Been busy over the last few days with the instrument panel, it was mostly working when the car was parked up - apart from the fuel gauge but that was a sender float issue not a gauge issue.

 I agonized over painting the shroud and went back and forth quite a few times but finally decided to just do it. I used a Matt black spray pack that I actually use on Warhammer miniatures . It came up great i think! I also got some fluro matt enamel from the local hobby shop and painted the needles with two coats and some plastic polish for the shroud. I left the shroud off for the photo because it's still got a bit more polishing to be done on it and it was hard to see the actual gauges! I am SUPER happy with how it came up! 


 
I also had a crack at adding a support to the top of the shroud because it was bent like a banana - out came the JB weld and a bit of 3mm flat steel. I think its worked well - once the dash goes away and comes back with a softer foam pad it should sink into it quite nicely.
 

Yeah I noticed in the past that even trying to clean them can result in light scratches - it's a bitch

I've got some Meguiar's PlastX which I've used with great results on plastic headlights before, I did a super light pass with a foam pad and it's come up really well. I'll do another pass tomorrow with a pad on the drill, light pressure with lots of compound should do the trick. 

Credits to you, that is better than factory looking clocks , hard work pays off. 👍

Celica box is very strong, they came out of not only Celica but T18 corolla and maybe some corona in the 70s to mid 80s.
Instead of a Dellow conversion, there's another plan of attack is a billet aluminium spacer between the box and belhousing, which keeps the escort belhousing, this is easy cheaper than a Dellow system.
More alternative is to find a Mazda rx8 6sp and get an adaptor plate(or make one) from UK. They use Escort clutch spline and same tail shaft but Mazda has a slightly bigger diameter.
Nobody uses BMW getrag boxes here in Escorts, cheap, strong, compact, yanks love them ... I'm deciding to get one soon for my mk1 Escort, not sure on engine going in it yet, zetec , been there done that, duratec, yeah still a good swap . K series Honda, might save that for my 4x4 ute.
Or.... Don't laugh now... A Suzuki Vitara/Swift Sport 1.4 turbo motor, these are potent little units and light weight, economy is a ridiculous 5.2/100kms or less on hwy !!

That lens looks great, nicely done. Have you thought about putting some LED's in there? The best bang for my buck mod I've done to my car, the difference is night and day, excuse the pun
 
Can't help on the gearbox decision, went through the same deliberations and ended up sticking with the four speed, albeit with a Quaife alloy case and bellhousing. It buzzes a little a freeway speeds but I rarely drive it on the freeway nowadays and its part of the cars character that I've lived with for all this time.

I remember fitting a type 9 5sp on my mk2 and it still needed a little bashing to open out the sides of the tunnel so it didn't knock. we did it at a mech workshop starting at about 5pm new years eve 1998 thinking it'll be a 2hr job, lots of swearing and abuse and some agricultural stick welding, shook hands at midnight and watched fireworks etc for the new year , then back into it, the job got done at 6am 1999 and I drove it home for 7am and slept till 4pm .
I still have that car and the gearbox is still solid after track days and driving like a loon in my younger days !!

Hi Drewdog,
Would you happen to have the part numbers and where to by the LED dash replacement lights?
I bought a set for my Escort panel van about 6 years ago however the manufacturers part numbers appear to have changed.
Highly recommended upgrade especially considering the blue filter lenses covering the standard dash lights have long crumbled and gone to heaven.
Thanks,
Peter.