Im envious on both counts.
Fortunately your dash top doesnt fit a van apparently, and I need a centre console suited for  a large touchscreen unit so you are safe..
I think i've killed dashtops in the past when everything in site used to get liberal doses of Armour All, as you did back then.
My Capri dash is still going strong, but these days i'd just be inclined to give it a good soapy water wash and scrub, then a damp cloth to remove dust.

2nd to Back to Black it's brilliant stuff, used it on my 3dr focus door strips to get more black like 2yrs ago and they still black.. Usually 2 coats will be it for a year of rejuvenation

Wow yeah that's really made a difference on that trim. I like mothers products in general, I'll get those two in the next few weeks and do a trail of all three methods on the old dash pad and see what comes up best!

 Armour All was what killed the dash pad in my car originally, dad remembers it like yesterday cause it still ****s him that it happened. He put the Armour All on the car when he was washing it, we had a run of hot weather and ALL three cracks started after the first day or two in the sun.

I've seen that orange one before in the flesh! I can't remember where though. Hey at the end of the day it's your vehicle and your choice the direction you take - beauty and beholder and all that!

Last few weeks have been mental, lots of travel for work and I picked up a new to me car - a 2011 Amarok, the good news is its had the EGR and DPF deleted  - the bad news is the red GTI is gone, did a swap plus a little cash their way to do the deal. It was a good little car but i need something to tow and to lug parts around and this came up and I couldn't say no.

On the escort front I've been in the garage tonight and decided to make a start on the type 9 tail housing mod. I figure there is always the option to order the shortened one from the UK if I mess it up. If I nail it though I've save myself almost 2 grand so why the hell not.

Tell you what though, I NEVER want to cut one of these things up ever again, it was a massive pain in the backside! 


 
I managed to get it off mostly in one piece, which is great - but my hands are absolutely wrecked doing that by hand with a hack saw blade. You can see the 70 mm section I removed on the bench.


 
The cool thing is that since I did it by hand i've been able to save a lot of the material on the cast which will allow me to tie it all together a lot easier. 
 

 
I need to remove a little material from the bottom of the shifter housing and the top of the extension housing so that everything lines up. Then I can remove 70mm from the shifter shaft and line up the hole for role pin and drill it out.
 

 
Ill round off / clean up the rear casting with a file and braise some material to the rear seal housing here to strengthen it a little and give me something to shape it so the mod looks good.
 

 
Need to run to the shops and get myself some filler material tomorrow and a new map torch bottle. I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes together!

MarkA
Mark I think I missed the prelude to this project. Is it to keep the shifter in the standard (4 speed) position?

Yep 100%, instead of cutting the body and moving the shifter hole, the shifter moves forward on the gearbox and comes out of the original hole. I've seen it done a lot in the UK and thought I'd give it a crack!
 

Wait wait wait.... when you said there was a kit that does this I was thinking a bought UK high expensive method not a home remedy lol. Credits to you mate, nice mod , what welding type are you using?

Ok didnt manage to get down to the tool shop before close today so I'll duck down tomorrow. I did however get to mock up the shifter housing properly, now all that's left is to fillet the joins and drop in some filler to tack it all together. 
 

 

 
Where it sits there doesn't feel like there is any pressure on the shaft, so I think I've got it pretty close.  
 

 
There will need to be a repair done with a bit of aluminum added to the bottom of the shifter housing, I didn't want to compromise the extension housing seal area so figured this was the lesser of the two evils.


 
Then it will be time to move the roll pin hole 70mm forwards and then shorten the shaft by 70mm, I'll do that last because I want to make sure the box shifts nicely after the shifter housing is welded on.

martymexico

Filleting the joins yes, I'm not sure how much area will get welded. Maybe for extra support add in a couple of triangle gussets as like the MK2 4spd box has?

I'm guessing here, the top of the gear stick machined face should be level with the gear cluster top? This could help line the part up better .

100% needs a few gussets, I have an idea on where to put them once its tacked together. I'm thinking I'll also tie in a gusset from the rear of the shift housing to the extension housing seal area.
 
Using the gear stick to help line it all up is actually genius, so I'll have the shaft through the housing at the front and the gear stick holding it in the place it needs to be at the back before tacking it up - great idea!