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Hello all I'm Nigel from south wales (Crosshands) been brought up enjoying road rallying, classic car and vintage shows. I’d lost all the minis, capris and other cars I’ve been lucky to have but I’m not here to bore you to death  I bought this LHD 4 door slightly over 3 years ago with intentions to convert it to RHD and road rally it (one of my hobbies), but after I started to spend the money I though…maybe not. I was lucky enough to come across an mx5 1.8vvt engine box and loom from a mark2.5, it was just pulled out from a Talbot Sunbeam so I thought, I could do with a bit of modern power and reliability actually. That was the start of the project, and I was happily plodding along with it until I was accepted onto this years deadline stand…so let’s just say ive decided to pull my finger out and try to finish it. Il update this daily from the start, let’s see if I get it finished in time. For now enjoy a pic of when it came home 3 years ago and how she currently stands.   |
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Finger out is deffo an understatement 🤣
It's an awesome project and great to see a classic escort 5 door getting the love it deserves.
It'll make deadline have no fear and it'll look splendid doing it too
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Feb 22, 2024 12:19:23 GMT
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Looking forward to the updates. I’m only down the road near Pontyberem
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Feb 22, 2024 12:57:51 GMT
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Go for it, following with interest
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Feb 22, 2024 19:09:08 GMT
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Day 1 28th Feb 2021 After getting the car home I decided to start by taking the original 1300cc X flow out, and to inspect further just how much car was left under the rust , it’s a Ford after all Removed the original wings…crusty, front end, crusty, and the doors were, yup you guessed it… crusty! Started removing the original interior,and started pricing up the RHD conversion pieces. Bought the kit whole from Historic Motorsport in the end. As a note, at this point I was still in the state of mind to just rally it with a tasty 1600 X flow, oh how plans would change       |
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Feb 22, 2024 22:25:22 GMT
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Bookmarked!
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Feb 23, 2024 12:08:06 GMT
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May 9th 2021 With the interior stripped out it was time to get cutting. Made a template from the original clocks  May 11th 2021 If you agree with health and safety maybe skip this next picture… Well when it’s always raining in wales, you don’t have a lift then you have to get creative. All jokes aside it was leaning over on a load of wheels etc so wasn’t going anywhere  18th June 2021 Cutting more metal away here, ready to put a big tunnel in. I was thinking of a type9 Sierra gearbox here raised right up along with the exhaust for the rougher off road sections of a road rally  22nd June 2021 And that was her best delorean impression. With the axle, suspension and wings off she stood like this until August of 2021… more to come |
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Feb 23, 2024 12:09:28 GMT
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May 9th 2021 With the interior stripped out it was time to get cutting. Made a template from the original clocks May 11th 2021 If you agree with health and safety maybe skip this next picture… Well when it’s always raining in wales, you don’t have a lift then you have to get creative. All jokes aside it was leaning over on a load of wheels etc so wasn’t going anywhere 18th June 2021 Cutting more metal away here, ready to put a big tunnel in. I was thinking of a type9 Sierra gearbox here raised right up along with the exhaust for the rougher off road sections of a road rally 22nd June 2021 And that was her best delorean impression. With the axle, suspension and wings off she stood like this until August of 2021… more to come  |
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Feb 27, 2024 21:19:43 GMT
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10th August 2021 Started engine bay work,   (29th August 2021) Followed by the quick rack and some mounts   Tune in tomorrow because the whole “night event car on the cheap” project starts to take an unexpected turn… |
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that's gotta be a fun car outside nice one dude  |
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(rofl)Things do change (ok I ended up building a wooden garage lol)
But the first 2 years the car was being built outside, in wales where as we all know not never rains right?
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10th September 2021 A friend of mine was selling his Talbot Sunbeam shell, and jokingly I said “what are you doing with the engine?” Well this happened, now hear me out. A lot of people love pinto’s and crossflow’s, zetec and red top’s in a mk2. I actually love a screaming crossflow myself, but here is a relatively modern engine with good power and lots of aftermarket parts available, and it didn’t cost me much at all.    Using zetec engine mounts, the engine sits really well in the bay. Apart from fitting a roll cage (il try and find pics) nothing happened to the car for a while… actually until July 2022 |
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So… July 2022 Living in wales is great, we have castles, brilliant rallying and crappy weather, so. It was time to build a garage!    September 2022 quickly came around, so it was time to get some sort of safety into the cars. Even though I wasn’t going to rally it anymore track days and hillclimbs are still on the cards    After Xmas and a fair bit of saving and spending by Feb 2023 the pedal box was fitted and the clocks were being tested for fitment. So a recap, the engine and gearbox was now fitted, but I needed something instead of the Koln rear axle, new suspension and brakes all around and that was just the start of it for 2023! |
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February 2023 A good mate of mine had a set of coilovers and brake calipers with disks from a tarmac stage car, well I thought it would be rude to say no so….   Bought myself some pots from MST Tools,  May 2023 Managed to get hold of an atlas axle which will be more than man enough for the job…. I hope  Up until now the original plan for the colour was going to be either nardo grey or ferggie grey ( yes the tractor colour) with black bumpers. But I was watching a round of the Irish tarmac championship with my daughter (who was 5 at the time) and she spotted this orange 2 door. She looked at me, and just said “daddie that’s a cool colour” So the next thing you know, I had ordered enough Ford Signal Orange to make any tango fan happy!  The same month the rear end had its rebuild along with a new set of AVO’s and the body was starting to get prepped   As yet “Retro Rides Deadline Stand” was not even in my mind but things were about to get interesting thanks to 2 best mates, one mad dream and a load of carbon fibre Chris Young aka “that nascar mk2” And Gareth “Man hands” Leyshon ( Chris and Gar, id tag you but I don’t know how haha) |
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Apr 12, 2024 19:58:02 GMT
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August 2023 Started the prep work on the car, and started by spraying the door shuts etc in signal orange.   And by September she looked a little something like this    November 2023, we started the plumbing of brake lines, it’s thanks to Chris and Gareth this got done as i had never done anything with brake lines before.    And I received my first full carbon fibre part from “Doodle Fibre” quarter bumpers   January 2024 It’s at this point I knew for sure that the car was accepted for the deadline stand…. So I have a car that hasn’t started, the wiring looms not finished, no seats or interior, no exhaust or prop shaft, I suppose I best get a wiggle on I thought! |
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Apr 30, 2024 21:00:08 GMT
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Cue the wiring saga Chapter 1 - “Why did I think this was a good idea?!” Now il be honest and say I haven’t got the faintest idea when it comes to wiring. Thankfully a good friend of mine does this in his spare time, well for pintos and crossflows So the loom was taken up his special shed for a good bit of weight reduction     And then it was time for the car to be put down on all 4 wheels, the first time in a LONG time. It was decided it’s easier to take the car to the wiring shed than have my mate keep coming back and forth. Only thing is…he’s decided to make me do the work with him, I mean this way I get to learn how not to set my car on fire!     In the mean time I’ve had the Mazda prop shortened and balanced with an atlas coupling added. As I write this we’ve still not actually started the car, put the exhaust on or fitted the interior, and with just over a week to go to the show I’m getting nervous to say the least… |
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Not a bit tight time wise or anything  Keep us updated! Nice to see someone building an escort to use. Loads are turning into Show Queens here (Ireland) |
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May 22, 2024 19:57:27 GMT
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Well now the dust has settled on the show and as you probably guessed….it didn’t make it Yes I could have trailered it to the deadline stand and pushed it onto the show area but cmon, that would be cheating. If I’m taking the car it will be under its own power. So next year it’s track time all the way Saturday and parked up to show on Sunday. RR25 here we come! Thanks to Chris young ( NASCAR mk2 golf) for my new sticker, bonus points if you guys get a pic with it too lol!  Now the excuses, I didn’t manage to get the loom sorted in time, but I’ve now got a box of wires ready to plug in. Some very nice new buckets, and other pets ready to fix. So please do stay tuned to keep updated with the build, and see how many tires I can destroy on track and hillclimbs |
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Jun 11, 2024 18:31:51 GMT
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Quick update So myself and Chris decided to throw some parts at the MazCort and see if they would stick… Turns out the carbon fibre dash is now in, ignition barrel all mounted (I’m using the mx5 key and ignition with a mk2 escort quick rack) And I can finally sit in the car, in actual seats!  More progress to follow very soon! |
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Jun 11, 2024 21:16:18 GMT
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Very nice!!
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