Renault Estafette Van, Mk2 Cortina GT

The Escort is coming along nicely Jonsey

I didn’t have a lot of time yesterday as I was going out for a meal early afternoon but I did get the leaf springs back on the axle and the axle back on the car





This was so that I could use this


Why Phil? I hear you ask. Well not really as 1, you probably didn’t know my name was Phil, and b, you probably don’t care. But the reason is I have not quite given up on fitting coil overs on the rear yet. I have 2 last options. Well 3 actually, but I’m not fitting bubble arches so it’s 2.

So option a. Use the wheel arch tool to stretch the arch out a bit more. I can then run a spacer (which totally defeats the point of me spending a small fortune building a narrowed axle) to move the wheel further out giving me room for the spring on the coil over.

No photos but after an hour or so pishing about with the wheel arch tool, I only gained 5mm. See, not worth a photo. With option 1 shot down in flames, we move onto my final option.

Last year when I was looking for some Mexico arches to replace the GRP ones I had on my front wings, the sprayer I know who paints new build rally Escorts said he had a set. When I looked at them they were only standard front Escort arches so no good to me. What’s this got to do with my rear arches? Well my mate who has a mk1 has actually put front arches on the rear of his car


These are now about 2” higher up than standard. And he is running 8” -5 off set wheels on a standard width axle and they don’t stick out of the arch



We’ll only just, but they don’t rub as the arch is so much higher. What’s more, the change is quite subtle. Some rally Escorts have some really bad looking rear arches to get more room. So I phoned the painter to see if he still had the arches. He did. So now I have them. For free. 


When I saw them last summer they were like new in black paint. They are now covered in a thick layer of filler dust. His lungs must be shot. So I put them up against the car to demonstrate the difference


The front of the arch is the wrong shape as it curves in a lot where it traditionally met the front valance. My mate sorted this by cutting it off and making an aluminum cover that can be seen on the photo earlier. I have a shrinker so will try to straighten it out a bit.

As the rear has been tubbed previously, the inner arch no longer exists. So the outer arch is purely decorative. This makes it a lot easier to cut the old arch off and weld on a new one. It also has the added bonus of a lot of the scabby dents / welding will also go.

This will be the 3rd time I’ve fitted rear arches to this car.

I think I’m loosing the plot

I keep making up excuses to keep welding this thing 

Is there a name for this?

The second one sounds more like it Glen. But it has to end sometime.

Today I booked a day off. Eye balls been playing up so I had booked an opticians appointment. Nothing sinister going on. Just new reading glasses required. I’ve only had the last pair a year.

Anyway, one pub lunch later and I went out the garage. I had planned to use some washers to space the wheels out to see what I could get away with. But I had no washers that fitted the studs. No worries, I’ll cut some tube. Couldn’t find any of that either.

So I did this


I guess that’s the wheel arch decision made then.

The front of the new wheel arch curves in a bit where it meets the front valance.


I used the stretcher to straighten this out (no photo) and trimmed the arch down a bit until I reached the flat section . I then screwed it onto the car

With it being black I couldn’t see how it was “looking”, probably because I need new glasses too, so I put some primer on


This is placed where the standard arch sat. The 2 bottom edges in the same place. It looks like the arch is too far back for me. I compared it to my mates car


His now looks a bit to far forward, but only when I zoom in for some reason. So I moved the arch forward an inch


Looks a lot better, to me anyway, I’ve got dodgy eyes remember. I then realised that the rear had dropped about 10mm when I screwed the arch back on so I adjusted it



Looks nuts at full droop



But that’s not really and issue.
When I cut the old arch off I’d left about 10mm lip. I decided to remove this but not the top section as the body line above the arch won’t be correct. I also cut a grotty piece out of the bottom and straightened the tub where it had been smashed in previously.









I’m undecided how to fix the new arch on. Some parts of the tub to rear quarter welds need redoing now. I could weld this up and the weld the arch on top. It’s going to need a ton of filler as the quarter is so damaged. Or I could cut the the tub from the quarter, trim the new arch down to go past the 20mm ish, butt weld the arch in and then reweld the tub to the new arch.

I need to sleep on it. Here’s an old arch - new acre comparison

Looks good from here!

Looks ace, Phil.

Thanks GT

Thanks Mr T

Right all you panel beaterer types. I need some help.

The standard rear arch lip used to blend into the lower rear quarter like so



My new front arch on the rear is like this


The lip goes all the way to the bottom. I would like to make it look like the top picture. Anyone have any idea how I could do this without ruining the arch. I was thinking cutting along the line where the flat of the wheel arch lip meats the curved bit, curving the lip in and then bashing the curved bit flat and reweld it (if that makes sense). But for some reason I can’t see it working in my head.

Any ideas?