I got heaps done this weekend, welded a bar across the length of the parcel shelf and created Little cup things to notch and allow access to the shock bolts.


That's one job down for the weekend, this is the other.
First off was to assess the back panel and repair what's needed like filling the reverse holes and replace rusted or damaged return tabs

I got the welder set up pretty good by the time I had nearly finished.

After a week of prepping my friend's RS for a weekend on the track at Mallala, which we retired half way thru the second day due to a oil leak from the rocker cover which was getting worse so we agreed to pull up stumps before it got really bad , we still needed to drive it home.

Back to the resto, I'm up to the gutters which I'll be quite honest here, I'm bricking it .. Never done then before, I can see the shrinker stretcher being used a lot.. I gave it a shot on a small piece and it seems ok,

On the A post it was usual rust and a 6in repair piece was made but when test fitting it fell in the hole and got wedged at the top of the windscreen pillar, I had to unpick welds at the top of the door shut to create a window for accessing the rouge part, it finally gave up the fight and I carried on welding. I ran out of time to smooth out the weld lumps



there's a piece of gutter at the front and a big piece at the rear which will be a test and hope I can get it looking as is factory as I can

The escort still is made of 3x layers, roof layer, inner beam and lower inner beam which creates the box section around the perimeter of the inner roof panel. For me to create all those layers it'll be impossible while being Insitu ..
I'll use 1.2.mm to replicate the thickness and hope I can get the welds in the right place and be easy to grind flat. I'll show some pics when I get the courage up 🥴

Moving into the rear gutter channel which was about 650mm long , from the back of the door shut right to the end at the back.
For anyone needing a piece of gutter to make, watch these pics.
First off is choose your metal, I decided to go a bit thinner (0.9mm) as there's plenty of right bends involved. The first fold is the outer top gutter which folds back inside flat, this was the hardest to do as only about 3mm or so overlap is ample, once it's folded it needs hammering over flat .
Next is to accurately scribe the next fold line, stuff this bit up and it's start it all again, check and check again as this bit is the outer gutter which is seen by everybody.
Once the strip is folded and should be just over 90deg, this part is where things get fun, lightly working on the shrinker to get the curve to line up with the cars roof, and then stretcher lightly on the outer channel to get the curve down to match the swing of the body. Once happy it's over to the bead roller with the stepping wheels to create the hard to copy drop curve below the outer edge, I ran the piece through 3 times but needed to re stretch and shrink the piece to fine tune it .

This is that drop curve to replicate original

The double curve, back and down

This is the part offered up to the car, car is upside down to make work easier

Those 3 rust holes got plugged up before any other welding as it's easy to tackle now than later.
Before I could fit the gutter, I decided to weld a strip to the roof channel, this was also shrink stretched to fit, I welded it to the quarter panel and then to the roof panel to stop any floppy loosened, welded were tacks every 1/4 inch which is plenty, they were shaved back flat so the gutter channel would sit flat against it

There was some extra welding as needed and sanding for a nice finish.

I cant think of many more difficult spots to repair nicely.
 
You get the trifecta of multiple panels, the reverse fold, plus the compound nature of the bends to replicate.
All in a very visible eyeline position when finished.
 
Beer o clock after that one was done for sure.

Later that day I literally threw the sunroof panel on top of the Escort roof to see how and what needs to be cut away. The weirdest bit is the windscreen opening at the top is exact the same shape as Nissan donor roof.


Next was to find centre of the Escort roof and carefully measure how wide I need to cut the hole out, once centre was found and marked, I used a chalk line to ping the line down.

Then the big cut to remove nearly half of the roof skin

After some sunroof panel setting and aligning to get an idea what needs removing etc, this happened..

The back of the rotisserie decided to have a fatigue moment and the car dropped to the floor, luckily the car righted itself before the spindle broke. Made a heck of a bang onto the concrete and because the frame is what hit the ground there was hardly any damage done to the car believe it or not.

Time for a brake rotor upgrade, I saved the front rotors from my Focus ST for just such occasion, you can see the size difference, 235mm 1300mk1 rotor against a 320mm rotor !!
The caliper is also an upgrade from the mk2 escort M16 caliper, the new one is from a Toyota land cruiser 4 piston..

Next is to start the plasma cutter up and cut the hole bigger, I thought my little cut 40 plasma wasn't going to do it but it actually needed turning down, I kept blasting till the tube went in with a little gap

It fits !!

Making a removable disk is to weld a plate to the spindle and another to the outer tube which the rotor is welded to, I used 2x 10mm bolts to take the stress.

This is the rotor about to be welded in place once I know the depth and to keep it square..