street

Really isnt two and a half grands worth is it??!!
Well as you can see from the list, all thats gone into upgrading the running gear, it all adds up!
The only bodywork ive done really is a bit of welding and a single wiper conversion:



I used a fiat uno wiper motor, but i had to enlarge the hole in the panel, make an alloy mounting bracket, remove the centre re-enforcing strut on the bulkhead that goes to the scuttle panel, and generally mess around alot to get it to fit properly! I should really have just modified the linkage of the old one, but in my quest to save weight i threw the hole lot away and replaced it with the fiat unit, which is light, compact and reliable. I also got rid of te washer jets while i was at it, nut i dont yet know where im going to relocate them to!!

street

The brakes are now the only thing tats stopping me getting a ticket on it... and they are pi**ing me off!!! The brake saga:
First of all my cossie rear disk conversion was too big for the 14" cloverleafs, which meant either swapping the wheels which i didnt really want to do, or swapping the disks for XR4x4 rears, which then meant i had to have new brackets made
I then reconditioned my XR4x4 front calipers with new seals and a lick of paint, baught a new set of pads and then tried to fit them..... the pads appeared to be too thick for the disks to fit in between!! And yes i did check that the pistons were all the way back, and yes they were for the right car, and yes the disks were RSturbo ones. All i can think of is the pads were manufactured wrong, they were about 3mm too thick each side!! I go so pi**ed off with it that i got the grinder out and skimmed 3mm off each pad! Lots and lots of noise, sparks and dust later and they were on!
Problem number 3 was the servo. The servo brackets needed modifying, but after bodging up the first servo bracket i needed another one to have a go at. I thaught i'd simply pop down the scrappys, find a mk3 and be home in time for tea and countdown..... but was there a mk3 escy there? was there buggery! That was about 3 months ago now and there hasnt been a single one down there since! Where have they all gone?!? I ended up getting one off a mk4, but i soon learnt that they are infact different, and i had to go back and get the whole balance bar assembly off a mk4 aswell in order to fit it
Heres the modified brackets for the mk6 escort 1.8 zetec servo and master cylinder:



You can see that ive cut out a square section in the bracket, you have to do that to let the bigger master cylinder protrude through. Heres a better pic of the brackets:



Note also the elongated mounting holes, which you neeed to take out to about 10mm long in order to bolt it up to the new servo.
Once youv'e done all that though, you can bolt it up as normal and enjoy a much firmer pedal and generally better braking!
Problem number 4 soon appeared when i came to plumb it all back in... i didnt know which ports go to which brake lines, and the haynes manual doesnt show you anything!!!
Big thanks to matt J for sorting that out for me!
And finally problem number five, the most unexpected and stupid braking problem of all It was quite satisfying to fit the new brakes, the biggest brakes you can fit behing 14" wheels aswell, quite impressed! That was until i bolted up the wheels and gave them a re-assuring spin to finish a job well done..... it didnt spin. It only span until it hit the massive kink in my crisp shaped, kerb demolishing alloys And not just 1 wheel, all 4 of the wheels are so badly buckled they dont clear the calipers!
So now i have to hunt for a new set of straight wheels aswell!

street

The interior has now just about been re-fitted, so it actually looks like a car again! I had the interior in dry storage since the car came off the road in 1999, so it was still fresh and nice, despite the 130k miles its done!
One of the mods ive made to the interior is fitting this:







Astra GTE digital dash... some love em and some hate em, but i reckon theyre dead cool so i took all the internals out of one and mounted it behind the origional escort dash pod for neatness. Its not finished yet, the white bits you can see on the face of the dash will be matt black again, its just where ive machined off the plastic.
I have some black tinted perspex that goes over the round dials, so when its all fitted you cant see the white digi dash at all. With the ignition off it just looks like a normal mk3 escort dash pod, but with no numbers or needles!! Then when you turn the ignition on the digital display shines through, looks wicked! I'll get a pic of that when i get them back.
I want to say aswell that this dash has been built with some real precision, no sealer or glue, it all bolts up asif it was factory Where ive had to make parts, i made them out of white perspex to keep it all looking O/E
You may notice that there is now no room for any of the origional warning lights. No problem, ive located them here:



This has all the lights i need, plus a few extras! I cut it down by about 6 inches, modified it to take an escort multiplug and it now fits perfectly where my blower vents used to be on the drivers side This little unit is made with the same precision as the dash, no gle or sealer holding it in, and the back of it is as neat as the front, looks factory!
Can anyone guess what car it was origionally from???

K3V HA

Comin on magte, keep it up!

Disqaulifed driver

Thats fcuked up that is mate my bro done the same thing with mk3 a few years back they dont look that bad do they

car looks cool mate

street

Cheers bud! Yeah they look alright, i dont like messing around with moving numberplates unless youve got somewhere better to put them, so i welded in a recess for a motorbike sized plate in the right hand bumper:

street

Just come back from Manchester, picked up a set of mintier than mint mondeo zetec cossy style alloys Paid £250 for them, the tyres were fitted 2 weeks ago and they were never fitted to a car since!!! Well chuffed, the guy said the tyres alone cost him £250, but he had to get rid
Put them on earlier, they look fooookin great!
Got to do some serious arch rolling tho!!

Disqaulifed driver

lovely mate

little things like recess for a motorbike sized plate make it cool

should look sweet with them wheels on

get some pics up matey

GraphiteGray

iTrader: (1)

Nice car mate , they'll always be better than those crappy Nova's/Saxo's, theres nothing like beating those rat boys in an old mk3 escy

Gray

Twins

iTrader: (18)

yes mate thats from an old bmw 5,6,7 around 1980 to 1988

s3rst

nice! wouldnt mind some detailed info on the big brake setup for my mk1 orion. im putting an efi rst ( converted s1 engine ) in it. also the front adjustable roll bar... is it worth finding one?

and lastly i have 2 digi dashes... but no matter how hard i try i cant get the speed reading right on a pug or ford! how did u manage it mate?! i did manage to wire in the gte warning lights system though which was cool... although yr all oe look is sweet.

street

Cheers for the comments, new pics of the progress on the way!
The brakes im still faffing round with at the minuite, having trouble with the bias valve and the new servo but generally the rear disk conversion is fairly easy, and will be the same for your onion. Just tell me what you want to know and i'll help you out.
The digidash was a pain to get to read the speed correctly, and i ended up virtually building my own sender unit from scratch. Its alot of calculating and pratting around tho! The other alternative is to use the vauxhall sender unit, but build a 'transfer box' to alter the ratio of the drive cog from the gearbox. Again, alot of messing, but do-able! Its mainly about finding the formulae to work out how many magnets you need and how many revolutions per mile it needs to read accurately with the given gear ratios and road wheel size etc. I might build another so if i do i will sell you my spare
Oh and yeas its definately worth finding an adjustable ARB, they improve things no end! If you can find one, go for the rarer RS1600i one, as its alloy and therefore lighter, and also stiffer. But failing that get a S1 RST one. PS- is yours a Mk1 orion? Cuz if not then the adjustable anti roll bar aint a direct fit.

street

cossieman

Beautiful work...
Why one fuel tank interior?
Good courage for the remainder of the restoration...

street

I went for the small fuel tank in the boot to mainly save weight, but also i wanted to move everything from underneath the car to somewhere where it wont get damaged, as i still like to drive like a loonatic when the mood takes me

street

tonysr

Up from the dead, im liking this project, any news?