Mint Barn Find

Hi all!
 
Long time between posts, but I thought I would share my 'barn find' which I recently scored.
 
After seeing a post on a local classifieds facebook page, I had managed to tee up a visit to a farm just outside of Wagga. Open the gate and I was pleasantly greeted by the site of a Mint Glaze mk2 2 door.
After talking to the owner, I found out that it has been sitting in the barn for the last 15 years after being purchased from a deceased estate. 
How it has spent the last 15 years:

 
A deal was struck and he was even nice enough to help with transport back into town, legend! This is how it sits for the moment.




After getting it home and having a good look at it, I am pretty happy with my purchase. It has a small amount of rust in the spare wheel well which I should be able to handle, the front left guard has been repaired and left in filler. It looks like a neat job but I think I will rub it back to see what surprise there is behind the nice pink finish. 
 
Rust in wheel well:

 
Engine wise, I was told that original 1600 has been swapped out for a 1300. It turns over by hand okay. I think I will try to at least get this engine running and get it passed rego as.
 
The grande plan.
So far my plan is to repair the rust, get the engine running, give the rest of the car a quick tidy up and throw some rego on it before the next posting (Late next year). 
Engine wise, I think at this stage I would like to put a 1600 back in & throw on the usual supporting mods to maybe try for 100ish bhp.
Exterior wise, first order of business is to sack the square headlights, throw on some 1/4 bumpers, front spoiler & boot spoiler.
 
Suspension, I think I will just update as I go. The steering rack is haggis & will be replaced with a quick rack. Over time I'll replace shocks & springs etc, but for the moment its not too bad.
 
I'll try to keep this updated as I slowly get things going & would love to hear from any like minded people in the Wagga area!
 
Cheers, 
Reece
 

Great find Reece! Look forward to seeing how you go with it. Is it your first Escort?

Ah, old yella on the skid pan. Those were the days :)
 
Excellent pick up on the green mk2 Reece. It looks like there are still a few barn finds out there. So you're over in Wagga now, not still in Canberra? Good luck with the project, and keep the pictures coming.

Great find... is that a dodge truck parked in front of it in the first photo? Looks like my kind of barn
Keep the pics coming as you go..
Cheers Drew...

Drew, pretty sure that was a Dodge in the foreground. He collected trucks and tractors and just happened to have this little gem sitting there taking up his space.
 
Finally found some time to have a little tinker (even if it was with the baby bouncer setup in the garage). Found a few little surprises after having a proper look underneath the car.

 
Either someone has been rally bashing up a storm, or poor old Wombo got in the way of a flying escort. 

What ever has made a mess of the cross member has left a few dings in the tank. Decided to take it out and get rid of the 15+ year old petrol and maybe try remove the dents. Or at least just clean and pain it.
 
While I was in the fluid draining mode, I dumped the oil and had a look over the rest of the engine. After checking the engine number, was able to confirm that the 1600 has been replaced with a 1300. I'll probably just keep this as is for rego as I'm still unsure what I want to do with the engine. Hot 1600, N/A 2L build, Turbo Kent, Turbo Pinto!? Decisions...

 
That's all for the minute. I think I will order some parts this week, and make a start on stripping and refurbishing the wheels while I wait for the goodies to arrive.
 
Cheers
 

Scored a new steering rack and cross member off a newly found Escort buddy in Batlow.

Cross member isnt perfect, but in much better condition than what I have already. After a quick clean up it is ready for a quick coat of paint.


Once again, nothing special with the rack, just a standard jobbie which will be fine for the time being


Over the week I can paint the cross member and petrol tank up. And hopefully later in the week some more more parts can arrive to get it 1 step closer to being driveable.

Cheers