mk2 mike Posted June 4, 2011 Report Posted June 4, 2011 Finally picked up my mk2 yesterday, Spent most of the day looking it over and making a list of bits I want to do to it. It's a 1980 GL fitted with a 1600 crossflow. The owner before me replaced the front wings, front panel (changing it to round headlights), bonnet and door skins before respraying it in Toyota mica red and is pretty clean other than a small 20p size paint chip on the nearside wing. The boot has been delocked with both an electrical and manual release fitted. It's been lowered 2 inches at the rear and 1 1/2 at the front, and has bilstein capri 2.8 struts and brakes. It also has colour coded alleycat rally special alloys. Interior has RS2000 door panels and recaro fishnet headrest seats that have been retrimmed. The previous owner also fitted a RS glovebox and put the battery in the boot. Some pics i took with my phone, sorry about the quality! Got a few things i want to do, such as replacing the badges on the bootlid, fitting a full cage, 2 up 2 downs, mexico stripes, front and rear spoilers and changing the wheels although not sure what to go for yet. I'm playing with the idea of getting superlights. First job is the interior, the last owner went a bit mad with the red paint on the respray. I'm planning to change the steering wheel for a 3 spoke RS wheel, the dash for the 5 clock version and sorting the door panels and handles. Only problem I could find with it is the front nearside brake is sticking, not surprising as its been sat for quite a few months. Hope to get it all done in 4-6 weeks. Just gutted it wasn't ready for this weekend! Thanks for looking, Mike.
lotusless Posted June 4, 2011 Report Posted June 4, 2011 looks very nice m8 i agree about the steering wheel
sidewaysrob Posted June 5, 2011 Report Posted June 5, 2011 That looks very nice! Shades are needed for the interior though!lol
mk2 mike Posted June 5, 2011 Author Report Posted June 5, 2011 Glad its not just me who thinks the interior is a bit OTT, I guess the previous owner liked it but its a too much for me!Each to their own i suppose! I've just won a 5 clock dash and a std gear knob from eBay so that will get rid of the red clocks and pink alloy knob. I also bought some black vinyl paint today to respray the door cards. I've never used it before so no idea how good (or bad) it is I'm trying to get hold of a 3 spoke RS wheel too and ditch the painted mountney on thats on there. To be honest i quite like the red carpets contrasting with the black, and the seats have been retrimmed well so I'll keep those too. I'll get some 'after' pics for a comparison!
sidewaysrob Posted June 13, 2011 Report Posted June 13, 2011 That sounds like its going to look much better!
SebringRS Posted June 14, 2011 Report Posted June 14, 2011 Love that colour Lovely car But yeah that steering wheel
zetecmk2 Posted June 14, 2011 Report Posted June 14, 2011 i really like that. i think i want a non-arched mk2...so i can fit the zakspeed to it. please change the door handles the exterior is a really nice colour
gjh Posted June 15, 2011 Report Posted June 15, 2011 Thats a very smart car! Colour really suits it, its a wonder why it hasn't been seen before, keep us updated on it.
mk2 mike Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Posted June 16, 2011 Thats a very smart car! Colour really suits it, its a wonder why it hasn't been seen before, keep us updated on it. Thanks, will do! The colour is Toyota garnet red mica metallic. Was a real PITA trying to get the colour code but got it now. I'm not a fan of metallic colours on old fords but i think it suits it too. It was up on ebay 3 times at a very low price (i think anyway) and went unsold without a single bid each time! I snapped it up the minute i went to view it. RS 4 spokes, rear spoiler and 5 clock dash to go in this weekend. Might satin black around the windows if i get time. Also got another roof aerial, gear knob and of course an OSF sticker to go on the screen oh yeah, and its having its MOT too. Apart from a sticking caliper i'm pretty confident it will sail through. Trying to decide if i should loose the overiders from the front bumpers? what do you think?
mk2 mike Posted June 20, 2011 Author Report Posted June 20, 2011 Took a day of work today to try and get the car ready for the MOT. Not being very mechanically minded it took me ages to free off the nearside front brake from where it had been sat for months before i bought it. That said I was chuffed when I finally managed to get the wheel turning freely I was so pleassed I didnt even think to check the offside, so when I took it to the MOT guess what it failed on? Wasn't too bad though, this was the list of things needed- 1. Offside front brake sticking 2. Nearside flexible brake hose twisted. Guess I did this when freeing off the caliper. 3. Nearside steering rack gaitor split. 4. 1 rear number plate light not working. 5. Exhast loose at the front pipe. (only an advisory) All in all pretty happy with that list . Soon as I got back I sorted the offside caliper (now i'm an expert , and the twisted hose, replaced the number plate light bulb but couldnt get a rack gaitor from the local shop so had to order it. I used the rest of the day to complete a few cosmetic jobs- Fitted RS 4 spokes Fitted rear RS spoiler (did NOT enjoy drilling holes in the bootlid ) Fitted 'escort' badge to the rear (more drilling holes ) Replace broken roof aerial. Change the nasty red metal aftermarket gearknob to a standard black one. Touched in a stone chip on the front wing. Fitted replacement VIN plate under bonnet. Had some show plates made, for off road use of course Put negatative earth sticker on wing. And lastly but most importantly- put OSF sticker on windscreen All small things but i love doing bits like this when i first get a car. Makes me feel like i've accomplished something A few pics of it now. and a little fib fitted to the back Its getting there! Mexico stripes and 2up 2downs next! also painting around the windows in satin black. I'm shattered, time for a pint
SebringRS Posted June 21, 2011 Report Posted June 21, 2011 Coulda gone for a RS2000 flat front replica with the RS back bumper extensions But nah, still love the colour and everything, got me thinking now, is a ford colour the way to go, or do i look around at other colours
mk2 mike Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks! I did consider getting RS2000 broadstripe decals but decided on the mexico stripes. Getting rid of the RS bumper as soon as i find a decent standard bumper. I'm not normally a fan of modern colours on old fords, but it does suit it. It's a colour from Australian Toyotas, dealers over here had never heard of the colour code! Gonna be a pain when I get the fromt spoiler painted
Top Ghia Posted June 21, 2011 Report Posted June 21, 2011 I think it looks so much better on RS wheels.
SebringRS Posted June 21, 2011 Report Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks! I did consider getting RS2000 broadstripe decals but decided on the mexico stripes. Getting rid of the RS bumper as soon as i find a decent standard bumper. I'm not normally a fan of modern colours on old fords, but it does suit it. It's a colour from Australian Toyotas, dealers over here had never heard of the colour code! Gonna be a pain when I get the fromt spoiler painted Try somewhere like paint store (or your local alternative), they can match the colour from scanning it (i think), just take a part in, say the steering wheel and they may be able to match it
mk2 mike Posted July 21, 2011 Author Report Posted July 21, 2011 I’ve taken a week off work to get the car ready for Ford fair. I needed to do a few bits that were bugging me. Finally got it MOT’d and taxed and was able to drive it on the road for the first time since I bought it . It drove ok, apart from not idling, and stalling when I came to a standstill. There were a few bangs and creaks but nothing major considering it’s been sat in a garden for at least 6 months. There was a blue wire hanging from behind the centre console that I thought I’d investigate. A two minute job I thought! Turned out the wire went nowhere but while I was tracing that one I found another loose wire which fell off when I touched it so I began to repair that and found another lose wire, then another, then another until 6 hours of work left the car looking like this: It turns out the wiring behind the dash was a birds nest of bad wiring and scotch-locks that would have fallen apart the first time I hit a pothole. It was a PITA fixing but glad I discovered it now and not on the side of the M1 in a couple of weeks! While the car was apart I replaced the painted red dash with a 5 clock RS dash, changed the steering wheel and gear knob, and replaced the door handles and door pull handle surrounds. I think it looks a LOT better now! Before: After: Also I realised that under the red carpet is a mint black carpet but not sure if I should change it, I quite like the red carpet! (although i need to hoover it )I'm considering painting the bottom half of the door cards black as well, still looks a bit garish in bright red! Finally managed to drive the car the 100 miles home. It was a bit more than i wanted to do for it's first jouney but it made it without a fault! Even managed to hit 70mph on the M11, but it was happy cruising at 60 so I'm chuffed with that. Bring on the Ford fair! A couple more pics- Thanks to Jimrobson, blues and twos, and daft lad picko for the bits!
fieldy1972 Posted July 21, 2011 Report Posted July 21, 2011 loving the colour of your escort mate. mine had alot of bad wiring behind my dash aswell. 30 years of people having a go at wiring. i had loads taken out and tidyed up the rest. all the best mate. your doing a top job
2litreScapri Posted July 22, 2011 Report Posted July 22, 2011 What a lovely motor, colour really sets it off. Nice to see you've been knuckling down to it, your efforts have paid off.
Daft Lad Picko Posted July 28, 2011 Report Posted July 28, 2011 The wheel looks good for a bit of TLC. Car looks well mate!!
Kieran Posted July 29, 2011 Report Posted July 29, 2011 The interior looks much better Go for the black carpet and the bottom of the door cards in black aswell
XjamesX Posted August 12, 2011 Report Posted August 12, 2011 Looking at the before and after of the interior, you have improved how it looks so much already. I'd agree and go with the black carpet, and if you really miss the red you could put it back in again, although yeah, I think the black will look better
XjamesX Posted August 12, 2011 Report Posted August 12, 2011 Also, was the steering wheel off ebay? And if you don't mind me asking, how much did it set you back? It's something I need to look at replacing in mine soon
mk2 mike Posted August 12, 2011 Author Report Posted August 12, 2011 I got the wheel from a member off here for a tenner. It needed rubbing down and painting black, but was in great condition. The centre was from eBay at around £20. (although I think is from a mk1) so all in all it cost me about 40 quid to get it as it is now, bargain! Up till then I hadn't seen any mk2 wheels on eBay, only ones for mk1's or a capri. Since then quite a few have popped up for sale though! They seem to go for £30-50 depending on condition. Thanks for the comments, you're right I'm going to go with the black carpet, although recently I've been thinking of stripping it all-out and going down the cage/buckets/harnesses route. Hmmm decisions decisions.
mk2 mike Posted August 21, 2011 Author Report Posted August 21, 2011 Done a bit more today, a small thing but i think its made a huge difference! Painted around the windows and the door handle in satin black. Chuffed with the result.
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