FINALLY...I have found some time to get a build thread going!

Having owned the car for the last 3-4 years, things are finally on the move to making it half decent...

After my spell of my old Escort S2 RS Turbo, then moving onto a Focus RS Mk1...its about time I was back in a Ford!

A brief history of the car, I bought it from a guy who had owned it since new, he was an older gentleman who was apparently 92 years old! The car itself was in awesome condition, and being a one owner car, had a full ford service history, all mechanical work carried out by Ford, most MOT's and received things like all documentation for the car - even a letter from Ford to say thank you for buying the car etc! At the time it had 53k on the clock genuine with all the MOT history to back it up...the guy was literally covering 200-300 miles a year in it! You could tell 5th gear wasn't used so often as it was stiff to get it into fifth

Brief spec of the car
Ford Orion 1.3L - properly base spec!
53k on the clock genuine
No central locking
No electric windows
No electric side mirrors
Green tinted glass
Hub caps!
1 owner from new
LOTS of history

I know a brief spec I wanted with the car...

Zetec turbo in some shape or form
RS Turbo bonnet
88 or 90 spec front bumper
Coilovers all round
Rims no bigger than 16's for daily use
Upgraded brakes
Electric sunroof
Electric windows
Electric side mirrors
Central locking
FULLY sound deadened for a quiet drive
Good audio system to keep me entertained
Decent front seats
A big tidy up and detail

Some pictures when I bought it...such an honest innocent looking thing lol


























Stay tuned!!!

 

Looks a great starting point
Keep the pics and updates coming Good to see another Orion build, rare these days

 

Looks a cracking base to start from ..get cracking with it mate and keep the pics coming .

 

Nice car, would love a garage like that at home

 

will keep an eye on this

 

Looking forward to see what you do! Do you still have the previa?

 

People on another forum were questioning my choice of car...so this was my reply lol

Its a car from my childhood...my dad owned one (albeit a Ghia)I wanted to buy another little fun car, something old...and thinking back to all the cars I have owned, the most fun was my S2 RS Turbo...so on the hunt for one of them, I quickly came to realize they were WELL out of my budget...so I ended up looking for base spec Escort's and Orion's and stumbled across this little gem!

Glad I bought when I did though...seeing what they are selling for now, I have already made myself a fair bit of cash

I like to think I have the ability to turn something unassuming, into something a bit that stands out

 

Previa is now long gone unfortunately I killed it, literally, with bass LOL! The list of things wrong with it from the top of my head (going back 4 years or so)

- Bonnet hinges sheared in half
- Wiper motor mount sheared off the bulkhead
- Water bottle mount sheared off bulkhead
- Metal above the windscreen sheared open
- Doors had fracture marks all over them
- Doors bent outwards at the top and bottom
- Gearbox would go from 1st to 2nd to 5th
- 4inch thick MDF roof started to pull away from the metal near the screen due to flex
- Broke DVD screens

Im sure theres tons more lol

 

Crikey did a good job on that then!

 

That's the coolest previa I've ever seen!

 

DEATH BY BASS!!!! Awesome🤣

 

haha cheers man, there are some really wild ones over in the states and Japan, but not many in the UK! I see one everyday where I am and I'm always tempted to leave a note on the windscreen to see if they want to sell it lol! Its just tooooooo much money to build something like I did before in terms of audio...and then it becomes far too heavy for it to be used often

 

Quite literally yes LOL!

I'm not sure how to embed youtube videos so check these links out

 

Bloody hell that is insane!

 

Someone I know has a Toyota Lucida for sale, he's been all over Europe in it. Think it's a jap import previa?

 

Yeah they are jap imports...not as big as the Previa (not as wide) and came with different engine and suspension setups

 

So, first things first, lets get it stripped down and see what condition the car really is in...and for those who know me, know when most things come off the car, I like to clean them before putting them back on!























I managed to pick up some goodies as well, purchased through a member on PassionFord, were a set of decent condition S1 RS Turbo wheels, 6 or 6.5 x 15's...which I had wrapped in 195/45 rubber...perfect wheels for now

I also sourced a excellent condition rear bumper from a friend who had a Ghia so that made its way onto the car as the original one was cracked. He also had a pair of freshly rebuilt Gaz front coilovers which I snapped up too.

Also came a 88spec front bumper which I always knew would be a temp gap fill so threw that on as well. I chucked on a Mk3 Golf VR6 splitter...which I didn't really like the look of and lasted a total of around half a day before it smashed to bits lol

 

Looking great mate, reminds me of the old days

 

More pics Keep them coming

 

rare to see now. My mate had a few but I was always more into escorts and miss my mk3/4's.

I was trying to find a picture of a orion I used to like, blue, rs kit and cos rims. Can't find the picture anymore and think the owners a member on here. This one is nice though

 

Cool car this. They can't be many about with low miles on like this.

 

Thats a very good friend of mine, runs Dinatek garage, hes the only guy I trust doing bodywork on our cars! Guy is an artist with metal work! Those arches are complete metal and along the lines of what will happen to my car

 

Looking good .

 

So I promptly got on with checking the car over everywhere I could get my hands onto...





















Soon after...this happened!


More to come soon!

 

Are they Vossen wheels on the Merc ?


They really suit it !

 

That Orion looks mint

 

Unfortunately I lost tons of photos and videos due to a corrupt memory card sad times indeed!

However, lets crack on with the tear down (eagle eyed viewers will notice the 300mm steering wheel, and a few other bits that Ill hopefully come to























Found some rust...heres the worst of it










Then it was time to lay some Silent Coat Multi down...its 5mm thick and VERY stiff! This layer is put down to help strengthen the panels so reduce flex








This was laid out on most big panels on the car, floor pan, bulk head, doors, boot floor, boot lid etc

This is designed to help the panels gain some strength and reduce the amount they vibrate for things like road noise (general driving), as well as from subwoofers that will resonate through the chassis.

The design goal here was to reduce the cabin noise as much as we possibly could...consider this stage 0.5 of a 3 stage process...the reason I say 0.5, you will understand later

 

Yes buddy, they are Vossen CV7's 10.5 x 20 all round I'm an authorised dealer for them...mind you not ordered a set for a while lol!

 

Good work Amar

if its anything like your previous builds it will turn out very nice indeed

 

That car looks CLEAN!!!

 

Liking this thread.

 

Been following this for a few days now and your posts on the zt build guide in the rst section.

Is this having the blacktop turbo setup?

 

I really fancy a set for my Audi S4, but they have been discontinued


Nearest thing I can find is Stance SC-6ix

 

Hey buddy, yes it will be going through a few phases...

Phase 1 - PROPER budget 1.8 zetec turbo...stock everything engine wise, Jenvey inlet, MTX75 Focus RS box, ERST Stage 2 or 3 turbo, standard Ford 2.0 zetec clutch, VEMS ECU, etc etc...if it breaks 150hp ill be happy as I haven't spent much on it to be honest and just want to hike up the 1.3ohv engine it currently has!

Phase 2 - Relatively budget build of a the 2.0/ST170 route, may upgrade turbo to something a bit more manly, bigger injectors, hopefully will be around the 300-350hp mark

Phase 3 - PROPER build - CGI block, steel crank, steel rods, Cosworth Racing pistons, tubular manifold (over the gearbox type) etc etc
, power unknown!

 

That's a PITA! I just checked and you are right!...what a bummer! Ill speak to the UK and Euro distro and see if he can shed any light on a set that maybe new old stock if you like

 

Coming on nice this pal ..keep the work and pics coming .

 

I was gonna say I've got some parts that may be useful to you but if you are using blacktop engines with the FRS gearbox my parts will be of no use. I've just gone to a FRS box with the engine on custom mounts and a super dooper over the box manifold as my cvh manifold and turbo didn't really fit anymore.

 

Hopefully I'm covered parts wise, the engine and gearbox conversion is actually underway...wont be long until I catch up on this thread

Most my bits have come from Sunny Khalsa's mental fiesta (178mph one), but for what was meant to be his 'new' bat sh!t crazy build

 

Thanks for offering mate, to be honest I don't want discontinued wheels on a daily driver - knowing my luck I would hit a pot hole and bugger one up with no way of replacing it!

 

They can't be many mk3 4 escorts/prions with floors like yours.

I really like in car sound systems. I just wish I knew a bit more about them .