'94 Escort Wagon

Having owned about 15 of these versions of Escorts I approve! when I buy one it seems like one of the first things I must address is the shifter bushings.Napa part number ATM0771303 These really give a great feel if yours are worn. Might need to check the rear upper spring mounts to protect them from the elements too.

Easy to work on and cheap parts are a plus...unless we are talking about the heater core!

Some of the great reasons for a 20 year old car is that stuff will be on the verge of wearing out...then you can replace them with upgrades!!

http://www.feoa.net/ Good site for anything you need.

Bruce

It's a beautiful day in Escort land I had time to wash it. I also decided that it's time to fix some spots of surface rust. For a Michigan car, rust is normal. Most of these cars that I see driving around are beat to hell with fenders/rocker panels that have all but dissolved. I know it's just a Ford economy wagon but I figure at least one of these little cars should get a little love.

So today involved some sanding, application of rust stopper, and now I'm waiting for evening when I will (hopefully) have shade and a cooler temperature to do primer. Here's what it looked like before I got started.

The paint likes to start flaking around the edges of the fenders and then the corrosion starts under the loose paint.

How long does a fix like that last in Michigan? I swear half of your potholes are from the salt.

In reply to ssswitch:

How long will it last? I guess I will wait and see. I'm hoping this will help it get through a couple extra winters before body panels start disintegrating in earnest.

While waiting for primer coats to dry I followed a tip from the June '07 issue of GRM and hit the wipers with a handy black spray can. Before and after:

Snazzy. The window trim and roof rack bits will get the same treatment.

It's amazing how little things can make a big difference!

Is that road salt on your tires right now?! It's June!

In reply to sethmeister4:

That be dirt. Specifically it's dust from crushed limestone gravel. It does look a lot like nasty salt.

Well, the goal was to make it look pretty good from a few steps back. I maybe accomplished that.

All y'all can be the judge of that I guess.

I have the week off. That means lots of time for car stuff when I'm not helping my parents get their house ready for little brother's graduation party. Whee.

I had started hearing a clunk from the back right corner. Afraid that a Something Bad had happened I looked over everything. When I pulled out the interior plastic back there to check the strut mounts I found this hanging out down there. Looks like a bolt from the seatbelts but those were all in place. I'm still not sure where it came from but that's one more rattle eliminated.

Here we have new rear sway bar links from Moog. The bushings look like space marshmallows. Getting them on was an uneventful process until the part when I was under the car and the socket wrench decided to punch me in the face. Yes, I bled. Yeah, I'll have a good scar right above my eyebrow.

And finally, this happened today.

The sloppiest bumper sticker application ever. That's what I get for trying to put a sticker on a car that's been sitting in the sun on an 85degree day. Didn't really think that one through but hey, it's a GRM sticker so it goes faster now.

Bolt is for holding down the spare tire.

Bruce

It was starting to feel like a pillowcase full of bricks going down the road. Time for new shocks.

And springs! I was lazy and just got preassembled KYB sets f.or the front. Old out and new in no problem thanks to PO's liberal use of anti-sieze.

I love the complete transformation. It feels like a whole new car. Except during the process I realized the soft brake lines near the hub will need attention soon.

Nice work! Amazing how much just restoring performance to factory can do to how a car feels.

Brake lines. The other side was exactly the same. Glad I caught it in the garage. Brakes feel so much better with new less squishy lines. The appliance mobile is one step closer to being winter-ready.

Winter shoes! Altimax Arctics in 175/65 to go on the 14 inch steelies that came with the car.

A friend of mine in highschool (in MI!) had one of these, in that color...that was a 5spd. We called it the Rally'scort

Should be a fun winter machine!

Mudflappys look cool. Hopefully will also give a little protection from winter salt.

Recently fixed: exhaust leaks, sticky throttle body, noisy brakes, brake lines

Still to do before winter: Rear struts, snow tires mounted, and sometime in between last winter and yesterday the rear window defrost stopped working. That's gotta change.

Yesterday I messed around with the intake and throttle body trying to find out why there is a random clicking noise coming from, near as I can tell, the intake manifold. It's like a bit of something is rattling around in there.

On this episode of "Fixing Little things on the Mule Wagon" we cross the line from "grassroots ingenuity" to "straight up hackery"

^ This is tin foil and wire on a leaking egr hose. Should last a week or two

v The rear window defroster works now too. Yay!

A cut up beer can and some hose clamps made a great temporarily permanent exhaust leak fix. I'm envious of your beater

Its that grocery life... It gets us all.

I have no reason to like this car, but I do. I really like reading about these old cheap car resto/rebuilds. I will be checking back for updates, hoping you break down and rally it.

It has a new clutch now. Here's the old one. Just a bit worn out The shift linkage is wonky now though. Seems like it's hitting something when I go between 5th/4th gear. That will get my attention over break. One of the few perks of being a school teacher is the two weeks off when Christmas rolls around.

New snow tires are on. The mule wagon looks kick butt with mudflaps and Altimax Arctics on old steelies.

Before I can do any rally shenanigans it needs the following:

Rear suspension, struts and sway bar links/bushings

Exhaust that isn't on the verge of falling off

Parking brake fixed so it won't stick on when used

Update: The Escort is moving on. And I'm replacing it with this:

I'm sad to see it go. It's been brilliant beater wagon.

I'm selling it to my younger brother (with one caveat: If he ever rallycrosses it, I get to drive it too ) since he needs cheap transportation to and from college now. Maybe I'll buy it back when he gets done with it.

Cool! New build thread coming soon?