Ebay pics Oct 2007

This was the Ebay photo. Looks okay and quite clean advertised at 800 pounds starting.
Picture as seen on Ebay 2007

Again deceptive photo but still looks OK, described as a bargain and a runner just needs a clean interior!!
No Rust ha ha ha!!
I Bid max 1000 pounds and forgot about it.
Ebay photo oct 2007

I won it at 1000 pounds then realised it was in Herne Bay near Margate thats nearly 180 mile from me, oops.So set about fixing a tow bar to the old faithful escort and prepared to collect it. Took Paul my brother in law and my son Tom along for moral support. This was a nightmare journey as the trailer bounced the escort for at least 4hrs and made us all sick not to mention the tow ball working loose doh. Eventually we got there and found this car that had seen better days and plenty of filler. No rust my arse the rust was just covered over with filler!. Anyway after pointing this out to the guy selling it he just said Im not haggling its a real bargain take it or leave it. so not wanting to drive all the way back without a car we loaded Henry onto the trailer and set off.
First wing off

The Drivers wing was welded and filled so it had to be cut off only a small part of the mounting flange existed so the wing was beyond repair.
Close up of the rot around the front

Inner flich plate will require some work although its going to be cut about to fit it around the new suspension. The rest of the front end came off with a bit of gas and a bit more grinding.
Taking the engine and box out

Three bolts later and a sling and the Engine and
gearbox came straight out. Its only 3 cylinders and was quite light.
This is Tom my son whose help is invaluable

Tom aged 11
Second V8 and gearbox on the trailer

Bought the Lt77 5 speed box of a chap in Bristol and he gave me the engine for free. Looks like its already been refurbished so hopefully it will bolt straight on. Took a V8 out of an old Range Rover so now I have two, to make 1 good one I hope.
Front Axel Removed

Started to Box the chassis so I could brace the front legs. Sheet steel donated by an old filtration unit being scrapped at work, notice the machine green..
Close up showing the engine bay area

Original cross member to come out still, and the steering box
Front end moving on

Trial fitting of the new suspension turrets. Design copied from Heidts Rod shop in America. Created my own drawings and made all the bits at work after hours in the Build shop
Firewall removed

Cut out the firewall so I could get better access to the other cross members. Setting up the geometry centreline so I could measure the chassis accuratly as I need to draw this up .
Floor out

Removed the internal floor members so I can use them again when the new floor goes in. I can now see how the Engine and Box will be located and what else to remove.
Heel Board and rear seat area
Pics taken June12th 08 . this is the next area to be removed so I can gain access to the rear axel and design how im going to fit the Jag rear end.
Removing the heel board and rear axel

No work on the pop during the summer I had to do some work on the house!. Restarted in October 08 by cutting out the boot floor and removing the rear axel
Looking through the boot

Boot lid off looking through into the remaining chassis
Front suspension

This is the lower suspension wishbone on the jig I made. Bushes and tube welded together ready to asssemble

This is trying to set up the camber angle on the front suspension assembled on the kitchen table, upper and lower wishbone complete and ball joints screwed in. Cortina mk5 Hubs. Coil over shock replaced with a ply template. Crossmember welded. Uprights still to have some plates welded in
Front suspension

Both sides assembled. All sorts of problems with how to get the geometry correct still working on that one
Front suspension- March 2009

Moving on to March 09 had to remake the uprights to get the chassis lower its now set at 5ins. made a jig to ensure all the centrelines were ok and trial fitted the rack. Also had to remake the coil over mounts as they werent high enough. Should be ready for a trial fit soon.
Building the new chassis

In Jan 09 I started to build the new internal chassis starting with the rear cross member and the front supports. Not much left of the interior now.
Chassis

Original rear chassis still in place and the arches not for long though as next will come the rear kick up and removing the arches to allow for more wheel and tyre width
Chassis

Arch gone and the rear chassis removed March 09
chassis

Couldnt carry on as Nathan didnt get me the bolts he promised!!@!!!!
chassis

Rear cross member in and the kick up all tacked into place and checked for level at every weld
chassis

chassis

rear axel

Rear axel

Rear axel

trialing the wheels

After 3 attempts to get the front suspension how I wanted it I tried a wheel to check the clearances to find it was bang on
Wheels on

Installing the engine

Installing the engine

Removing the Body Aug 2010

Lifting the body

Lifting the body

Suspending the body

Nearly a rolling chassis

Body on the dolly and wrapped up

Chassis fully welded and etch primed

Starting the engine build

The rolling chassis

changed the diff for an XJS one as it came with the calipers.
Painted some bits to protect them decided that the engine and drive train will be tango orange.
another view on the chassis

Tom in the pop

work done on the engine

The block

New oil pump gears and pump head
engine assy

decided to paint the engine orange.
Flywheel has proved to be a pain as its not an sd1 therefore it wont fit the gearbox!!!.
Flywheel to be skimmed so the new clutch can be fitted.
starting the Bodywork 2012

Everything around the bottom of the car is rotten so new steel has to be fabricated to replace the rot then a little filler to give it better shape.
B Post repair

B post repair and new cill

A post repair

B post repaired

Top door hinge

Fire wall

Fire wall and front body supports

Firewall

status Aug 2012

Boot hinge section and rear quarters Oct 12

rear valance fitted

2013 March

Pre-assembly of the drivers side

setting up the front end

steering column assembled

made up a shroud from some stepped tube and fitted the indicator through it.
Not sure on the length yet as ive got to fit the seats but its long so I can shorten it.
shelf fitted under the dash
Starting the engine

After sorting the timing out 90deg out first time it fired as soon as it hit compression. Joy..
I bought some very expensive engine paint that peeled off when petrol got on it im glad i only painted around the manifold.
Using the std SU carbs on ram pipes at the moment but these will be replaced by a Holley 390 when money permits
The video below shows some of the early problems with leaking pipes and petrol overflow from the carbs still lots to do to get it running okay. second vid shows it running a bit better but the alternator fan is rattling
passenger side bodywork june 13

top door hinge

Door repairs


Anti roll bar

Fitting the roll bar

The mounts to the chassis are billet with rubber inserts, I had to fit them on the top of the chassis rails to allow the suspension travel.
More body repairs



Narrowing the rear axle nov 13

Started by measuring the Hambone to design a fixture.
Machined two pieces of 8mm tube used on toyota halfshafts to accept the two journal stubs
Turned down the hambone down to pre grind sizes then ground to one as press fit and the second a lower press fit.
Pressed the parts together aligned the ears in the fixture, then using some rollers i rotated and Terry mig welded the assembly
Result one shorter halfshaft. Bang on
Next will be the lower wishbone

They were then Mig welded to gether
March 2014

Finished the Boot and rear corner panels. I had to remake the lower valance as it was the wrong shape
Nearly ready to make the floors just got to find someone to bead roll the panels


June 2014





These are the pitfalls of a novice hot rod builder. First never design a suspension without first buying the wheels!!.
Ive had to rework all the suspension components including the engine mounts and front turret
Parked this for now as im a bit pissed off with myself!!!!!
fitting the new roof oct 14





Jan 2015

Hidden door hinges

Fitting the hinges

Door fits the apperture perfectly. took ages to get it right as fitting the hinges is major surgery and it took a while for me to understand how to do it but im pleased with the final results.
made the sill 4th attempt!!! but fits good and matches the door curve not far off finishing the passenger side
Roof looks good as well
Front suspension now fixed
jan 1st 2016
2016
At this time I would like to thank some people for thier help, supplied services or gave me materials and such like
Terry Smith Dave Holmes Ray Glenn Al Baizon Eddie Taylor John Oconnor Sohan Uppal Paul Duffey Louise Findon Andy Wiggins (Buck& Hickman) Gordon Price (Stirling precision) Craig & Dean Troman Rob Lees Anneke Fitzmaurice ( Nortons) Chris Fennel (kennametal) Stuart John Wale Most of all my Wife for endless coffee & tea over the many many hours in the garage!!! |
Horn push made from alluminium used loads of favours at work for this. First it was Cad modelled by Al Baizon then material sourced John Wale, then cnc turned by Sohan and finally wired and polished by myself
|
Started the wiring by designing each wiring circuit and stripping the old loom from my escort into individual wires. Trying to finish the doors by getting the electric windows to work and also the rear facing door lights, reflector from the escort and I made a light housing for an led works off the interior light switch
wiring is one of those jobs that you don't see much for hours of work. |




APRIL 2017.
At last I'm actually finishing something!! Chassis is painted, disappointed with the paint as it chips really easily, finish is nice though.
Chromed the front arms rear torsion bars,diff cover and ford logo strap so it has a bit of bling
Brake pipes needed some extra work to finish but they are okay now


I think they now need to be set up relative to each other

Aug 2017

Engine manifold needed to finish

July 2018
|
Since November 2017 progress has been very slow due to problems with my mother so no start up at christmas as I hoped but now I'm back on it and wiring ready for start up is top priority.
|

Running the wires into the cab and the engine bay was the easy bit but trying to figure out how to withdraw each section of the loom has proved the hardest, as once tested the loom will have to come out when the car is sprayed, so it has to be modular.
Most important at this stage is the ability for all the systems that make the engine run are finished.
CAR TO START AND BE DRIVEN OUT OF THE GARAGE IN AUGUST 2018

Ha Ha it turned out to be spark plug failure new plugs and its realsweet.
2019 Paint This year

Steering column nearly finished. Chromed the tube and bottom support. Craig winwood Jig ground the Conrod to fit perfectly around the new diameter, Ed Taylor made the shroud and wheel mount, then I had to figure out how to make the horn work , so we chose to have spring plungers for the flow and return current to the horn with copper rings so the wheel can be turned and the horn will work anywhere. It works a treat. Then I wired the indicator stalk so other than recover the steering wheel its done.
Dash wiring still driving me mad with its complexity, got the GPS speedo at great expense from Summit in the states with the other clocks looks good.
I suspect the body did not go back in the same place??????
So i cut off all the front suspension and started again ARRrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2020 Prep for spray


using my other compressor it works fine.






Jan 2022

June 22

Doors to be fitted next.

Some Progress Front wing on and lights sorted.
Passenger door on and fitted out, just got to do the leccy windows now fit is fantastic
Front and rear and side windows in,
all electrical systems working.
All panels on the car, just the setting of them to do shouldnt be long before its a driver

Starting the upholstery seats out to Doom Salon
Painting of the rear roof and the rear arch repairs started
Sound deadening in
All panels made

Boot floor done still waiting for the seats!!!!
Passenger rear arch is different to the drivers side?
All materials purchased
issues:- things to fix
1) gearbox wine could be clutch bearing
2) lots of rattles
3) Exhaust blowing
4) engine noises
5) passenger rear arch doesnt fit right
February 2024
1)Whine from the gearbox is the clutch thrust bearing not pulling away enough made an adjustment seems ok now
3) exhaust needs refitting
5) passenger rear arch had to be massaged to get it to fit.

May to November 2025
OMG if only i had know what a lying bunch this lot were. I saw a recommendation online for this company who did camper van refits and initially the guy seemed okay but in reality a disaster. Said they could do it in 2 weeks to 5 months and the out come was average.
The seats turned out very small but if tappers were better they could have discussed this with me and then widened the back but they look ok we will see if they a comfortable on a journey.

Most of the carpet is in some parts just need edging.