Haha, thanks guys 👍

Ah so i did a bit of work on the Escort today, it was unseasonally warm weather which later became seasonally wet in the rvo lol.
On with the car, I marked out the spots to be removed where the rust was best.

Next is the chop


I managed to get one piece repaired, I joined the two middle patches to be one big patch as it will lessen distortion.

The front patch won't take long to do, I'll document it when I do . The patch at the rear from the door to the arch will be a bit of fun, it's not marked or cut yet and could be a Sunday job...
Here's a upgrade to my welder I added a few weeks back is a magnet earth clamp, I've not had a problem with it so far and recommend it over a clamp... Unless your welding stainless or alloy of course..

Rightyo , even tho the car is a while away from being the right way up , I'm going to ask the viewers their opinion on this question ...

The roof on this car is warped from fire and beyond saving and I've got 2 options with repair panels.

Option 1, replace it with another mk1 roof, however this is from a 4dr rally car , It has roof vents which I can plug up and will use as much as possible.

Option 2, replace it with a foreign roof from a Nissan 200sx with a factory glass electric sunroof .

I'm not swayed either way on this and just want to hear what you guys think .
The sunroof will make the car a bit unique but some will say I've destroyed the car for doing this. However, the car has been saved from the crusher which means I'm giving it a new life and can do what mods I want (within reason) .

What do you want to do? tbh id just go a normal roof, i dont think sun roofs suit escorts but ive never had a car with one so what do i know
 

What do I want to do? If I was keeping it ( undecided yet) I'd be installing the glass factory sunroof because I'm crazy! When it gets closer to the job I'll do pics . I remember when I owned and dailyed a mk1 they didn't have much air flow, even at 125mph ! The orange Mex I owned has a steel tilt slide sunroof and was brilliant , it transforms the whole experience.
I just want to know if it'll be worthwhile , if I go with a std roof skin I'll move the sunroof to the Courier as the roof on that has proper dents and is just long enough to accommodate it .

Marty hate to say it, but all of your photos are upside down.
 
If the Escy isn't 100% going to be original, who cares?
Is the Nisan roof close enough to splice in?
I'd like to see pics of the being done.
An electric sunroof would be neat, although I do regret fitting one in my Capri.
 
my $1.75:
If keeping it,go sunroof and have some fun
If doing it to sell, probably not :( 
 
The car we had written off had full glass roof, great at night, and still suprisingly cool in an Aussie summer as it had a retractable blind and could also be left slightly raised when parked.
 
Sidetrack: Any pics of the rally roof vent?
I am going sacrilegious in the MK2 van project as it is with the arches and mk1 stripes, but have have been looking for one. Burtons have F/G and C/F ones, that come with the inner mouldings also but exxy for what they are. I was hoping for something Celica or Impreza rally style, just not sure how it would look on the van slopey roof.
I thought of 3d printing the innards, and glassing up a bonnet scoop style that matches the van shape.
PLus there are non function stick one ones from Ali Express....
It would be good in summer, especially without any aircond.
Plus nothing like channelling your inner Possum.RIP
 
 
 
 
 

The roof vents are cast aluminum similar to truck ones 130mm x 90mm abouts with a hinge and locking clip. You can have them if you want..
Bonnet scoop, remember the Falcon Cobra, the bonnet scoop they have might work. I had a mk2 4dr once which came with a low hornet scoop and the bonnet was hacked open so it might've worked or I would've removed it. I've seen mk1 escort with a Capri bonnet bulge fitted, tho it had a V6 engine.. how about a Barracuda hood scoop , there'll be no bonnet remaining lol

Hey Deano thanks for the heads-up with pics lol, here is a couple of pics of the vents, tho only 1 has the roof cap so aren't of any real use


This is the roof parked next to the Nissan sunroof roof


Here's the patch I made up for the front part of the sill, held in place with magnets !

Some small manipulation while welding and it came up pretty good

And this is it with the welds linnished Away



Moving onto the back part of the sill, I wanted to repair the jack support plate as that was crusty and needed attention also.. so I marked out a decent piece To cut away to access the backing panel

I got it spot drilled and removed and this is it next to the outer piece(which will also get replaced

Actually got to use the bead roller today on the backing panel !

no worries Marty, all good.
Those flap vents kind of remind me of the 2 x 100 kph aircond vents in dads landy. 
 
Go the  elec sunroof!
Magnet earth is great, although the spring on mine busted after about a week's use when doing the side window panels. Probably should have bought soemthign decent in the first place instead of supercr*p
 

A bit of cleaning up of the spot weld dags and time to make the replacement panel

I always make the part bigger than needed as it's easier to cut away excess than weld it bigger. There wasn't much to bead roll , only to make a step and put a strengthen crease around the jacking point. I might weld a gusset like Capri has, but who uses the Ford killer jack anyway...

This is it in place, a very simple piece to make up .. it's not welded in yet..