Popped motor, parts car, bought it for 100 bucks. I need the injector pump, water separator, and other ultra-rare diesel Escort parts. This car is missing too much rare stuff to ever really be made right again, so I'm taking it apart for the sake of my other diesel Escort which by contrast does stand a good chance of running again. This car will be undergoing a complete strip-down in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

Here's some shots of it on the way from the seller's house.

And here it is in front of the CarDomain HQ. It'll be stored temporarily at a friend's house in the suburbs.

Here it is in my friend Doug's garage, where it'll be stripped down to nothing. Hood is gone...

It came with no valve cover. This was after I removed the cam:

At a different time of day:


No head!

Removed grille and radiator to get at stuff.

Good parts off this car. I think the starter was replaced recently:

Nasty injection pump before ....and after carb spray.

Trying to remember how this linkage goes back together.

Injection pump removed. It looks kind of like a carburetor from the middle ages, doesn't it?

Next up: transmission.

The suspension has to come apart to get it up. Ball joints separated, axle shafts disconnected at inboard end, wooden dowels stuck in the holes to keep the gears from getting dislocated.

The trans is all clocked sideways, and completely disconnected from the engine, but it won't break loose.

This could be bad...

The motor is basically just sitting in there free because the passenger-side motor mount, the only thing holding it in, is bust. So it wants to come out with the trans. Maybe my cheater bar braced through the injection pump hole will keep it from falling out.

At a later date, I ratchet-strapped the motor to the passenger-side fender to hold it still while I hauled on the trans. After a lot of levering with the crowbar and a lot of raising and lowering of the engine, I finally got the trans to fall out on the ground.

Here's the hole where it used to be:

Took the fenders off too. This diesel Escort is getting to look more and more pathetic.

6/21/08: Parts removed today include the master cylinder and brake booster, the power steering pump, the throttle cable, and the gauge cluster and speedo cable. Unbolted header pipe and the engine took a dive--now, that jack is just about the only thing holding it in there.

I'm hoping to find a good home for the stripped block. Does anyone want a diesel Ford Escort engine block? No scrappers.

I'd also like to see the near-mint front and rear cloth-covered seats go to someone. Do you have a blue-interior Escort you'd like a set of seats for?

Good news! My parts car has found a new home. A diesel Escort enthusiast is coming up from Portland over the 4th of July weekend to haul it away.

Got a last couple of things off it: oil cooler, black box. Got the front end put back together, went to stabilize the engine, but then this happened.

Oh, shit....

....SHIT! The engine totally dumped.

Now since it's flat on the floor, and I can't get a jack under it, it'll have to be craned. Nice going.

Look how far down in there it is. Stay tuned!

July 26 - A gentleman from Portland agreed to take my parts car for the grand sum of 25 bucks. He took delivery of it today!

He has plans to put this hulk back on the road. Best of luck with that!

I ended up deciding to take the engine out through the bottom, since the car was already raised on jackstands--all I had to do was remove a couple of brackets. The 4cyl is quite narrow, so it slid right out from under the car. But look at the oilslick!

The engine off in the corner of the garage, and the gaping hole left behind.

My poor parts car out in the semi-light in all its glory:

And getting winched into the covered car hauler the buyer brought:

Bye-bye! Thus ends the brief saga of my parts car. It was brutalized in the brief time it spent with me: though it was already a parts car throughout its time with its past two owners, I was the one who completely dismantled it. It wasn't a roadworthy car; in fact, a whole 'nother Escort would have had to have been sacrificed in order to make this one whole again, which is how I justified stripping it. There was just so much already missing. However, the buyer plans to put it back on the road despite everything, and I wish him the best of luck and hope that the car finds new life under his ownership. If that shoud ever happen, this page will be updated. Fingers crossed!