Absolutley nothing done on the cars this weekend. Instead I had a massive sort out Almost all of the bits and pieces I scored with the new project are now safely tucked away under the house ready to be used as required. I now have 3 sets of doors, windscreens, rear windows, 4 english axles, 1 atlas axle, 1 1300 motor, 1 2 piece drive shaft, 1 type 9 driveshaft yoke, and a whole lot of other bits and pieces so I am gathering a fair amount of stock. On the bonus side I also have nearly got my trailer back as I have been using that to store all this stuff for the last couple of weeks. This coming weekend is not looking promising for any progress as we have decided to get the single seater out for a run in the winter series at Hampton Downs. The owner has rebuilt a couple of heads for the motor as the old ones were not allowing the engine to rev freely. The boxer engine that we are running would normally rev to the limiter easily but the old one was hardly getting to the limiter when going down hill so hopefully we have sorted out a major problem. This weekend will tell the racing is only on Sunday so I might get a little bit done on Saturday but this is unlikely as My wife will no doubt have a few things to get done as she is wanting to come down to the track as well. 

Keep safe 

Peter 

This weekend I removed the doors and started to clean up the floor in the drivers foot well. Surprises found The doors have been fitted with central locking,

She has a cable boot release,

There are just a couple of small rust holes in the floor

So far so good. I also made it down to Hampton Downs race track on Sunday afternoon for a marshal ride day for a couple of hours some of the regulars who racethere took the Flaggies and other volunteers out for some hot laps and the guy I crew for on the single seater dusted off his Alfa Sud and took some out for a blast it was a great afternoon and a fantastic way to thank these guys and girls who with out them we would not get to enjoy time on the track. So from me to all who offer their services worldwide free of charge THANKS we really do appreciate what you do and judging from all the smiles up and down pit road this was a great way to say thanks

Peter  

Ok here are the photos of the new project. She is now in the garage sitting on axle stands ready for me to start stripping her down. Once she is empty I will get her back on to the rotisserie and off to get soda blasted and primed.

The under side all cleaned up

A small amount of rust in the boot floor

In the tank panel with patches ready to be finished off

Showing the large tunnel

And the mounts for the SR20 engine

The inside

The main dent in the car is this on the front panel

How I have managed to fit the extra car in the garage

I have Purchased a new project shell a very good price 1200 NZD (you do the math). This does not mean that the old girl is junk I have spent too much time on her to just stop I will continue with her but at a later stage. I am currently thinking that the old girl will be for racing only not really for the road. As such the new shell will be a shorter build as she has virtually no rust. I will get her soda blasted and primed then possibly fit a set of steel bubble arches a atlas rear end 2 linked and will fit the 2 litre and 5speed that I purchased a couple of months ago. the shell has a large tunnel and mounts for a nissan SR20 engine and box but I am going to stick with the Pinto as I want to stay with a more mechanical engine and not computer controlled.
I will take photos of the new car next weekend as she is now under a tarp outside till I move the old shell to the side of the garage which I will do this week.
cheers Peter 

Only a small amount achieved this weekend mainly a bit of filling and giving the area a coat of primer to protect it from any moisture in the air as we are having our mid winter storms at the moment. So lots of rain around. The reason for not doing much is that my wife had a major birthday so it was a party weekend with lots of visitors. Have a good week Peter

Today I removed the old frame that was used to hold the battery in the boot and what do you know underneath was my old friend rust bugger.Once I removed the frame and ground away the excess steel and rust I cut a patch to fit and after a fare amount of welding and grinding it was fixed. I also tacked the new Patch into the L/H corner this involved a bit more work than the R/H side as the panel was not as badly damaged so it has been butt welded together on the R/H side I over lapped the panels once finished this side will look quite good .

The panel that was under the battery frame

These 2 are the new panel tacked in place I will finish the welding this comong week

Today I removed the front panel and top slam panel What a mess! It looks like I will need to replace the L/H inner guard, the R/H total strut top from front to fire wall, the slam panel the lower radiator support and of course the front panel. the side radiator supports are ok so I may reuse them I will not know this until I decide what radiator to use and what I will need to do to fit it.so I have a lot of work ahead of me. One thing I have purchased locally are a pair of Lucas L792 indicator/park lights these were used on the Borham Works escorts. these will enable me to use more modern headlights that do not have the parklights in the headlights ( one of the things that I hated in the old escort) as the bulbs were always blowing.
                                     
                                                              the front panel removed

the lower radiator support

The front L/H corner

The R/H lower corner

The rust you can see in this one is the front of L/H inner guard it has had patches welded over the rust but as I have found in other places the rust has not been removed so this is why I am replacing the entire inner panel.