New Ford shite for me! - Wheel arch repairs

[trigger]

I'm many of you may remember the blue Escort Spottedlaurel posted up here recently (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10273), We today it became mine!

 

We've decided that we don't need two nice cars so I've popped 'Er indoors Micra K12 up for sale due to the 5000 mile she's done in it in the last 14 months, She's going to use my car as i just need a cheap motor to use for commuting to and from work in.

 

So after chatting to SL about it i decided it had to be worth a viewing, Sadly I had to help a mate moved today so i couldn't go so wifey and my dad drove up to Norfolk to take a look.

 

Fortunately it was as nice as SL said, The 89 year old lady was very sad to see it go but was glad it was going to a good home, she hasn't driven it for 5 months and it's been sat in the garage so it's a bit dusty, so will have to clean it tomorrow!.

 

It has the most amazing service book, fully stamped up Ford dealer service book, 3 Cambelt changes in it's 44000 mile history! and she's even left her "An Hour of Johann Strauss II" Tape in the cassette player (not my cup of tea though!)

 

All this for the price of a cheap weeks stay in Jaywick!. He's a few quick photos i took tonight before it got dark, I'll take some better one's tomorrow.

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk 4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk 4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk 4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

This is the worse part on the whole car, It will need a plate i think by the sill but nothing to worry about.

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk 4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The other side is starting to go.

 

1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL Mk 4 by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The famous Ford wiggley stereo stick!

[Pillock]

zOMG!

 

I love the pre-facelift ones, my ma had an '88 1.4 LX - ordered it in Maritime Blue same as that, but as it was a company car she had to take what was sent and a Rosso Red one came up first. Brilliant car, that one certainly looks well looked after and those rear arches aren't going to cause you a major headache.

 

Brilliant save, thankfully it didn't go to the first-car-brigade like most of them do round here. There's a surprising number of Mk4 Escorts with daft exhausts, multifit alloys and a parcel shelf sagging under the weight of a 12" subwoofer locally to me.

[Guest]

As said on FB well done - if it wasnt for a 4ish hour round trip I would of had it myself. Dont "skimp" on those body repairs it will be worth it in the long run.

[VWPowered]

great save that trig, looks a belter

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice work Trigola, is your Mrs gonna be driving this then? That will teach her. I bet she likes it actually after a Micra diesel, she'll think its a flying machine!

 

I agree with Rootes, that LH wheelarch really needs some new metal glued in. Ask Bodie + Doyle off R-R if he'll do it, he seems to be a shit hot welder and I bet he's mega reasonable money-wise. Plus I think he's prettty close to you (geographically)

[trigger]

Mrs Trig loves it!, She drove it back and thought it was really nice, She's already named it Ethel! .

 

The mot is due in April but I use this mechanic who works from a pig shed near my dad's who's dirt cheap and very good at his job so I'll get him to mot it and patch up where the dog leg mets the sill and then I'll tidy it up a bit, Hopefully Halfords has some Maritime blue in it's bargain bin!.

 

It has central locking and a sunroof so It's better spec then my old dears one was back in the early 90's.

 

Mum and Dad's old Ford Escort 1.3 L by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[Tayne]

Mrs Trigg earlier today.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkT ... re=related

[trigger]

Mrs Trigg earlier today.

 

You've seen her drive then!

[retrogeezer]

Yeh, glad to see it has gone to a good home.....

 

....and that has reminded me that I found a couple of pics of the Mk4 Popular I had back in 88/89.....pics up in a sec.

[retrogeezer]

here ya go, it was a 1.3 Popular with a 4 speed box. My dad bought it new and I bought it off him when it was a couple of years old. I never could understand why he didn't order it with a 5 speed box. Mind you, I seem to remember doing Yateley/Hants to Littleborough, Lancs (230 miles) in 3 hours. No speed cameras and cheap fuel......the things you do for a shag when you are 19!

 

I was a sprayer at the time so the slightly damaged XR3i bumper was repaired and the rear bumper & mirrors were painted to match. Then the dog legs came along to finish the 'lookalike'.

 

Even though it was a five door it fooled a few people, I even got a 7 day wonder and the copper put XR3 on it!

 

[oldford]

Nice one, I suspected as much after the hint you dropped in the selling cars topic.

 

Get some security on it ASAP. The question is what colour is it?, there was some debate in the cars previous topic.

 

When can I come up to look at it?, do you want any help with doing bits and pieces to it?

 

That'll look good, photographed next to a certain blue Sierra.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

The question is what colour is it?

 

Blue

 

I don't know what it is about these, but I find them grossly unappealing.

It's nice to see such a tidy survivor though and the spec looks nice. Are they a bit of a Q car?

[trigger]

I'm not sure if I'd call it a Q car, It nips along ok although i've only been round the block mind, I doubt the old lady went much over 60 mph in it though so it might need a good run to free it up, it's only been doing 400 - 700 miles a year for god knows how long.

 

I thought you might like it John, It is Maritime Blue, It says so on the vin plate, Let me know if you want to see it and get a photo next to your Sierra with it!.

 

Retro, Your's looks just like a mate of mines old Escort, His was a C plate in Rosso as well, with colour coded XR3i bumpers, I think his was 1400 L, I had a Eclipse about 11 years ago that i colour coded and it looked the biz.

 

My old Ford Escort 1.3 Eclipse by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My old Ford Escort 1.3 Eclipse by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[VWPowered]

yep defo looks blue...

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I'm not sure if I'd call it a Q car, It nips along ok although i've only been round the block mind, I doubt the old lady went much over 60 mph in it though so it might need a good run to free it up, it's only been doing 400 - 700 miles a year for god knows how long.

 

I think I read in another thread that it has a 0-60mph time of 9.9 seconds, which is quite quick by my standards. Not that 0-60mph means much in the real world.

[pogweasel]

GR8000 effort Trigs,

I would get some 'kurust' or similar on that arch grot pronto though.

[trigger]

Looking at my scans, I have the test of the Mk 3 Escort 1.6 GL and that done 0-60 in 11.8 sec which seems more believable, 9.9 secs sounds more XR3i/Orion 1.6i Ghia speeds to me.

[retrogeezer]

My 1.6 Mk3 seems pretty quick, quite responsive too - feels eager to go quickly but not great around corners on it's standard 27 yr old suspension!

Mind you, anything feels quick when you have been driving a 1600 Bluebird around!

[retrogeezer]

I've just consulted my trusty Ford brochure from Oct/Nov 84 and the 1.6 CVH does indeed have a 0-60 time of 9.9 secs so it's positively rapid!

The 3i did it in 8.8 secs.

 

That Eclipse you had looked very nice Trig, I remember you posting the photo before. My parents also had matching Escort 'Bonus' run out models in 1990, the only bonus I think was the lovely Tasman Blue paint...

[eddyramrod]

Good save there Trigger! Nice to see it go where it'll be appreciated. And yes, I can confirm, it's definitely blue.

[Guest]

 

I agree with Rootes, that LH wheelarch really needs some new metal glued in. Ask Bodie + Doyle off R-R if he'll do it, he seems to be a shit hot welder and I bet he's mega reasonable money-wise. Plus I think he's prettty close to you (geographically)

 

I can confirm that the above statement is true

[Angrydicky]

That does look nice. When you get the welding done, make sure he cuts out all the rot and lets in fresh metal properly, rather than just patching over the rust. If he just patches it it'll need doing again next year and this car deserves better. Looks like with a bit of work it could be a show car! (If you're into that sort of thing).

 

Now you just need to build a carport at the side of your house for it to live in

[Mr Lobster]

That looks like a pretty decent thing. Get the arch sorted and it'll be near mint by the look of it.

[wuvvum]

Looking at my scans, I have the test of the Mk 3 Escort 1.6 GL and that done 0-60 in 11.8 sec which seems more believable, 9.9 secs sounds more XR3i/Orion 1.6i Ghia speeds to me.

Autocar's road test figures say 10.0 sec for the Escort 1.6 LX and 10.4 for an Orion 1.6 GL. Injected models did the sprint in 9.6 and 9.7 respectively. So the carb version isn't actually far off the XR3i in terms of performance. It's only about 15bhp down and torque is probably pretty similar.

[trigger]

I gave it a bit of a spruce up this morning and hoover, It's come up pretty well, The N/S/R wheel arch is a bit worse then i first thought so that will need replacing, but the rest of the car is pretty sound.

 

I've taken some better photos now.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I'm going to have to find another rear bumper from somewhere.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

There can't be many CVH engine bays this clean, The engine is so quiet.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The worst of the rust, There is a hole in the sill at the bottom of the dog leg.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The boot floor is mint and that spare has never even been on the road.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Mrs Trig picked up the sticker from the vets, I remember lots of cars with this sticker back in the 80's so i thought it suited this.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Orignal dealer tax disc holder and number plates.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The GL comes with the digital clock like the Ghia as well as centrol locking, rev counter and sunroof, All mod cons.

 

My 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

This is one of the most complete service books I've seen, The same supplying dealer has serviced it since new.

 

I have another couple of photos i'll add later when I've got my phone lead...

[dollywobbler]

That's just lovely. Nice work! Your old Eclipse is very smart too. Hmmmm. Feel the Escort love.

[Lord Sterling]

Nice save there Trig. Hope it sees you in good steed for some time to come.

[trigger]

I had a little grin this morning, I popped to the Co-Op in the beast and parked behind this D plate Carlton, As i was walking across tot he store i then saw this old lady drive in the car park in this tidy F reg VW Polo Ranger.

 

When i came out of the store she had parked next to me, I had a mini 80's car meet going on in the car park, The Polo looked like she had it from new going by all the local dealer stickers over it.

 

1989 Volkswagen Polo Ranger, 1988 Ford Escort 1.6 GL and 1987 Vauxhall Carlton 2.0i GL Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[ashmicro]

Nice one. While that back arch might look bad, it's nothing for one of those. My mark 4 was 1987, and at 5 years old it was fucking rotten, requiring £600 of welding.

[Alexg]

Looks great (apart fom the arch) - well played sir