Panko's 1975 Mk1 Escort sedan (take 2)

Well, here we go again. 
 
A couple weeks ago, i had no intention of buying another Mk1 Escort any time soon. However, a mate of mine from when I had my last escort couldn't resist contacting me, and putting me onto this beautiful little 4 door Mk1 for sale way up in Kerang, about 3 hours north of Melbourne. 

I took a look at the photos, and promptly called the owner. I was pretty much sold there and then. 
 
So, Michael (my Escort informant), my good mate Callin and I set off from Sunbury at around 9am in Michael's VW Amarok (I'm glad we did...ill explain soon) to go look at this car, with cash in hand ready to drive this beauty home to Melbourne. 
 
The owner was a retired old guy, who collects some interesting and beautiful cars. He was very honest with his asking price, and very genuine. I somewhat feel like i might have ripped him off a little with the price, but it was well within his price range, and he was happy to accept. Even left his club plates for me to drive it home. 
 
now for the good (and bad) photos of our adventure. 
 
These next few pics are the photos the owner sent me. the car is totally original. 1975 (october) factory 4 speed 1300XL. Has 139,000km on the odometer, but the engine in it apparently has about half that. The original engine came with the car, which has been rebuilt as some stage, with non standard pistons...so some investigation needs to go into that, as it may end up being a stronger engine than the one thats in it...very weird. 
 

 
interior is MINT.
 

 

 
the previous owner had it for about 3.5 years, and only drove it a handful of times. 
 

 
 
 
SO i bought the car, and set off on the long journey home. during the test drove she drove like a dream. smooth, plenty of power and comfy...
 

 
we got 30 minutes from Kerang then this happened....
 
obviously the guy i bought it from never had a problem with the car because it only ever got driven around town, never on the HWY. so me attempting to drive it home, sitting on 90km/h was enough to sort out the bugs...like the distributor which was inevitably going to die..and leave me standard 

 
SO, we flat towed the car as far has Harcourt, where Michael's dad was nice enough to borrow a friends trailer, and meet us. we trailered it back to Michael's house, arriving back to Sunbury about 8pm. and thats where i left the car, on the trailer in Michael's driveway, along with 1 of his Mk1 4 door Escorts. 
 

 
A big thanks to Michael and Callin for the support and help, i would've been ****ed if i had taken the xf or my daily to go collect it. thank **** for Michael and his Rok. 
 
anyway, Michael is a legend, he got it going for me again with a spare dizzy. 
 
Can not wait to start enjoying this beast 
 

Ok well nothing has changed on this just yet. 
 
Michael did get it running, however it wasnt quite right. he put the spare dizzy in and tuned it as best be could be ear, having no timing light. anyway, i picked the car up to drive it back to where the car is being kept for now, but it didnt feel right. a bit under powered, and then under heavy load i heard what i feared, it was pinging like a mofo  The car made the 30 minute drive, but it was getting a bit warm, so i knew something was wrong. 
 
Last night, after driving back to Melbourne from SA for 8 hours, i decided while i was with the escort id get the timing right. we tried sticking the timing light over it, but not good, we couldn't get it retarded enough. so we resorted to the workshop manual...
following the workshop manual's guide, we did a base static time on the engine. it turns out, the dizzy had been put in 1 tooth out on the camshaft  hence why it was way advanced and pinging and getting hot. thankfully its now running like a dream again, no misfiring, no coughing. i haven't driven it yet since getting the timing right, but its idling and revving up perfect.
the worst part is, i have to redo this all over again when i get my electronic dizzy for it. 

cheers guys. 
 
hopefully the car won't need much to get it on the road, so should be registered and cruising within a couple of months :) 
 
* I tend to progress on things a little slow * haha

Drew, plans are to do some minor "bolt on" mods. 
 
Wheels. I have a set of alloy 15x6" interceptors that i want to fit. (as seen on the front of Michael's blue Mk1 in earlier pics) 
 
removal of overriders. eventually id like to fit corner bumpers. i like seeing the nostrils. 
 
i have a twin barrel 32/36 weber that i want to fit, and a set of extractors. i think ill need to get it re-jetted to suit the 1300. 
 
ill probably lower it about an inch, no more. 
 
in the long term, i want to strip the original engine down, and find out exactly whats going on with it. 
Its a matching numbers 1300 block to the car, but appears to be fitted with 1600cc Burton pistons. The head that came with the original engine is a 1600 head, not a 1300. so i need to find out what cam shaft is in it, and if everything is ok, id like to try get it running on the ground. if its good to go, ill drop the original (but evidently worked) engine back into the car. 
 
so basically the car is going to get a bit of a freshen up, mostly in styling, and thats about it. and of course enjoy it. it needs a good cut and polish to get the colour to really pop. 

Chuff, 
 
thanks for that tip. id have thought it would stay the same or go up, because aren't the 1600 blocks taller? to up the comp on a 1600, wouldn't you have to deck the block? 
I need to get a part number off the pistons to be sure. they could also be 1300 GT pistons, according to a post on an international FB page i found last night. 

thanks for that. its all a bit confusing. 

I have another engine sitting in the garage from my last mk1, which had been rebuilt some time, years ago, and the pistons are different in that again. they dont have the shape for the valves. 
 
the original engine in question now, is at Michael's garage, so i can't go look at it to compare at the moment. 

So i got the car home and it took prime spot in the garage next to the XF :)

I decided to have a crack at giving the old paint a bit of a cut and polish. test patch on the boot lid.
Before...

After...


So it has plenty of scratches still, but has taken the cloudiness out. Ill leave the rest to be done professionally, its definitely beyond my expertise.
Today, I decided i would give the under belly of the car a scrub, and i mean scrub. degreaser and a wire brush kind of thing lol. 41 years of dirt, oil, lead to my driveway looking like this....

this lot came from the front RH wheel arch on its own :o



its much cleaner underneath now. Thursday, I plan to start pulling the front end out. whole front end, minus steering, is coming out to be rebuilt.

Im having pretty good luck with the car.
The front end is entirely out. and have started putting it back together. So the new tie rods are in, sway bar is painted ready to be re-fitted. New control arms are ready to go back in. sway bar bushes, brake pads. the last things i need to get are the steering coupling and brake hoses.
I'm also just awaiting my new springs to come. once i have the springs the front end can go back in, and it will be rolling again. wheel alignment, diff alignment and it should pass roady and have plates on it by next week :D