right as u all know this car was covered in rust ...everywhere:mad: and the time had come to start tidying the underside parts up ..ie suspension parts ,brake back plates hubs etc
so while lookin through the this web site i seen a guy used vinegar .....yes thats right VINEGAR ,to clean the rust of ,now i thought this would never work but thought it was worth a try
so of i went to morrsions to buy lots of the stuff
poured all this into a big bucket and left these parts to soak in it (the before pics )
and after 48 hours in the vinegar
now they still need a wee clean up ,but hey u have to admit its amazing how much the vinegar stripped the rust of ,:D
heres another update
got ma seats today ....what you,s think ,,,and before u ask i still hav the originals and there mint ,no wear no marks and there stayin that way ,so they are of up to the attic ,
i want my s1 to be just a little different to the rest of them ,i'am not going crazy just wee things i want to change and make people look twice
also the paint came today 5litres of candy yellow .............na only jokin,good old diamond white
also nearly got the rear panel sorted ,had loads of wee dents in it .....but no more smooth as a babys
;););) now
boot floor got a wee splash of primer to
painted the car today ,took me 3 hours just doing light coat after light coat ,dont think i done to bad as i am not a sprayer by trade and only every painted 1 car before
overall it turned out really well ,it will need a flattan and a cut and polish which will hopefully take out a few wee runs and dust marks
also got my drive shafts put back togeither and back plates and rear hubs painted to
got the boys round tonight to give me a wee hand to try and put the s1 back together
,its been almost a year since i strip her ,but i will be honest and say its a fookin nightmare remembering where every single wire,nut,screw,bolts ,etc go anyway heres a few of tonights action
thats another 12 hour day at the s1 ,made a lot of progress with the wiring loom which was in a bad way ,still got the headlight wires to sort but i can do that in place ,
put most of the inside stuff back in ,and i know the sound deading is not original and its stuck down with gaffa tape ,but i am not going for a concours car just a really good s1 i can use all the time and take to a few show and shines
i think over the years this car has had a few resto attempts and the count less spray jobs had taken its toll on all the parts with over spray on every thing and it takes me ages to scrub and clean all the part ,took me 3 hours on the fuse box alone and i am still not that happy with it ,but we will see ,might try and source a good second hand loom ..........
heres some of todays pics
been busy again today ,decided i would tackle the wiring in the engine bay
what a nightmare the whole loom was covered in overspray from a past respray
tired to rub it of using paint thinners but it soon became clear this would,nt work ,so i decided to strip it right back and re-tape the whole loom ......
...what a nightmare that was, some of the loom had 3 layers of back tape on ...oh and some red,blue and white tape to :confused:
well after hours and hours it started to look a lot cleaner so all i need to do now is repair the loom where is been cut or damaged over the years ,mostly to do with the horn and side lights and jobs a good-un :thumbsup:
also stripped down the front hubs and threw them in the vinegar to soak ,while i cleaned and painted my cossie brake cailpers up :rsg:
heres some more pics
well started of today tryin to fit the headlights and indercators in ,every thing was going well un-till i found out i did,nt have half the bits ,
the new headlights came with new top mounts ,but i was still missing the bottom mounts and the bolt and plastic clip that held the indercator to wing and headlight............(well i had some of the bits but they where fooked)
anyway was round seeing lad i know who has a body shop and was telling him about hassle i was havin .....when of he walk into the back of his garage and pulled out a box which was full of every type of clip ,bracket,screws etc for all different makes of cars
....................so as luck would hav it i managed to find everything i needed ,a bit dusty but mostly brand new
.....how lucky ehhhh
polished up the header tank to (before)
(after)
done this as well ,this might change again as i dont know if i like it or not
started to make a start on the exhaust as well ,took hours to clean it up and polish it up ....worth it i think
got the front sort of built up but i am still waiting on new bits so it will all need to come of again ,just put it on for a photo
so thats it for a while back to work next week then i am of to sunny tenariffe for two weeks ,so prob wont be back near the car for a month
thought i better do the gearbox ,managed to do it at work which was magic as they had all the tools i needed ,
the box was a wee bit nosiey so a while back i bought a rebluild kit ,bearings,seals ,gaskets etc ,as u can see in the photos all did,nt go to plan as the bearings where as hard as fook to come of even with a bit of heat and the bearing puller the bearings on the diff would not shift ,in the end had to get the grinder out and cut what was left of the bearing
in all honestly it was a bit of a nightmare to do but we will see if it was worth the effort
hers some pics
this the fooked bearing
then i stuck it back together
and thats it ,prob took me 4 hours in all to do ,and also got some more bits today as well ,new front bearings ,rear shoes ,clutch cable ,rear wheel cylinders ,handbrake cable and new alloy anti-roll bar clamps
well finally got the engine put back in ,still got to plumb a lot of it in but at least iam nearly done
also got the back brakes done ,hand,brake cable etc all replaced just need the fuel lines and brake lines done and that pretty much the back end done
fronts all done to ,new bearings etc ,gonna fit new disc to just not got em yet
ok its been along time since my last update ,but that dont mean i havent being doing anything ,the car is about 90% back together ,still needs the dash and some interia put in
bleed brakes
paint ,doors ,bumper ,grill,bonnet
sort some of the electrical system
at least its sitting on its wheels again for the first time in a year ,anyway got stuck into the doors and the bonnet today gettin them ready for painting ,as the doors i had where totally riddled with tin worm i got new doors of a xr3 i bought for spares
drivers door needs a small patsh welding in just on one corner ,other wise the doors where in prefect condition ,did,nt see any point in just filling the door as it would only come back again
^^^^^^^
got my new badges made for my wheels ,what u think??????
not gonna post any pics of my car this now think i would rather go to a show or a meet with it for its first outing ............as i have changed some of few bits and peices that might make it stand out a bit from every other s1 on the road
got the boot and the rear bumper painted and then fitted them
soooooo check her out looking good me thinks
a wee photo of underneath from the rear ,...........a mighty good looking rear end .......................well pleased with how its turning out
right got some more done ,started to get the doors primmed and painted
painted the back side of the door and the bonnet then when that drys i will mask it of to do the front and top ,thought it would be eaiser that way as the shed i do the painting in is pretty small and its hard to get every bit in one go
also got the towing eye cover done ,grill ,and bumper
and this is how it sit today still with the inside in total chaos ,dont want to stick the dash back in till i get this wiring prob sorted ,
got stuck into the doors today getting the last welding jobs out the way ,the bottom of the drivers door had a small amount of rot that had gone right through the two skins ,so i cut it out and welded a patch in ,then it was a case of repairing the inside of the door ,this took a lot longer to make and shape the patches ,did,nt want it to look bodged, wanted to make it look as neat as poss ,heres a couple of pics
also decided to delock the doors ,it was done before on the old doors and i liked the look of no locks so thought what the hell,
i put a patch on the rear of the door and tacked it on ,then rather than fill the holes with filler i bulit the hole up with weld then ground that down that so all that is needed is a wee skim of filler ,seen lots of cars with the lock area cracked and the round hole visable again cause the filler has shrunk ,so hopfully i want have that prob
so that s em done just need to finsh the filler part and get em painted
been a while since i updated anything thats cause ................i hav done fook all to it lol ,every since i bought the car i knew the turbo was on the way out and it was gonna be have to be replaced so i was always on the look out for one
but when this engine turned up local to me i had to have it ,its in near new condition with less than 9,000 miles on it bought from ford a few years back ,since then its had high lift cam fitted ,V-pully and a brand new stage 3 turbo fitting
and i managed to get the whole lot for £500 :top: :top: so its out with the old and in with the new :top:
also bought a chipped ecu so once its all fired together it will be interesting to see what it will make
well finally got my seats fitted after mia (the bird) got me the sparco seat mounts i was needing for my xmas:D ,had to do a wee bit of modifieing to get them to fit with the standard runners as i still wanted the seats to go back and forward ,but after a few hours i had it all worked out:D
also got the rest of the wiring repairs and the dash bolted back in .......not an easy job
a uncracked dash ,pretty rare for a mk3 escort me thinks:D
think the bird s getting a wee bit to comfy in the hot seat for my liking lol:cool: