Another Escort Van Project: 77 Mk2

After a bit of a wait, I have a Mk2 Van to rebuild.
A bit of a blank canvas, it needs just about everything mechanically.
The body seems reasonable so far, with floors and sills needing replacement.
It came disassembled, with stuff in boxes that i'm yet to go into.
First task will be to practice my welding, so may as well rip into panelling up the side windows.Its not like its going to be highly visible (!)
Attached is a pic of the final product, with arches,minilights and bumperettes.Im waiting for SMKA to get their current shipment in for sills and floorpans, and then the fun will start.
As for the rest, engine,gearbox,diff,struts, grill etc ect, my mk2 2lt has it all just sitting there, and its tempting to just take it all off and move the shell on, but that would be another car stripped and I think its better to save them. 
Anyhow, dont hold your breath on this one, but its good to start the year with a new set of challenges.
Nothing like a long shopping list either.
 

 

yep, but your nutz Marty ;)
 
both sills are cactus for sure. This might make it interesting, needing to do both the inner and the outer and having little of each to weld to inbetween.
Some form of rollover jig might be needed to make underneath welding easier.
Or could  just do it Spud style, with a shovel/post/acro shoved under one sill.
 
It came with a gearbox, so I started channelling my inner Drewdog and began cleaning it up.
Input and exits both shafts seem pretty worn...:(

I have the steel now to panel up the windows.
 
The arches are proving a bit of a pain, and looks like alone they will be over $1000 with shipping from Motorsport tools.
 
$374 pounds + $200 pounds freight= over GST
 
Good to see the forum active a bit more
 
 

Deano, I'm quite sure the freight isn't included in the gst / duty and you can say they are for a historic vehicle +50yrs (they won't know) do import duty will be way down .
When you panel up the windows make the panels have a slight curve to match the body, they will need less filler and look right. And don't need full welding, just millions of tacks !

I have 2x vans left and am considering bubble arching 1 , kind of growing on me ,I need to see what a ute escort looks like arched before I start to attack it .

damn NBN has been down for the past 3 days, so I missed your tips guys until now.
I turned 50 over the weekend, so after a brief shindig with 16 of your besties (thanks CV restrictions), got 1/2 a day in the shed yesterday.
I used Fitzys welding idea for welding panels over the top, then cutting through to keep the alignment.
Your right Marty, the windows actually are compound curving, at least 10mm over the height, plus a curve on the length also. So I prebent the replacement panel roughly in both directions, until it sat nicely when offered up.
 
From the pics I was happy when the welded panel ended up curving once welded in. There's a trick when using the slitting disks that i'm yet to master, just trying to get comfortable holding the grinder and seeing what your trying to cut, and 'angling' the cut so that it closes the gap up closer. 
I did improve a little and the cuts werent too bad.
 
What wasn't so hot was the welding as you can see, I kept blowing through despite trying to adjust the settings cooler on the welder. (Lincoln Mig, 0.8mm gasless wire, 1mm panel steel). I expected to do a better job, and maybe 1in 25 tacks were ok.I think the window sill flanges were quite thin after they had been stamped in production, and when the glass window cutouts were done, it left me little overlap to play with, so in the end my welds were close to the folded flanges. If you have any suggestions please let me know. As soon as I got one good weld, I also got hot sparks down my sneakers, and have nice burn freckles on each foot.
So I think I'll leave the back window at this stage, and move the the next one before attempting any more tacks. Hopefully either my welding technique will have improved, or ive learnt better settingt to dial the welder in. I'm also going to change my earth clamp over to a magnetic one. This would let me clamp to the face of each window panel.
 
The pictured ebay cheapo air snips worked great too, very handy when working with full sheets, makes great spirals. 
 
 Thanks for the shipping tips.
I want one invoice for the whole lot inc freight, as it will work better for me, so i'll pay the premuim for them doing the sending but understand now about the GST. Will order this week.

Happy Fiddy'th Deano 😎
Noticed your using gasless wire😞, it's something i avoid so can't give any pointers to get better welds . If you get a renting bottle of Argo shield (about $20 p/month), move down to 0.6mm wire, it's more suited for the thin stuff. Nibblers are way better than grinder when it can be used , next you'll want a plasma cutter !!
Keep the updates coming👍

Hi Deano.
Yes mate happy 50th and many more (not 50th's) to come.
 
Looking at the tacks I would say your settings are not too bad, try moving the gun away from the job slightly.
 
As Marty said above, go gas, you will never look back. The shielding of the argon mix allows more stability/flexibility in the weld technique.
 
I used to rent but now find that outright ownership of bottles suits my sometimes infrequent use. I use .8mm wire (wider range of applications) and adjust settings accordingly. But either way you are walking (should say 'welding') a fine line on 20 gauge panels.
I use magnetic clamps on my welders, they work a treat, but keep an old time clamp handy for jobs like the 316 I did last week, damn stainless.
 
Mark

lousy weather meant 2 days in the garage, improving my welding skills.
I checked the welder more, it has a 'synergy' function, and you can select the gauge of wire. After selecting both, it puts you into the right ballpark , and the current can be adjusted from there, with the wirefeed changed automatically to match. After 500 more welds, things were improving enough to pass if you squint.
Delivery of sills, floor pans and heater bubble arrived today.
 
I found  some bubble arches also locally, which should be in this week. 
Just on fitting the rears, Ive got my head around cutting and fitting the bubble itself, but where or how do you fit the wheel tub extension infill where it mounts to the bubble underneath?
Do you just fold up tabs and spotweld them to the inside of the arch and attach to this?
 
I saw one youtube of a guy who fitted them to a mk1, cut the car, drilled and then clecoed it on, then spotwelded through. All ok and I thought he did a  neat job, but found in the comments afterwards  it all had to be taken off again to sort out the wheel tub extension. I dont want to fall into that trap.