Well its about time the RS got its own project thread. The thing has been an ongoing project since the day I met it.

Righto.. Background story. Purchased for ex missus quite some years ago now. Paid $1100 for it from mem, knowing that it was going to require serious attention, if not partial restoration to make it the tidy reliable car that one might want to own.

Since then the ex and I parted ways, and due to the project-ness of the car, things were swapped so the the RS remained with me..

I probably didn't need another project, with one unfinished one on one side of the garage already. But I wasn't prepared to see it go rot under a house somewhere, and I didn't want it to be firesale'd for peanuts as a project.

So for the moment its my wet weather daily drive to work. I have veritable piles of goodies to fit to it. So I have started working on things around driving it.

Since purchase, I have:
* Repainted car white in acrylic. (never buffed it or finished bonnet and boot. [:I]
* New balanced axles, tested center, balanced tailshaft and wheel bearings all round. (can you tell I've been hunting a wobble?)
* Rebuilt rear brake system.

Other than that, I have driven it alot.

Parts gathered include:
*Ghia timberwork and doorcards in black.
*Timber wheel and knob to match.
*15" ROH Astron's
*Bilsteins for the rear
*Refurbished stock carb.
*Assorted Urethane bushes
*Battery box and heavy duty power cable for boot relocation.

And then piles of other 2L escort bits that could happily go on the RS until the van is more ready for the road.


Ok so the vision for the car is this.

Interior to be redone in black. Plasticware that has become tired will be used as moulds to make carbon fibre replacements. I'm aiming for a mild Hifi. 6" splits in pods up front, and possibly just a single 12"sub behind the back seat.. for now.
Scheel seats will be retrimmed, New carpet and black velour roof lining fitted. with a mild tint.

Drivetrain. I love engine bay detailing. Its my favorite form of art lol.

Planned engine is an oversize 2.1L natcho. Mild street cam with the falcon TB EFI on a stock manifold. The theme will be Black, Red and Chrome in a white enginebay. I've already started polishing the inlet manifold and TB, with K&N filter on top, its going to look sweet. I will take a bit of saving up, but if the extractors get ceramic coated, then the shineyness will balance out nicely either side of the engine.

I would like to fit something simple like a T9, and get the lsd conversion on the stock center. (touch wood) I can live without burnouts and epic launches. So far stock rear ends have put up with all my lighting it up through and out of corners, so thats why I'm not looking to go bigger.

Anyway, enough of the boring details, here are some pics to start with.

Heres the car this time last year, out on the land.

Here it is, when it first rolled into the garage. The bonnet had lots of orange spots, so I had started to sand back and hit it with the rust convertor..



Someone had managed to tap the front right corner on something.



I've seen worse, but it was not a pretty site.




The bay was pretty dinged up. Flywheel tooth marks on the heater dome, tool marks on the sides.



So I got to work smoothing the bay.

I'm going to skip a lot of pics, but heres how the front guard came up. Its a rough job I know. I'm the first to admit, I'm no panel beater.


Heres the nosecone back from the plastic welder.



Heres how the front scrubbed up, with all the daggy looking accesories back on it. I just ran out of time to make things purdy.




Heres the back coming together..

The Ghia trim, wheel and knob.


This is a funny lookin chop I did of the car in its natural environment. (Mt Glorious) The photo was taken on the first drive after paint job, and the wheels and lines were ameraturishly chopped in.



But here are the wheels I actually have to put on it. I just had some 195/50's that are bald put on a pair, so I could test them for any rubbing before buying a set.I didn't think there would be any drama, and there isn't. Will be sorting 205/50's for the rear.








And seriously, how much better do they look to the old stocker 13"s. I never liked that particular 13" alloy, and can't wait to get them off the car. The 205/60 Hankook funbags are done.

looks good man. the front panel doesnt look dodgey to me. post up some more pics of how you went about all the little details..

do you need a rear spoiler i have a couple if ya interested.

Cheers Lucas. I have a wing in 80% condition. I thought I would try the wingless thing. Its a bit trendy I know, but I have 3 boots to play with, so I thought I would keep one stock with its wing, and repaint it white. Do a plain white one, and do one matt black to see if it looks any good with the black bonnet.

I will put up some pics of my putty sculpture. [:I]

Basically, This was my first paintjob done on my own. I've helped a few ppl do theirs and other cars of mine over the years. But its been a steep learning curve doing it solo.

I decided from the get go, that I would clean and treat the rusty bits, take heaps of photos.. Bog em up, then come back to them later and fix them properly. (budgetry limitations)

So I plan to fully sand it back again, and paint it fresh after the rust is cut.
Its got it in both C pillars, boot corners, Rear arch lips and spare tire well.

At the front, I gently tapped some of the crinkles out of the guard, then got artistic with the pink putty. I left the lower front bit crinkled as the RS cone covers it up. So its not some of my better work lol.

The next financial hurdle the car has to clear is this combo.

1. push out windscreens front n rear. (without breaking pref)
2. get rust properly removed and welded up.
3. Paint the lot again, inside and out.
4. Get new roof-lining fitted. (as it tucks under the windscreen rubbers.)
5. Get screens refitted with fresh rubber.

Its a big chunk of things that make most sense to get done all at once. I'm going to have to sell some computers or something to get the chunk of wedge required to get it happening.

Heres a quick concept from photoshop. Using the wheels , tinted windows and tail lights. And with the stripes. I can't wait to get the RS2000 decals back on it.




I will go dig up some pics of the work.

good job, i recently did something similar went and bought a mk2 coupe gave it the jam job and made of use of parts in the shed... interested to see how the falcon t/b will come along will make a good daily

leave the stripes off it. i love bog it is so fun to play with.[8~2]

Some extra wet suit/rubber between the gearbox and the mount will fix the vibration. the new wheel's might help.
Be careful the first time you run the 15 inch tyres over your Mt run.
Good luck with it, if i can help out, just ask
I know i have a set of 4door RS trims, in fair condition
Mark

Taa for the offer Mark. And yeah, looking forward to the 15"s up the hill. still got a bit of saving to do, as I'm after 205/50's for the rear, and would rather not put cheapies on there.

I'm going to have to try that gearbox trick, as the car just can't travel, and its driving me nuts.

On the door trims thing.. do ya think its wrong to put ghia trims on an RS? On one hand I was thinking keep it as close to stock as possible.. But on the other hand, I thought hmm the plushest Mk2 interior in the Sporty body.

Small setback the other day, whilst changing wheels, I had a good look at the front wheel studs, and wasn't happy with them. They look reuted. So ordered some new ones and should have them by tomorrow.


One of the project engines got a bit of a boost today. I located a well priced stock SR20 exhaust manifold and some small turbo's to choose from. I'm really going to have to get a hurry on with the efi bit.