Fuel gauge is back working, looks like the connector was stuffed, crimped on a new one and all good again. Love easy fixes and having everything working again eases my ocd.

Gartrac box did not come with a clutch rubber so while searching ebay this caught my eye, of course it required a bit of a grind to fit.

Finally got the boy out in the car for a nice day in the hills. Bit of a squeeze in there with him rearward facing. He is almost old enough to be turned around which i think will help with the fitment.

On the downside pot hole got me and has bent the inner guard out. Any idea how to pull this back without damaging the paint any more? The inner is rolled till about an inch above this point.

You need a third hand to do it but for little blowouts like that I hold each end steady with shifting spanners and then with the extra hand tweak that high spot with another spanner or some vice grips.
 
Great pics of the young fella in the car, you must be stoked. My nephew, aged 4, had his first drive in the RS last weekend, sitting on my knee and steering up and down the driveway. Nice to be passing it on to the next crop...

Pm sent

Bit of heat and some small taps with a soft mallet and it back to how it was, Ill go see paint shop in the next few days and see how they feel about repairing the paint. Hopefully not a job to small to be refused of passed off which i worry about.

the more i think about it, it must have been a damn big hole, add in the misses, baby, tools, picnic and baby gear she must have been sitting pretty low. Second pic is with gear and baby, misses is off getting pizza. lol

On another note, i was really hating the feel of the brakes in the hills. They just feel really airy and provide next to no feed back. They still work fine and around town no problem but once moving with some pace over a longer period of time just feel a bit meh.

Nice to see you just tapped it back, if consider rolling it in more coz if happened once it can re occur.. giving the quality of Adelaide roads .
With brakes, it's a personal preference and can't remember if you was buying a big brake kit or just thinking it. A cheap setup is vents (2.8i capri rotors) and lightly modify a set of Volvo 4 spots from an old 264 , trust me, this cheap kit never faded while I went rapidly thru the hills , and a 6 lapper at mallala just for fun.. My Escort only had 13s as didn't like the way 15s changed handling.
Another option that's cheap is focus/fiesta rotors and calipers with a suitable adapter to mount them, not 4spot but they haul up a focus quite fine so will slow down a Escort better.... And pads are everywhere !!

Agree with the focus ones. Early model were 4 stud, PCD 108 so no mods required. Made up an adaptor to mount the calipers and got a blue plate without any dramas , using OEM is easier. Fitting the twin cable handbrakes was a bit of work but got that sorted in the end. Plenty of stopping power, fronts are Group 1- ie 2.8I vented.
Cheers Len

NQRS
Agree with the focus ones. Early model were 4 stud, PCD 108 so no mods required. Made up an adaptor to mount the calipers and got a blue plate without any dramas , using OEM is easier. Fitting the twin cable handbrakes was a bit of work but got that sorted in the end. Plenty of stopping power, fronts are Group 1- ie 2.8I vented.
Cheers Len

This is for the rear? kinda like the sierra kit? Ive heard s13 nissan stuff is option also

Ive found a kit in the UK i like and will prolly pull the trigger on once i sell my cossie head. The rear is the one im unsure of, alot of people suggesting the escort doesnt need the disc upgrade but seems a bit silly to put some large fronts on and leave the rears drums.

They cost me $250 for the lot from local wreckers and about$50 for clean up and new seals- cheap , reliable and readily available was the way for me. Mate did a CAD drawing from the measurements, boilies at work cut them out for me, all I had to do was drill the holes for the diff mounting and calipers.

That sounds like a great off the wreckers solution. Unfortunately for me I don’t have access to people who can make these things up unless I approach a shop and that comes in a cost of their time. Hence an off the self option is appealing.

I’ve seen Paul’s kit for the r31 calipers but finding those can be a pain and expensive, I think another member is working on a kit also but unsure on what parts they are thinking of using but it follow the same principles.