MkII 1600 Sport Project "bring back my youth"

[Paul V]

This all started with this thread

http://bbs.rallyesportescorts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76433

Well to tell you the truth it started in 1987 when i got my first car a 1978 Mk2 1300 Sport, my dad brought me a Mig welder, angle grinder, compressor and spry gun and told me to get on with it. All on a YTS £29.50 a week wage.

I had a number of other MK2 over the years but the last time i had one was late 1999 i think.

So this 1600 sport, it is a straight rust free un-welded car from south Africa, where someone over there had painted from white to the yellow it is now. They also apparently rebuilt the engine and fitted the twin 40' webbers.

Although the car is good there is a number of niggle jobs to do.

The servo has been pushed down to make room for the webbers, also the servo is not assisting so i think it may be spit. Anyway i have ordered a Gartac pedal box which i hope to be with me today.

The carbs have just been bolted up to the manifold with what looks like no sandwich plates or Thackeray washers so i have orders all new hardware along with a service kit and a book on rebuilding the carbs.

The Dizzy has got the normal cap so i have today been to HH ignitions and picked up a new electronic dizzy, side exit cap and leads.

I need to look at connecting the heater back up, but think i may have to remove the heater box as the fan is making some nasty sounds. I do recall swapping a heater box back in the day and it being a pain so not looking forward to this.

One of the front indicators was not working, turns out the plug where the bulb fits into was cracked with old age so ordered a new pair from Ebay but these have turned up and are plastic body rather than the old ones being steel, bit disappointed to be honest but it may be the case that the later type ones were plastic ??? would like to know before leaving feed back.

There are other jobs to do that i hope to post about on this thread, but for now i want to get the brakes sorted and the engine running as good as it can.

I have used the search facility on this forum and it has been invaluable in helping me point me in the right direction and is one of the reasons why i went with the Gartrac peddle box.

[LOUIE]

Far track box is the way forward, aslong as its set up right you'll not have any issues

[Paul V]

Had a bit of time over the festive period to work on the MK2

Not a good start to be honest mainly due to the replacement parts not fitting and needing some mild to wild fettling to make fit.

Why sellers / manufacturers sell parts that don't fit is beyond me, and when you point out why they don't fit you either get "well be have not had that issue before and sold loads" "send them back if you are not happy" "you are lucky to get them"

Been around parts and cars all my life, i sell motorcycle parts for a living and so far i am not impressed with the quality of the replacement parts, i hope it gets better.

Anyway moan over

Got all this to try and make fit

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Had a bit of time over the festive period to work on the MK2

Not a good start to be honest mainly due to the replacement parts not fitting and needing some mild to wild fettling to make fit.

Why sellers / manufacturers sell parts that don't fit is beyond me, and when you point out why they don't fit you either get "well be have not had that issue before and sold loads" "send them back if you are not happy" "you are lucky to get them"

Been around parts and cars all my life, i sell motorcycle parts for a living and so far i am not impressed with the quality of the replacement parts, i hope it gets better.

Anyway moan over

Got all this to try and make fit

You are perfectly right to moan and more people should! This is only too often the kind of reaction you get from sellers like this! You would think you were the only one complaining, so why and what odds is it that you were the only one that got the part with the fault on it???? Did it just slip through their quality control department??? Stories like this come through far too many times, and it's a real problem when you are trying to get your resto completed. I don't know why a manufacturer can go to all the trouble to develop and make the part, get it 99% correct and and not go that extra 1% to perfect it! That way he would sell more items and all us car owners would be happy and recommend them to others! It seems very general, that in far too many cases many remanufactured parts are just not up to the standard of Ford! Now I just often wonder what kind of car would we have, if we built an Escort entirely out of these kind of parts??????

[RS2000CHRIS]

Would love to see some Pictures of the car.
Must admit I keep looking at 1600 sports as I do miss owning a mk2!

[Paul V]

You are perfectly right to moan and more people should! This is only too often the kind of reaction you get from sellers like this! You would think you were the only one complaining, so why and what odds is it that you were the only one that got the part with the fault on it???? Did it just slip through their quality control department??? Stories like this come through far too many times, and it's a real problem when you are trying to get your resto completed. I don't know why a manufacturer can go to all the trouble to develop and make the part, get it 99% correct and and not go that extra 1% to perfect it! That way he would sell more items and all us car owners would be happy and recommend them to others! It seems very general, that in far too many cases many remanufactured parts are just not up to the standard of Ford! Now I just often wonder what kind of car would we have, if we built an Escort entirely out of these kind of parts??????

I am with you, if you are going to all the effort to copy an item or manufacturer a product why not make it 100% the same fitment, ok maybe you can change the material say from steel to plastic in the case of the indicators but make them fit and with plugs on the ends.

[Paul V]

Would love to see some Pictures of the car.
Must admit I keep looking at 1600 sports as I do miss owning a mk2!

Will get some put up when i get it outside

[Paul V]

Ok been busy organizing parts and stripping stuff out like the heater box as it was not connected up so assumed it had a leak, i was right ! pressure tested it and the matrix had some pin holes in it, as a point of reference the south african heater box is not the same as the UK Ford one, but more on that later on.

The car came with no washer bottle so i sourced one from Ebay with the bracket, although the pump was working it looked very rusty and could not live with that, so looked on ebay and as it is a MK2 prices are £££ so a quick look on Euro car parts i found a MK2 Fiesta one the same, photos of the part number if someone is interested. You just have to change the plug, you can find these on modern water temp and fuel injectors.





I have taken off the twin 40s and sent them off to be checked over and reconditioned. The inlet had been bodged where the vacuum take off for the servo, the hole was elongated, but no matter i have junked off the servo for a Gartrac pedal box so set about filling the hole in.

First i turned up a plug with a slight taper to it.



Then persuaded into the hole ( hit it with a hammer)



Made sure it was long enough as i will blend it in later.



Then i filled it over with weld.



Finished item with new studs fitted ready to fit the carbs back on.





Not got to sort out a fitting for the heater take off as it was blanked off.

Going to be another busy week end fitting a new Ashley 2 1/4 system, working on the Gartac pedal box and wiring in the spotlights and plenty more.

[RS2000EXPRESS]

Nice lucky find with the washer pump, it's great when this happens as you are back to buying at realistic prices for once! Nice bit of welding too!

Tim