it's on here for good. I also like to share with other ford nuts as not many of these modded anymore people but them rusty and run them till they snapp and scrap them in the next 5/10 years these will be as rear as the mk3 is now, and by then it will have a cossie in there but for now the 1.6 is ample
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of this, what colour you think I should do the wheels, I'm in two minds wether to put some arches on or clean up the ones now keep it as clean as poss, anyways il keep it updated with everything I do. Thanks for reading hope you like it so far