Capri /Mexico struts are a direct bolt in if you get the complete unit. No TCA swap, no steering swap or brake lines to caliper . 👍

i have been told the following:
For starters the discs are an inch bigger, than calipers bigger to suit, and the steering arms are different size and the taper wrong, so i will have to use the metric rack
The arb 
Anti roll bar
It's shorter on mex so it pulls the hubs fwd, which changes the castor and in turn makes car very marginally lower, but makes wheel look better in the arch (stance) 
thats why i gave up on the idea 

sounds like your old springs have probably sagged an inch, so your not seeing a difference. as Blue said.
 
going lower normally compromises on ride quality.
normally shorter springs use a higher spring rate to compromise for less suspension travel, or you chop the spring, have the same rate and bottom out all the time.. either way = less comfort. dont quite see how that relates to sausages in hallways?
175lb springs are pretty soft, not sure why it would bounce... thats what your dampers are for. if it bounces, your dampers are rooted. 
Im pretty sure that most people with lower springs in an escort will have them "fall out" when you lift the front of the car or launch it off a speed bump. you can use a shorter damper in the shock but its not exactly a straight swap, the RX7 damper comes to mind. search on the forum if you want to learn about it.
 
people using coilovers often use a soft helper spring at the top that basically full compresses when the car is on the ground but when you lift it up it helps keep the spring located.
 
more caster is always helpful, but its good to be adjustable. then you can increase without having to potentially massage your guards.
 
looks pretty good to me in those last 2 photos, but maybe its just the angle.

gazz
normally shorter springs use a higher spring rate to compromise for less suspension travel, or you chop the spring, have the same rate

 
Actually, chopping/shortening the spring increases the spring rate by the same % as the % the number of coils is reduced. 
 

Does it?? Can't be a bad thing . Gotta be very slight increase as I've not noticed any effect

Only a slight increase if you haven't cut off many coils. Look up any mechanical engineering text book & you will find the formula that's shown here:
http://www.super7thheaven.co.uk/blog/calculate-spring-rates/
Note that 'N' (number of active coils) is under the divide line, so halve the number of active coils & the rate will double.