Thought it was about time this car had a thread to call its own 
It all started a couple of months ago when I put a bid on an accidental bid on a sketchily advertised Ebay Mk3 Escort, and won the thing without even knowing where in the country it was
Turns out it was in....
....Which was a 4 hour train journey away!
No matter. Me and Benzboy made a day of it and when we got there we were greeted with this:
^ Not bad! Looked very tidy in fact
^ Tidy from the back too!
^ Bit of grot here but it seems localised to the front wings, so not really fussed
^ We crammed the car with cheap food and cheap fuel.....
......Cranked up the AM/FM.......
....And nailed it back to Nottingham. In the 160 miles it never missed a beat! A real pleasure to drive in fact.
So much so that after arriving home at around midnight we set off at 9am the very next day on 400 mile wheel collecting mission
We drove it all the way to Poole, Dorset!
We managed about an hours break at the beach before hitting the road again.
It behaved faultlessly once again!
And by the end of the journey I was well and truely aquainted with my new car!
So from purchasing the old Escort I managed to clock up just shy of 600 miles! Which, it transpired is more mileage in 48 hours than it did in the whole of last year!
^Its reward was a proper good waxing session! bumpers off...
.... All minty here!
Doors got waxed up....
And it was starting to look nice and shiny.
I just had to get rid of the wheel trims. probably been on from new but I just didn't like them at all
^ Marginly better!
^ Another wheel that had to go was the steering wheel.
^ Dramatically improves the driving experience! Love these steering wheels
^ It really did come up well.
^ Even the boot floor got cleaned up!
Right then, now your up to speed!
I drove it around like that for a while and it was fine. But despite it bieng a lovely origional car I just had to modify it to make it a better car for me.
But Street, how are you going to modify it? Your not going to get all silly like you've done with the black one are you?
Well no, it's my dailly driver and as such it needs to remain useable and not too extreme
^ The first thing to do was get it lower! So out with the old....
^ And replace them with these G-max -60mm lowering springs and shorter uprated gas shocks. They were origionally on the black twin engined one but thats getting something a bit more pimp now instead
Fitted without any drama. Its remarkably clean under there!
Thats better!
^ The rears just got a bit of the Retro Rides favourite, spring choppage!
Nothing too mental, just two coils off.
Should be just enough
No worries about not seating back in the cups, they seat just fine when done properly (but i'm preaching to the converted here aren't I!!)
Before we stand back and have a look how it sits, it's time to sort out the wheel situation!
^ I baught these wheels ages ago from All4Show, and got them delivered to me thanks to Reanimation. I gave them a bit of a home refurb to make them look pretty
Origionally XR3i's would have had 185/60's on them, but I opted for 185/55's because I like the look of the lower profile tyre. The difference isn't a lot on paper but its noticeable- for illustration purposes the random wheel on the right has 60's, and the one on the left 55's. Lower profile = WIN!
So, hows it look? Heres a quick before:
And now:
Very happy with that!
That was after a good mopping session on the paintwork thanks to Paulmi16 very kindly lending me his polishing mop and compound, cheers mate
It handles SO much better now aswell, it used to understeer like you wouldn't believe and when it did get traction it would corner on its door handles... now it corners completely flat with superb grip, I absolutely love it!
While i'm not conciously aiming for a full on XR3i replica, it is doing a damn good impression of one!
Another modification I made this week was this:
Origional seats were... okay I suppose.
But I scored these absolutely mint XR3i seats from Ebay for £10.50p!!!
They make a huge difference, they're so much firmer and more supportive than the origionals. The car feels so much more sporty now than it did before
And to make this better, I punted the ****L@@k ORIGIONAL FLOOR MATS SERIES 1 RS TURBO**** on to Ebay for £60!!!
And two of the 3 mud flaps that I took off the car went on Ebay rather than in the bin aswell, they sold for £30!!! Madness, but i'm not complaining!!
I don't miss the floor mats or the mud flaps, i'd rather have £90 any day
So thats where she stands at the moment. MOAR 2 COME! I have some other bits to put on it yet, so i'll update it then
It all started a couple of months ago when I put a bid on an accidental bid on a sketchily advertised Ebay Mk3 Escort, and won the thing without even knowing where in the country it was
Turns out it was in....
....Which was a 4 hour train journey away!
No matter. Me and Benzboy made a day of it and when we got there we were greeted with this:
^ Not bad! Looked very tidy in fact
^ Tidy from the back too!
^ Bit of grot here but it seems localised to the front wings, so not really fussed
^ We crammed the car with cheap food and cheap fuel.....
......Cranked up the AM/FM.......
....And nailed it back to Nottingham. In the 160 miles it never missed a beat! A real pleasure to drive in fact.
So much so that after arriving home at around midnight we set off at 9am the very next day on 400 mile wheel collecting mission
We drove it all the way to Poole, Dorset!
We managed about an hours break at the beach before hitting the road again.
It behaved faultlessly once again!
And by the end of the journey I was well and truely aquainted with my new car!
So from purchasing the old Escort I managed to clock up just shy of 600 miles! Which, it transpired is more mileage in 48 hours than it did in the whole of last year!
^Its reward was a proper good waxing session! bumpers off...
.... All minty here!
Doors got waxed up....
And it was starting to look nice and shiny.
I just had to get rid of the wheel trims. probably been on from new but I just didn't like them at all
^ Marginly better!
^ Another wheel that had to go was the steering wheel.
^ Dramatically improves the driving experience! Love these steering wheels
^ It really did come up well.
^ Even the boot floor got cleaned up!
Right then, now your up to speed!
I drove it around like that for a while and it was fine. But despite it bieng a lovely origional car I just had to modify it to make it a better car for me.
But Street, how are you going to modify it? Your not going to get all silly like you've done with the black one are you?
Well no, it's my dailly driver and as such it needs to remain useable and not too extreme
^ The first thing to do was get it lower! So out with the old....
^ And replace them with these G-max -60mm lowering springs and shorter uprated gas shocks. They were origionally on the black twin engined one but thats getting something a bit more pimp now instead
Fitted without any drama. Its remarkably clean under there!
Thats better!
^ The rears just got a bit of the Retro Rides favourite, spring choppage!
Nothing too mental, just two coils off.
Should be just enough
No worries about not seating back in the cups, they seat just fine when done properly (but i'm preaching to the converted here aren't I!!)
Before we stand back and have a look how it sits, it's time to sort out the wheel situation!
^ I baught these wheels ages ago from All4Show, and got them delivered to me thanks to Reanimation. I gave them a bit of a home refurb to make them look pretty
Origionally XR3i's would have had 185/60's on them, but I opted for 185/55's because I like the look of the lower profile tyre. The difference isn't a lot on paper but its noticeable- for illustration purposes the random wheel on the right has 60's, and the one on the left 55's. Lower profile = WIN!
So, hows it look? Heres a quick before:
And now:
Very happy with that!
That was after a good mopping session on the paintwork thanks to Paulmi16 very kindly lending me his polishing mop and compound, cheers mate
It handles SO much better now aswell, it used to understeer like you wouldn't believe and when it did get traction it would corner on its door handles... now it corners completely flat with superb grip, I absolutely love it!
While i'm not conciously aiming for a full on XR3i replica, it is doing a damn good impression of one!
Another modification I made this week was this:
Origional seats were... okay I suppose.
But I scored these absolutely mint XR3i seats from Ebay for £10.50p!!!
They make a huge difference, they're so much firmer and more supportive than the origionals. The car feels so much more sporty now than it did before
And to make this better, I punted the ****L@@k ORIGIONAL FLOOR MATS SERIES 1 RS TURBO**** on to Ebay for £60!!!
And two of the 3 mud flaps that I took off the car went on Ebay rather than in the bin aswell, they sold for £30!!! Madness, but i'm not complaining!!
I don't miss the floor mats or the mud flaps, i'd rather have £90 any day
So thats where she stands at the moment. MOAR 2 COME! I have some other bits to put on it yet, so i'll update it then
