Yaaaay!
I’m glad you got it home.
Man, those transport guys you hired didn't mess around. They picked it up yesterday afternoon and they already dropped it off.
Good luck getting it all fixed up. Keep an eye out for red wasps and yellow jackets when messing around under the hood or under the car. We have them pretty bad around here so some may have made the trip north with the car.
I'm glad you didn't sell.
It was 1100 miles one way from my house. Yeah I checked.
So you gonna sleep tonight? Or is it like Christmas?
In reply to Bent-Valve (FS) :
Heh, more like losing sleep hoping the neighbors don't call the county on us. I gotta get this thing pushed around behind the house ASAP.
In reply to untchabl :
Yeah, they surprised the heck out of me with how fast they got it here.
Hey, well this hooptie is still sitting in front of my house. Might as well work on it I guess. Oh and there's a parts car eventually making its way here to facilitate a 5-speed swap. Still not sure how I'm going to manage that. Never so much as removed a bolt from an engine in my life, much less a whole transmission or engine/transmission combo or anything.
To distract myself from panicking about the inevitable mistakes I'll make during that process, I've been slowly chipping away at the damaged bodywork. I got the mangled fender off last week, and learned about the spot welds on the front of it in the process. Mid-removal:
Post-removal:
This corner is crunched quite a bit actually. Not sure if I should try and fix it properly to get this thing a rebuilt title, or just clearance the part that's near the tire and doom it to being a Challenge car only. I don't even know how feasible it would be to fix it "properly" to be honest.
To further distract myself from impending doom, I removed the mangled remains of the front bumper today. Here we see what the front of the unibody *should* look like, as contrasting with the other side.
Right. Well. I now have two BP-powered Ford Escorts in my driveway, and a rust-free wagon roller sitting at Patrick's house.
Current plan: With help from Patrick and friends, build the wagon with parts from the other two, including engine, transmission, probably the ECU and maybe the harness, and any other parts needed. Drive sweet wagon around, maybe turbo it someday.
Pie in the sky idea that I can't get out of my head: One of the leftover cars will still have a theoretically functional 1.8 liter Mazda engine that should theoretically bolt up to a Miata transmission if turned 90 degrees. Learn to weld, somehow make new motor and transmission mounts, somehow make Miata rear subframe fit onto sedan unibody with magic metal glue, BOOM, RWD Miata sedan as a bonus car. This plan is much more difficult and I'm notoriously quick to give up. Probably won't happen. But it would be sweet.
In reply to slowbird :
Thats been a day dream of mine, a Miata drivetrain in an Escort and as stock looking as possible. Keep the Ford valve cover too!
Both parts cars have now made their way to Patrick's house. The wagon build party shall commence this coming holiday weekend.
Look how nasty this rocker panel is. The entire underside of the green car is like that. (Which is to say, half rust and half no longer there.)
slowbird said:Both parts cars have now made their way to Patrick's house. The wagon build party shall commence this coming holiday weekend.
Look how nasty this rocker panel is. The entire underside of the green car is like that. (Which is to say, half rust and half no longer there.)
Yep. I drove it a bit when I owned it, but the rot right there at the rear suspension mounts means it makes some interesting noises and feels odd going down the road. That shell needs to die. The engine and trans were hilarious fun hooning around my property though. I'm glad someone is doing something with it.
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Oh for sure. I love the 90s-ass stripey logo
Also gonna save the LX-E badges and stick one on the wagon (not on the taillight because it's a different shape) and maybe save the entire taillight assembly from the other one just to trade to some other Escort weirdo. Maybe I can trade them for like a Tracer LTS spoiler or a Mazda MX-3 cupholder or something.
Oh yeah, I also found the green car's original warranty card in the glovebox. Kinda neat even though it expired long ago. lol
Patrick said:Don't forget to bring titles so we can get rid of the donors
Totally would have forgot, lol. Adding to my list of things to pack.
Good news! The wagon still rolls and has intact heater system. There is some mouse evidence, as happens with stuff that sits essentially in the woods, but nothing appears chewed.
I just stumbled upon an owners manual packet from a 94 Escort while unpacking boxes. I'm guessing it's from the Escort wagon I had a number of years ago.
If you want it to stick in the glovebox of your GT Wagon project,just pm me an address and I'll pop it in the mail.
Have fun wrenching this weekend!
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