Well nobody can acuse me of rushing things. more than 10 years ago I had a flatmate with a sundowner. He would lend it to me for taking runs up and down the coast on weekends.

There was I with an undrivably fun RX3,and yet I would rather drive my mates van around lol. So I fell in love with sundowners, and set about finding one. They weren't so easy to find back then, as we didn't have neato websites like this one.

It took me a couple of years to spot one, and I bought it for a few hundred, needing attention. Sadly, the only attention I ever gave it was just enough to get him running and registered, then I drove it completely into the ground to the point where almost everything need doing. This is why I have only posted one pic around here, and its why I am embarrased to share this project. Its been a slack effort on my part, and one has to give credit to the old escort for sheer unkillability.

So, I took it off the road years ago, At one stage a few years back I took it out of the shed and tried to get the project going. I paid just on $4000 for every bit of rust to be professionally removed, and a bend in the rear right chassis rail to be pulled straight. Despite only dealing with what seemed to be reputable companies, the whole thing turned into one of those expensive disaster stories.

Days became weeks became months, and still no car back. Every time I dropped past to check on progress it was parked outside the shed, and tho they told me they would put it away at night I had my doubts. I had no choice but to escalate the pressure I was putting on ppl to get my car done, and in the end they did the bodgiest cruddy job you could imagine. I could have paid my mum to do better work. Anyway, of all the irony's... I had insisted they(or I) take photo's at every stage, as I always planned to make a small web page that covered the resto to full concourse spec. Well they took photo's alright. I have two CD's chock full of them. A complete photo doccumentation of the worst work you could imagine lol. I took legal action, got my money back, and put the car back in the shed.. A bit depressed about it all.

The bottom line is, far from the replacement original floorpan that I was quoted on, I have this freestyle P.O.S. flat steel floor.. More putty than I would have used, and the rail was never touched. As a result I have abandoned all concourse plans, and now just want to make it nice and fast. In the 10 or so years I have owned it, I have never enjoyed this car the way it can and should be. Now I finally plan to.

I have amassed a small pile of parts to be installed, and will strip the car to a bare shell over the next few weeks restoring or replacing as I go. I also have a few tins of Ford Imperial Blue acrylic, which I desperately hope I haven't left too long. I will post a list of parts I have in store for it soon. But for now, I am sure ppl want to see pics. If you made it through that whole story, your a champion.

Here are probably the earliest photo's I have.




Heres how its looking currently.

Under the hood there are parts missing that have been nabbed to keep the RS on the road from time to time.




Plenty of room for improvement there eh :D.

Took a good long look at it today.. Decided that since I had the diff center and axles out, I would start from the back.

I removed everything from the rear suspension, brakes and diff. Most of the bushes were thrashed beyond any usefulness. The springs could move nearly 2 inches before the shocks even came into play [:I]


Diff housing looks nice and straight. I have two options available. Tidy up the stock diff and put it back in for now.. Or just dive on in and get something tough and LSD equipped cut to suit. I have a donor escort casing for the end pieces if I go down that path. Brake wise, I have Alpha disks and Pugeot 504 calipers to go on.

At this stage I will probably just sort the stocker, put a 3.9:1 center in it, and fit the disks. I can always upgrade the diff later when I need to.

Amazing what you find when you take things apart. One of the platters that U-clamps onto the leafs and holds the bottom of a shock was cracked. If those old shocks were working it probably would have ripped off by now [:u]



The standard Sundowner leafs aren't going back on. I have a pair of new Kings leafpacks waiting to go in. I purchased them from a forum member here, and they look like the ducks guts. (reversed eyelet's, etc)

Here are some pics. Do you think he might sit a tad lower at the back now? lol




Hey, the seller gave me plenty of info about the springs when I bought them, but I have a shocking memory, so if anyone can share their experiance or knowledge about them that would be awesome. I am yet to choose rear shocks to suit them.

Tomorrow I will sandblast all the smaller parts and inspect for condition. I have plenty of spares kicking around the place, so from the collection I will assemble the best complete set of bits that I can.
What do people think about getting things like U-clamps chromed? And how about brake lines? Its either that or charcoal grey hammertone...

quote:

---

Originally posted by onlykev
[br]Are you going to have it finished for the Van Nats in Caboolture at easter? Then if mine is done there will be more than one escort amongst the Holdens.

---

Any bits and pieces you need Vanman, Let me know.
I would love to see it at this years Van Nationals.

I have everything you could possibly need. wrecking a MK1 Van.
Even a good pair off rear doors.

Hey guys, yeah I think a bit of a time challenge is exactly what I need, and Easter sounds achievable. So yes, I will try to get it sorted for Van Nats.

Max thats great to know. I am sure I will be up to see you several times before this is done. I took one look at my back doors and decided replacement is the go.

Ok so here is the first hurdle that I cannot fix myself. Let me firstly say, yes I know bent rails are a bad bad thing.. And yes it has been suggested that I find a better shell. But call me stubborn, I like my car, and would rather fix it if at all possible.

The plan here is to sweet talk Ithica Tafe into putting the car on their chassis robot, and getting the end pulled straight. I know they have the equipment, and some of the work they do is better than what I could ever afford lol. I will just have to ask and see how I go on that plan.

For the meantime, The car has no adverse handling traits as a result of it.. (well not that I noticed anyway) So I am just going to keep going on other things for now.



Here is a custom dumper mod that I did a few years back. This can be achieved by radically overfueling the engine + letting the plugs get covered in crud, then driving down a mountain or two. Yes although backfires can be fun, they do break stuff. My muffler before that one didn't break off.. it was swolen up like a baloon instead lmao.



If your wondering.. Yep it let heaps of gassy smells into the cabin [xx(]

Anyway, the sun just came back out, so I might get some paint sprayed today after all. I had better get off this PC and go sandblast things.

About time Cedric made an appearance anyway.
Please tell us the cracked shockie plate is the same as the bent rail?
The muffler is a keeper[(#)]

Yep, well spotted, cracked plate = bent side. But, is that a good or bad thing? [:u]
Hmm the more I think about it.. it can never be a good thing. [B)]

Well I will be quite busy for a while with the things I can do. If the ole van is bent beyond repair, I can still put all my gear on another shell. (I wouldn't say that around the van tho.[;^)])

Ok so here is a quick run through of the process I will use on pretty much all the metal parts on the car, except alloy bits.. I luvs to polish alloy :D

Please Please comment if you think I could do something better, as I am no expert, and while I don't plan to show the car, I just want every thing painted, clean and rust free for my own satisfaction. Last time I did all this, it was powder coat, chrome and polish all the way. This time I just can't afford to drop that much cash on my ride.

Heres a U off the car.


Heres one after a dip and scrub in the detergent water bath.



Then after a blast in the sand cabinet. Hmm results. I gave the nut outers a blast, and the threads a light wave when my air pressure was low. (sml compressor)



Finally, I masked up the threads, gave it a wipe with wax n grease remover and sprayed on the hammertone to bare metal as per instructions.



I am not wrapped in the finish.. but I just got a can as I had such a small amount to do.. When it comes to the diff housing, I will load up the gun. Anyway, next time I will put a heavier coat on and see if that helps its pattern settle more clearly. Either way, its clean, unlikely to rust, and I am happy for now.

My plan for the threads is a going over with steel wire brush, then lube em up with a bit of moly grease. Does that sound like a plan?

quote:

---

Originally posted by maxrs
[br]I have everything you could possibly need. wrecking a MK1 Van.
Even a good pair off rear doors.

---

wow got any pics max of these doors....

thats if vanman doesnt claim them 1st...

and vanman good luck with the sunnie mate im goin to keep a keen eye on this thread....

Springs are Mk2 RE (Reverse Eye) SL (Super Lows). Im assuming their from a custom batch as theyre not listed in the catalogue.

Rhys