Mk 4 Escort Update
Well, its a lot rustier than I thought it would be, but it can still be saved.
Since the last time I posted about The Escort, if you have been following us on Instagram, I've been live streaming the progress of the car. If you haven't seen it, that's okay, you can read it here. The car has been stripped, that took about a day, to get everything out safely. The car is 31 years old, many of the interior's parts have rotted or become excessively brittle, we really need to pay due attention to things.
Trash car will soon have it's time to shine.
With most of the interior out though, Alvin and I were really able to see where all the rust was at in the chassis. Outside of the rust in the expected places, he spent some time fixing some badly done work made by the previous owner. The car has been through a lot through its time here and it's actually quite refreshing to see it being stripped down and refreshed.
The project as it stands now.
“Yeah we can still save it, don’t worry.”
The windscreen and sunroof were removed as well, and I finally got some good news, the sunroof rack was not rusty, at least that bit was fine. The rest of the car though, I'd have to leave in his competent hands.
Let's start talking modifications though obviously, this is a bit more than just a full restoration of the machine, it's a build. Being that it's a build, the best time to delete, or reinforce usually is at the stage of bodywork. I have a few things in mind for the car, that gives me personal satisfaction, and a few things the car will need to prepare it for the new heart it will be receiving the coming weeks.
First of all, I am killing those rear triangle things Ford confidently adds to their 4 door models, I hate those things, toss them please, never let them see the light of day. With the rear side window delete and replaced with some sheet metal, it should help give the car a more modern feeling.
I'll be adding some structural mods that are functional as well, The rear shock towers will have a strut bar, and one will be added to the front of the car as well, in order to beef up the feel of the car. The rear strut bar will be a homemade job, so we will be doing some planning in order to make it work.
The interior of the car is clearly in arrears. I'll be doing some cosmetic changes to the door panels. The old door panels have really seen its share of life, so I will be replacing them with some aluminum cuts. I am not sure if this will save weight, but it would definitely look a lot cleaner when it's finished, it should have a nice carpet finish on it.
The final piece of the puzzle would be finding a new windscreen. The old one started to split with age, and it became opaque around the edges. I am starting to believe that finding a donor car would be correct action to take, but I will see what we can work with first. Surprisingly enough, seeing the entire car broken down is giving me a lot of motivation to get it up again.
Stay alert for more updates on the build as it continues. Until next time, happy motoring!
-Alex
