1997 Ford Escort Ghia Lx Estate (meets stone wall- repairs)

[ducklooker]

In monster power (sic)1.4 cvh flavour, I picked this up yesterday.
Cost me €350 or 304 english pounds.
Only 73,600niles and I'm the third owner.
It has been damaged on three of four corners but runs like a Swiss watch.
The driver's door doesn't latch unless you hold the inner release handle pushed in so that the central locking cycles.
That was fun to discover.....
And I buzzed the driver side window down to find the thing would not go back up.
Thankfully it only rained for about half the drive home.
I popped the cover off once home to cross the switch and buzzed it back up.
I've also sprayed the latch with wd40 and cycled it a few times to no avail, yet.
Search is on for a latch but I might even have one hiding in the shed. 
Few photos incl obligatory first fill.

[ducklooker]

No photos but I've driven it 110 miles since Friday.
Took the drivers door trim off and sprayed everything in WD40 to no avail.
I have found another escort of the same age going cheap so I hope to get it for spares.
And I joined every group I could find on FB associated with MK6/7 escorts looking for the broken switch to no avail. Well not yet anyway.
Plans are simple.
My ex-wife will not let me bring our 2 youngest to car shows in my Mk1 Escort.
So this allows me to bring them if it passes annual inspection on DEC 4th next.
Over winter it will be tarted up to remove the dents, serviced, lowered severely and be re-shod.
Cheers.

[leigh]

You'll be the pride of Donedeal buying any car for that money - fancy woodtrim dash and all! These are a very rare sight nowadays, particularly in estate format. Hopefully you get the driver's door sorted out soon

[dandam]

Nice, rare enough - is it an import ?

[ducklooker]

Nov 14, 2023 20:29:28 GMT dandam said:

Nice, rare enough - is it an import ?

No. 
I'm in Ireland.
You never see these anymore.
And I'm discovering that while I can get practically anything, up to a new shell, for a Mk1 or Mk2 escort mine has a broken switch that is maddeningly hard to find. Go figure.

Its test is Dec 4th so I have only 2 weeks to get it ready. I thought it would be simple lol.......

[ducklooker]

Nov 14, 2023 19:45:05 GMT leigh said:

You'll be the pride of Donedeal buying any car for that money - fancy woodtrim dash and all! These are a very rare sight nowadays, particularly in estate format. Hopefully you get the driver's door sorted out soon

I was offered it after they advertised it in FB marketplace and were plagued with........people......ahem.(has it a battery and cat still? etc)
I got a door today from a hatch. Will be stripping out the lock first thing tomorrow and hopefully its  A: working and B: the same as mine. Thanks.

[maf260]

Your ex-wife dictates what you do with your kids?? Fcuk that!

[Davey]

I had one of these years ago in 1.6 flavour. Great cars. Only car that's ever got me a speeding ticket.... Might be down to the 4" cannon it had on the back.

Excuse the photophucket ruined images....

[ducklooker]

Well I do rather like the kids, so I kinda agree.
Have you seen a side impact on a Mk1 escort?
It's not pretty.
At least the '97 has decent soft furnishings and seatbelts.
The MK1 is being restored with a reinforced floor, sills, pillars and new belts/seat mounts.

[ducklooker]

Nov 15, 2023 11:18:18 GMT Davey said:

I had one of these years ago in 1.6 flavour. Great cars. Only car that's ever got me a speeding ticket.... Might be down to the 4" cannon it had on the back.

Excuse the photophucket ruined images....





That's a nice car.....

[ducklooker]

Right.
Got old door latch out/new one in.
The wee plastic collar that fits on the the lock barrel was so awkward to fit I had to get help. My arthritic fingers would not let me get it on, lined up, clipped together.
Thoroughly bloody depressing.
Everything works as it should now but the dash light indicating an open door is permanently on and I've checked all doors, boot and even the bonnet is closed just in case! Dang!
The same guy that sold me the latch discovered he had a switch so even though I have bought one and paid the postage I now have a second one.
Fitted in about 2 minutes and my door windows are working.
I was quite worried they would still be non operational even after a new switch.
Otherwise she is still clocking up the miles with the only new issue being an exhaust rattle has started up.
I'll look into that in the morning.
Not very exciting but its progress. Once she passes the test I hope to get into the "look" I aim for.
Current cost, €350 purchase, €272 insurance, latch €30 switch €15 Total of €667

[kevins]

I seem to remember the door ajar switch is part of the Latch, you could probably make a OK one using the switch out of your old Latch (if you can face removing it all again!)

[ducklooker]

Nov 21, 2023 22:20:38 GMT kevins said:

I seem to remember the door ajar switch is part of the Latch, you could probably make a OK one using the switch out of your old Latch (if you can face removing it all again!)

That is extremely helpful information sir.
I really appreciate that!

[ducklooker]

Earning her keep
Garage tidy and Christmas shopping today 

[kevins]

Nov 16, 2023 14:14:28 GMT ducklooker said:

Well I do rather like the kids, so I kinda agree.
Have you seen a side impact on a Mk1 escort?
It's not pretty.
At least the '97 has decent soft furnishings and seatbelts.
The MK1 is being restored with a reinforced floor, sills, pillars and new belts/seat mounts.

These crash pretty well, ford had a thing in the 90's of re-engineering cars but not changing the exterior much, the 95 facelift massively improved crash protecton as well as making it a pretty good car, but by then the dismal performance of the older ones had damaged  the escort name for good, hence why escort was replaced by Focus.

[ducklooker]

So Friday on the way home with the kids from school I spotted a terrified doggie.
He was amongst the trees along the bypass.
Turn round and went back.
Searched until we found him.
Convinced him to come to us as he was shaking and very fearful of the traffic.
Eventually got him in, got him to the vet for a microchip scan but he didn't have one.
Quick search of all the local fb pages didn't turn him up either so we brought him home.
Lovely wee chappie he spent the time since looking toward the gate wanting to go home.
Woke up today to a message with a photo of him. Ta da.
Dropped off home.
Meet 13yr old ROCKY

[ducklooker]

Dropping the kids to school a gingle gingle noise started.
Then it became a gingle gingle gingle gingle.
On the way home it was more of a tink ta tink tink tink tink tink tink .......silence.
So a walk down the lane was rewarded with......


I live on what we call a Bohereen. It's a narrow enough road to have grass in the miggle. A shield on the cat might not be necessary everywhere but I'll hot glue gun it back on I think.
Quick assessment of the car means a list is forming. Wipers are sqeeeeeeeky.
Left front dip bulb has popped.
Boot struts are weak enough that I fear for my eyes/forehead.
A trip to the motorfactors is coming.

[ducklooker]

Trip has happened.
1 bottle of fuel treatment jollop "guaranteed to help you pass mot emissions!!"
2 bosch wipers
1 h4 bulb
Total was a shocking, just over, €50 ffs.........
Still.
I can see a lot more in the rainy dampness of Irlande now.
I figured the car hasn't been driven much in the last few years so I'm also ordering a new fuel filter on an "it cant hurt" basis. The one on it is original looking so could be 26 yrs old!

[ducklooker]

I kinda didn't really truly believe that the mileage was actually as low as indicated @73k but, the more I look, the easier it is to believe.
Changed wipers and a bulb yesterday.
Here's what came off






And I finally figured out (thanks Kevins) the "door open light" situation. That piece of tech has a wee plastic stud to hold it in place. Mines doesn't, so I'm hunting one down. In the meantime I put a cable tie around the button to turn the light off for now.
That meant the door card can go back. Yah!!


Current costs
Purchase €350
Insurance €272
Latch €30
Switch €15
Wipers and bulb and fuel system cleaner €50.22
Total €717.22
But the fly in the ointment is, the VLC hasn't arrived so I've had to postpone the test.

[mk1van]

gonna be watching this one move along.....

the back 1/4s don't look that bad after all....