d.p.n.s

just had to finish a few things for the dash off.. 1st was the bracket/brace behind the ashtray ciggy lighter..also where i put the wiper motor...so needless to say it doesn't fit anymore i had to cut it up a bit so that i can fit the wipermotor, and heater ducting .not to worried as i plan on putting a usb socket whet the ciggy lighter is and a dock for my phone in the asstray, . made a small bit to weld to it and screw to factory mount on firewall made 2 more for the brace the dash top sorted the mounting points for the pedalbox steering column brace. all stripped back out and tomorrow on to another job .....but that was a big one for me to get all sorted.

so for day 2 and 3 of the lock down ive been playing with fitting the pre-facelift dash to be 100% honest i was starting to wish i had never taken the old dash out... i had made the heater box,moved the wiper motor to a position under the dash and made the power steering column all for the face lift dash (way more room) and it was doing my head in thinking i might have to make it all from scratch again. but its almost all done now and i love it....still got to take it apart again to weld up and add 2 brackets to top dash panel support.......but you would never know its not in factory position. so i started having to remove the 2 brackets from the dash panel top support..clean it up , wire wheel the rust,metel prep and the POR15. then i had to get the dash panel ready but when i went to bolt the top support on (wanted to bolt it all up and then put it in the car) i noticed that one side was way out (last week i found it on the floor so at some point it must have fallen off the shelf and bashed 1 end around) the good end the bad end so once i straightened the best i could..i added a rivnut each side to add 1 more bolt each side for support. now the base of the dash panel bolts up to a bracket where the kick panel sits on the side...the brackets are old and rusty and i lost one of them ....so i cleaned up what i had and made new brackets ..bolted them on before it went back in the car. i put the wiper motor back in so when i put the dash back i can see if its going to clear everything. i had to bolt the center console in as the gearbox tunnel has been modified and shifter hole move back a bit..so i bolted that in place then mounted the read handbrake section .. then tacked the top of the dash support around the window edge in..and pulled the bottom of the dash out to meet the center console....so it all looks factory. next i had to mount the pedal box and brace so that i could mount the power steering column (talk about that a wee bit down the page.)..so i can start sorting the screen vents(only have demisters no other heating...) drivers side vent went in pretty easy and should work well. passenger side....not so much (didnt think it would with the heater box in there aswell.).so i had to cut it up and swap it around and move it out a bit.(glued and seam sealed as well) once the world get back to normal ill be able to get some duction and try them out. next electric power steering...honestly thought i was going to have to cut the dash panel for this.but its a bloody good fit...the motor is hidden...the column sits in the factory cortina hasd recess ...and even the controller can bolt back in factory spot then i fitted the gauges to check clearance and glove box to check that side.....(the glove box does shut but i had to remove the inner..i did think that would be the case .but im just going to have access to ecu , wideband and water pump controller behind it. im very happy with it and big job ticked off the list.. i just need to take it all apart and finish welding it up and make to support brackets .

soooooo it looks like im going to have time on my hands...being in lockdown for a month. so i started getting somethings done......like the cabin area ..i wanted it all painted in the dash are so i can start fitting the dash back in. so i started with pushing it outside and washing it down with degreeser . after the metal prep and another wash down. and then a coat of POR15 in silver.....had some left over from a few i bought a while ago. nice and clean...

Some absolute fuckwhits are putting the starter in the bell housing now.....

well thats both tubs all done now and what i thought would be a major ticked off the list. and also under the advise from the oldschool GC brain trust...i finally got around to adding 2 small mounts to the rear of the gearbox mount for support.

1 tub completely done and 1 to go

made a start on the rear tub..(its only a mini tub just as far as the chassis rails)..started on the drivers side. so im wanting to run a 9" rear wheel (10" all up ) not greedy. and i do have a banded 13" steel that is 9"........handy ay...it does fit but under any form of suspension travel it will rub so i cut the rear half of the guard out and left the front half in place i removed the old lip and clean it up as well as the steel that was left over all the way to the chassis rial. i welded it back in and added a strip of metal so now i have 12" gap........huge re fit the rim heaps of room now. just need to weld the supports to the tub and make 2 small filler panels and then do the other side.....but very happy with the room now..well worth it.

small update but another thing ticked of the huge list. battary box. i just fitted a new battery to the mk5 so i just took measurements from that and made a box. the good old mk3 has a different chassis rail on the right to the left...the right has more room as the filler hole /neck was there....and the box will fit so i made a hole the box will hard up against the the side wall so i thought i would clean it up and POR15 the area first sank it in and welded up. made a top still heaps of room for mufflers on each side.

now that the mk3 is back on the rotisserie i thought i would start . the valance is pretty rusty (have seen worse ) in and out and pretty hard to get hold of here in nz ...and ive been thinking of changing it up anyway. i wanted to cut the valance back up about 3" higher and make end caps and little recesses for the exhaust tips.(twin exhaust from motor). so i marked out where i wanted cut back to and cut everything out. it wasnt the best in there so i pulled it out side ...cleaned the area...metal prepped it and gave it 2 coats of POR15 in there there was a bit more rust at one end so i did that next and plug welded the panel back down then i started boxing it all back up...starting with the middle section then i had to figure out where i could get a muffler in on each side and where i wanted the exhaust tips to sit...the exhaust will twin 2.25" from motor so i made cut outs out of 3" next was making caps to box the inside with and then last was boxing it all in ..next on the list might have to be mini tubs......thats a 9" rim so 10" over all and i really like the size.

i know your going to get it all in and running basically standard and get a cert then build a motor......thats when the updates will be needed.. i havnt seen or heard of anyone doing anything with the old ford v6 in what feels like ever.

there.....fuxed you comment mate

holy shit.......the last update was april 2016... as for your motor for the mk3 ....probably the engine build im.most interested in ....in a long time.

so as you know if you have read this topic this year i swapped the original motor out (because it was starting smoke real BAD!!) i put the one that came in the parts car i bought in after swapping all the shit from mine onto it......and all was good with the world...it started ,ran well,and didn't smoke..... this one and then one day on my way home from work it started rattling ....and it didn't go away.....and it started bleeding oil all over everywhere i parked.....(at this point i knew J-W-G was selling his 2.0 out of his mk3) so thought i would try and fix/fuck mine https://youtu.be/BaPxkhkxBoE 2 things happened that night ...1 i didnt fix/fuck it....2 it sounded better and the rattling when a away........................................for 9 hours. so i bought J-W-Gs motor and he kindly dropped it off for me on the Saturday....i didn't do anything with it till the flowing Monday... Drove the old girl to work and it was getting worse so came home and pulled the motor out swapped the flywheel ,p-plate,clutch ,inlet and carb onto the motor(3rd this year) i got from Jesseas i know they worked well on past 2 motors (and against my better judgment not the water pump or thermostat) ....put it all back together and it ran like a dream fried straight up and didn't sound like a diesel...after a couple of days it did pick up a slight knocking sound (that when away when the clutch pedal is even lightly pushed (so wasn't to bothered )..and had a massive hesitation when you put your foot down.(found that to be coil to dizzy HT lead........the hard way......heeeelll of a jolt). then this monday i left to go to work and got a few ks from home and temp was well over half way(normally the fan is just kicking in as i get to work )...it was a hot ass morning tho. got it back home and it was very low on water.....so i bit the bullet and pulled the motor back out ....replaced the water pump and thermostat from mine......i know....i know. found the knocking to be a stone jammed in the sandwich plate ......before you ask ...fuck knows. i also decided to give it a blast and quick paint...and water last the engine bay and put it back together..... and give the old girl a wash......shes happy as now and back to being 100%. cheers all

just a thought mate but the SC manifold inst blocking a water gallery off ?

it cant be a massive airlock can it.?. it does sound like a water flow restriction and it doesnt take much...1 small hoke covered by gasket and coolant temps go crazy