Rebuilding my Escort Mk1 Mexico Replica

[AlexG]

IŽve decided to rebuild my mk1 Replica. The car was built around a 1100 Mk1 Escort in a pretty good shape. But after 2 years there was work to do and I decided that it was a good time for a complete strip.
The car will be bubble arched and gets a Roll bar installed. IŽll keep you updated about the future progress!

First of all the car before Restauration:

[alancdavis]

Lots of pics please

[AlexG]

Sorry, problems with my picture site! Now the status before restauration:

[AlexG]

During and after stripping:



Battery tray (itŽs a german car!), not needed after restauration, because the battery will be moved into the boot.










At the moment there is a small "Köln" axle installed, but will be swapped for an english axle of course.




The replica was built around a one owner from new car (1100L) about five years ago from the previous owner. It was in a pretty good shape, but some spots where already showing the need of attention:


Engine is a 1600 cc Kent, in an unknown state of tuning (but running very well):

[lee bishop]

Looks like a good solid car to start with !!

[AlexG]

IŽm happy to say, but itŽs really a very solid car! :-)

But during the years some bad repairs have been made, therefore some more work has to be done:


The front panel was too bad, so we need to replace it:


Front wings also donŽt look very good:


More pics to come....

[Lee R]

Good luck, good shell to start with that

[AlexG]

More Pics:

Bubble arches waiting:


Battery tray already cut out:


Front wing right


and left are not looking very good:


This gearbox (Type 2) wonŽt be used again:


There were fibreglass Mexico arches installed, but this was not very well done :



Also wonŽt be used again and swapped for a rally tank:


Chrome trim removed and holes closed:

[AlexG]

Battery cut out closed, now itŽs no more looking like a german Escort:



And of course some rust under the front wing rails (sorry bad pics):



Under the bubbles on the rear sill (see post above) there was a not very well made repair behind:

[oxb1l]

Looking good

Keep up the good work

[AlexG]

Some more progress (at the moment we have a short break, therfore I have the time post the work done so far):

We cut the old repair panel out and replaced it with a new ( better fitting) one



The front wing rails we had to replace completly. We made them by ourselves in 2mm sheet metal for added strength

Before:


During Work:






And the final result:



Of some additional reinforcements:



As the front wings were far to much rotten we had to use replica front wings. But they needed some work to get a proper fit:

As we go for bubble arches and the car will be used for regularity rallies, there was no need for NOS wings.

[AlexG]

Engine:





Old versus new (in front):


And the complete World Cup X-Member after the rebuilt:



Modification for the big dash:



And finally some pics of my friends car. He is helping me a lot and the work is done in his workshop:



With this car he is racing in the Austrian/Italian/European Hillclimb Championship

[Dobbo63]

Looks a beauty that mate , even with the work you doing, not often you see a mk 1 shell that good.
I was in Austria a few years ago and passed a ford dealer who had mk1 Mexico in maize colour on show in the window of the dealership. Can't remember where it was though...

[AlexG]

We were also suprised about the state of the shell after 40+ years. I own the car now since 2010 and was a little bit scared before restauration, after seeing so many rotten Escorts here in this forum .

The car is expected to be ready in this spring, so hopefully we make good progress.

We found some rust here also:



But thats in fact (with the other rot already shown here) all we found. Heater bubble ist fine, the other usual places (including floor panels) are rock solid.

[SHIFTY]

Just checked out this thread and well done, im sure she will be a cracking Mk1 when complete

Ps Loving the engine choice in your mates car also

Keep up the good work