Hi everyone, been lurking around this forum for quite a while and as I got my first Escort last year thought it was time to say hello and show it off. I have been around small Fords all my life, Dad owns the orange MK1 Escort turbo that some of you might know.
 
Anyway here's mine it's a 4door MK2 Escort with a 2.0L Pinto engine. The compliance plates confirm the car is a genuine 2.0L Monza Red with Red interior build. From the codes it should be an auto but has already been converted to a 4 speed, which suits what we want to do with it. Overall the car was in good condition with just a little rust in a couple of spots in the floor. The heater bubble has already been repaired, but there was some front end damage when I got it and the motor had a terrible knock. It also blew smoke on start up so the valve stems seals were shot.
Here's how it looked when I first got it.

 

 

 
More progress piccies a little later
 
 

Great colour combo, good luck with it, looking forward to progress pics as you go.............. 

So shortly after getting the car home I began working on the front end damage. The engine had to come out to get a freshen up and the problems it had fixed.
Getting ready to lift the engine out, you can see the front end damage in these photos.
 


 
With the slam panel off, the front panel was removed by a combination of cutting the spot welds out and cutting with a grinder. The centre support for the slam panel had to be removed and as there was a poor attempt at fixing it. That was removed then there was just a little bit of tidying up to do before fitting the new panels.



 
 
 

Nice one, slowest part is unpicking all those spot welds well done. Are you welding it yourself? Look forward to more pics.....
Cheers Drew........

Great work and I'm about to undertake the same repair as my RS2000 front valance is pretty beat up. Keep the pics coming!

You're not wrong about unpicking all the spot welds, it certainly was hard work. Even the project supervisor was knackered.

 
 
Yeh, having new panels available helps. I got the front panel and slam panel through Smcka. Fitted them up and then put some small bolts in to help hold them in place while we welded it all up. I have never welded before so after a lot of practice on scrap pieces gave it a go. Pretty happy with how it turned out but I left some of the bolts in just to be sure. The car isn't going to be a resto so it doesn't have to be factory perfect.




 
The bonnet and grille went back on to make sure it was all lined up properly. The bonnet has a slight bow in it which I have tried to straighten. Its not quite right but is okay for now. A new bonnet will go on when the car gets a full respray eventually.
 

hey mate, 
 
nice job with the panel, rest of the car looks really straight.
 
keep the pics coming

WOW what a nice color, I love the color of your car because its looking very attractive, and you build the front of the car which is almost finished due to corrosion. Thanks for sharing your work. You worked great. 

With all the welding done it was time to paint. There was a little bit of distortion even with only plug welding the holes where the original spot welds were. A seem sealer was applied behind all the  panels. The front was rubbed back and a small amount of filler used prior to primering.



 
For the paint we used was an off the shelf acrylic in Monza Red. The colour match was suprisingly good and the highlights were done in an acrylic black also.


 
The original grille was damaged so I got another off ebay and sanded it back before spraying it with the same black. The car sat like this for a number of weeks so the paint would be cured properly before buffing. The grille and bumpers went on so the car looks almost complete again. 
 

 
Now it's on to the engine!!!

That's come up really well. Good work
 
Rhys