I would also be interested in the differences between a 3dr and rs500 shell if Paul could shed some light on this. My new shell has a few more additions in the engine bay compared to my 3dr shell

 

Seeing as all RS500's started life as 3dr production cars then the shell differences will be limited to stuff like the chopped off battery tray (a 500 fuel rail clears without this), correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Ok. My new shell has a bigger hole where the fusebox sits and a few additional holes through the bulkhead.

 

thats just the rust rich

 

That's because later replacement 3dr shells had Sapphire bulkhead panels, a 3dr original fuse box casing clips into place (and sometimes leaks) whereas as Taxi fuse box casing is bolted in place.

 

Thanks for the info Martin. I do want to do something about where the fusebox sits as i thought it may leak.

 

I have been a 3 door owner for a long time and have collected many parts over the years, and I have every part from the rs500 parts list apart from engine about half of which are fitted to my car, the list is quite comprehensive, there must be many people like myself who are sitting on parts just in case.

 

LOL no rust on mine bud ( not the new shell anyway )

 

Just use the Sapphire outer casing with the 3dr fuse box inside, it's a better job other than the fuse box lid shows Sapphire fuse locations which aren't the same as 3dr.

 

Ok i will look into that. Thanks for the info.

 

As Martin says , you " service shell" has a saff bulkhead

simply cut the hole from a 3 door fuse box hole and weld it into the new 3 door shell , that way your 3 door fuse box will fit perfectly

Its a very very simple job

Your rear tow eye is also different , but nothing to worry about

 

 

We need pics of the said vin stamp, to check if the numbers are up or down

Then we'll see how dodgy it is

 

Now breaking
https://passionford.com/forum/ford-r...-breaking.html