All has now been sorted - but what a palavar and experience it was.
I originally rang round several garages to get a quote to replace the clutch and gearbox.
I went with a garage local to me that has a good reputation and they have been around for years so i went with them.
New clutch, Second hand box (supplied by garage) oil and labour £500
Took the Van to them and they had it finished by the end of th day. Drove it home and i didnt like the feel of it. Took it back the next day for them to inspect and they rang me back to tell me that the box they had put in was "kaput" and they would put my old box back in and give me a refund to the sum of £188 (price of s/h box and VAT) they said they would source another one for me.
I went and picked the van up with my now original box in it and drove it home and parked it up on the drive.
Went out there on Saturday morning to give the van a wash and noticed a rather large puddle gearbox oil on my driveway. Had a peek underneath and to my horror and suprise i noticed that the idiots had forgot to screw back in the oil drain plug - it was literally hanging out and and only held in there by one thread of the bolt!!!!
I bought a recon box off eBay for a tidy sum of £110 (inc Delivery) from a gearbox place in Birmingham and i booked it in at a different local garage who fitted it for me today.
The owner called me to say "what a mess the previous garage had made of the box" wrong bolts etc.. used and also that one of the gearbox mounts needed replacing. (he showed me the mount when i got there and the mount had completley split in half)
I drove the van home this afternoon and it drove lovely so i am very happy (touch wood!)
In total it has cost me the best part of £650. I wish now i had just purchased the box and clutch myself and took it to this lovely chap to do in the first place but hindsight is a wonderful thing!! would have been a lot cheaper too.
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Ford Escort - 99 1.8D I think the gearbo.. new