This is what I did for our RS2000 resto a few years ago.
The original round rusty baffle was removed and the sheet metal cut out to just short of the mounting points for the heater assembly. A removable replacement was made from 1mm stainless steel sheet. In this resto it was not necessary to remove the heater bubble because the rust was very minor which was treated with acid. As seen in the photos it is very easy to access the entire inside of the heater bubble. No welding was required.
 
 

Matt75
Will the car be parked outside whilst in your possession? If not then I think the extra drainage thing is a waste of time.  
 
Great work so far.  Keep it up.
 
Matt

RS 2000
Agreed, keep the drain hole stock, the water pooling is like factory evaporative air conditioning for our escorts and also negates the need for pollen filter.    
cheers

Thanks guys, ended up deciding not to do a drain. It will be parked outside most likely, however if I seal it right it shouldnt rust.
 
I have flattened out the flange on the bubble a tad, so the water will come off. Also going to flatten the flange below it when I make that part.
 
Here's how its going:


Planning on glassing the holes below the section I cut out as it will be much easier.
 
Making the repair section fit:





Gaps arent as perfect as I would have liked however They are close enough for a good weld.
From inside:

 
Gotta make the section which isnt there, thats the next step. Wont tack in the top part yet as I plan to weld it to the firewall section then weld in the whole repair to the car.
 
Thanks for putting that up Peter, looks good! Putting the fan shroud in last is what I will do as well so I can seal the inside of the bubble properly.
 
Cheers, Ryan

Nice neat looking job. Have you given any thought to using the factory drain pipe for Escorts with Kent engines? I got one but my engine is a Pinto so won't just push into the bubble drain hole - too tight a space. Haven't worked out if I can do a cut and shut on it yet. Len

Finally got back to this thread
Len, I havent thought about that as the car didnt have one when I got it. I will just run without it.
 
So I have finished!!!!! Car sat in the shed untouched for too long due to Uni and other commitments.
 
I made a new fan shroud and test fitted it (rolled it into shape using a round piece of firewood). It is an interference fit to the hole and was fitted from the inside of the car after the bubble was put back on.


 
Used some filler to make things smooth


 
And after the whole surface was primed and painted to protect if from water, I used high strength silaflex to attach the bubble. I left the spot weld holes in the bubble in an effort to make it look like factory spot welds once finished.

 
Once the bubble was on I used sikaflex to seal the entire inside seam between the firewall and the heater bubble. Then I ran a bead around the hole and pushed the shroud into place. I went crazy on the sikaflex as you can tell but nobody will see it in there and its doing the job.

 
Primed

 
And painted using a pressure pack I had made up

 
And here is the finished product



 
Colour is slightly off however with the bonnet on you cant really tell.
Pretty happy with the result, looks reasonable for a first try and does exactly what it was intended to do - stops the car leaking!
 
Cheers,
Ryan

Thanks JP
 
If anyone has photos or tricks they would like to share that would be great. I'm sure this wont be the last repair I make on one of these so any opinions, advice or constructive criticism is more than welcome
 
Cheers

 

troppo
Where did you get the patch panel for under the heater bubble at the top of the firewall? The one in the first post

Hi Troppo,
I got mine from SMCKA PERFORMANCE (I can't post the link but google will get you there)
Unfortunately he is closing down but may still have one. A great guy to deal with.
 
Cheers, Todd.

Send him an email. The one I got was not on the site either, he had just ordered it in. I think he might not have the time to keep the site up to date. Worth a try. I am glad I got the piece. Would have taken a bit of time to fabricate it.
Todd.

PM me an outrageously high offer and you could possibly convince me to part with mine (I'm such a hoarder I find it hard to let go of anything).