News: 15th July 2004
The 1600 has gone back to where I bought it as it was sold as a runner but after stripping it down I discovered it needed 320 quids worth of work doing to it. So for the 150 quid I payed for it I may as well buy a engine for rebuild that is a lot cheaper. I know of a couple other sources that may be able to provide a decent 1600 xflow for cheap so I will try that, If not I will have o bite the bullet and buy an engine for rebuild. In other news I attended the SEOC national day. managed to get there after numerous problems such as Chris's car over heating and then me getting well lost by going down the A1 instead of the M1. Ended up going to a service station at Grantham and buying a map book ;). Got there an hour and a half later than expected. I took some pictures of the day which you can see in a photo album type deal HERE Or by clicking the SEOC button to the left.

News: 27th June 2004
Finally managed to get hold of a 1600 x-flow out of a mk3 cortina. Think Iam going to have to replace the sump as Ido not think it will clear the escort cross member. The good thing is though I got to here the engine running before I purchased it. It fired up straight away after I knew it had been standing for a good few months, so thats always a good sign. Plans for the engine basically include tidying it up with a fresh lick of piant as I did not really want to strip the engine and rebuild it. This is why I got an engine I knew to be sound. So far I have stripped all the ancillerys off it like the water and oil pumps etc and degreased most items. I have also started to paint some things, got the crank breather case and a rocker cover in zinc primer, and have hammerited the 2 pully wheels. Hoepfully when I come to put the 1600 engine in I wil have a chance to paint my engine bay as well as it was not painted with the rest of the car. This i feel will finsih the car off nicely and maybes add some more value to it when I come to get a re evaluation for insurance purposes. Some pics of progress with the engine so far can be found HERE

News: 25th March 2004
Well bugger me an update. Whats been happening since i last updated. Cars been slammed, interiors totally black with leather seats, first engine blew up and been replaced and im looking at getting a 1600 xflow. Also inhertied some twin 40 dellortos but dunno if i can be arsed to fit them. Thats about it ill up some pictures for u to see HERE

News: 5th December 2003
Wow an update, I must be mad (or bored). Anyways, been up to a few things with the old scort including starting fitting a black interior. The only thing im gonnah have to track down is some black front seats, but I want some leather seats out of a better car :). Also the car has been leeking water on the drivers side for some time and I think I have finally traced it to the windscreen and the doorseal, so that needs to be sorted before I can fully re asemble the interior. Think im going to wait a couple of weaks until im on christmas holidays from UNI so I can spend a day or two sorting the bloody thing out, never get a chance at the moment. The polybushes and 2" lowering job will probably be done over the christmas holidays as well, so with any luck ill be having a rather tasty looking scort for when I got back to uni in the new year. I also want to sort my sound system but Im still not sure what to do with that yet... so watch this space.... you may be waiting a while =).

News: 20th October 2003
Not much been happening with the escort really. I did give it a complete oil change including the filter today and I also replaced the oil pressure switch as it was leaking and I replaced the rocker cover gasket for the same reason. Also the polybushes that I ordered a couple of weeks ago have came so I will have to some how get round to fitting those.

News: 16th September 2003
Those pedals I won came today, they seem decent for free :). Im not sure if you are allowed to fit them and it be legal as they dont have any rubber pads on them. There is a picutre of them in the picture gallery. I also remebered I had taken some pictures of my car that I sent in for the agreed evalutaion, so you can see those here as well.

News: 11th September 2003
Must be my lucky day. Ive sold my 4 door escort to a lad who is gonnah do it up I think and I have also won a set of alloy race pedals for my car from this website http://rwdford.homestead.com//events.html =) . I may take some photographs of my car soon, I did take some photos last week but I dont know what I did with them :/ Not to worry.

News: 9th September 2003
Hello some news, or not as the case may be. But a certain riviera blue mexico owner has been bugging me to update me wesbite so here it goes. What has been happening I here you say, well to be honest, not much :). There have been a couple of things worth mentioning though. Firstly I went to look at some bucket seats last week but it turned out they were as old as my car, they woulda made a good vintage set of bucket seats though. Secondly I nearly clipped a Peugeot coming the opposite way when I some how managed to leave a set of traffic lights sideways (well played that rain =) ) and today I gave my engine some routine maintenance, only to discover the oil level was way below minimum, oops. I topped it up but I will have to check out where the oil is going, because it was on full a month ago.

News: 14h August 2003
Well after a week of waiting my insurance certificate came yesterday and I was able to take the car out for its first drive. It drives really well although I thought a little slowly at first. Then I sussed out its a pedal to the metal job to get that twin choke webber carb to do anything :). The exhuast is pretty damn loud though =).
Me an me pops also fitted the mexico stripes at the weekend, that took 6 hours to do!, they are on nice and straight though. You can see some pics here

News: 6th August 2003
The car passed its MOT on monday after the welding had been done with flying colours, so im pleased with that. Since then I have refitted all of the interior and a temporary sound system, which sounds pretty decent :P. The beauty of the sound system is though ive made it so no panels have had to be cut and you cant see a single speaker. I also got the car insured today after ringing round yesterday to get more quotes as CIS and Adrian Flux would not give me an agreed value policy. Turned out to be worth it though as ive managed to find an insurer who quoted £400 less than my previous best quote, so its costing me just over £1000 to insure the car with an agreed value of hopefully £1600. The good thing about this insurer is that I can pretty much modify the car how I like without effecting the premium, as long as the power does not go up, so looks like I can fit some bucket seats and get the car lowered in the future :). I also took some pics as its been a while, to view them click here

News: 1st August 2003
Been faffing round with both my cars and as usual nothing is ever as straight forward as it should be. Anywhoo, ive swapped the lights over on my cars because those flat fronted jobbies I got turned out to be for a left hand drive car, typical eh. Also changed the spark plugs and points on the 2 door and checked the engine timing, which turned out to be 7 degrees out. My pretty poor test of checking the exhaust emisions comprised of checking to see if any black marks splatted up the back of me car again, but this time they didnt, so the emsisions may be ok now (fingers crossed). Also tried to lean the fuel mixture but couldnt really do much as the carbs jetted for a 1600 engine and I got it on a 1300. Also cleaned the VIN plate up so you can sort of read the info on it now. Things that needed changed to pass the MOT have been changed so after the welding is done on monday, it should pass, and I can go about putting it back together n driving the bloody thing :). Ill try n take some pics at the weekend of the car.

News: 29th July 2003
Well ive had the scort out on the road today to take it in for an MOT, and I must say big grins all round from me when driving it. Its the first time ive drove it since I bought the bloody thing last septmeber. Think its done less than 20 miles since then. But oh boy it was nice to drive, shows what a good scort can be like compared to my dieing old 4 door. One downside is how noisy it is, LOL, that twin choke webber carb and single box exhaust system sure do make a racket (can see the neighbours complaining shortly). Anyways, onto the main nitty gritty, the car did fail the MOT as I knew it would, I was taking it in to see what still needed doing really. It failed on the chassis being corroded, which is being welded on monday, the headlight alignment being totally wrong and the emissions being too high. So in my book thats bloody good news, nothing major to worry about. So im going to have to get the car ready for monday if I am to want to get it thru the MOT again.
On a different matter I went back to GMS Capri Spares today to take my mudflaps back, as they did not fit. There was no hassle in the refund so alls well.

News: 27th July 2003
The brakes were bled yesterday and im pleased to report that they seem to be working pretty damn good now. I may have to bleed the system again in a couple of weeks as I totally drained the whole thing and it was full of air. Also I have decided to take my Ford RS mudflaps off my 4 door and put them on my 2 door scort.
I am going to get the 2 door booked in for welding and an MOT this week and if all goes well im gonnah bump the yellow car up to rolling restoration and hopefully have it on the road next week minus the mexico decals etc.
My 4 door on the other hand really is starting to take the piss, a hole has developed in the slam pannel, and the battery seems to be refusing to charge up even after ive cleaned up every connection in the engine bay right down to the starter motor. The alternator better not be buggered again because it was not that long ago I replaced the fekker.

News: 25th July 2003
I fitted the new brake master cylinder today without too many problems, the main one being these plastic clip things that connect the rod to the brake pedal half smashing. I still need to bleed the brakes though, but as usual there is no one around to push the brake pedal :). Also the mud flaps I bought the other day, I think I will have to take those back as after a quick trial fit they do not fit on properly, so thats that buggered.

News: 21st July 2003
I went to G.M.S. Capri spares as Chris ( http://www.geocities.com/mk2_1979 ) recomended them. I didnt realise it was as close to me, close being a 30 mile drive =). Anyways, I went up to get a new brake master cylinder, and nothing being straight forward, my car has a rare one fitted that was only on 1300 L and GL's on a V and W plate, typical or what eh. Anyways, luckily they had one in stock of the genuine ford motorcraft variety. Which is the only sort you can get apparntly for that particular type. So that set me back £70, cant complain it was supposed to be £80. Also whilst I was there I enquired about mudflaps as I havent seen any for love nor money, and what do you know, they had some genuine ford ones as fitted to MK 2 escorts and capris, brand new. So another £30 exchanged hands for a set of those. I asked if they had any of the Ford RS ones like I have on my 4 door escort but apparantly they are rarer than a virgin hooker. I will definatly get more stuff from there if I ever need it. I recomend anyone looking for some ex stock parts should give them a ring. You can find their advert in classic ford.
If I get the chance and can get some one round to help me bleed the brakes, ill get that new master cylinder fitted some time this week, that is if my bloody university work doesnt get in the way, but thats another story.

News: 18th July 2003
Yep, as usual nothing is ever bloody simple. Me and me pops were trying to sort the brake fluid resevouir becasue it was full of muck for some reason. But when it was put back on and we tried to bleed the brakes nothing was happening. On closer inspection the master cylinder had decided to keel over and die for no reason, so I now have a car with no brakes, marvelous. I have been ringing round and halfords seems to be the cheapest place for a new replacement suprisingly, and they can possibly get one for tomorrow (saturday). There goes my weekend off work then. Anyways, I need to get this fixed pretty sharp as I booked the car in for an MOT on monday as well as getting a quote to get the car welded, and hopefully, actually get the bloody thing welded. If all goes to plan, as it never does, car could be road worthy monday evening. I still wont have it on the road though, still got the interior to put back in again and put the mexico decals on and also fit some mudflaps, and fix whatever else breaks along the way. Good job ive been working extra shifts at work otherwise id have no cash to pay for these damn repairs.

News: 15th July 2003
News news news, you know I aint got much of it. Anyways, I bought some locking nuts for my car yesterday and as usual, nothing being simple, one of them was cross threaded and wouldnt go onto my studs securly, so back to the shop to swap that one over. What are the chances of the motorfactors having 2 sets of locking nuts for my RS alloys off the shelf though, pretty lucky in that respect. I also got my thumb out me arse and put the windscreen inserts in and fitted the front number plate. My dad also made me a bracket for my throttle linkage whilst I was at work at saturday, so now its all lined up perfectly and shouldnt fall off again any time soon.

News: 11th July 2003
Well I got my alloys on me car, minus the locking nuts, as the wrong ones were sent out. Doh. The wheels make the car look a lot smarter in my opinion and they gotta give better traction than the crappy remoulds that was on the steels when I bought the car. Just debating which remould to kep as my spair wheel, sigh =). Ive been busy with the digital camera as well so you can check me wheelz out here

News: 8th July 2003
Ive been clarting about with my white escort the past couple of days trying to clean it up. I washed it and it was still grubby as owt, so I T Cut the top half of the car and polished it today to try and make the paint look half decent again, and I must admit it does look alright :) (apart from the various bits of rust) Only thing ive done to my 2 door is adjust the bonnet so it doesnt sit funny, I noticed that it sagged down at the front on the drivers side, and looked rather daft, you can see that in the photos ive took. I also rang up about my wheel nuts today to see if they have come in, but not yet. Its costing £69 for two full sets of nuts, 16 wheel nuts for my dads revolutions thats going on his kit car and 12 normal + 4 locking nuts for my phwoar spokers. I just hope I dont need longer wheel studs as my trial fit of the wheels didnt seem to leave much thread sticking out.

News: 6th July 2003
Seems like ive done sod all to my car this last week lol. The interiors been in and is now back out because I was advised it was best to have the carpet out if the chassis is being welded in case it sets on fire. Also give me a chance to run some more speaker wires through my car =). Im going to fit some cheapo speakers under the front seats for high pitch noises because my "ICE" plan will mean the back speakers will be pretty muffled. Ive also replaced the ingition key start housing thing as well because I did not like the possibility of the steering lock coming on when im driving along.
Hopefully on tuesday the wheel nuts I ordered for my car will have arrived and I can get my 4 spokers on the car, im just hoping I dont need longer wheels studs, will have to see how the wheel nuts work. Thats about it really, only jobs I can be getting on with are putting the rubber inserts in the windscreens and fitting the front numberplate.
I also had a couple of pictures I took of my car that came out half decent, check them out here

News: 29th June 2003
New page, nearly new month. Anyways, been cracking on with the car again and have got everything I need to sort out inside my car, sorted out, so I can get the parts I still need and put all the interior back in my car. I must admit the old brown and cream houndstooth interior looks pretty smart against the yellow bodywork, I may keep it after all =). Ive got all the wiring done and replaced a few bulbs that had blown, and I also replaced the sheer bolts that keep the ignition barrel on the steering coloumn as these were pretty damn loose. With any luck, I may have my car ready for an MOT in 1 - 2 weeks, but some thing ALWAYS goes wrong, so I wont hold my breath. I had some pictures to upload but my pops has got the digital camera somewhere, doh. If you wanna see the old news, click the OLD NEWS link below ;)

OLD NEWS