Putting the boot in
The Escort gets a longoverdue interior tidy-up.
Last month saw us sign off having fitted most of a new ignition system to the Lancaster Insurance XR3i. Having ticked off the misfire as being fixed, we were able to turn our attention to the inside.
Ford’s woeful lack of interest in its older models means that trim for the 1980s Escorts is hard to source, especially for the Mk3 cars, and good used parts are generally your only hope. In fact, probably the worst part of the interior on this car was the boot area, with the parcel shelf no longer being supported properly and half falling into the boot. That may not sound serious, but the size of the shelf meant it was visible through the glass and really was letting the side down.
Investigation soon revealed why it was falling down – the shelf is supposed to clip into the plastic supports fixed to the side of the boot area, but the nearside one had disintegrated in the crucial area, meaning the shelf would no longer stay put, but popped out of place every time the hatch was slammed. The supporting cable on the offside had disappeared too, presumably snapped. You might think that repair would be a five-minute job with a length of black cord, but since the eyelets in the shelf itself were long gone, more effort was required to create a neat job.
Wanting to make it look as factory as possible, the solution was to fire up the 3D printer and, after measuring up the original part on the other side, a two-part piece was designed and printed in black PLA. This then enabled us to cut a new support from a length of black nylon cord, which was crimped to make the upper loop with an electrical terminal. The finished job looks pretty close to the factory original on the other side, and cost just pennies. [Incidentally, we will be having a big feature on 3D printing soon, as it came to the rescue again in our Montego project – Ed]
I did consider 3D printing a repair section for the broken trim support, but on reflection decided it would be impossible to graft it into the original neatly, and so a used part was sourced online. A reminder of the Escort’s origins as a cheaply made car came when I discovered that the part is riveted rather than screwed to the bodyshell, so it was a question of drilling out the original rivets and trying to catch them as they fell inside the panel. Luckily I had some suitable pop rivets on hand, and after giving them a quick coat of satin black paint to match the factory rivets, the part could be replaced.
It might seem like a minor
job, but sorting out the parcel shelf has improved the general appearance of the car no end. Fired with enthusiasm, I then found time to remove the oldschool mud flaps which were hanging at a drunken angle, with the nearside one catching the wheel on full lock. These were known to be something of a mud trap back in the day and the car does look much better without them.
The sense of satisfaction didn’t last long though, since driving the car far enough to get the engine properly warm saw a return of the misfire we thought we’d cured. This time I took the car to the professionals where the diagnosis by all involved was a stuck lifter – a common CVH problem and no doubt a legacy of the car standing idle from May to August. Luckily, the hydraulic tappets on the CVH engine are easy to change and the parts were available next day from Burton Power. Find out next time whether or not it has solved the problem.