i just realised though, ill need both Mk1 and Mk2 nuts. i discovered that cos i have Mk2 front end, they have different sized wheel nuts to the rear :( 

Crazy day, but some more success!
well today was the day Cal and I had decided to move the escort to its new home, Cal's house. 

The day started with the car being booked in for a wheel alignment. Cal managed to get the indicators going, FINALLY! I take it to the place to get the wheel alignment done, but they were not able to do the alignment due to the rear wheels sitting too far in from the guards, and the guards sitting such a long way down over the rear tyres. SO i called 3 or 4 other places to ask if they could do it, but all of them said no, due to being booked up from there i decided to take the car back to Gareth's, where Cal and I measured the alignment ourselves. TO our (well mine anyway) disbelief, it was not too bad. approximately 14-15mm toe out. i was expecting a heck of a lot more than that. the only downer is the steering wheel being a quarter of a turn out 

once we loaded all the parts into Cal's Fairlane, we hit the road for his place, which was approximately 20km away. I (apparently) had half a tank of fuel in the tank leaving Gareth's house. well that was evidently wrong as we discovered about 4-5 km from Cal's place when the car ran out of fuel on me in busy traffic this was the least of my issues, because i could simply get a jerry can and fill it up that way. my big problem was the fact i didn't have a key to get into the fuel cap 
after going to Cal's workshop and grabbing some fuel, we returned with an XG dipstick, pliers, and 3 different screwdrivers, and so we set into breaking into the fuel cap. eventually the lock barrel fell out so we just access it with a screw driver...SUCCESS! put fuel in it, got the nearest BP and filled the tank all the way up, and off to Cal's place i went. 

Its in a good place now, its under a carport, well protected from the worst of the weather. was so nice to take it for a decent drive, although slow was nice to drive. can't wait to get it all finished and registered now, just wish i had a better income so i could hurry up the process :/
 

well after not doing anything on the car for a while, and me feeling guilty for dumping the car on my mate then not being able to work on it, I finally got around to dropping the rear end out of it. 

Last weekend I dropped the leaf springs, and everything that goes with them out of the car. Today i spent the day wire wheeling the springs etc, and respraying them all in acrylic gloss black. 
next week im removing the diff, servicing it and I will do the same thing. cleaning it up, and painting it acrylic gloss black as well. 

while i have all this apart and out, I will respraying the inner guards also black. just to make the car look a little neater once its all back on the road. photos will be posted soon.
 

the little workshop we have setup at Cal's house. Usually there is also a Blue Morris 850 Mini in there in front of the white Mini

Springs in primer after being wire wheeled for about an hour or so. 

freshly painted

all the rear suspension components freshly painted. 

wooooppppsss. see what happens when i get busy. i forget to update build threads haha
 
the car has come a long way since the last update ^^^^

SO this is where i left you, with the back end of the car in pieces being painted. this is it back together :) 

 
This is how she looks now. got some tyres, painted the rims, the grille. removed the front and rear bars. Front bar is going to stay off, the rear is yet to be painted and refitted. 
 




I also got my hands on a set of genuine Hella Replacement H4 headlights, back from the early 80s. they were the last set available from the specialist that were still brand new in their box. the glass just needs to cleaned, they are a little frosty from sitting in the cardboard box for years and years. 
 
I had a free run of the garage a couple months ago, so i brought the car home for 10 days, and completely finished the mechanical side of the car. (so i thought........the plot thickens) i replaced all the brake lines, fixed the hand brake and got it working, serviced the gearbox, new fuel hose, fuel tank back in the car, and got it driving nicely. 
 

 
but then this..... :( 
 

 
that is transmission oil. yes it dropped basically all its trans oil. after i serviced the gearbox, and put a new main rear seal, and a sump gasket and filter, its decided to piss oil out the front. its dropping it from im guessing the front main. and this is where im up to.
 
the latest is, I have decided to rip both the motor and gearbox out, run a seal and gasket kit though the motor, and convert the car to 4 spd manual while the motor is out. I am still confident i will have the car ready for rego by xmas. (go ahead and laugh at me now) I still have a rusty floor pan to repair, and then the entire interior to rebuild, plus some electrical work. i.e., heater box, wiper motor, front indicators. 
 
WISH ME LUCK!

Great stuff,
 
You can bring it to Small Ford Sunday.
 
Cheers
 
Matt

Pursuities look great Panko :) What size tyres did you fit to them?
 
With your gearbox, have you thought about a T9? You have an auto tunnel so will be just as easy to fit as a 4 speed, and rev a lot lower on the highway with your 4.125 diff

When is Small Ford Sunday? I know ive missed it the last couple years :(

I ended up with 195/50R15, but they are still ever slight too big for the front :( so i need to try get 2 tyres, down to 185/45/R15. Its going to be hard to get i think. They just catch on the leading edge of the wheel arch, at the front. So for example, if i turn left, the front right tyre will catch the body on the front side of it. And vise versa when i turn right. What i also thought about doing was carefully folding that edge it catches on, back on itself.

As for the gearbox, a T9 is a bit out of my price range. I could afford a good one, but at the moment probably wouldnt be able to cover the cost of the rest of the conversion haha.
The diff gear, when i had it out would appear to only be a 3.9 or 3.7 or something. Definitely wasnt a 4.11 like i thought it was

My saab rims are fine up front with 195/45/15
Yeah T9's are way overpriced here. They're cheap as chups in NZ if you know any kiwis that could get you one :D
I think those axles only came with 2 ratios, auto and manual. You must have a manual diff (3.9) in an auto shell