Good lad ! As the UK RSs all had tramp bars, well every Escort did that was anything above a 1300gt got them .
Blackline was cheap a few years back, Matt Lewis was the best price with them and freight. My Orange MK2 has a quaife LSD and they are excellent, quiet and solid so the blackline should be very similar in performance. I used to do big roundabouts at a good speed without sliding and the plant it, the wheels will both fry up and the fun starts, in the 8yrs I drove my MK2 with the LSD I never pussied it, twisted splines, axle bearings and went thru 3 different ratios but ended liking the 3.77 most with the Pinto . Bent an axle housing after landing on a kurb , from then on I've box sectioned the housing so it doesn't do that again .

This is the list I have in my head.

- Nolathane for the rear leafs, tramps, front sway bar body mounts.
- Standard/Rubber leaf saddles.
- Gaz front and rear shocks.
- GPR4 rubber roller front strut top mounts.
- Nolathane front control arm bushes.

If it squeaks too much then I may put the standard rubber mounts back, from memory though it didn't make much noise at all with the nolathane bushes I had in it way back when, the only sound was from the knocking front right shocker .
 
Also... Hear me out... Youtube served a SuperFastMatt video to me around electric assisted brakes - namely using the Bosche Ibooster system... It sent me down a rabbit hole and I found this. I think this potentially would be an alternative solution for all of those brake woes.

I present to you the 2017 Honda CRV hybrid electric power brake booster.


 

 
Lok how compact it is! I think it would totally fit on the bulkhead and clear the inner strut tower, the master is a two pipe front/rear system and has a remote reservoir too. I'm pretty sure it would also clear the clutch cable.
 
They're cheapish, you can pick one up for like $170 USD (plus postage) and I think all they need is 12v+ 40amp power - 12v+ switched and a ground. They have all fancy CAN stuff like regenerative brakes etc but I think because it's brakes, they have to be able to work separately from those systems too in the event of a problem.
 
Who is willing to give it a try?? 
 
On further reading you also need to wire up the pedal travel sensor - the small four wire plug on the top - but there are plenty of pin outs on sites like EVCreate.

martymexico
As I used to work in Quickco Escort heaven, we seen lots of inner neoprene bushes flogged out in no time, I put the reason down to the load on cornering and the angles the bush had to endure. 

Good information, I was on the fence about putting nolathanes in the LCAs, I'll stay with standard and call it good.

I thought I would tackle one of the last "dirty jobs" before the car comes back (which should be next week!) and cleaned up the diff center housing and get a coat of primer on it. The amount of gunk that came off this thing was insane. Had to pull out the trusty oven cleaner to get the worst of it off .



 
I'm not sure if ill paint it silver or black yet, I may do it the same color as the Type 9 extension housing. Also I need to order the rebuild kit, LSD center and new axle bearings. 

Yeah I second the do it black, or metallic Black like a real glossy, even clear coated 2pk for that super shine. Rebuild kit, bearings and the crush tube, also look into longer crown bolts as the LSD mount are thicker taking away valuable thread space, I've not had one let go with short std bolts but it's a worry I had while track days and loon driving.
depends who you get the lsd from, they can sell the bearings and crush tube (get a couple) as cheap enough cause you never know if want to swap out ratios later..
Can't wait till the car is back for you to assemble

Nice plan spacing it down. Maybe while your duffing about with the XM, they do like to be box section up around the engine mount legs. If you look at the difference between a stock XM and a real UK RS one, they've got plates and boxes in strategic spots to eliminate flex . Also the inner control bolts are about 15mm up and 15mm out to level the arms at lower height and outwards for camber.
Here..
https://www.retroford.co....ne-cross-member-ss041/

I thought to add this as it has a original Escort MK2 RS , tho early model with the rear how that are, this is how I did my RS but without the chrome FORD badges.
Johnny Smith always does great vids regardless the car(s) , this is a family made museum in Wales
https://youtu.be/zW5BpS0C2G8?si=-8eORLanjFEZJVHc
And the Lotus Carlton was the fastest 4dr car in the world at the time with 185mph before they was restricted to 150 !

Managed to get some time in the garage today.

Put the second coat on the diff and ill see if it needs a third after it dries, pretty happy with it as it is though.


 
I picked up some flat bar and made a start on the next part of the crossmember which is adding the spacers to the mounting area, also stitch welded the mounting points to the rest of the frame. Ford just spot welded the whole thing together for the most part so I'm not surprised that the original piece has so much flex when people push the car.


 

 

 
Next up is the internal/external gussets, drilling the chassis mount holes - will need to die grind the passenger side out a little as they're elongated, and moving the lower control arm mounts up and out and weld the standard ones closed. 
 
After that I'll decide if i am going to put a patch panel into the bottom to get rid of the dents from using it as a jacking point.