Fixing Mum’s Classic Car (1990 Ford Escort XR3i)

If everyone who has visited this page had donated £1, we would have reached our goal by now.

Hey Everyone!

Last week was my 20th birthday and later on in the year marks my mum's birthday. As a treat for her, I want to show the gratitude and appreciation I have for her, after all of the effort she has put into raising me over the past 20 years. To do this, I would like your help to restore her classic car.

Recent Events

Recently there have been a few issues with her car, the exhaust manifold has cracked, the fuel gauge has stopped working and we suspected the bearings on the driver's-side front-wheel had perished. After buying some parts and booking the car into a garage, we found out that these problems were only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more jobs that need attention before the car goes in for it's MOT in July, but at the moment it is not safe to drive. Because of this, I would like your help in raising the funds so that my mum can enjoy driving the car, with the roof down, during the summer along some winding country roads.

Background Information

When my mum was a teenager she fell in love with the Ford Escort XR3i. Her love was so deep that when she was growing up, whe would write to Ford of Britian all the time asking about all the latest on her favourite car. This lead to her being offered a job by Ford when she left school, she kindly declined the offer and persued a career as a hairdresser. Last year, she finally came across her dream car for sale at a reasonable price so she decided to buy it.

The car, a 1990 Ford Escort XR3i Cabriolet is a real treat. It is one of the last Mark 4 Ford Escort's made by Karmann, before they were phased out. The car features two-tone moonstone and midnight blue plaint, half-leather interior, electric windows etc. There are not many cars with the same specification on the road, we certainly haven't seen one in the past few years (and we frequent many classic car shows up and down the country).

The car was originally registered just before Christmas in 1990, so it must have been a cracking present for someone that year!

The Plan

The plan that I have is that have is to keep everything a suprise from my mum until the very end. I am hoping that people are generous enough to help raise the funds we need to make the car safe again, so that my mum can enjoy it for her upcoming birthday.

Using the money that you donate, I will buy any parts needed from Euro Car Parts, Halfords and the Escort Cabriolet Club. The estimated total needed is around £500, but this may increase if more failed parts are discovered as work is carried out.

Jobs that need to be done

Listed below are parts that need replacing or jobs that need to be done on the car.

• Fuel tank is dented, leaks and the fuel sender unit has stopped working. To fix these problems, the whole fuel tank needs replacing.
• The tracking may need to be sorted.
• The front anti-roll bar has broken, so this needs replacing. Bushes have also split.
• The gearbox is leaking fluid at an alarming rate, worst case senario is that the car will need a new gearbox.
• Exhaust silencer is cracked and blowing also the exhaust mounting have perished.
• There is a slight knock and too much play in the steering rack.
• Both outer driveshaft gaitors are perished.
• Bottom of drivers-side door is corroded.
• Rear trailing arm bushes have perished.
• Nearside front brake hose is starting to split.
• Rear traling arm bushes have perished.
• Plus a few other jobs which we are in the middle of dealing with.

This list is not surprising suggesting that most of the parts on the car will be the original ones that were installed when the car rolled off the production line!

There is also some paint related imperfections in the car, but for now we want to focus on the mechanicals.