I bought this car off the old boy that works in the local petrol station for £100 with six months tax & mot on it just over a year ago i didnt really have any plans for it i just bought it because i hadnt seen another estate any where round the area this is how it looked when i got it


I then spotted some one breaking a zetec powered xr3i on ebay so i sent him an email to see how much he would want for the complete conversion. A couple more emails later we agreed a price and i was on my way up to telford to have a look and make sure everything was as he said which it was so i gave him a deposit and arranged to collect the next weekend after he had taken the lump out.


As part of the deal i got the engine complete with inlet and exhaust manifolds,modified engine mount,fuel tank with the right pump in and as much of the loom as i wanted so i took it all so i can install electric windows and mirrors at a later date if i see fit. the only part i didnt get was the modified down pipe as he said he had already sold it to one of his mates the week before.

Now i thought i best get the rest of the car upto scratch so i could drop the engine in i deceided at this point i'd prefer it to be abit of a sleeper so after much searching i found myself some 15 inch steel wheels off a fiesta fusion and bought myself a set of g-max shocks and springs off an rs turbo to lower the car 35mm so it didnt give the game away to the untrained eye and heres the result



So now it went round corners alright but it was gutless as f**k lol
I bought myself some new calipers for it ready for when i took it off the road (cheers B19 CVH) and had them machined so they'd bolt up alright


They came with the hoses so i dont have to get any made up i just need to drill out and tap the hub to take the bigger diameter bolts.
This takes me up to the end of january which was when the tax ran out on the car so i took it up the unit and started taking afew bits off then the seats came out then the carpet and its not too bad under there i was expecting it to be alot worse
theres abit on the inner sill and seat mount


Theres abit of surface rust on the passenger side but the seat mount where they always go looks perfect


Then i found these bits which by the looks of have been welded before but they didnt even make any attempt to cut the rotten stuff out theyve just welded a plate over the outside so its just carried on rusting from the inside out



Theyve done the same with the battery tray aswell so its gone from being not too bad to this in the space of a couple of months


so i took the dash out to investigate


then the loom wasnt too far behind it as ive got an other one to go back in


Then the heavens opened and it started snowing again so i thought id leave it for abit and see if it slowed down after 10 minutes it looked like this


i decided to go home at this point as my units in the middle of no where and i didnt want to get stranded lol so the plan for the next couple of days if it doesnt snow too much is to finish taking the sound deadaning off the bulk head to asses the damage to the battery tray and take the gutless 1.3 out and dump it in the skip.
Cheers for looking and hopefully ill have an update soon depending on the weather
mark

Almost forgot i knew there was a reason i bought an estate

 

nice

 

realy nice that mate love the colour

 

cool project mate, should be good!

 

hey can you pm me regarding the 1.3l engine..im looking for one! would come in wayy more use for me than a skip.cheeers

tej

 

Cool! Welcome to the very small club of Zetec'd Mk4 Escort Estates!

 

Brian

 

Cheers for the comments peeps ive not been up and done anything else to the car yet because of the snow but im hopeing to have the engine out my the end of the weekend so i can start cleaning it up and fitting the new steering rack and servo.
Ade
Im not planning to go the throttle bodies route but your looks mad and i bet it goes like stink lol i might be picking your brains abit further down the line if i get stuck.
mark

 

good project...

wot happened to the white one then..???

 

Still got it mate its tucked up in the garage for winter ive done my running in miles now though so when the weather gets abit better change the oil and give it death lol
this ones being done so ive got something that goes alright but is still reliable that why im keeping the lump standard bar a k&n as it came with it its the 130 brake engine so it should be good fun aswell for the local saxo boys lol

 

Good little project there

 

i love these been lookin for one for ages great bargin

 

I wasnt looking for myself when i got it my mates rs turbo needed some welding doing for its mot so i had a word with the bloke who was selling it as i thought it would do him to run round in till he got the rs back but he said "why the hell would i want to drive that piece of shit" so i said fuck ya then and bought it myself to pootle around in.
Not really an update but ive got it in the unit now so the fun can begin



mark

 

Great project

 

i'd be cutting off the back of the roof and goin pick-up stylee....

 

looks sweet fella, you will have to take me for a spin in it

 

Ill bring it over to the meet once ive finished it tev hopefully it wont take too long famous last words lol
I was tempted to turn it into a pick up mixja but i decided it'd be too much work at the minute but i dont intend to sell it any time soon so it could be on the cards at a later date

 

just take the angle grinder to it then think of how much work it will b after.

although ut does look A good example may b worth saving

 

Ive been up today stripping abit more out i started with what was left of the interior


and i was right about them just welding a plate over the top of the rot





i also had a poke around the drivers side footwell and thats gone worse that the passenger side aftter poking round with a screwdriver it turned into a hole



so thats getting chopped out once the engines out i moved on to the coolant side of things then so off came the air filter and all the hoses to the rad



(pictures are abit dark because the light dont run all the way down the unit)

I took the rad out next along with the alternator



I called it a day after that as i forgot to take anything up to plug the fuel lines up with so i didnt want to disconect them incase they leaked all over the place.

tomorrow ill be taking sumthing up with me so hopefully i can whip the engine out then start cleaning the bay down cheers for haveing a look mark.

 

Ive since found afew more bits that need abit of attension since taking the rad out the cross members got more holes in than swiss cheese and the front panel didnt look too great so i took the bumper off for a look i wish i hadnt because all bar one of the mounting bolt sheared off so ive got to find a new one when it comes to putting it back together any way a couple pic's of the damage
cross member


And front panel




ive ordered the front panel and cross member so they should be with me in the next couple of days but strangly the same company didnt list the battery tray repair panel so im getting that off a local motor factors. Ive got afew bits to do to keep me going like welding the rear sills so its all fun and games cheers for looking
Mark

 

thats not that bad mate seen alot worse be fixed

 

Yeah the top half of the front panels alright so were just going to weld the new bits in along the creases on headlight recesses to keep as much of the good stuff as we can.
mark

 

I dont think that looks to bad fella, bit of elbow grease it will b mint

 

yeah we were just going to grind the rot out and plate it but i thought we may aswell do it properly whilst its all stripped my new panels should be arriveing later today and im just on route to order up my battery tray.
mark

 

Ive got all the panels i need now

so i made a start on the engine which is out now and sitting along side my collection of engines lol
Before


During


And after we were planning on leaveing the gearbox in hoping it would still roll ok but it was being a right c**t so that came out aswell






and finally my collection of engines



now comes the fun bit







cleaning and de-greaseing

cheers for looking mark.

 

Looking good so far mate.

I used to have a mk3 estate and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately its now a crushed cube of junk, but its so nice to see people still care for these type of vehicles and have the passion to bring them back from the dead.

Keep up the good work

 

good to see another estate being saved! good work fella! im also in the process of restoring one they look awsome when finished something dirfferent.ive got a flush boot for one if your interested?

 

Id be lieing if i said i wasnt interested but i think it would give the game away as i want to keep it looking standard on the outside cheers anyway.
Ive been back up and cracked on with the cleaning because i got bored at home god i need a job lol
I didnt really take any before shots bar these of the bulk head



and the front chassis rails





After 2 and a half hours with a rag and a tub of thinners it looked like this








Ive still got afew bits i need to wipe down like behind the steering rack but ill do that when i put the new one on the rest of the paint dont look too bad in the bay so im quiet happy cheers for looking
mark.

 

can you come and clean my engine bay for me as you have done such a good job

 

Its been a while since my last update but ive still been cracking on firstly the battery tray


Welded in and ground back


All sealed up


And painted


The holes that were in my front floor pans have been chopped out properly and repair plates welded on all sealed up





And painted





then we moved on to the inner sills and seat mount this is the only pic i got though as we put stuff back in the car to clear abit of floor space


Hopefully this weekend we can get the cross member and front panel on and painted up so i can make a start on getting the wireing loom back in and start putting my interior back in happy days cheers for looking
mark

 

Had a busy day on the car today got all my new front end all on and sealed up
cross member on



front panel on and sealed up



whilst my stepdad was doing the welding on the front end i was sorting this lot out ready to go in


and getting all my sound deadening and carpet back in







then came the grand job of getting the loom back into the car



all back in place checking as i went for broken wires i only found one on the ignition switch where the solder had broken and ive only got 2 plugs im not sure where they go i think ones the plug for the fuel computor and the others some thing to do with the stereo maybe an amplifier i just dont know yet





tomorrows jobs are to paint the areas we welded today so we can run the rest of the engine loom into place and fit the dash back in so happy days cheers for having a look and leave a comment
mark.

 

Top work mate.I hate wiring.I hope you get it runnig soon.

 

looking goog mate keep the updats comeing

 

Cheers guys i went up yesterday to do abit more i finished getting the loom through the inner arch and wired into the rear lights i problem i might have not to sure about it yet but the loom came out of a cabby so no rear wiper im hopeing it still works otherwise its getting taken off and smoothed lol
All the engine looms round the bay and clipped it all the earths are attached so ive just got to put my new sterring rack on then the engine and box can go in hopefully at some point over this week then its a case of taking it outside turning it round and swopping the fuel tanks over cheers for looking
mark.

 

Ive just found a couple of piccies aswell
Front end all painted up


Lights back in


Engine bay loom all in place


mark

 

Top work mate you will soon have it runnig soon.

 

Hopefully yeah ive still got abit to do like making up a down pipe and swopping the fuel lines over but i reckon inside a couple of weeks i should be turning the key

 

Good luck mate

 

Looks good sir, hurry up n get it finished lol

 

Been up doing abit more on the car today firstly i got the steering rack off so i could clean the rest of the bay this is what i was up against








An hour later and lots of scrubbing it looked like like






New rack on and bolted up


with a proper ford badge


I was really happy with how it came out so i thought id give the gearbox craddle a scrub down and bolt it in


so i moved on to getting the engine and box ready to go in fly wheel cleaned up and clutch bolted on


and gearbox bolted not too long after it




im getting excited now im hopeing me can drop the lump in tomorrow so i can start wireing it in ive also sorted out my soldering in the car so the dash can just about go back in ive just got to feed the wires up for the interior light/clock then it can go back i sorted myself some where to sit aswell


ive not done the other side yet though as ive got to put the other bucket seat in my other car so i can put the other recaro in this cheers for looking
mark.