sofarsogood

1994 L Reg 1.6 Escort
Blue
3 Owners
Sunroof
CD Player
 
Only for sale as I hear Keith Vaz is now paying top money for 22 year old escorts
 
(I thank you)
 
 
 
(I don't actually have one for sale but there is one here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1994-FORD-ESCORT-1-6-Equipe-Ltd-Edn-4dr-/152110441520?hash=item236a7d2430:g:Xv0AAOSwY0lXTa6x)
 
 

As the proud/embarrassed owner of several vehicles renowned for their powers of oxidisation, culminating in a Matra/Simca with broderie anglaise sills, I decided it was time to learn to MIG weld.
 
I know various of us have made noises about learning to weld so I thought I'd do a thread about my Learning Experience [TM] in case anyone is interested, or wants to laugh at me, or simply to avoid cluttering up the Rancho / news / grump threads.
 
The Rancho came with a working Cebora (aka Snap-On) welder, some nitrogen/CO2 mix and a reel of what looks like 0.8mm wire. A couple of people on here said it's a crap machine, but it did all the welding on the previous owner's excellent Cortina restoration so it can't be that terrible. And the same people mostly say ALL MODERN WELDERZ IS SHIT and I'm not spending a grand on a Portamig, so this is what I've got.
 
I added an auto-darkening welding mask and some 1.1mm sheet steel to a recent Frost order to make up enough to qualify for free shipping, and got a welding-rated overall, some gauntlets and a 2kg powder fire extinguisher from Machine Mart.
 
Here I am, all health-and-safetied up and ready to go:
 

 
The mask has blue flaming skulls on it. I don't know why.
 
I turned the power to 5 (out of 7) and turned the gas on, and did a couple of tacks. They were supposed to be lines, but I hadn't fixed the sheet to anything and pushing the tip just chased the steel around the floor, so I'm calling them tacks.
 

 
Ok, the first one is just a hole, but the others don't look too awful and they even penetrate through to the other side nicely. I did a little lap of honour in the shed to celebrate the fact that my mask worked and I could still see, and hadn't set fire to anything.
 
Time for some actual lines. I braced the metal sheet against a heavy axle stand and had another go:
 


 
Ok, they're a bit shit and certainly look like somebody's first welds. But they could have been worse, right?
 
Well, yes, because the next try definitely was worse:
 

 
Even I know that surface spatter means not enough gas, but no amount of fiddling with the pressure tap on the regulator seemed to help. Eventually I realised that I hadn't actually opened the main tap on the gas tank enough. Doh.
 
I did half a decent attempt but then this happened:
 

 
Yup, I held the tip too close and melted the wire into it. Bugger.
 
So I left everything to cool off and went to drill holes in some wood instead. Next time: changing the tip and maybe, who knows, a decent weld.
 
This could take a while.

I'll begin from the start, after selling the Mk3 Cortina a few months ago I've been looking our for a new toy, after viewing a few bits of crap and posting about a 100 "what do you think" status on Facebook i came across this Rover 2000 at a local hot rod show. After a bit of bartering we agreed a price and this afternoon i collected it.
 
It was in Halstead which is about 30 miles away and with my wife in the sick bay after having the veins removed from her leg and unable to drive i had to rough it on a train to Marks Tey so that i could get a lift with my dad.
 

 
Manningtree looked very muddy
 

 
£8 and 25 mins later i arrived in Marks Tey where my dad was waiting with a trailer to take me to the car.
 
We arrived at the owners house who was a bloody lovely chap, his wife made us a cup of tea and he spent nearly a hour chatting to my dad about vintage tractors and stationary engines and show me his motorbikes which means nothing to me.
 

 

 
We pulled the Rover out of the garage, as inposted in the News 24 thread it was originally a 2000 SC but its now running a 2200 SC.
 

 
And then loaded up dads trailer with the original 2.0 SC engine and a spare 2.2 engine as well as a gearbox, radiator, some trim bits and rear glass.
 

 
And then it was the drive back, my god, why have i never bought one of these before?! Its the coolest, nicest car I've ever owned!
 

 
I stopped at the petrol station when a customer complimented my car and the young girl behind the till kept asking me about it and telling me how cool it was!
 

 

 
£30 later i was back at the old mans and humping these bloody engines into a back of a barn, probably never to see the light again.
 

 

 

 
Whilst there i took some more photos before it got dark.
 

 

 

 

 

 

This one? It's Evil Kenevel mode.

seems part of the symbol faded away with time, i have fixed that for you.
It's the "attention mad driver" warning light.

Retro Rides Gathering on Sunday. I'll be in the RAV as the 2CV isn't finished yet. Scary to think this was eight years ago!

 
I know the Blue forum isn't fashionable in these parts, but I went to several Gatherings back in the day, and the folk were always very pleasant and accepting of my dismissal of stance. Shelsley Walsh this year. Should be a fun day.

^^^^ This only applies to half the population though, the other half nod in the 'traditional' fashion just to confuse things further. Also, the wobbly head means okay, as in a nod of agreement rather than a definitive yes or no answer to a question.
 
I did the 3000km BG to UK trip last year in 30 hours and three tankfulls in a diesel Astra. As always with directions and route planning, everyone thinks their way is best but from my experience coming through Serbia or Romania are pretty much equal. Romania seems to go on forever but if you choose a nice route through Transylvania it is very beautiful, the Serbia way has some brand new and empty motorway but that avoids the lovely countryside. Either way, anyone coming this way should expect no motorways for the majority of the Balkans. There is a brand new motorway over here that can't be opened until service stations are built and that won't happen until all the bribes have been counted and verified and the contract for building and operating them is handed out.
 
As for SFBG, I've had various conversations with numerous members at several meets in the past and there are people who want to have a trip over here. It could never replace an official SF as the logistics would rule out a large percentage of members. Unlike me, most AS people have actual people and things in their lives and as well as the travel costs I imagine permission needs to be sought from partners, mistresses, work, bookies, parole officers etc.
I have told everyone I have spoken to about it that there is a standing invitation from me for any 'shiter visit over here. I have about twenty beds and loads of outdoor space.
 
Oh and I now live in the mountains about an hour South of VT Sealtainn, the nearest village is Plachkovtsi. I left VT a few months ago.

It's just as well, because I've only gone and bought it!

Thanks MR, it's always good to hear that!
 
A few years later, I saw another 3 wheeled mad machine based on Citroën A series running gear advertised for sale and went to have a look, with little intention of buying - it sounded intriguing. "What does it look like?" I asked, having found out it was a one-off. "Rather strange, best you come and see - I built it in the back garden, I'm no engineer", came this youthful voice, with more than a hint of mischief in it.
 
The chap was well into his 90s and wracked with arthritis, he'd built the car for him and his wife to tour Europe in on his retirement a few decades before, he'd been flying aircraft over the same towns and cities on bombing raids and to have his wife with him and to be able to stop wherever he wished had been a 'luxury beyond all others'. I've never met a finer person, he had a youth and huge sense of fun, countered with a humanity and depth of character which remains fresh in my mind, years later.
 
The frame to support the body was shaped out of driftwood, the skin was cut from an old caravan. Seating was straight out of WW2 planes, the practicalities of the whole design a model in how to do it right (lifting the bonnet gives access to the back of the dash, for eg). Being based around an Ami8, the springs and dampers were heavier duty and there was an anti-roll bar, it went much better than the blue beast ever had. It looked great and had been lovingly and expertly created, so I bought it.
 
Although it went superbly, girlfriends didn't get it and one of my dogs was frightened at first - the other one loved it immediately, both rode with me. But - a different time in my life, it just failed to be used and loved in quite the same way as the blue thing had been, even though it was made from proper materials, better designed and sitting on better running gear. But I've hung on to it, thinking one day there'd be chance to make more use of it. And loving its provenance. We'll see, mini-fdb no.1 is definitely old enough at almost five, to warrant dragging it from its cobwebs at the back of the shed.
 
Here it is in the old fellow's garage, before the superstructure took shape.
 

I find the interior hilarious, it's so narrow and basic in contrast to my Volvo which is the same age.

I can confirm that so far I am finding this incomprehensible. I have deduced that on the journey the Volvo has inexplicably turned into a Skoda and that, after adding a pint of milk to the fuel tank, time has been spent building a small model of a space station until a chap in a BMW arrived with the rest of the picnic lunch.

Need another car like I need another hole in my head, but would love to see this roffled tonight.

I really miss my 1964 SIIA 88" Land Rover it was brilliant. I had from 19 to 25 sadly sold to fund a house deposit. How I wish I had stuffed it under a tarp on my parents drive and sorted it out later. I have dreams about this car. It had a tuned 3.5 V8 under the bonnet with a weber 500cfm carb. No silencers in the exhaust and sounded incredible.
One of my favourite moments was beating some boy racers who were giving us some grief in a 1.2 Nova sr off the lights in it. Not particulary spectacular you might think but I was towing a mate (solid bar) in a broken down for Ford Focus estate at the time....
This took place on a private road, Allegedly (in case our internet lawyers are reading)

Golden brown, texture like rust
Many panels turning to dust
AS applauds
Who needs fucked Fords?
Never a frown
With golden brown....
 
Golden brown, some time to fix
Once was metal, now weetabix
There will be tears
Welding for years
He'll go to town
On Golden brown...
 
Golden brown, who would have thought
Just look what this nutter has bought
Wish him the best
Pray for the test
He'll wear the crown
With Golden brown...
 
Golden brown, I want a ride
See the owner bursting with pride
Will it be seen
At shitefest 18
We all head down
For Golden brown....
 
Fade....

Achievement unlocked.
 
After a brief text conversation a meeting was arranged for this morning with a view to a swappage.
 
This was a rarity-a seemingly normal human being on Gumtree.
 
We exchanged keys and drove each others vehicles. Upon return we kept the keys we had been handed and completed the paperwork. I then proceeded home in somewhat more comfort than I had arrived in.
 

 
Rule 1 of Autoshite collection acheived.
 

 
It is a 3.0l manual with NO LEATHER! And slightly disappointingly, no cruise control. Initial impressions from the drive home-very quiet, engine pulls well but needs some revs on it before it really moves. Feels more like an American Ford (I imagine) than a Jag but I've only had XJ6s so the bar was set high.
 
Apparently genuine 64k and giffer owned. No obvious rattles.
 
Isuues I was told of
 
Heater controls don't blow hot-apparently a valve somewhere "easy to get at". Hmm
 
Other issues:
 
Drivers check strap broken
Both fobs dead-will try new batteries obv.
Scratch on front bumper
There appears to be giffer leds fitted.
Bit wiffy inside
 
And no doubt more to follow...

I really miss my 1964 SIIA 88" Land Rover it was brilliant. I had from 19 to 25 sadly sold to fund a house deposit. How I wish I had stuffed it under a tarp on my parents drive and sorted it out later. I have dreams about this car. It had a tuned 3.5 V8 under the bonnet with a weber 500cfm carb. No silencers in the exhaust and sounded incredible.
One of my favourite moments was beating some boy racers who were giving us some grief in a 1.2 Nova sr off the lights in it. Not particulary spectacular you might think but I was towing a mate (solid bar) in a broken down for Ford Focus estate at the time....
This took place on a private road, Allegedly (in case our internet lawyers are reading)

There already is one??... check the top of the page between 'Autoshite' and 'Open Forums'
 
Sorted.

We already have sort off,
If you click where it says For Sale in navbar then all the for sale posts will be listed.

This is the story of how it got there https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8059/8185748216_387761279f_o.jpg

Or perhaps we can do some dodgy dealing with some Chinese investors and build a new version!

If only there was a daft basturt who'd deliver!

Everthing I see is in Scotland!!!!!

Everthing I see is in Scotland!!!!!

Everthing I see is in Scotland!!!!!

You need to pay for it via paypal, then rock up in a 205 and A-frame it home. Reckon 320 can help with the 205 part!