Hi peeps this is my mk5 escort xr3i that i bought a couple of months ago for a tidy sum of £145, It was in ok condition needing some bits and bobs and some welding,

Anyway i decided to start stripping it down and find out exactly how much work was needed and what a shock i got,

As it stands both rear floor pans need some welding although i've done one side already and the battery tray is f@@ked to such an extent its the worst i've ever seen,

Pics to follow, I should have the dash out by the weekend so i'll add some more pics then, I've taken the carpet out and also the front seats but no pics till the weekend,

The front floor pans both sides need some welding and sill to fllor on both sides too,

Now this will be interesting as the first time i ever used a welder was when i did the driver's side rear floor so im no welding specialist but i figured you only learn one way so im going to do it all myself that way i can learn how to do it and on my own car too,

All comments and advice are welcomed and i hope you all enjoy the reading and updates as much as i enjoy taking on and doing the work by myself, NOW THEN PICS SO FAR, hope you all like cheers, Grant.











NOW FOR THE BATTERY TRAY WHAT'S LEFT OF IT GET READY











More updates over the weekend weather permitting cheers, Grant

 

nice one mate


jesus christ @ the battrey tray i thought mine was bad

 

Tell me about it gaz it looked ok when i bought it aswell but when i took my battery off to do a bit of welding i saw it was all filler that had been painted over,

The filler was about 20mm thick!!! anyway i'll sort it we cant let these things get in our way can we lol i'll get pics of the front floor pans up at weekend and the bit i've done and need to do on the back floor too,

Looks like the outer sills may need attention too but im not a believer in repairing sills i prefer to just cut them off and replace them but we shall see, cheers, Grant

 

Pics of the drivers side rear floor pan before and after, I still need to do this on the passenger side









Please bare in mind this was the first time i'd ever used a welder so the quality isn't as good as some peoples on here but i'll get there with some more practise hopefully







As said more updates at the weekend weather permitting as these are the only pics i have till i do some more work/ stripping down, cheers, Grant

 

 

looking good fella
looks like your wire is feeding to fast in the welder set it sound its sounds like bacon frying if its spiting its to much or not anuf

 

Cheers mate will bare that in mind

 

looking good m8,if u need a hand with anything on it,ill be more than happy to pop over and lend a hand as im only in notts m8

 

Nice one mate i'll bare that in mind if i get stuck or anything nice of ya to offer cheers, Grant.

 

no probs m8

 

Ok slight update no pics as yet plan is dash out tomorrow and attack the battery tray on sunday 4/6/06 then it's on with repairing the front floor pans after the battery tray is done,

Obviously i wanted to do the battery tray before repairing the floor pans so i dont get water pissing in allover the nicely welded floor lol,

Oh nearly forgot i've chissled (sp) all those shitty squares of tar / underseal stuff up that ford put there specifically to hold water and rot away our cars so none of that in my way on any of the floors now

I think im going to remove all of it completely now i've seen how much water it does actually hold i don't want it in my car WHAT WAS FORD THINKING

More Updates and pics to follow tomorrow or sunday, cheers, Grant.

 

if only this was a cople of months back i had a mint shell apart from pass wing and door but droped the engine and box and scraped the rest with FSH every mot ect R.I.P'S any ways mate good luck wit the project good cars mine was off the clock on the regs

 

Bugger thats a shame, not to worry the show must go on eh? i'll get it sorted over time im not in a rush although i want to do enough to keep people interested and looking at my thread lol, Oh and on the regs? cheers, Grant.

 

Now then a little update as promised although some are missing as the camera seems to have had a barney,

Underneath of battery tray with dash out,

The ally plate you can see with filler on is what i have had to wedge there to stop the battery coming in and landing on the front passenger floor,












A little hole behind the front passenger seat,





Also a few of the front passenger floor pan,






Still more to come tomorrow when i re take the ones the camera buggered up, cheers, Grant

 

Good job there mate,

Keep up the good work

 

 

Good project there ,best way to learn ,get stuck in

 

nice one grant

 

Thanks for the replies peeps, things are starting to come together now,
As soon as i've done the battery tray it's full steam ahead wooo hooo,

Forgot to add theres no sound deadening at all behind the dash now so if i get any leaks in future i'll know where to look rather than not being able to see with past the deadening,

Dash won't be going back in untill all the interior welding ie battery tray and floor are done as im going to seal it all up and then paint it before it gets fitted back up,

I had no idea taking a dashboard out could be so difficult either although i'd never done it before so that wouldn't have helped, Gladly though i know what all the wires are for and where they go and the car still runs which gave me a good confidence boost,

More updates soon thanks for looking and keep the replies coming, cheers, Grant

 

More new pics to replace the ones the camera lost and to show exactly how much i've taken on for my 1st project lol,

Where the dashboard used to be lol,



A little hole next to the chassis number,



The back seats covered in dash parts and my side skirts that i took off,



As she sits now on the outside all unpretty,





Here's me posing as usual lol



Thats all for now folks, The battery tray SHOULD be done this weekend weather permitting so more updates when i have done some work lol, cheers, Grant.

 

 

Looking promising mate, I had a full resto done on mine and I know how long it can take but don't give up!

Will be worth it in the end

 

looks a good project, looking good so far

 

Your making good progress n all. But damn thats the sort of rust id expect to find on a series 1 not a J plate escort

 

Yeah i see your point but as ive mentioned it was stood on grass for 2 years before i got it,

Also you've seen the hole in the battery tray yeah???? Well 2 years of rain water and living in grass caused soaking carpets which caused the rot you mentioned

cheers for all the replies folks, Grant

 

my 1982 fiesta didnt have that much rust

 

 

No and neither did mine mate

 

HERE GOES New updates, I finally got off my arse today and started on the battery tray and after a few hours sweating and getting sun burnt its done

So piccies here although only a few as it was so hot and i was sore from the sun i just wanted to get it done so i waited till after i'd finished before i took any pics plus you've seen what it looked like before,











Hope you enjoy, cheers, Grant

 

good resto!!

 

Nice one mate

could you pm me exactly how you did ur battreytray please

and what sort of stuff you used

 

Thanks a lot for the comments peeps should be able to get on with some serious work now the battery tray is done so next job will hopefully be to get all my floor pans inside to bare metal, cut away the shit metal and weld plates in,

All in good time though as i only work on it one day a week hence why the updates are few and far between but i want to get as much done as i can when i work on it to try and get some more interest in it lol and of course i want to get down the to do list as soon as i can without rushing and f@@king up,

Oh did i mention i'm off to northampton on tuesday to pick up a new s/h rear bumper complete with drop skirt as i couldn't get anyone to split one from there bumper for me Tis a bargain though at just £15 so worth the trip really even though it is in red

Still you can't win them all and the car will be painted anyway (WHEN) I get a lot further down my to do list which will be a fair old while yet,

Gaz i'll talk to ya on msn when i've chilled out a bit mate as to be fair i'm f@@ked so time for some john smiths extra smooth me thinks lol cheers, Grant

 

Looking very good mate, top work

 

looking good

 

Here's my new back bumper i travelled all the way to northampton for today lol, I'll be priming it up soon and leaving it in primer as chances are it will want priming again before the work is all done,

PICS,





More updates coming soon cheers, Grant

 

Nice one mate

 

Quality resto pal keep up the good work

 

Right a little update,

I've had about 4 hours on it today to start cutting bad metal out and i will do all the problem areas the same so i can just go and weld up one weekend all in one go,

Pics - this is now whats left of the front passenger floor pan after i cut the rust out,

Had to do most of it with a gringing disc and a hammer and chissel as i ran out of slitting discs

From this,





To this















That'll do for today i think at least now i feel like i'm getting somewhere,
Thanks for looking cheers, Grant

 

Looking good m8, It all starts with a little hole then you grind it a bit and before you know it its a monster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!