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Escort Cabriolet Club

Newbie Wondering Where To Start. .


Guest rowley1984
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Guest rowley1984

Hello everyone

 

I'm mike, the proud owner of a L-reg ford escort 1.8si cabby

 

I bought the car around xmas, with the intentions of taking her off the road for a couple of months and spending a few quid tarting the ol' girl up in time for summer. .

 

This summers now a write off for me as iv been sent to afghan . . however. . now iv got plenty of time off when i get home in september (iv got 13 weeks to take before april) and a few extra quid in the coffers so now iv decided to make it abit more of a project. . i love this car already and iv only drove it a handfull of times!!

She is completly standard at the moment, and i believe its a mk5a (its got an oval gril built into the bonnet?!?)

 

The problem is im abit of a "all the gear, no idea" kinda modder so i dont think a haynes Max Power manual is gonna get me through this alone haha.

Iv joined the site to hopefully get a few idea's with the look i wanna go for with this and poach some ideas (im thinkin cossie look at the mo?) and abit of tech advice.

 

Unfortuantly i havnt got any pics at the mo as im still in helmand but the bodywork in really good knick for its age, no dents or rust and it still had an MOT when i bought her, Im hoping i can decide what look im going out for and start buyin some kit whilst im out here so its sat waitin for me when i get home so i can hit the ground runnin and have her ready for next summer. .

 

This may get emotional. . .:tongue:

 

What are my options other than the usual cossie look? And will i have drama's fitting the cossie kit to a cab? I notice its a seperate grill on the cossie kit whearas my bonnet reaches my bumper. Is this just a case of changing the bonnet too??

 

Any idea's/advice would be very welcome!!

 

cheers, mike

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Guest r1cky

welcome to the club

 

the cossie kit is great but if not fitted properly you can tell as im finding out lol

 

by the sound of it you have a mk5b cabbie so yes a bonnet would be needed for the cossie look :smile:

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Guest rodge

Welcome to the club and enjoy your cabvie. My 'two month' restoration is still going on after 9 months, so be patient.

 

Dave,

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Guest Cabbytech

I agree it sounds like a mk5b you have, you could also fit the rs side skirts and spats to it along with the rs front bumper that has the fog lamps and indicators built into it, if you look at my classicescort website at the mk5 escort that will give you an idea as to what yours could look like with those parts fitted.

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Guest rowley1984

Cheers for the advice guys, Iv still got my focus as an everyday car so im in no major rush to start skipping corners just to get her on the road. How does the 1.8si engine stack up? is it a reasonably tunable/reliable engine or should i be looking to replace it? It's showing 120,000 on the clock and although it looks pretty well maintained surely it must be reaching the end of its lifespan? :unsure:

 

Is it wrong that im missing my car more than my family whilst im away..? :tongue:

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  • 1 month later...

that engine should have plenty of life left in it, aslong as it hasnt been treated to badly, the way i always look at it is most things will go wrong around the 100k mark or would of already gone wrong before then, so if its sweet at 130k then keep it!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest rowley1984

Hey up folks :smile:

 

I'm back home in good ol' blighty now so its time to make a start on this project. . .

 

I gave the battery a good charge yesterday and popped it back in this morning and she fired straight up first time after a 6 month sleep, happy with that!!

Gonna take advantage of this good weather today and give her a good clean out then get some pic's posted up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest rowley1984
  • 3 weeks later...
Guest rowley1984

Well i'v managed to get hold of a decent cossie front bumper/grill and a set of morette's offa ebay so it looks like the cosworth look is a go'er, I'd love to hear off anyone that has succesfully been down this road or is currently having a crack at it too..?!

 

Any problem's you've encountered would be a great help in my forward planning before i go steaming in all guns blazing :crazy:

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  • 2 weeks later...

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