CWA

hey guys - oober noob here.

basically, my mate has this 1987 ford orion that is at the moment lying in his field unused. its in a generally tidy condition, and up until only a year ago it had been running and roadworthy for all of its life, when family issues meant that it could not be used. now, my mate has decided he wants to clear out his field, and as he has no use for the car, before it goes to the scrappy he has asked if i want it.

at the moment i already drive a beetle (cue the general abuse) but with me needing to travel long distance to university next year etc, the idea of having the orion appealed to me

but mainly, at the moment i have no experience in building or working on cars, and so i thought that getting the orion to pass its MOT this summer would be a good start in gaining some basic mechanical knowledge and experience.

so far though, i have only had negative responses to this idea, and so i thought i would ask you guys about the idea. will i be generally screwed over trying to find parts? are they hard cars to work on? would i be better off getting a different car to gain basic mechanical experience with? also, is it true that you can use some parts off an escort of the same era on an orion.. or is this just bull?

Would really appreciate some genuine info and advice.

Thanks,

CWA

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

hello mate. www.theorion-register.com will have alot more answers than i can give you.

but if its a 1987, its the same as a mk4 escy, only 9 inches longer. everything from the B pillars forward will fit, and some bits behind. ther'ye really easy to work on relatively speaking, it'll be a cvh (unless its a dlesel) and they're childsplay. get yourself a haynes manual and your laughing. it REALLY only depends on the car as to whether they're reliable or not, and whether it'll be a good car to you. chances are if its made it this far, it'll ba a good one. i've had three and they've all been great motors and all are still going through mates. the difference with them and escorts is that the orion was often overlooked toward the xr3, and RST. hence the rubish ones were scrapped long ago, and the good ones were kept for longer and didn't have such a hard life. they can still be modded nicely too.

"in a nutshell" whatever chance you've got in a beetle going to uni, you've got more of a chance in an orion

CWA

Awesome, thanks for the info fella.

I think i will definately take it up, I'll have to go up the field some time to see what its looking like.. but i've told myself i have to get my exams out of the way before starting lol!

escort mk4 parts shouldn't be hard to get hold of should they? ebay and such?
do you know of any good companies that make cheap aftermarket parts for mk4 escys?

i'll get some pics up soon to try and show you some progress, and i'm sure i'll have lots of questions too!

CWA

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

sound, but still register on the orion register mate, there will be loads more info on there than here.

CWA

will do, although the website seems to be under construction (?)

slammedorion

Good luck with the project, will PM you back later on when I get 5 mins...

CWA

thanks fella, how is yours coming along?

i lost your thread lol - haven't seen the latest..

what's the link for it?