1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo Series 1

[ya_bollox]

looks to be in decent condition too, might be worth putting your hand down the 1/4s on the inside and feel for crunchy metal on the mid/inner sill, under the rear bench corner sections at the very edge of the floor you can see corrosion, There's 3-4 layers of metal underneath and the badness usually starts between them, worth piece of mind knowing its not rotten and the layers below are structural sections between the rear legs and inner/outer/mid sills, looks clean else-were though. I'm trying to pick flaws its more so - If its got early enough cleaning/converting and sealing and priming is much cheaper then paying a gobste like me to replace section's of metal and no-one enjoys the process, love the s1's they look classier IMO only dislike are the black bumper over-riders apart from that it looks the job

[SebringMan]

ya_bks said:

looks to be in decent condition too, might be worth putting your hand down the 1/4s on the inside and feel for crunchy metal on the mid/inner sill, under the rear bench corner sections at the very edge of the floor you can see corrosion, There's 3-4 layers of metal underneath and the badness usually starts between them, worth piece of mind knowing its not rotten and the layers below are structural sections between the rear legs and inner/outer/mid sills, looks clean else-were though. I'm trying to pick flaws its more so - If its got early enough cleaning/converting and sealing and priming is much cheaper then paying a gobste like me to replace section's of metal and no-one enjoys the process, love the s1's they look classier IMO only dislike are the black bumper over-riders apart from that it looks the job

Fear not, that is dust. I did the check as suggested and all was fine :

With it getting warmer I figured get my thumb out of my butt and crack on with getting the car the treatment it deserves.

Back in March I decided to remember that I owned it. However, the car as a remind to this fact decided that would be recalcitrant after a 3 month lay up. I could almost hear the car saying "What, you are playing hard to get, and you think you can just slip into me like an old pair of slippers and expect to behave?". Sure enough the car cranked over, but the battery went flat after about a minute of cranking at various intervals.

With some jump leads and an AGM battery however, we were back in business! Driving it reminded me just why I like this example. Yes, the clutch is horrific and requires more caressing than a princess on a bad day. That is before I get to the random squeaks and complete lack of storage space, or so I thought, but more on that later! But I love how the car grips more when you plant your foot on the accelerator in the bends and how even at 10mph or 90mph it feels alive! Flooring the car in 4th and then changing up to hear a few random pops and bangs from the exhayst on the overrun Yup, I really do love the experience. And so with it appearing to work well I took a photo to celebrate the experience:



However, it was still too bloody cold! So it was parked up again.

But for the first time in a couple of years the car would have to be a commuter once more in a twist of fate. Some of you may know that I own a Clio 172:



For some silly reason, probably because I try to be too considerate when parking, and the Clio's combination of steering lock that makes the QE2 look like it has an amazing turning circle I decided to get some 15" wheels, for the fear of kerbing the Cup Turinis with slightly stretched tyres from the factory, and have a nicer ride. I however did not quite envisage ending with the car looking like this!:



Check out those Carbon Fibre* centre caps:

• that may be a lie:

Yup, not a great look, but maybe it is to you! OTOH, someone liked them: they paid Pristine Wheels £290 for the priviledge of painting them!

And so the Clio went back onto its Turinis: One problem: The rear tyres on them make Kojak's head look like it has plenty of hair!





Enter Stage left....

The Escort would prove that despite it having no carpet and it being a royal pain transport anything due to nothing having a surface to grip on, that it would be a superb car for transporting wheels!

Off it went to a City all loaded up, with the wheels dropped off and then back in the City to mooch around for a day:



Someone wanted photos of the car for whatever reason, and so I parked outside a cool looking entrance and obliged:









And then I parked it in what I thought was a secure Multi-Storey. Brave I know!




After viewing the city, looking around, buying decent grub and meeting up with @maph2 of this parish I decided to head back. But not without the wheels! They do look a little different I think you agree!



Anyway, more on that on another forum and thread! This thread is about the Escort after all .

Today I figured it was time to push on with the car. Off it went to the Butty Run promoted well by our own @choptop here. After the event it was time to get stuck in with getting the interior closer to being like a normal RST again.

Here is a during shot:



After a couple of hours, metal everywhere, cleaning up the said metal from the rivets mainly I finally had a more stripped out look:





Door plates and cage be gone!:



Now to clean out the carpet, fix a water leak and push on with getting it looking like an RST should .

[Gallons Per Mile]

This car has just got better and better under your ownership! Can't wait to get my Series 2 out of the garage and actually get on with the restoration.

[Tiger Tim]

Are you using that harness or have you got the standard belts refitted? 😳

[SebringMan]

Gallons Per Mile said:

This car has just got better and better under your ownership! Can't wait to get my Series 2 out of the garage and actually get on with the restoration.

Many thanks for the comments! The vision of what I wanted from the off is coming together. Some things not quite as I wanted but some ideas have really worked very well on the car. Overall however, the car does seem to be heading in the right direction I would like to think.

Tiger Tim said:

Are you using that harness or have you got the standard belts refitted? ??

I am using the Harness for now. With the silly metal door panels I had no choice but to use them until I did all of the messy work inside the interior. Now however with all of the panels off I plan to refit the stock seatbelts .

[martin mrt]

I'm so glad to see that the "race car" look is being binned and there is a factory interior going in