Time has come to decide, and i have decided to re-shell the car with a 1.1 Bonus. The XR3i, although it looks clean, is pretty rotten underneath. Before it was stripped:



And after:



And this is my new shell, a 1.1 Bonus, the most basic of all! Was perfect or what I was after, unusual colour, no sunroof and a good solid base for the project:











And now the lovely interior - if you look closely you can see the big puddle of water underneath the passenger seat!!



Gonna replace doors, tailgate and bonnet with the ones from my XR, and put two wings and front panel on it. The main parts are all in good nick and the car has the best battery tray I have ever seen!!

Cheers for lookin and any tips or comments very welcome!

Rosco

 

its a shame about the xr mate as it looked really nice,
do you plan on keeping the colour or repainting it?
its hard work but definatley worth it all in the end
good luck mate

 

best of luck mate .hope it all goes well

 

Cheers guys - to me the paintwork is the most daunting aspect, rest is reasonably straightforward I reckon.

Bassy mate - its a shame about the XR, it was a great car but the spirit shall be in the new shell haha!! Gonna keep it in Mattisse Blue and go for a bare shell respray, with the kit, bumpers etc on it. Want it to look like a Turbo in a non original colour if you know what I mean. Howz yours gettin on?

 

similar to what im doing with my project, using the shell from a 1.3

i got a quote for Ł1700 using 1.3 and adding zetec
quote for Ł3500 for using an xr3i shell!!!

madness and there really cant be much difference shell wise!

ive gota replace same panels as you too! would be interested in any pictures you can post fella! and good luck!

PAUL

 

why not jus turbo it an sell the XR lump, u know u wanna

 

Original - my plan looks pretty similar to yours! I believe all shells from 1.1 to the RST shell are pretty much the same so in theory should be straightforward. The panel work is quite a scary prospect but I will post loads of pics of the restoration. Good luck to yoursel as well and if you need any help, give us a shout, I might be able to help!!!

I'd be lucky to sell the Xr lump now, pretty fecked! Gonna just put an XR2 engine in the now cos have one more year at uni and pretty skint but once i'm finished the car will be turbo'd!!!!

Rosco

 

WAAAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOO!!!!
another student !!! lol! why we atempt such projects when we a re skint in the first place i shall not understand!


PAUL

 

Good luck with it all mate!

 

You said it Original!

 

Glad to hear it

 

Hows it going Ross, that reshell looks very clean and will be cheeky as in Matisse. Check out my Orion in the gallery if you like, i think youll like. keep up FoMoCo. CheeRS, Hairdo.

 

Bit of an update - car is now nearly totally stripped, engine is out etc. No nasty surprises yet, car has never been welded!





Back up on Sunday to finish off.

Rosco

 

More photos up soon - been busy with exams and shit. Starting to work on the underside now. Decided to put an EFI set up in it so taking out old tank and fuel lines etc next and then working on floor.

 

Keep up the good work mate. Get the pics up

 

if ur doin efi u got turbo it as well

be rude not to

 

updates??

 

Latest pics up soon. Just bought the scabbiest EFi XR3i possible for the loom, injection system etc.

 

Yeah keep the pics coming mate.

Was just reading back through and to confirm all body shells were the same.
Ford don't list seperate shells for different models (except 3 door, 5 door, estate etc)

So the 1.1 shell will be just as strong and with all the correct bits