Awesome mate
 
Well done
 
Matt

engine bay looks great, just the right amount of  resto and bling, in my mind.
 
A few more shots to finish the project Marty then we all expect you to rip straight on to the next one..
 
Another van well and truly saved from oblivion
 
 
 

Thanks for those kind words guys 👍 , yeah I'm not a real fan of spending money on shiny bling stuff just for looks unless it's all there is available ..

Back to some van time,
Making a tacho dash work with some spares about the place, trying to match up dials and needles with each other ...

Next to remove the blue bulb covers and install the red LEDs

Once happy I found the correct dash wiring plug as they are different to stock dash clocks ... Yes I could've switched pins in the plug but having the correct one about seemed better at the time , next was to give the tacho input at the coil end and plug it in , simples !


Quick test and all goes well, tacho doesn't bounce around and is nearly accurate lol , road test and things going well . Apart from carby being not tuned in the van went well altho the front brakes are iffey , I'll go venteds with new rotors and pads so while waiting for the BMW disks to arrive I done some machining to the hubs (and needed to cut a chunk out of my lathe to accept the rotor size).. I machined the hubs mounting back 4mm and also ran a 60deg angle (like Capri) at the studs end to clear the calipers . While it's all apart I gave new bearings and seals plus a decent clean out and paint with 2pk blue..

Same with calipers, they were cleaned, checked and rebuilt

With the rotors here I can do some sizing up to make sure the steering ball joint doesn't touch the rotor , and also drill holes for the rotor to mount the Escort hub

Next was making spacers from decent grade ally 12mm plate, not to hard to do but needed to order a set of correct O rings from UK . What I used for the countersink was a 1/2" wood Spade bit !

Longer 10.8 grade bolts everywhere and am good to go


As can see, I got the van up to about 35kmh up my driveway and hit the brakes a few times bedding the pads in , skids means confidence !
Checked for leaks and all dry... Job jobbed !!

When are we going to see those other escorts rolling marty?

Hey Robbie
They all roll.... But some not under their own power ! From front right of pic is the mk2 Escort I have owned since 1997 and drove daily till 2007 when I bought a modern car (Focus ST170) , this Escort still runs fine and has most of the usual mods done back when we had to order parts from UK by fax machine!! like disk rear, LSD, Quickrack, Capri struts, Sierra box, Gaz shocks, 165bhp pinto 2.1 up-down spotties ...
Orange mk1 is my Mex copy with (without zetec and 5sp) , has more components than the mk2 and better built etc.
Orange van, waiting in line for build.
Blue mk1 van, zetec 220bhp ,5sp , work in progress (about 90% there) .
Focus mk2 ST3, full leather ( or xr5 for the fpv Communists) , my daily .
On the left is a Courier 4x4 Ute which was sold last week !!
Somewhere out the back is a bubble arch mk1 Escort shell with a zetec sitting in the engine bay also in the waiting line unless I get a generous offer beforehand ..
At least 10yrs worth of car projects for me yet to go !!

Marty
I have a really good RS Bonnet if you need a donor for fiberglass 
cheers
 

great thread marty, it got me through a quite day at work and slighlty inspired again...
 
great to see you still putting them back on south australian roads 

 Marty 
Yes in Adelaide 
 
 

A bag of door blades from UK arrived, this is about the last piece to the van I need to get to complete the project

And installed with new clips and inner brush felts as factory



A quick blat in the back yard to test if it does raps .. It can on the lawn hehe


That's about it for the van till I register it and go for a decent drive after winter... I've done about 15km around the local suburbs and all seems fine, it's not as rattly as I was expecting, even the missus enjoys the drives !!