Yes Deano I'll still consider that orange with logo, I'm not ruling that out yet.
Sewing table is nearly ready, I've countersunk the machine so the stitching plane is table height, used up my last piece of stainless sheet making the cradle. Also the misso likes it so that's a win !
Moving to the car, I've had a few items arrive by anorax, 1 item is a engine for my mower, it's now got 6.5bhp instead of the Broke & Strattons 3hp plus the engine is bran new. Now the other item that arrived the same time is my calipers bought from USA , I could've bought them here but would need to auction off a lung and kidney. I paid $45au each plus another $50 shipping. Calipers and brake cables are to suit a Mazda mx5 from 2007,. I choose these over Focus ones is they have a centre pull cable which in theory an Escort handbrake rod can fit with minor alterations . Calipers are to suit rotor up to 260mm roughly.
Cable should be the right length since mx5 is so close in wheelbase it's not funny



Also the slimline sump plugs arrived, if anyone wants to know they are Opel / Vauxhall /Holden Astra , 14x1.5mm , has a nice O ring arrangement too

Huh what a unique handbrake system, I dont think I've ever seen something quite like that before. I like the fact that you might be able to retain the original rod system though, that's neat!

Yeah there's a few brands that have this handbrake arrangement, Nissan pulsar and an old Peugeot are what I know of . Getting the Focus mk1 rear rotors from the shelf down I think they'll be ok to use but that's just eyeballing things up, the rotor dia is 257mm so if I decide to run 13s it'll be very tight .
On Saturday I got yellow paint for the rally pack, original Pine n Lime so I can get some parts in color soon, just waiting on weather and humidity to be better so maybe Wednesday , just doing the non outer parts first then the shell a week later.

Today I done a bit more sanding on the mk2 dash pad , it's getting to look more like a real one now with it's shape and curves , the original one is from the rally pack as comparison and compare with .


There's still a way to go to match shapes but as long as the clocks for nice and the ends look normal it should be good to pull a mold from.
Update on the bulkhead cover is it's kept shape of the car now and I'll get that ready as well

FG dashtops will be a popular thing I reckon, especially if you get do them with a grain surface finish so they dont need recovering. 

Yeah I hope so Deano, I'll think of covering it like yours so it's got the texture but hope it's not reactive to resins.

Spent the best part of today swapping cars about, mk1 out and mk2 in since the mk2 will be very close to painting . Since I dragged my mk1 out of the painting room, I thought it's not needing to be in the rotisserie anymore, I reckon it's been 6yrs on there. After cleaning and sweeping the area for some painting tomorrow, the mk1 was positioned over the hoist to make removal of the rotisserie a simple job instead of a frightening one like previously with the van .

Installed the wcxm with rack and lower arms, then the sway bar and front brackets, I done the same trick as Mark, bringing the mounts forward 20mm , the original 1300 struts are in there till the car is mostly built so I can work out it's final ride height

Struts are a lot forward but that's at full droop

Rear leafs might be a little low , I had to drop the front bolts so I could slide the axle assembly in, the spring to chassis gap wasn't big enough for the tiny 1300 brakes. Next is find a set of roller wheels

Think I miss calculated my calculations, it's a wee bit low

come on Marty, show everyone else what you have been doing.... :) 

Damn it deano !! 😞

Yeah ok just cause you said to !

Well the start of the week I take the mk1 off the rotisserie as you've seen, and in it's place went the rally pack, just to recap what this is, is a genuine 1 owner(still) 6/77 so 1 off the first pinto equipped escorts in Australia . All matching numbers even the radio is original.
So my mid week became busy with prepping the car for it's new original Pine n Lime paint but for now it's just the closing areas like engine bay, boot bay and under the bonnet n doors etc.



The boot floor was replaced by a sheet that I bead rolled to match


Next week I'll get more paint and prep the shell for painting

Beautiful car and great work Marty! Piece of history there and a really nice thing you are doing for the lady who owns it.

Thanks Mark
The car is regd to the original owner as we've not transferred papers yet , we own it. The old lady is about 84 so we want/need to get the car back to original so she can see it as she bought it back in 77, the clock is ticking...
Tracking down original stuff like spotlights has been tedious but have a set of minters now , still looking for an overrider but most other stuff is ok except the usual carpet, roof lining and dash top ( no it won't get a fglass one). I prolly should start a separate thread for this car. We reckon it's got 114000 kms from new but hard to tell how many times it's clocked over, last reg was about 1990 before it was stored.

Funny enough I did some work on the mk1, fitted the bonnet just so it's not stored out moved about and also stick down the sound deadening mats, these are 10mm thick and sticky backed, it's not Dynamat but will do a similar effect, also stick a sheet in each back door pocket where the speakers will be , last thing I want is a rattle in the back.


Also looking at the parcel shelf for fit sizing, yes it's white but it'll prolly get a suede effect cover