Hey Marty,
 
Any chance you could give us a link to the grit cabinet on eBay please?
 
Thanks.
 
Chuff

Hi chuff the seller was having a close out so doubt he's still selling them after nearly 2yrs.

Welded the gussets in place after fixing some bad repairs around the battery tray inner wing, it was easier to cut a big chunk away than try to fix what's there..

Gone a little seam welding here...

Prepped and sealed with 2pk etch primer

Made a set of round light inserts for the front panel using the wood panel trick

.... Oh dear, more rusty panels..

Awesome thread marty!

Thanks Robbie 👍

Because I've removed the slam panel support bar I made up a triangle with good size returns for welding, also done the bevelled hole thing ( been watching too much Fitzee Garage !)



Now back to the heater bubble area for some grafting, this is the usual looking cut and repair scene for Escorts lol, cleaned up the area and trimmed the offending rust away

Even the tube was rusty so that got junked and a new piece made up on my roller

And this is it welded in place, I use Sikaflex 227 body sealer for all joints needing weather sealing

With the heater area fully sealed inside and out, it should last the life of the car now, I also modify the bubble a little so the water actually does flow out instead of having the water held back by the factory hole. Mine looks a little dog kennel shape but it works !

Bubble back on for fitting alignment as close to factory as possible, as for sealing the welded seams I get 2pk paint and drip it down from the inside top corner and let it seep down till it's all the way out, I do this a couple of times and then spray paint in behind the area as best I can, I usually paint the inside before the bubble goes back on.


After that bit of fun I moved on to the drivers kick panel, I found a set on eBay UK for £30 , they are galvd which was slightly annoying, only needed to linnish where welds will be going so they will prolly out last the car !

Here's the old panel removed and compared, the indents are slightly different but it's fine

Marty,
When you get going you do some mighty work!!

Haha, things should slow down a little soon, I'm catching up on pics I took a couple yrs ago. I'll let everyone know when I'm all up to date

Since the guard stole most of the rail I got to making a new one, very simple with 1 fold, the trick is welding it on at the corner, I had the welder turned right down so not too blow holes or leave tuning sticks to stab fingers with. I did manage the impossible.... Somehow !!

Passenger side hinge surrounds was nicely rotted so the only way is to remove half the hinge plate carefully to access the area to be repaired. Here's the pics

It was a good shaped panel to replicate


Comparison to the original piece

After that it was time to weld the hinge plate back on..

Hinge plate welded back on

Next was the rear rail panel, mine was very bad cond so I made a new 1 , check fitment which was pretty good considering I copied it with cardboard , since it fits good I've kept the template for future uses..


Before I could seal the area in primer properly I welded in the kick/splash panel , these aren't very hard to get right.

And this is the engine bay in primer

Nearly up to date

This side kick panel was still solid except at the top, so when I got to access the panel better I got on with making a new piece. In the meantime the top rail was also being made

Replacing the rear drip rail

Here's the rear top rail reproduced and ready to weld in place

All fixed

Just some light linnishing to flatten welds and a splash of sealer primer to hold back any rust.
Next installment will be front floors, as only the very front of the floors are rotted I'm not replacing the complete pans