my MK1 MEXICO

[Jerrytom161]

Thanks very much . Hard work , but worth it .

[Danxr2]

Perfection

[Mexican Gerbil]

Good effort. Still very impressed. what's next?

[Jerrytom161]

Good effort. Still very impressed. what's next?

To do the last bits on the Mexico , then sort out all the spares I have left over and decide whether to keep or sell the parts . Then enjoy the Mex after that . No plans to do anything else at the moe . I will sit down and complete the resto file I have built up and history . Then will work out what it's cost me from start to finish .

[Jerrytom161]

On 30/01/2017 at 23:09, Mexican Gerbil said:

Puts my efforts to shame. Might take it apart and try again. Next you will be showing us how to rechrome the plastic switchs and dails. Need to repair my dash top too. At the end can you list the places and shops you got bits from please.

This is a List of companies I used to purchase parts from :-

Magnum panels . Front wings and various bodywork parts .

Burton power . Engine parts

Rally Design . Various suspension , brakes and steering parts .

Stage 1 Motorsport . Various re manufactured parts .

EscortRS.co.uk . All sorts of clips , nuts , bolts , seals .

East Kent Trim Supplies . Boot mat, headlining , some door rubbers, and door seals .

C O H Baines . Windscreen rubbers , rear quarter rubbers .

Retro Bolts UK . Special nuts bolts and clips etc .

DMB Graphics . Mexico stripes kit

Rally and Competition Equipment . Leaf springs and bushes .

Aldridge trimmers . Rear inner wheel arch trims .

Escort Tec . Various second hand parts .

Classic parts Shack . Various parts .

Neil Fletcher Racing . Re manufactured parts and NOS parts .

Old Parts Store . Electrical parts

Historic Motorsport . ( Exeter) Stoneguard

Tippers ( St Austell ) number plates

Vehicle Glass Company . Door drop glass .

National windscreens . Front screen

Gartrac . Steering column spares .

Ace paint & Body Specialist ( Paul Acklund ) :- Paul was amazing both in his workmanship and help , enthusiasm , and advice  in painting the bodyshell and wheels . Thanks Paul .

 

And one final company I used which I think is worth mentioning is :- lockhouse security , the owner is Tony Harvey he is based in Romford , Essex . Tony is passionate about restoring automotive locks , he made a fantastic job of repairing and servicing the complete set of locks for the Mexico and supplied two sets of keys as well . He is a very pleasant and approachable guy and reasonably priced . The whole set came to £85 . Thought I would pass the info on as these kind of company's are hard to come by this day and age .

 

Hope this helps .

 

Dave .

[Rally Pack 2000]

Nice wheels, Im considering them for my Twincam. I cant seem to find anything that really suits. Minilites are just too cliche on Mk1s but there isnt a great variety to choose from.

[Jerrytom161]

Nice wheels, Im considering them for my Twincam. I cant seem to find anything that really suits. Minilites are just too cliche on Mk1s but there isnt a great variety to choose from.

They are the standard 5.5j x 13 steels that came with the car , the only problem i had was no spare . I managed to get one from Darran at Escort Tec . Paul the paint sprayer had them shot blasted and then he painted then in the strato silver rims with pewter silver centres as They came from the factory . Maybe worth giving Darran at Escort Tec a call to see if he has any . Hope this helps , good luck .

Dave .

[Jerrytom161]

One person who has been a massive help to me over the last year or so on good advice , help and parts is Ray of the 1300E's resto's on OSF . His advice to be honest has been a massive influence as to how I have finished the Mexico off and continues to do so on things I want to do to improve the look of it even further especially in the finer detail . He is a true enthusiast of Ford Escort Mk1 's and his knowledge and keen eye for detail is second to none especially on 1300E's . I would like to thank him for all his help and advice and of course all the cups of tea he has given me every time I have visited him at his workshop . Cheers mate .

[Stu3y]

Looks fantastic. Would love one, been looking at ads recently, its hard to find one done to this standard. Good work. Thanks for sharing.

 

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[Jerrytom161]

Thanks for your comments stu3y , as I said at the beginning of this thread I was persuaded by a good friend to sell my mint MGB GT at the time and buy the Mex resto project , I must admit at the time I thought he was barmy !!! , but full respect to him he knows his classics and he told me I will love it when I finish it .... And he's dead right !!!! .. I am now Blue oval badge convert . I am still improving it though . But nearly there .

[Jerrytom161]

Another job done off the finishing list , fitted the Quaife ATB diff and !!!!! .............. Perfect ...nice and quiet on the road which is what I wanted to achieve .out with the Tran-X and in with the Quaife .

[Jerrytom161]

I have just received my original Ford rocker switches back from Bogdan ( guy in Poland who advertises on eBay ) after he has refurbished them , including re chroming of the surrounds , re blacking rockers , and new pictograms . They look really good and will finish off the dash panel once they are fitted . For the cost of £65 inc p&p back to the UK , it's really good value for money compared to trying and finding Replacements for sensible money at the moment . The only thing different is he uses sticker pictograms rather than painted symbols .. But still look the nuts !!! 

 

[Stu3y]

I have just received my original Ford rocker switches back from Bogdan ( guy in Poland who advertises on eBay ) after he has refurbished them , including re chroming of the surrounds , re blacking rockers , and new pictograms . They look really good and will finish off the dash panel once they are fitted . For the cost of £65 inc p&p back to the UK , it's really good value for money compared to trying and finding Replacements for sensible money at the moment . The only thing different is he uses sticker pictograms rather than painted symbols .. But still look the nuts !!! 
 

They look great. Can you see the stickers up close? Have you got a link to the guy you used. Also how long did it take?

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[Jerrytom161]

Hi Stuart , 

you can make the stickers out up close , but you really have to look . Unless you find nos switches which will cost silly money then in my opinion this is the next best step . For £65 inc p&p for a set of 5 you can't beat it . Bogdan is the guy's name and he advertises on e bay , look up ford escort mk1 capri mk1 switch refurbishment and its on there I have just checked . If you like before you consider sending them off , come round to see the ones in my car . As I am in the same area as you . They took about a month from me sending them off to getting them back , this depends on how many orders he has at any one time as he only runs the chroming machine when he has enough to do due to running costs in Poland . Patience is the key . Well worth it though. I have a spare set so will be sending them off to get refurbished now I have these ones back . 

Regards .

David . 

[Jerrytom161]

I cannot believe it was a year ago that i took the Mexico for its first Mot since i finished the restoration of it . Took it today for its second one and all was good , another year of legal motoring !! I Will still continue to get it done even when it becomes mot exempt as i personally would like someone else to check to make sure nothing is missed or potentially  missed . 

 

[Stu3y]

Did you do the bead blasting yourself? If so what did you use?

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[Ronnie rs1600]

Nice work mate,very nice. My shell hasn't fared so well but hay I'm looking forward to starting it anyhow. My roof and rear body shell ok everything else needs replaced! Panels along will be around 5k..i want to do the same to my rear arches..where did you get your rear arches? I'm going down the rs1600 bda rep route but not too keen on the  bubble arch. I've been restoring peugeot 504 pickups for a few years so looking forward to a change also and there is no repair panels for the pickup Rear, maybe sills if your vvvery lucky. My inner wings came from mexico same as 504 saloon front end. Started making rear repair panels now and selling them. Anyway that's impressive work. Cheers Ronnie 

[Xp197777]

Well done always nice when they pass ,I will continue mot mine as well ,

ronnie are you going the full monty with your rs1600 and fitting a bda engine?

[Jerrytom161]

A bit of an update on my Mexico since the Mot in 2018 :- 

i have been gradually using the car less and less as it has been having oil pressure issues . It has always been fine on initial start up when cold with around 60/65 psi .... but once the engine has reached normal temperature it was dropping to at worst 10/12 psi ( on the red on the gauge ) maybe less . I have been concerned for the last 2 years and asked many people for their opinions and advice in different clubs etc , some said its normal keep using it , and some say you have a problem  ( which deep down i suspected ) . Some said look at your oil pump . I originally started with a brand new high pressure one , then changed to high capacity one , then in the end it was high pressure high capacity one . This changed it for a while but in the end something had to be wrong , i also had a silvery type film in the oil during changes . In the end i stopped using the car for fear of damaging the engine . In May this year after much conversing with Ray (  1300E’s) , he persuaded and advised me to ignore all the advice i had been given . It was decided to remove the engine / gearbox and investigate what was causing the low oil pressure .

once i had done this  i removed the sump to inspect  . The bottom of the inside of the sump was all sludgy and contaminated , especially in the very bottom under the baffle plate . Prior to me doing this i discovered by chance looking at a Mexico big wing sump and oil pick up pipe for sale on e bay that mine looked different . I looked at old photos I had from my original engine build , there laid  my cause of low oil pressure when hot . GUTTED to say the least . Someone in the history of my Mexico for whatever reason had fitted a standard 1600 crossflow oil pick up pipe not a Gt one. !!!

Correct one on the right of the photo . Totally different in length and pipe shape 

[Jerrytom161]

Ray then very kindly picked my engine up from my place and took it his engine builder in Essex for a total strip down and assessment of any damage . We were horrified to say the least . The crankshaft journals were all destroyed  , main bearings  and big end shells  were totally ruined . 

[notenoughtime]

Ouch 

what size is the crank? Standard or reground already? 

And what are the small ends like? Best to check whilst it’s  out? 

[colr6]

Don’t forget the cam bearings as well.

[Jerrytom161]

I was also not particularly happy with the block from the original build either in the respect it had to have sleeves fitted in all the bores due to excessive damage done . My aim was to keep it near original spec when i originally started out , but was persuaded to have it bored out to achieve 1700cc  . I went with this at the time . 

Once the assessment was done on all the faults to my engine i started to find all the parts that i needed to rebuild the  engine  , i was very vey lucky to find a very good original block with correct casting numbers for my car along with an original spec crankshaft to go with it . Also one other great find was an original Ford mk1 Mexico 4 into 1 branch exhaust manifold . ( which i have been looking to get for years ) . 

[Jerrytom161]

With all the parts now found Rays engine builder set about the task of rebuilding my engine to near original spec as it left the Avo factory . Once it was done Ray very kindly bought it back to me ready to fit back in the Mex. i had the easy task of just repainting it and fitting all the ancillaries . 

[notenoughtime]

Looks nice