Great job Mark.
 
You need a van Marty if you plan on carrying stuff.
You could be the cool guy at Bunning carpark if you had one.

Some of the last MK2 did have door intrusion bars/plates but that's all I know about that..
Yes Deano, I have to finish off the blue zetec van 1 day, then it'll be a crowd stopper at buntings, much like your arched wagon will be 👍

I think mine might have those intrusion bars too, they're massive and run basically right down the middle of the door on the horizontal plane and are about 30cm wide. I'm interstate for work at the moment so can't take a photo.

Correct Mark, early mk2 escort have just a beam of tophat about 2in wide, and after mid 77 they grew to a convincing plate of about 30-35mm wide as you stated, I haven't seen the door skin side of the plate tho it's most likely got ribs. Only know this as I was doing wet flat sanding on the rally pack last Sunday, and the doors weigh a good amount, empty !

It would be interesting to know the weight of the two variations of doors.
Watching the car SOS episode where the guys restored a yellow MK2 RS, you see one of the workshop boys take a front door off like it was a piece of balsa!

I know the van doors are light, I can take them an and off one handed while putting the hinge bolts in without working up a sweat now having doen it 50 times.
Wait till you see the van rear doors, they are piddly an weigh less than a block of rum'n'raisin.

Looking good in there👍
RE the intrusion bars, it'd be interesting to see a pic of one, can't say I've ever noticed it before. Mines a Feb 1980 and doesn't have any obvious bars in the doors, it is a sedan too so don't know if that makes any difference? What month is yours Mark? 
I found this one a while back, on Facetube before they cancelled my account for no apparent reason, just not ready for me I guess😂
 
 
Gives a rough idea of build numbers, I wouldn't take it as gospel though, theres no sedans listed as being built in Feb of 1980 and mine definitely was.
 

Ford might be just picking numbers out of a hat for build quantities, or the count guy was asleep that day !!
Drewdog, I was in the shed when reading this and was a few get away from the doors, these are orig 6/77 2dr GL rally pack. Here's a pic of the intrusion barrier, it's so big you prolly thick it's the door skin itself at a glance.. Pic taken sneakily thru the striker slot !

Cool thanks for that Marty, I need to fix a sticky door latch on the passenger side of mine so I'll have a squiz when the door trim comes off👍

Yep home now and took a snap of the rail, its so close to the door that you would think it's the skin, there is probably 3 to 5mm between it and the outer door skin.


 
Also more goodies arrived in the mail and the car is one step closer to being able to roll about! 


 

 
Roller bearing top mounts with the shim for GAZ inserts, the roller bearing can be removed too for servicing, GPR4 make some good stuff but by golly it aint cheap!