After church, I got a call from Steve. The rear battery rack was done! You can see a picture of it below. You can see how he had to narrow the rack towards the top. That's where the frame rails start to narrow and he had to reduce the width. The battery rack is only 8 inches deep. I didn't dare go any lower because 8 inches was how low the spare tire well went, and I was afraid if I went lower the car at some point might bottom out, and damage the battery rack. I expect the box to protrude about 4 inches above the hatchback floor since the batteries are 11 1/4 inches tall.
Also, here's a before and after picture of the hatchback area. It's a little confusing because the picture on the left is at right angles to the picture on the right.
Speaking of before and after, here's the engine compartment with and without the engine:
So you're probably thinking, "This is good. The engine's been pulled, the hole's been cut, and the rear battery rack has been fabricated. Why is this entry entitled 'I found another problem..'?"
You can see the other problem below:
Rust! Or cancer as it's commonly known in automotive circles. One of the reasons I bought this Escort was that it seemed free of cancer. There's one small patch on the passenger side door, but the rocker panels, the quarter panels; all the sheet metal on the car seemed good.
The problem is, if this rust spreads to the shock tower (the shock tower is to the left of the cancer spot) the rear suspension on this side could collapse.
Before I go much further, I need to probe the whole wheel well with a hammer and see if there are any more rust spots like this.