1994 Mondeo RSi (Hendy edition) - The resto project

Small update!

Just picked up a couple of parts for the restoration of the engine bay:

What i am told is the last remaining new Throttle cable in Ford's UK stores:


So in theory this cable has been sitting on a shelf in the Ford parts warehouse since c. 1993....it was never needed and is now the last one remaining on their system....The perfect purchase for this restoration!

Also from Ford's mega-warehouse - a set of retaining clips specifically for the bonnet insulation of a MK1 Mondeo (ordered a few extras to be safe!):


If anyone needs any part numbers etc, give me a shout and ill try my best to help!

Not the most exciting update i know, but it moves the project one tiny step closer to completion!!

Too new for me
Too 'ford' for me
Too FWD for me

but.... I like it and I really like what you're doing with it. We share the same level of being anal about the small stuff. Keep up the good work dude

Another small update and another BEAUTY of a part to add to the rebuild!

As you will know if you've been following this build, i was in the process of replacing the non-original dial fascias (or as it turned out, the whole dial sets). One piece that has eluded me during this process is the speedo cluster. This is because finding MK1/Ph1 'left-handed spindle' cluster was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Well.............




Ladies and gents....a genuine Motorcraft NOS left-handed spindle, ZERO MILEAGE speedo cluster (in original box!) is now safely in the parts collection ready for installation:





I know, i know...probably a very boring thing to get excited by but in my quest for originality this part is so much better than i could have possible hoped to add to the build!

*Not that this car will be sold, but for those who may be concerned i will be making full documentation of vehicle mileage vs new cluster installation date / zero mileage status within the cars history and also behind the binnacle itself.

Thanks for reading!

Flicked on this thread my phone at work today,and quickly flicked off........couldn't wait to get home and read it all on my iPad! These have become so rare to see now in any model form,great to see all your work,much like my young sons escort estate we've been doing since last summer this has received good response by RR people and so it should top work fella!

Thanks,build thread is on here,my lad has seen most of my mk1 escorts from back in the 80s in my photo albums , so he figured a later escort was the car he really wanted to learn on,it's rather more of an improving thread than a build thread ,but I'm hoping he's going to learn and choose a career In the motor industry in the future, love the mondeo great work as said! Cheers Dan

Aren't most of them more used to going the other way?

gt2047 got to admit, I don't remember ever seeing one of these. Perhaps I was too far north at the time.

Can't say I'm a ford guy and have never owned one, but I'm liking the work you're putting into this and the top parts hunting. I'll be following this now.

Thanks for checking it out!
I've read your MK1 thread before and thought it was great that not only was a MK1 being preserved in such good condition, but also that it was being used as a proper daily car for family tasks...just shows that the MK1 can still cut it 22 years later!



RE this thread:
Sorry for the lack of updates all, work has been happening on the RSi but i haven't had too much time to put the pictures / info together!
Hopefully i'll have something to show you in the next few days...stay posted!!!!

Ok, finally an update!
I said I would detail the restoration of the engine bay in it’s own posting so here goes:

As usual, this may be a bit on the picture heavy / detailed side for some so I’ll start by showing you a quick before & after shot…then if you don’t want to trawl through all the details…fair enough!

Engine bay before:

Basically what you might expect from a 22 year old Ford that has been sitting for a few years – Corroded Cam cover, rusted heat shield, faded plastics, dulled paint, broken clips & loose fittings!

Engine bay after:

(not sure what’s going on with the exposure levels of my camera) In a nutshell – this is what the bay looks like now…much fresher I think!

So that’s basically the end result. If you’re not the sort of person who’s into the details, look away now…if you are – read on!

First up, was to strip the bay down. This picture shows the general state of what I was dealing with once the main plastics had been removed:


Here are a few more detailed pictures of the various parts of the bay in need of some attention:
Grimey underside of the bonnet:



Suspension turrets:


Underneath the air box:


Cam cover & manifold heat shield:


Main engine [banana] mount:


So, onto the restoration and rebuild!
First up I Had to do something about the cam cover. The alloy was suffering really quite badly from surface corrosion and staining and the cover’s gasket had a leak which had caused lots of mess around the bay!



A lot of people jump at the chance to ‘modify’ their cam covers once off, however I was adamant that I wanted to retain the look of originality here so rather than go down the powder coated / painted / polished route I opted to have the cover ‘hydro blasted’ (basically blasted with a liquid containing small glass beads).
This would give me the factory matt alloy finish that I wanted.
Results:


To give the cover a little more protection for the future I also lacquered it with a High temp matt finish laquer (retains proper finish texture).

The heat shield was also a big visual let down for the engine bay, suffering from surface rust. The shield has got some minor damage however this isn’t visable when fitted so for now…it’s staying!



This was a simple case of taking back as much of the surface rust as possible, several coats of acid etch, then several coats of high temp alloy effect paint.
After refurb:



Onto the main plastic components:
The process for these parts was the same throughout so ill just quickly cover the airbox / MAF revamp.
Before:



The plastics were all cleaned using TFR, dried then Oil cleaned & treated. Any alloy parts were cleaned with a soft wire attachment on a dremel, then cleaned along with the plastics.
After:


Underside of the bonnet.
This was an easy job. Just cleaned and grime removed as with body paintwork then polished and sealed:
Before:

After:


ready for the refitting of the ‘up until now’ absent bonnet insulation.

Insulation before:



Insulation after cleaning:



And refitted in it’s rightful place:


There are of course other areas which have been tidied up & cleaned, but not everything was pictured!
There’s still a few areas to sort out and a few parts to freshen up but for now here are a few over all shots of the bay (ignore the Ford stock label on the new throttle cable...couldn't bring myself to remove it!). The black wing / flakey slam panel are going to be sorted along with the bodywork.:








That’s where I’m up to at the moment…hopefully I’ll have some more updates soon.
Thanks for reading!

Looking good, and nice detail in the write up me like