Rebuilding Escort RS Turbo driver side sill inspection #24 

I would like to have my own channel on you tube rebuilding an rs but it would of ready been up for the last ten years 😂. Great to see other guys work which helps on my rebuild.

Some great progress I’ve just binged all 25 of this build I’m doing a old Austin maestro and a rover SD3 keep up the good work I’ve subbed for future updates

Good videos, I will watch the lot. Keep up the good work. Its going to be a lot of hard graft but definitely worth doing because it’s a rare and valuable car now. They rust so bad, I heard a rumour that the steel ford made the panels from in that era was made from recycled crisp packets. 20 years ago a friend of mine had one was nearly as rotten as yours, failed mot needed loads of welding he scrapped it for £500, offered it to me but it was an absolute banger. I love them though and I’m quite jealous, kicking myself for not getting one years back because they are so pricey nowadays.

Really enjoying the project Chris. I think I might be inclined to weld some bracing in before you cut out any more, particularly as the car is supported on stands., but like you say, it could be a lot worse definitely. Look forward to the next instalment.

Usually the chassi rail across to the A/sill will be toast or close to toast - it's not too bad to make from scratch, but generally the drivers floor will need work too. Here, even pattern RH wings are hard to get - you can get LH ones.. go figure.. The inner wings usually need work to the tops & here/there. Yours is unusually solid. Up above the drivers footwell, where the fusebox resides close to the firewall is a real proper achilles heel on these - to do the repair "properly" the fusebox has to come out, with the entire loom.... which is a sod of a job. I tend to "cheat" here as the one cheat I do on these - I cut out the inevitable rot & slide a repair section in tight under the fusebox, weld the repair section (I make it myself) without moving the fusebox/wiring. You have to chop off & then refit the mounting bracket that lives above that area in order to get at the grot, but that's no big deal. Here anyway. you can't get a new fusebox unit for love nor money, so leaving it well alone is the sensible if not "perfect" option. I leave 'em alone anyway. Generally, them floor-pan panels, aftermarket sill sections blah blah will not fit well as supplied - there will be a lot of fettling involved to get them to mate well with the original panels. How the floors/sills interact is also totally different compared to factory. One "whinge " - not really a whinge, just a bit of advice Chris, is it's better to weld in a really stout door brace before removing as much metal as you have here - sh1t will move about... I have a triangulated home-made one I weld to the a pillar/b pillar that locks them dimensionally. I learnt to do that the hard way - stuff moved... It's just a bit of peace of mind that when you get done welding, stuff will have stayed where it's meant to.. I was doing a really rotted sunroof section on one today - now those are "Fun" - but I am winning at it. Gonna sandblast the cut-off roof tomorrow(I separated the layers this evening/welded in the repair bits I made - blast the lot, sort it more, then back onto the car with it.. Huge Fun. :-) Nobody else much fancied going near it.. I did..

That's a bit of a mess Chris 😮 You can soon put it right. You can get harf floor pans that run front to back instead of two floor pans.