mk2marty

Some photomagraphs and stuff So pleased someone else finally brought another Mk5 along

Really just echoing the sentiments of everyone else here, but what a simply awesome day. Cheers to all involved, especially BDA780 for organising it and making it possible, met some cool people and saw some amazing things. I was too busy walking around in awe of everything to take many photos, so here's one:

So the rear axle overhaul I promised this thing more than six months ago has finally happened. The collapsible pinion spacer arrived from Palmside, so i really had no more excuses to procrastinate over it. Decided that the bearing noises had to go, so the best way to get rid of them was to replace all the bearings, so hopefully i'll never have to have it apart again (unless I win Lotto and decide it needs an LSD). So that meant getting axle bearings, diff side bearings, pinion bearings, a pinion seal, and the aforementioned spacer. It all came apart fairly easily, and for a couple of weeks while I waited for bearings to arrive it looked like this: All bare and oily-like. Hmmm. While waiting for some side bearings to turn up, it seemed like a good idea to take advantage of the axles being out of the car to replace the brake shoes, in an attempt to cure a slight rear brake imbalance that VTNZ reckoned was there. So now it has some nice new brake shoes (the wheel cylinders I replaced about 6 months ago), and not long after they were fitted a box of very expensive goodies turned up: Dad pressed the bearings on, and with his help it started coming together. The pinion went in and got torqued up to set the bearing preload and crush the spacer, the pinion flange needing a bit of a squeeze with the vice to get the dirt deflector to stop fouling the pinion seal (which was a different design to the OEM Ford one). The crownwheel and diff carrier were next in: Shiny new bearings. Turns out that the crownwheel side bearing was probably the worst and probably caused most of the noise. Did up the bearing caps and tested the backlash, which was within what Ford reckoned it should be. Just as well, cos otherwise it would have meant finding shims and running the risk of damaging the bearings pressing them on and off while we got the amount of shims right. Note the special blank-face dial test indicator... The diff hat also got in the way of some chrome paint. I actually kinda like it, it turned out better than I thought it would: The axles went in, a gasket was cut for the hat, the diff got filled up with oil and all was well. Really impressed with the difference (ha, geddit?) it's made to the car, it is a lot quieter to drive, and I no longer have to worry that if I take it on long journeys the diff will implode. Win! While all this was happening, the centric rings turned up and they got fitted too, which helped get rid of some of the vibration at motorway speeds, something the slotted wheels and shank nuts weren't that great at. All they need now are some centrecaps. Scored another 4 channel AWA Clarion tapedeck from a wrecked Daihatsu Mira, which solves the in-car entertainment problem for the moment, until I get sick of the fact it won't actually play tapes and pull it out again. This one is a 450M, the little brother to the deck I had previously (a 650P), which as far as I can tell was only really fitted to high-spec mid-80s Mitsubishis. Found a centre console with a clock as well, which it needed since I replaced the instrument cluster for one with a tacho (the clock having formerly resided in the centre of the cluster), and a lower console/gear lever surround as well, which tidies things up a bit. And so to celebrate, I took it for a blast up the Kaipara Coast for labour weekend. It went like a train, aside from the exhaust getting hot and hitting the underbody in a couple of places. Achieved about 33 miles per gallon for the trip too, which was cool. Really pleased with how it handles the open road. Can't even tell it's been up a long gravel road in this one Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/

It's looking brilliant so far, looks like just the right shade of Brigade Red too. Nice work man

Cheers mate, if i'm honest the mirrors don't really do a lot. It lives under a car cover, so they get bumped every time I take the cover off, so usually I get a close-up view of the ground. But yeah, i reckon they look better than the OEM ones haha.

Had this thing a year now. Scary. So I got donated a Springalex steering wheel by my Grandad. According to advertising bumf from the 70s it's an SA100 wheel, if that means anything. It used to reside in his HA Viva, but since he sold it nearly twenty years ago it's been sitting in his garage. I had been looking at changing the steering wheel for a while so the Springalex was perfect, it's suitably retro, and it looks cool. It didn't fit the car however, so I needed to find a bosskit to suit it, and while eBay had listings for Escorts, there were none for Cortinas. But, thankfully Ford parts lego logic prevailed again, and it turns out that a Mk2 Escort has the same steering column shaft diameter and spline as a Cortina (only the column length differs due to the Cortina's collapsible section), and after trying the wheel from Dad's car to prove it, I decided an Escort bosskit would work. So about a week later, this arrived in the letterbox: Unfortunately, due to the differences in column length, it needed a bit of modification. It wouldn't fit with the column shroud as the cylindrical bit on the back of the boss was too deep, and consequently the wheel sat too far forward to engage the splines on the shaft properly. This was easily rectified, however: Cheers to Grandad for the use of his Myford, too. Great success! It fits, and it looks pretty decent too. Makes twisty roads way more fun than with the factory wheel, which given that it's about two inches smaller isn't surprising. Very happy with it. On another, slightly sadder note it seems the awesome Clarion tapedeck has passed on. Bereft of life, it rests in peace, so the Sanyo has stepped up to take it's place, and teamed with a junk equaliser it fulfills it's role as a means of playing cassettes. It'll do until I can find another proper 4-channel cassette deck at a wrecking yard, anyway. I still haven't done anything about the rear axle noise, but at least it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Seems like Palmside are the only place in this country that has listings for an Atlas axle collapsible pinion spacer, so with any luck there might be one finding it's way here soonish, so i can finally pull the back end apart and find some bearings for it. Really want to get them done before the Leadfoot cruise. And, buoyed by the success of the eBay bosskit experience, i've found some hub-centering rings that might fit, and hopefully they'll be downloading themselves into my letterbox shortly. Cheers to Gizahoon for ordering the parts. Discuss it here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/

This sounds brilliant. Shall be attending also, likely in a Cortina.

Should be along as usual in the Cortina. Hope the weather stays clear BTW do we not get the $1 Spud fries anymore? Although a free drink sounds good..

Pretty sure this was the one that belonged to the guy who busked outside the New Lynn train station. Used to see it there quite often. And those RS 4-spokes look good already..

The Hollywood Theatre in Avondale? (i think?). Sort of down the road from the main township?

Some photos:

Oh man, what a mint example! Looking forward to seeing how it progresses, there doesn't seem to be that many left in this condition. Chuck some Super Oscars on it and it'll be perfect...

A couple of weeks ago i got a new autochoke water housing and bi-metal spring from the the good people at Weber Specialties in Silverdale, to replace the one that someone had attempted to remove, snapped the bolt, and filled up with glue. Decided that before it got fitted the carb deserved a birthday and the mixture screw freeing up, cos the idle was pretty lean and shitty and thirty years of inactivity behind the tamper-proof plug had seized the screw. So the carburettor was removed, and while I had the rocker cover off (to get at the two annoying inner carb nuts), i thought i should take care of the valve stem seals, a common problem on Pintos. Dad provided some nifty tools to do them with the valves/head in place. The seals were pretty fried (and probably OEM fitted), but now with new ones it no longer blows clouds of oil smoke on cold start, and i didn't manage to lose any of the valve retainers. Win! The valve spring compressor and air adapter made life easy. The carb got partially dismantled and flooded with CRC, and the passages blown through with compressed air. It had obviously been sitting for a while, judging by the corrosion stains in the float chamber and on some of the jets, so they got cleaned up and i checked the choke and float settings too. Discovered the vacuum choke pulldown diaphragm had disintegrated completely, so i raided the (thankfully intact) one from the parts carburettor, but otherwise everything seems to be in order, so it got reassembled and put back on the car. It sort of exploded all over the bench It's a lot smoother to drive now, and doesn't blow smoke under hard acceleration anymore. All it needs now is some fine tuning, particularly of the choke mixture, which will come with time. Got me a window sticker too: Discuss //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/

I have the same problem with the autochoke water housing on my Cortina, someone has attempted to remove it, snapped the bolt and Araldited the hole up. Murray at Weber Specialties has them new, so he'd be the man to talk to. Although down in Christchurch, Palmside might be the crowd to see..?

Should be going, and might have convinced Dad to bring his Capri. Who do I see about getting OS stickers?

Bubble arches would probably look quite good given that it already has a semi Alan Mann red-over-gold paintjob. And +1 for big Super Oscars, with white covers. Awesome.

Don't mean to be pedantic, but it would have been built in Lower Hutt. They only built Mk2 sedans in Auckland. As for the gearbox/diff angle issues, i found this, which may or may not be of some use: http://rsmotorsport.com.au/files/Type9toMk2.pdf And while the front brakes are getting bigger, why not throw some 4 pot calipers off a Princess in? (although admittedly they could be a bit hard to find now) And I kinda like Garfield and Odie on the side, probably cos i had a lot of Garfield videotapes when i was a kid

I admit, I was inspired by top gear, but i made mine from a mk3 Cortina.. Mine aren't that flash tho Yeah, they only really get used for camping. But they're quite comfortable Keen to see what you do with yours.

Cheers mate. Seems like everyone has a soft spot for these things.

Picked up some interesting stuff from the Real Groovy sale today. Worth a look i reckon.

Haven't actually done anything useful with this as yet. Haven't pulled the diff out, haven't fixed the autochoke, and I haven't even got around to fitting the new rear brake shoes. And the drive belt seems to have broken in the tape deck, so I can no longer rock out to my Springsteen cassettes. So rather than tackle those large and important problems, I've made small aesthetic improvements. A good mate gave me the stainless roof rails from his VL Commodore, which I had to cut down to fit. Someone who owned the car in the past had removed the roof racks completely, and somehow the centre rails must have got lost or broken. So all it had were some screws sitting in the holes where the rails should have been, which looked naff, especially considering the paint was marked from where they were. It started like this (Note my 'hold the camera above your head and shoot blindly' approach, rather than actually finding anything proper to stand on) With some help from Mr Ryobi and a cutoff disc, a little while later they were shortened, and a little while after that they had holes drilled in them to mount them to the car. Still semi-amazed I managed to drill the holes the correct distance apart (and that the person who fitted them back in 1983 managed to drill all the holes in the car the same distance apart). Measure twice, cut once, or something... It ended up like this The only problem is the holes from where they were mounted on the VL are still there, and they are only filled temporarily with putty. And I splashed out on some airhorns to stick in the front. Not entirely how sure how long they'll last, the 'stainless' they are made of looks a bit cheap... Discuss it here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/

Might talk Dad into bringing his Escort along too, for extra goodness. Otherwise I should at least be there in the Cortina

If the Cortina doesn't break down somewhere along the motorway I should be there. Dad might bring his Escort too, hopefully.

Cheers all. And i'll keep that in mind, cos decent parts for these (wagon specific stuff in particular) are getting a little hard to find without resorting to Trademe. And I do keep being regaled with tales at gas stations about how everyone used to have/learned to drive in/regret selling their Cortinas. Kinda nice really.

Another pointless update really. It's done around a thousand K's of daily duties without missing a beat, aside from a strange surging/hesitation when stone cold. In the near future i'm going to service the carb properly and attempt to find a new choke water housing, due to the aforementioned Araldite fix, and the fibre washer has started to leak. I'm hoping it should fix the surge then too. Been put on to a bearing place in New Lynn to try as well, to sort the diff/pinion/axle bearings, so sometime soon it might be getting a proper overhaul of the final drive. And in other news, it got a wheel alignment. Discuss my thus unfulfilled promises of progress here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/