Yeah, I set up the camera as noone else was there and if something went bang, I wanted to see it too!

Thanks for the reply, its always exciting to see an engine come to life - first one I have ever completed (in the process of another couple of 2L engines as well).

Timmeh

well I take my hat off to you mate. First go at an engine and it fires first time.... gotta be happy with that.

Keep an eye out for the latest issue of Street Fords (issue 16)... page 087-090! Might see something familiar!

Timmeh

After a bit of a sabatical (far too long!), the RS project is back in business! At long last, both Escorts now take pride of place in the garage. The time spent out in the weather showed a little on the RS, but it's still looking ok as the polish and wax was kept up to it.




The first thing I got to doing on the RS was aligning the bonnet, so it closed properly without striking and didn't need any convincing to open. I didn't get time to do this before the car has to be reassembled and moved, but it fits as well as it ever will now.

The next thing I got to doing was advancing the timing so that the engine runs extremely well, rather than extremely lumpy. I think the idle is too high at the moment, but without any exhaust on it, everything sounds fast and loud! I'll adjust it further when the full exhaust goes on.



When the windows were installed, the silicon overflowed and wasn't cleaned up, and it looked terrible. Some careful work saw it looking back to the way it should, without damaging the paint!



Next up, it will be time to rip all the black parts off the car, strip them down and respray them! Also on the list, removing the peeling chrome from the door trims and spraying the plastic underneath a machined silver, replacing the dodgy door speakers, and the big one: new wheels!

I've priced up a few different styles in Newcastle but not sure I am happy with the prices, I expect Sydney to be much cheaper so I am off there tomorrow to check them out. I am also keeping an eye out for second hand rims to suit, 15 inch charcoal minilites or equivelant are on the menu! Being a white car, I feel silver rims will be too bland, but we'll see what turns up for the right price.

Also, could one of the kind moderators move this thread to the Project Car section as the engine build itself is pretty much complete, and it's time to attack the rest of the car?

Thank you!

Timmeh

Good to see this project back up and rolling. You've done some inspirational work there. Specially the first build first click effort on the engine. Looking forward to seeing you finish this one off.

Well done on the build so far. I have said it before, but i will say it again, it is great to see a car done with such attention do detail. A fantastic job, keep up the good work, It is looking a treat.

Thanks guys, it's always good to get some motivation to help move things along. So does a deadline, looking at the possibility of using the car in my upcoming wedding so that only leaves a few months to sort out the remaining things. The problem is doing this alongside the high cost of the wedding too!

However, I'll see how I go, and heading out there now to start stripping off all the black.

I tried to mask up the door cards to start on the chrome trim but nothing (such as masking tapes) will stick to the door card vinyl or whatever it is! That I have found so far, anyway. So mulling that one over in my mind for a solution.

Timmeh

What a disaster the front bar was. Whoever did the work on it before I bought it did more harm than good. I got a light set up at a good angle to emphasise how bad the black paint was applied:


There's no time like the present so I set about repairing the bad work. First of all I ripped off the headlight surrounds, and found a couple of cracks. I quickly repaired those and left them to dry while I continued on.



I actually bought the RS without a Ford badge, and had one from a wrecked Mondeo which I put on when I bought it. It came back off, to be re-applied later on. Ford badges are extremely expensive! The photo further shows how bad the black is.



Out came the old cracked indicators, I have undamaged units to go back in, so they got put relegated to the 'old parts' bench.



Once everything that could be removed from the front bar had been removed, it was time to start masking it all up. This took longer than I expected, trying to make sure no black would overspray anywhere I didn't want it.



I'm not planning on touching the white paint or respraying it, only the semi gloss black, so I masked it all up before rubbing down the front bar to avoid damaging any white. I'll remask the edges before painting to ensure a good seal.



I also removed the wipers to sand blast them for repainting, and will rub the headlight surrounds down and repaint them the same day as the front bar to ensure paint consistency.



Still lots of work to go, but heavy rain interfered with play and I came inside to get some dinner!

Timmeh

[88][88][88][88][88]I was trying to get my car going for my wedding car also but that failed terably[B)][B)][B)] Yours is a lot closer thou. good luck and i hope you do get it ready intime.[:p]

quote:

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Originally posted by darnoldrs
[br][88][88][88][88][88]I was trying to get my car going for my wedding car also but that failed terably[B)][B)][B)] Yours is a lot closer thou. good luck and i hope you do get it ready intime.[:p]

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Thanks mate, I've got a fleet of backup vehicles on standby if it doesn't! Which is possible.

I sand blasted the wiper arms at work today, some of that old paint was amazingly resilient.



I spent an hour working on the front bar with sandpaper by hand before I thought 'screw this for a joke, I'll be here all month'. I went out and bought a detail sander, and that cut my work tenfold. Still got some to do by hand but thats ok. Point of no return time:



During sanding, I stopped periodically to hit the wiper arms with primer. I'll let them dry overnight and tomorrow they will be black. Unsure yet whether to do them in semi gloss black or gloss black. The front bar will be done in semi gloss of course.





Timmeh