rough on idle. Escort mk3!

My Mk2 did the same thing - timing was out, I'd give that a go.

I'll check for any leaks tomorrow morning. i'm wondering if its the tickover to be honest. Is that adjusted on the carb?

Dave, i've not checked which carb it is... the car is really reliable/later model so, i guess it is a weber. We had one when i was a kid which was converted to a manual weber from VV. I heard a lot about it.

Some nice old clocks for ya.

Could it be a vacuum line? Do you have one from the dizzy to the carb? I'm sure it was that or the one that went to the brake servo on one of my cars had perished and split causing a similar problem?

The VV is (or was) a very good carb,,, when they work which by now is not very often, give all the pipes and mating points a good spray with WD or similar and listen for the revs to rise, if they do there's a leak where you just sprayed.
What colour is the dizzy cap? blue caps are known for the earth inside braking down causing erratic firing? TBH i'd be checking the timing with a light and making sure it's stable on idle and swings with some revs but TBH it most likely is the carb in neeed of a rebuild/change.

VVs were brilliant when new, but after about 80,000 miles they did suffer with problems, most of which can be cured by proper cleaning, replacement of diaphragms & making sure that everything's tight (especially the choke unit which were always working loose).
Ford used to sell new VV carbs for less than a Weber conversion & I'd always pick the VV.

You do also need to check things like distributor cap & valve clearances too, but it's probably the carb, buy a gasket/diaphragm kit, remove the carb, strip it completely & blow it out with loads of carb cleaner.

Oh & inlet manifold gaskets used to split around the ports too, try spraying a little carb cleaner around the contact faces while the engine is running & see if it's makes a difference, but try not to spray the dizzy cap!

Are you using any form of fuel additive?, do you let the tank run low/empty between fills.

I take it it's still on manual choke?. If so does it run any better when given a little choke when its running?. When you first start it does it fire straight away or after a few cranks

They were never that brilliant to begin with though once you got used to them you could get them to run OK. Most of the basics have been covered, so I assume you've checked the plugs, filters, vacuum lines etc.

Sounds like there's two issues (at least - there always is on Fords).....

You always used to have a point where they'd fired up cold and then get to the stage where they were partially warmed up and then they'd go lumpy because it is still cold to run without choke but warm enough to be too rich with choke. It's getting the manual tickover adjustment set up right so that on partial choke you get enough rpm to keep it running through that transition phase. As the weather changes the settings need to be tweeked as well. To be honest - back in the day - I used to set mine up for the summer and then over the winter there was always a set if lights I knew it wouldn't idle at. So I'd got into the habit of dropping it into neutral coming up to the lights, left foot on the brake and right foot feathering the throttle to keep it running. On good days the lights were green. On bad days they went to red just at the wrong moment and you'd be stuck with a half-warm engine at the front of a traffic queue and the blighter was a devil to restart.

What I'm saying is that they won't run as smooth warming up as FI engines, if it's your first manual choke part of the fun is learning what driving was like when that was all we had. Doesn't mean you can't set it up a bit better though. Sounds like one issue is the partial choke idle setting.

The other problem you say you're trying to fix, hesitation when putting your foot down - well that sounds like it's a bit lean, but there's lot of other things you need to check as well. I recently had a devil of a job getting mine to run right as it would intermittently bog down when I opened the throttle. It felt like it was lean but I knew the carb settings where OK. In the end it turned out to be the vacuum advance plate had worn a groove into the bottom plate and it was sticking. If you've got a strobe connect it up with the vacuum advance still attached. I know you don't usually do timing that way, but you're not checking the timing, make sure the advance is consistent and the timing mark is stable (doesn't matter where it is - so long as it's stable and it moves as you open the throttle.)