I think I'll move to installing the wiper motor and getting the steering rack rebuilt, was hoping for a quick rack to surface but not to be so it's a stock rebuild. I'll show how it's done for those who want to do their own.

CAD ROOM is the second draw down full of plans and rust repair maps. Plus bias pedal box mod plans etc for mk1 and MK2..
CAD= Card Aided Drawing!!

Good idea with the fan Marty. I reckon that pushes some air.
The original units even when I rebuild them are noisy. Its the best way to know they're on though!

Yeah the original type fan is not so efficient , the best fan type is the barrel ones but then the whole heater will need re-engineering. The thermo fan does punch a wallop of air on full spin and is noisy due to the blade shape etc, hope once it's in the car it'll quieten down, or not use in full blast aye !!
I can't remember if the wiper motor goes in before the heater or doesn't matter which way..

I had the heater in first, then then the wiper motor and a drive arms.
It seemed to be fine, as they suggested on the Mk2 at least, to fit the wiper arm through the gauge binnacle.
 

Yeah it's different in a mk1 but the same, as your MK2 has the wiper bolt up in the passenger side, mk1 is next to the heater and dash panel support which it's bolted to with 1 bolt, it relies on the arm pivots to hold it.

Today I got the motorbike fairing isolators so got them installed, also stuck a nice thick foam seal around the tube part so it's fully sealed from the outside. I think the foam was made for C channel in the building industry, weatherproof etc.
I think I'll need to pull the heater out again to bring the core further out, not a big deal but annoying .

Heater installed but had to run spacers so the core tubes weren't too high up

... And then I realised the cables weren't long enough about an inch so i ended up making me ones with sacrificing a non serviceable mk1 throttle cable and some Tig SS rods, it's as good or better than factory
I have removed and cleaned the switch face for the new sticker coming soon.
The switch cover is a test mule and might be binned after, it's not great on of finish. I had no idea that installing a early MK2 heater box was so complicated , only cause I didn't have a mk1 one.. you can see how close to the tunnel the lower plastic is .

The cables are pretty close to the heater vent , I might need to do some adjusting where I can either by trimming or 3D printing a special dogleg into the vent, dash vents are from a USA Ford F150 Lightning, they are the same diameter as regular Escort vents, I did buy a set of 4 vents and all have this silver and chrome, with the idea to paint a pr black with chrome rings to see which works best

 
Nice find.
Those vents are a great fit, it would be hard to put old ones back instead.
I don't mind the silver colour actually.
 
 

Back in the shed after a week of scanning dash panels and other stuff for 3d printing , anyway I got the steering rack off the old XM and it seems very original except for a replacement gaiter/bellow on 1 side which is totally normal as is the rack being pumped with grease which is better than oil although the amount of grease in there is a bit excessive.

Here is the knuckle or drumstick part and that dark spot is the dowell which needs drilling with a 4mm but, make sure it's drilled deeper than the threads so the locking collar comes off.



And these are what to expect once it's unscrewed from the rack

The ball should be free of pits and rust, the plastic cup, washer and spring are usually serviceable items unless buying a HD kit in which the cup with be made of bronze .

Moving on is removal of the preload plate which has plenty of shims, since things wear a little, so when reinstalling it for tolerance some shims won't be needed as the plate will be lower putting pressure on the spring.


This is the pinion cover plate which also has shims .

What's inside is the pinion, top bearing, shims and lower bearing which is difficult to remove sometimes.


Once the rack is removed the only 1 item left which is the plastic guide on the passenger side of the housing, with luck it's still in 1 piece but mine came out in bits, it would've caused lots of slop in the steering. I carry hundreds of rack bits from years of repairs and quick rack conversions back in the day, I just gotta find that box !

This is the broken guide


And now the housing is empty I can clean it out



Going back to 3d printing, I needed a new set of bonnet support rubbers that sit on the rail along the guard. All I had was remnants of the original and no side ones so went looking online and nope not paying $60 . Decided to buy a roll of tpu and have a go at remanufacturing them. I have now got regular MK2 side ones on file, MK2 van which are an updated mk1 type so went with them for my coup , in still working out the infill ratio to make them slightly pliable but still to the job intended. If Deano wants to test a set on his van I'll ship them out, or the file, either way !! Anyone else let me know..

XM?
I'm thinking why is he putting a Falcon rack in the Escort?
 
I rebuilt the Capri rack in the same way back in the day, replacing the plastic cup that supports the rack, and filling the rack up with exactly the correct amount of oil in the rack.
Later, Bob Jane did the wheel alignment, and left a gaitor boot clamp loose, draining all of the oil out.
So I left a 1600 Capri burnout on their forecourt.
 
Thanks for the offer Marty, but I did stump up the $60 odd for a set of legit rubbers. Just have to do more painting before they can go on.