Advice Needed

[intent]

Hi Guys
Newbie here so be nice
In light of my approaching 40th birthday and subsequent mid-life crisis, i have acquired a 1989 XR3i Cabriolet which needs a fair bit of tidying. I've decided just to put it straight in for MOT and then work my way through the failure list but just wondered what else i should be doing on top of that, ie, cambelt change etc. It's got no service history so i don't know what's been done and what hasn't.
cheers

[andy-xr]

Valve stem seals if it's smoky on startup, the cambelt and water pump need to be done every 36k or 3 years, but not expensive (£150'ish).

The CVH has a habit of eating cams, so you might want to get a pattern cam put in if you're keeping everything standard, Kent do reasonable kits with a vernier pulley if you want a slight upgrade, but pointless without doing something with the exhaust.

Rest of the problems are probably rust cure or prevention really

[intent]

cheers andy.
i am going to put the rs side skirt/wheel arches on it (if i can find them) but apart from that i want to keep it completely standard. bodywise i think it 's in pretty good shape considering it's age and the fact that escorts around that year had big rust problems

[andy-xr]

Cool, only other thing to watch for is the oil grade, mineral's fine with them, 15/40 is about the right thickness, depending on miles, dont go for synthetics on the CVH. I'm assuming that's what engine is in it, Zetecs will only like 5W/30 semi and start tapping away if anything else is put in.