Hi Drew,
Must have missed your reply on the aircon- the main question is did you use a Later model small compressor in the engine bay-brand ? and the the underdash evaporator? cheers, Len

Very nice all round Drew.  Thats a beautiful Escort you have there. Perfect colour too.
Amazing how much we can get done when we put our minds to it, COVID or not!
Helps if we've got family who are sympathetic to our "addiction" and will keep them and love them long after we can no longer drive.
Merry Christmas Drew ..............  and to all "who drive herein"

Good work Drew.
Empty engine bays look good for a while but wear thin quickly. I can attest to that.
The diff is a good choice and the alloy 'pumpkin' saves some weight.
Are you still running the 4 speed?
Pity we all did not keep the original running gear in the back of the shed back in the old days when they were not worth anything

Geeze Drew, $250.00 is a steal..
I'd be putting a ring on that guy.
 
I look forward to following your rebuild, where once again you show us how to do things fastidiously.

Awesome news and good luck on the new build, id imagine the build fund has built up over the years. How did you find the alloy case with install?

When i was did my lsd upgrade i found myself looking at alloy cases etc. Strangely enough i missed out on a heap of primo escort parts in outback SA - had AP calipers, disc, alloy diff and gearbox gear, straight cut gearset etc all for 800bucks. I was devo that someone got up there a day before me.

great story Drew, similar to how long I have had the Capri also.
 
Budgets change when you go from being a student, then married, family,mortgage etc, then with revisits to the car along the way.
I regret cutting a sunroof in, but that was part of the journey, along with having 20 different wheel sets.
 
I dont think there are many 'barn finds' anymore, even when it comes to parts, but happy to be proven wrong.
Marty you have done ok I think !

Hey Robbie, the new casing wasn't a drama, I had to swap over the studs in the housing as the alloy case has a much thicker flange, lucky for me the old ones tapped out with ease. It was much nicer getting under there to refit it with the weight reduction.
 
Gearbox is in the shop for a rebuild at the moment, took the liberty of throwing a few alloy parts into that too.
 

 

 
Its always leaked oil, when pitting it with one of the many defects I received in the old days I'd always pull up a couple of streets away to wipe it down and was never picked up on it. Hopefully those days of defects and a leaky box will be over but maybe I'm being a bit optimistic
 
I've also finally got around to doing an led conversion to the dash lights and have picked up an hour meter for the new engine. I've used this model in a couple of race cars, it does hours, service intervals, max revs and has an audible over rev alert. I just need to find a discreet in the cabin to put it now.
 

 
The matching number engine has also been put on a stand for safe keeping and I'm fitting all of the original parts that I've collected over the years. It'll be bog stock right down to the pollution control gear.
 

 
And last but not least I've been having a go at zinc plating. I have a good shop that usually does it for me but things have changed around there. I used to see the boys out the back and get small jobs done for cash but now its strictly report to the front office with a minimum $150 charge. Don't get me wrong they'll do alot of stuff for the money but I've only got  few odds and sods to do so I set up a rig at home using instructions from the net, and old phone charger and some zinc anodes from the boat shop. Results have been great and I'll keep going with it in the future.
 

 

 

 
Well thats it for now, I'm talking to the engine builder at the moment, he prepares alot of wicked pintos for Wanneroo park (Barbagallo raceway) so the car should have the go to match its show