Mk2 Escort stood since 1993

[HarrierTony]

Thanks a lot guys, its getting there bit by bit lol.
Decided today to take a look under the strut top that looks like its been there a while, was expecting to find loads of rust and holes etc.

A quick grinding session and this doesnt look that bad

Just look at the rot on the underside of that plate, it wasnt even welded to the wing rail, that bit was covered in white silicon sealant

but on a positive note, I can see chassis numbers and a not too bad looking original strut top, one wonders why the other plate was ever fitted ??

A gentle bit of cleaning and those numbers are beginning to show through

A bit of cleaning and grinding and it looks like the only place its rotted through is where the repair plate was welded on lol

Ive decided to keep as much original here as I can, so I am going to cut up this new top plate I have, and repair the original so that it retains the chassis number and spotwelds around the top

Also came across this botch, plate was only welded onto the strut top i took off, it folded back like a sardine tin lid

[top ghia]

Its not the first resto thread i have seen with large plates covering very little rot. Why do people do that? Its much better to save the chassis number and keep it looking original. IMO. Im sure it will look good when its done just like the other bits.

[south west restorations]

nice update m8 there
good to see ur still cracken on with it.
and a dont blame u for makeing ur own panels .at the cost to buy them theses days.

good to see u have still the vin number and not need to cut it out.
keep the good work going

[dustydog]

Am injoying this, very good work spot on

[HarrierTony]

Thanks guys, deffo was a bonus to find the chassis number still there. I didnt get as much done today as I had hoped, also run out of grinding wheels , I had 10 of em and cant believe ive used em all lol
Ok this is what I started with earlier

Chopped out the rotten bit which im sure most of the rot here was caused by where the old repair strut top plate was welded on

Made up a new plate from the new spare strut top plate I already had

Welding it in from top and bottom, a little bit of dressing to tidy it up for now

This is how it looks this evening, just needs a bit of fettling and then I will be happy with it

Going to try and sort the rear section of this strut top out tomorrow evening and make some new plating for where the bonnet pull cable comes through next to the bonnet hinge.

[pinto48s]

Crackin on!
someone wasn,t trying to hide something with that top plate were they?!

[HarrierTony]

Crackin on!
someone wasn,t trying to hide something with that top plate were they?!

I wish I knew mate, but thankfully the numbers I found tally with the chassis plate and V5C. At the moment all I can think is the N/S must be shot and they decided to just put both repair strut top plates on, if the other side is as good as this side when I come to do it, then only the people who fitted them knew what they were playing at

[pinto48s]

Thats good the numbers match!
Those top plate repairs were all the rage years ago lol.
Prob were done to match both sides.

[HarrierTony]

Its always one of those moments when you uncover the numbers, wondering if they will match up or not lol. I was hopeful these would be the genuine ones as this car has only had a few previous owners from new, I know it doesnt always go hand in hand, but on this occassion all is good.

[HarrierTony]

Managed to sort out the rear of the O/S strut area this evening.
Started with this

Cutout the rot and prepared the repair area, wasnt happy to see that the previous botch didnt even have any metal welded between the bulkhead and innerwing

So back under the dash I go to weld in this little right angle bracket to connect the bulkhead and innerwing together as they should be

Made up my new plate and drilled some holes in to plug weld it to my right angle bracket, at the same time sort out the botched plate around the area where the bonnet release cable comes through

Start to weld in my new plate

Added a new water channel to make it look complete

Clean it up

Put a bit of paint on to protect it for now

This side just needs the wing rail sorting now, so thats my next job

[pinto48s]

Nice little job there.
Are you putting in back red when you paint it?

[HarrierTony]

Thanks mate,
Originally I was, as the build plate does say 'Venetian' on it, but at the mo im thinking of doing it signal orange.

[13sport]

Nice one tony strut tops looking good. Reminds me of how my car looked with the strut repairs on pass side was mint and the drivers side had very little rot under it. Good to see there was no huge nasties hiding under there and nice to see the original number to, it's almost a shame to put an rs type top plate on but I've made em now so il fit them lol

[SHIFTY]

Getting there Tony

[south west restorations]

nice to see more work .
tony.