Conor

Thanks for that. What with marshalling, I didn't get any time to look at anything due to spending most of the time either turning people away or trying to find empty spaces.

Blame the people in the OSF scene who are more than happy to pay for a RS2000 or RS Mexico V5 and VIN plate and bolt it onto any old 2 door shell. There have been people on this forum both selling and buying them

MX5 got mine. Sick to death of Essies getting everything.

Boggies is my local rolling road, just 10 miles away. Proper old skool place and they know their OSFs well. Last time I was in, old man Dave showed me his new project - MK1 Transit recovery truck with a tweaked 3L Essex in.

I put Continental Eco 3 185/70x13's on my Capri - cost about £140 for a full set. Excellent performance in both wet and dry and didn't wear out in under 10,000 miles. The Yokos are OK but you'll eat through them - longevity isn't something they're noted for.

MK1,2 Escorts and Anglias and Minis have the fuel tank in the boot.

What with the massive number of MK1 and MK2 Essies being advertised on various forums, then having several price reductions and ultimately ending up with the seller begging for offers, is the overpriced Escort market finally starting to collapse? I guess the Irish lads, who were keeping the inflated prices going, have got all the essies they need now. Are people waking up to the fact that £2700 for an unroadworthy MK2 RS* that has holes in every panel and fist sized holes in the inner wings and firewall is just a joke? *yes, I personally know of one MK2 RS that was that rotten and did sell for that price.

Sold my red one, instantly regretted it. Bought two since but not had the same passion about them. The last one left my possession today and although I enjoyed hooning about in it, I didn't feel the same sense of loss. Maybe its because I didn't have blood, sweat and tears invested in it. I've had others in the past which have cost me quite a few quid in pulled listings...

Specialised Engines, Grays. Got a recon off them and it was a cracking job and excellent service.

I worked in GRP as a trimmer/finisher. We used to make custom moulds for all kinds of stuff. It takes an experienced guy with decades of experience a good few weeks working fulltime just to produce one mould from scratch. At least a week of that is spent polishing it up. But then again, we were doing it to an extremely high standard where a flat bit would be perfectly flat and not rippled and there were no imperfections allowed at all, not like the quite poor quality that all car GRP panel manufacturers turn out. Basically it was due to the fact that what came out the mould was the finished product, save trimming, whereas a car GRP panel is going to be painted so it doesn't matter as much.

£2200 is seriously cheap and even moreso if you've not supplied him with original panels and he's having to make pattern parts fit. For example, virtually all pattern Mk3 Capri passenger wings are too short by 25-40mm. It took the guy who did mine THREE DAYS just to fit one wing and have something like a reasonable door gap. Pattern parts are shite and they're never gonna line up properly in a month of Sundays. The best you can do is an acceptable compromise.

Pretty much a certainty. I'd just polish it up.

Completely pointless without a dyno. Running on a stand without a load to work against will tell you nothing other than the parts go round without smacking into each other and that the ignition timing and fuelling are sufficient to get the engine running.

Why do they need to find another deposit when the landlord will be returning theirs? Personally if I were them, if they're under notice I think I'd not be paying the rent.

Was made redundant at the end of October. Ended up on ESA in February with a shot back as a result of being sat at home. Got various whiffs of the recruitment process proceeding for a DWP vacany I applied for in November and there's been the odd sniff of a job but nothing more than that. On Monday I got so fed up with it I decided to sign off ESA, create my own job and go self employed before I ran out of money to buy stock with. Today I've just had my first sale which was not bad considering it was done as a toe dipping exercise, just advertising with postcards in local corner shop and newsagents. Cards haven't even been in the window 24hrs yet. My next port of call once my stationary and signage has been done is a stall on the local once a week market. £15 a week gets me a stall that the council provide on the high street in my town with a bucketload of passing foot traffic and no more than 50 yards from three cash points. I'll not make a mint but its better than dole and working tax credits take up some of the slack too.