1982 Ford Escort XR3

Today's delights:

Dirty milky fuse box cover


Clean(er) shiny(ish) fuse box cover


Manky distributor


Clean distributor (the marks are physical damage to the casing, not surprising after nearly 40 years)


Tired wiper motor cover


Slightly fresher wiper motor cover


Getting there slowly. Cam cover will make a big difference, as will painting the manifold.

Lovely! Mk3 XRs have always been a favourite of mine.
Actually better in LHD as well, no daft crossbar for the brakes!

Overdue update!

The Escort has been doing well, here are the latest changes:

Off with the RS1600i splitter which was looking very sorry for itself



Off with the rear wheel spats which were in a similar state



Car looks very basic and naked without them



Repainted with K2 Bumper Structure paint, which restores the spark eroded finish of the original parts





Plastics back on, replacement grille, pressed number plate to replace the broken plastic one, and some Hella Comet 500 lamps to replace the dinky Ring ones. Still sitting low as the brackets are on the bumper rather than in the proper location.
Just can't justify the cost of Carellos!



I've also replaced the front springs (rears ready to go on too), fitted poly ARB bushes and poly top mounts.

Next - cam cover.

Just a little update but one I think that makes a big difference.

Last two big bits of the engine bay were the cambelt cover and the cam cover.

Cambelt cover - all scratched and scuffed. No pics but this was sanded smooth, painted with plastic painted and new graphics applied:



Cam cover old vs new - the new one is actually different, it's missing the bracket to hold the airbox but the airbox is well held on without it.



All fitted - along with a new later type rubber gasket, stainless bolts and load spreaders. Makes the engine bay look much much smarter I think.

Top job!
I also have a soft spot for these from back in the day. Had a sunburst red supersport fiesta instead as these were just too pricey.
Recently bought a good mark 1 fiesta shell for a copy of my old supersport so appreciate the info on the k2 bumper paint. Hopefully it can turn around the scruffy arch & spoiler set I've bought. Always prefer to use something after a recommendation.
Agree with the tetrosyl lacquer comment and would add that their primers are pretty good from a rattle can too.
What's next on the job list.

Loving the work you’re doing to this! It always looked an amazing example, but the tidying up you’re doing to it and the little touches are making it an extremely nice and awesome car!
There won’t be many left in this condition...

With the rear bumper done, it was time to look at the front.

Took it off, prised off the end caps, removed the crumbling overriders, and popped out the crash pads.

This gives you an idea of the general condition of the plastics:



Everything was cleaned, scuffed up, and coated with K2 Structure Paint (I might as well buy shares in this company)



The bumper, which initially looked alright, was trashed. Rust everywhere, bent out of shape, fit for the bin to be honest but I haven't got £80 knocking about for a new one.

I started attacking it with a variety of tools - hammers, grinders, DA sander, rust converter, Hydrate80, all sorts:



More grinding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding:



Finally it was ready for primer. First some grey high build - then some Tetrosyl Red Oxide (you are supposed to use red primer for Sunburst Red paint)



While I was at it, I soaked the rusty brackets in a citric acid solution and did them in black. I know they aren't the proper Ford brackets but they were already fitted when I got the car:



Followed by a good few coats of Sunburst Red (not the best match to be honest) and then a few coats of Tetrosyl Clear.
It isn't perfect, but it will do me:





And back on the car with the recoated end caps:







Although the colour match looks good here, it isn't really.
It's no worse than it was though, and the finish is now a lot better than the original bumpers.

Overall, happy with the result, even if in the pics it looks basically just like it did before!

cant tell the colour differences from the photos tbh. i think you can get away with it anyway, due to being separate panel with shadow gaps

Yeah, big black spoiler below it helps too!

RS1600i splitter went back on today. I also have a brand new headlamp coming for the driver's side (mine is a bit tarnished inside) and new indicators which will be fitted at the same time.