The inside is pretty good and has that factory overspray look , I have tried to replicate how it was... all the deadner is as original apart from some small patches that I repaired and deadenerd after. That's it for inside unless I've missed out something .
Still wrapping up the car today so paint tomorrow on a balmy 34deg dry day , in the 'room' it'll be about 25 just about perfect !

Must be a world record for me painting 2 cars in 6 months. Here is the rally pack in it's original Pine n Lime . The compressor went well without a problem as well.

Looks great Marty! Real nice finish

Thanks Mark
I used a different brand of 2pk from my mk1 , I won't get in the technical side but warm weather really helped (35°) , there are some great areas and some that'll need a cut n polish but overall I'm well chuffed , I'll do the blackouts around the sides and grill slot plus the sill strip this week then I can remove all the tape and plastic sheets.
We're onto the parts cleaning and checking process now , yesterday we stripped the struts apart and to our surprise , well mine mostly cause team member isn't savvy on mech, the strut inserts was expecting to be boring old oilers but no, they are the classic Pedders Red gas jobbies and still feel plenty good to reuse again.


I'll be doing my famous trick of cutting the spring platform off and dropping it 1in and welding back on, this should level the height a bit better.

Ok so onto my mk1 now, place of research with ignition barrels of which I'm sure the mk1 didn't have one when I bought it, interior was burnt and stripped. Anyhow my mission is to find the difference between mk1 and mk2 barrel blocks to see if they are interchangeable, all I can see the difference is the half notch for the column is deeper, not to much different as pics show.



Ok I removed the key barrels for more studies, for good reason, 1 , to see how they come apart for future readers . First the mk1, it needs a hole drilling where shown here

This spot has a spring lock and needs to be pressed in then the barrel can be pulled out, as you can see I attempted to drill the barrel so I could turn it but wasn't needed, just some force to knock it out..
Mk2 is more user friendly for extracting the key barrel where the spring tab is exposed as seen here..

So you do need a key to turn the ign on to the first notch (acc) then it'll virtually just pull out with the key.
Now the kicker part , research and more research , back in the early days I was told that a EA Falcon ign barrel will go in, never done it but have seen it in a friend's RS bank in the late 90s , but now we're in the 20s and finding stuff out is easier. So my theory is and should fit with minor mods is the Focus mk1 ign barrel which it dates back to around 1987 in the Transit van plus gallons of other Fords ever since up to about 2010 , Mondeo, Focus, fiesta, Kak etc , so I've bought a new barrel with keys from good old Alispress for $25 which comes with 2x for locks as well, no transponder . The back of the jet barrel looks identical to mk2 Escort so we'll know when it arrives. I can make stuff fit so I'm not too worried if there's a little modding needed, I'll keep youse posted ..

Satin black day today , doing the window blackouts and bottom sill etc on the rally pack which I hope is the last of the shell painting . While I had some paint left I resprayed my mk1 dash top as I didn't like the gloss effect
.
Pics of the mk2 all masked up, I prolly went overboard on coverage but rather be safe

Even did those alloy garnish bits..

All unwrapped

Poor old air compressor probably cacked it painting 2 cars at once.
 
If the column mods dont work out, and you arent going to a Maclaren push button start,  I have a complete MK1 column with ignition and set of keys floating around.
 
 

Compressor loved the workout lol.
I'm not sure if going push button is part of the plan tho I did buy a full kit which is activated with the brake pedal and oil pressure switch for turning off the starter.

Today I moved some panels about and seen how bad my mk1 doors are, think I rushed a bit plus the runs so has to get them sorted out. When fixing a run I cut a bit deep and it needed filler which in turn needed primer, so I got to sanding all the scratches out and some small pockets I missed . Next was the boot lid which also could do with another coat, they all got sanded until I couldn't see any remains of scratches, also I'm doing the mirrors but they could revert back to satin black depends on how it all looks, mirrors are falcon GT style, not genuine.


Tomorrow is paint day for these parts..

Had a parcel arrive which was the brake pads for the mx5 rear calipers

Nice and cheap but are ceramic compound so should work fine

All fitted

Might go the Mark part time way and get front rotors from a Ford Kak, of not I'll get mx5 ones

Today I resprayed the doors and bootlid as the finish before was bit rushed . Also dug out the Ford GT mirrors to be painted, and I am on the fence with them being black or colored so thought while painting to just do them and see. Personally like black mirrors but since there's going to be satin black/charcoal stripes, I don't want to over do it.

I suppose after the last car I'm up to spec with this 2pk painting now, still learning but getting better each time.



As there was still heaps of paint left over I quickly steelo padded this works style centre console , again only cause I had paint spare but it'll end up being satin black after I've remodeled it to suit the head unit and switches etc.

Jeez you've been a busy bee Marty! The ignition barrel stuff could solve a lot of future problems for the escorts if your project is a success.

The paint looks great, darker colours are not forgiving in the slightest and if it's looking like that straight off the gun it'll come up amazing after final corrections.

The KAK rotors are 12mm thick so may need to sand the pads down a little, apart from that they went on a treat (after turning down the axle).

Thanks Mark, I'm happy now work the doors and bootlid, just minor cutting and polishing required now.
Going back about 15yrs I did paint a mates mk1 escort in jet black, that took a lot of block sanding and polishing but looked amazing, I have only ever seen 1 genuine black mk1 Escort which was a GS sport pack (not quite 1300GT spec) super rare.

Yes, I hope the Focus barrel will be what's needed to update our old ign barrels, I think it'll be here early next week which will give me more to play with and let everyone know if you or Deano want to convert yours.

Had a look at the Kak rotors, the 12mm isn't a drama with my calipers, they're 14mm gap, and shaving the axle, I can do on a lathe. I bought Alfa rotors for my Anglia and axles needed reducing too. Only thing with Kak is they are small dia 240mm? , I'll go the mx5 rotors which are about 260mm . I think the NA,NB models are 4 stud so just oval the holes to Ford makes it simpler . I should dummy up the calipers on the housing and see what thickness rotor hat I need before shelling out on stuff..