hey, im about to fit 2.0 ghia struts in my mk1 escort,it has the mk1 rack with the fine treads on it, can i get tie rod ends to suit this or do i have to look for mk2 rack, cheers

Pretty sure the threads are the same on both so just get some MKII tie rods and you'll be fine. 
 
Cheers,
 
Matt

Probably need metric(mk2) steering rack.threads are def different

cheers mate, no they are differant mk1 has fine tread and mk2 has course tread.
 

You may be able to swap rack ends for mk2 ones if your mk1 rack is really good if you can't find another solution maybe?  May just have to check size.

Be careful changing rack rods,apart from imperial (MK1) and metric (MK2), there is Burman and camgear racks. Parts are not interchangeable between Burman and Camgear. They are identifiable by the input shaft housing, I think from memory one has a damper cap held in by 2 bolts and the other hasnt, or one has the input shaft bottom bush cap with 2 bolts and the other hasnt, sorry  just cant recall, lookup a workshop manual or maybe someone else cam shead a bit more light on the topic.
A new quick rack is about $250-300, and smacka usually has them in stock.

cheers for the help lads, all sorted, just done what whooligan said.