mattj

Yeah and that's what I thought too when I started, It's not a hard swap to do but there are a bunch of little things that no one seems to mention. If I was doing it over I think I would go escort, the only thing is that I would need to do something different with the sump, I have an rx4 sump on my motor and the pan sits nicely in front of the crossmember. With the escort crossmember I would need the sump pan to sit at the rear (although I could probably flip the sump around) and it might change the position of the motor slightly. I think the UK guys stay away from the escort conversion to avoid cutting anything up, I don't have that problem....

Yeah it's that old time vs. money thing, taking leave from work to do it is good though as that way I am still getting paid!! I don't want to say when the car will be going but it should be soon....

Cheers mate, always good to get some positive comments!!

Carrying on from yesterday there are a couple of other things that I forgot to mention, the angle of the stub axle relative to the strut body is greater on the MK2 as it is on the Anglia (which is why you get the positive camber when you bolt it up, the fact that the tca's are longer actually helps in this respect. As a comparison here is the Anglia tca (in front) next to the MK2 one It is about 25-30mm longer The other thing that you need to do is to adapt the Anglia sway bar to the MK2 tca's I turned up a stainless washer that was countersunk to match the end of the Anglia sway bar, this gives a nice flat for the bush to sit against. I think that is about it for the steering and suspension, the brakes are another matter but once again fairly straight forward just with a few things to watch for. Anyway back to progress First thing was to get the pedal box back in and get the lines made that run under the dash The ones up by the master cylinders are a bitch to do up so I am really hoping that they don't leak! Then I got the oil cooler bolted up, I made up some brackets for mounting it and it looks like I am going to need to re-make a couple of hoses as it has moved position slightly from where I had it in the other shell but that isn't a biggie I also got the oil filter in as well. I really need to do something about that stupid FRD badge And the rest of the day was spent trying to figure out the engine crossmember In this pic you can see how low it sits, it is the lowest point on the car and it doesn't need to be. I made this thing years ago, it was one of the first things I did but I am thinking now that it will be the first thing to hit the road and having it bolted through the chassis rails means that they could end up getting smashed as well which wouldn't be cool. So I am going to re-do it and raise it up a bit, this is why it is sitting on the axle stand - plus this is about the only thing on the car that I haven't done multiple times and I can't have that.....

I thought I would post some more details about the suspension and steering setup that I have used in case anyone is interested. When I started this project I read all I could on what was the best way to go about getting discs onto the front and the popular choice in the UK is to use MK2 Cortina stuff as the geometry is supposed to line up pretty closely to the Anglia. There are some downsides though, if you use the MK2 struts then you need to also use the MK2 steering arms and the MK2 TCA's and with it all fitted (which it does pretty easily) you end up with quite a lot of positive camber on the front wheels, I corrected this by going to adjustable camber plates on the top and at the same time converting the struts to coilovers (the MK2 springs are too big to fit into the Anglia strut towers anyway so at very least you have to go for a smaller diameter spring) the next issue is that the MK2 steering arms are a bit longer then the Anglia ones and this reduces the steering lock quite a bit, makes turning the car round in the drive by hand a pain in the ass that's for sure! The solution in the UK is to buy some custom fabricated steering arms from a company called Milton who specialize in Anglia parts however I couldn't get a straight answer from anyone as to whether or not they would actually be up to NZ certification standards (the guy I spoke to at Milton actually told me that he didn't think that they would be ok) and so in the end I figured it was worth buying some and seeing for myself if they would pass. When I got them it became pretty obvious that they weren't going to pass so I took them to the local cert guy to check and also to figure out what the best solution was going to be. What I decided to do was to get some machined out of solid which would then be acceptable, only problem then was that according to the hot rod manual custom steering arms need to be 16mm thick and at 16mm the tie rod ends wouldn't have enough length on them so given that the car is so light we decided to send a drawing off to LVVTA with the thickness at 12mm and included one of the Milton arms as a reference for what I was planning and see what they said. They came back a week or so ago and said that they wanted them to be 16mm thick but I could counterbore the hole where the tie rod mounts to allow me to use the Anglia tie rods, however I thought it was worth a call to Graeme at Enford and he put me onto some Zephyr tie rod ends that have the same thread on the body as the Anglia ones but are conveniently 4mm longer. So the plan is to machine up some custom arms that put the steering arm length back to the same as the Anglia ones, change the outer tie rod ends for the Zephyr ones and that should be all sorted. Just to make sure that I hadn't missed anything I also modelled up the front end geometry in Solidworks so I could check the ackerman as well so now they are good to go. I have a CNC machinist lined up so hopefully I will have a shiny new set of steering arms in the next couple of weeks. Anyway here are some pics This is the modified MK2 Cortina struts, I had the camber plates machined at work I have already posted pics of the TCA's and with the camber adjusted almost as far in as it will go I can get the front wheels aligned (no massive negative camber for me though...) and here is a comparison pic of the steering arms, the Anglia one is at the bottom then the MK2 Cortina one in the middle and the Milton arm at the top and here are a couple of shots of the Milton arm Interestingly in the first pic you can see that the Tig weld has cracked almost completely through, I don't think that this weld was ever intended to do anything other than hold the pieces together while the bottom is welded but it isn't a good look. So that's about it really, hopefully this is of some use if anyone is thinking about running MK2 Cortina suspension in their Anglia. In other news I got some more work done on my car today but it was dark by the time I got finished so didn't get any pics, I will take some tomorrow

Thanks mate, that video is pretty sweet, there have been a lot of times when I have thought that I should have left the motor and run a turbo, in some ways it would have made things easier.

Ha ha funny you say that Pete, I am actually getting 2 sets made. I will post some pics up of what I have done over the weekend and see if anyone else is interested though. And yes nearly there but I have been saying that for a while now..... Motivation is high though

Cheers, yeah it would be nice to get it painted to finish it all off but unfortunately I can't afford it at the moment. There are still a couple of big purchases to come

Ok so there has been stuff happening, the rust in the front end was a bit worse than I thought so it took some time to fix but it is all sorted now, hard to see in these pics but it is all sorted So I got my 4 holes drilled for mounting the radiator and once they were done it was time to put the engine back in. It was all pretty straight forward, I did spend some time tidying up some little bits and pieces like finishing off the gearbox crossmember which needed some speed holes filled and painting. Pretty happy to have the motor back in though and it shouldn't have to come out again (I hope) So the next task is the exhaust, I bought 3 180deg bends and chopped them up to make this 2" primarys that will run to the diff with a resonator in each, then into a 2.5" pipe and a muffler at the back. There isn't a lot of clearance with the steering box but it is going to have to do. Steering box clearance and underneath and underneath again.... SO the exhaust is all but done now (I built the rest of it ages ago) and I will get some pics of the whole thing finished as soon as I get in connected up. I need to get a couple of bends before that can happen and sort out the hangers but that shouldn't take too much. I have told work that I need to take more time off in the next few weeks as I am determined to get this thing finished. Oh yeah and I heard back from LVVTA about my steering arms so they are all go now, I have a mate lined up to machine them which should happen in the next few weeks. And I will finish up with a shot of the engine bay with the carb inb place More to come soon....

Ok so it was a bit of an interesting weekend on the car, I had the cert man come round on Saturday to look at the work I had done and make sure it was going to be all good for me to put it back together. The result of that was kind of mixed really, basically he was happy with all the mods that I have done to the body and everything relating to mounting the motor so that was all pretty cool. There are a bunch of things relating to bits that I thought were finished that I am going to have to sort out though so that was a bit disappointing. The worst of it is that the hubs and axles that I had re-drilled to change the stud pattern aren't going to be any good, when they re-pitched the holes they have placed them right beside the old ones instead of going halfway between them so there isn't a lot of metal left between them. This is a bit of a piss off because rather then do it myself or get someone at work to do it I paid to have it done by people who do this sort of thing all the time. It is the same deal with the axles but they are a bit worse as there isn't enough room to space them like that as there are some other holes that get in the way. The other thing is the calliper mount that is welded to the diff has been mig welded instead of tig welded (I should have known that so can't blame anyone else for that one) and where it is welded to the end of the axle is actually a cast end so yeah I pretty much fucked that one up. So what it means now is that I am going to have to re-do the rear brake mounts (might do a bolt on arrangement this time) and figure out a plan for the axles, luckily I have been hoarding parts for a while and have spares..... Oh yeah, I also need to decide whether or not to go for a motorsport authority card as I would need it to run a cage and the harnesses and also to have the race seats in a fixed position rather then on adjustable rails, so I will have to make some enquiries this week and figure out what it is likely to cost So I guess the positive is that there is nothing stopping me from putting it back together so I thought I would get on with it. First job mount the radiator, all I had to do was drill 4 holes and trim a bit of sheet metal back along the top at the front. So out comes the grinder and I rip into it, the first thing I notice is that the metal seems pretty thick, I thought there was only 2 layers at this point but as I grind it back I see 3 and one of them seems pretty thick, then when I go to drill the holes I mark them out and when I go to centre punch the hole a big hunk of bog falls out. So I start stripping it all back and find a bunch of patches placed nicely over the top of rust holes then bogged up to make it look nice. Bugger, so both sides are pretty rotten and patched and it is all going to have to be cut out and fixed, there is some weirdness where the bonnet hinge attaches that I knew I was going to have to deal with at some stage, I just didn't think it was going to be so soon. And here was me thinking that I had run out of things to weld..... Anyway some pics Patch on the LHS Patch on the RHS Patch on the top and the damage and rust on the hinge mount And what needed to be removed At this stage I called it a day, it has been one of those weekends, not sure if it counts as progress as it seems like I have taken a backwards step. Looks like it might be time to put in another leave form......

Over the weekend I got the gearbox mounts done, welded some nuts to the folded plates that sit inside the chassis rails then welded them in and finished off with some patches in the floor Then it was on to the handbrake mount, I took the brace thing out before I cut the old tunnel out and moved it back 150mm, problem was the tunnel is a completely different shape at this point, so I cut sections out of the back of it and welded it back together then widened the front by adding some steel back in. Some hammering and grinding later and I had this. Then welded it back in place It looks pretty much factory which was kind of the point so I am happy. Got a few other little jobs done but they were mainly filling in all the speed holes that the car has collected during it's life. It's weird but I have pretty much run out of things to weld, might be time to get another shell and start again....... So now I can start putting it back together, maybe with one last distraction, A few years back someone was selling a roll cage for an Anglia on Trade-me, I got it for like $20 or something, it was only a main hoop which doesn't meet the new MSNZ regs (it's only dia 38 tubing)and some braces but I figured it might be useful to have as a template or to throw in for a laugh but now I am thinking maybe I should put it in to attach the harnesses to as it does meet the rules for cert. Anyway I am undecided as to whether or not it will actually make it in yet but I have set it up in there and I will see if it grows on me or not. As I said I can now start putting it back together so the updates from here might be more interesting

More progress, I have repaired the rusted out corner, I ended up taking out a bit more steel to find something solid and there were 3 different sections that meet in that corner and all 3 were pretty much done so it took a bit longer to fix but it is all sorted now. Then it was on to sorting the gearbox mounts, I think I may have mentioned previously that I am using the Anglia gearbox mount which almost bolted straight up to the rx7 gearbox, the hole centers were only a few mm out so I slotted the holes in the mount and it bolted straight on, then when I was setting up the position of the motor and gearbox I found that I could use 2 of the 4 mount holes so to do the other 2 I Cut a section out of the floor so I could get down into the chassis rails and then made up some mounts that were the same as the existing Anglia ones I just need to weld some nuts to them and then I can put them inside the chassis rails and weld the floor section back in. I also started modifying the handbrake mount to allow it to sit 150mm further back, I have to trim it to fit the tunnel as the area it sits now is a bit narrower then where it was sitting. The good news is that I am almost done with the little bits and pieces now so I will soon be able to start putting it all back together.

More progress, I took last Wednesday off work and also had a half day in the garage today so got a bit more done, the tunnel is now all welded in, it came up pretty good I reckon, I was thinking that I might need a bit of bog to smooth it where the tunnel meets the firewall but it is pretty good as is. Anyway here are some pics, and these are the last ones of the tunnel I promise Then it was on to the rust, the bottom corner that I found the other day is pretty far gone, I kind of expected this as Anglias are prone to rusting out here so I wasn't surprised to find that it was a bit worse than it looked, anyway it's all fixable, just going to take a bit longer. And it doesn't help that over the course of the last week I first blew up my drill, then my die grinder crapped out and finally today my powerfile (which is my favourite tool) started making massive popping noises and smelling like burnt plastic so I am thinking it is done. I had been saving some money to buy something cool for the car but now it looks like it will have to be spent replacing tools.

Ok, interesting... It's a bit shit that things can vary between certifiers but it's the way it goes sometimes I guess. I have followed the hot rod manual pretty closely so there shouldn't be much that they can pull me up on. But I will give it some more thought anyway Cheers

It is a sweet mullet!

Ok cheers, yeah I did actually talk to Barry when I first moved to Nelson but then figured it might be better dealing with someone closer plus I drive right past Gavin's shop on my way to work. What sort of issues did your mates have?

I have been talking to Gavin at Rodz, Ridez, and Restorations in Richmond, he has been really good to deal with so far. Yeah definitely keen to get along to a meet, unfortunately no other old cars lying around (or none that run anyway....) I did a run over that way with the Anglia club in Nelson (this is before I ripped the car apart) and its pretty good fun on the hill. I am off work tomorrow so going to hit it hard again and try and get the welding finished off

Ok, so managed to get a full day in the garage today and got a bit more done. Made all of the little bits and pieces for the tunnel and got them all tacked in so the tunnel is now all but finished, I just need to make up a couple of small bits near where the shifter comes out then finish up the welding, it took me a fair bit of time to get this looking right and to clear everything but I am pretty happy with how it came out. I test fit the motor again to make sure everything fit and it looks pretty good so I am happy Then while I was under the car I found this Buggger, ahh well that's the way it goes I guess so I will add that to the list of things to fix. I am taking Wednesday off work this week to work on the car so hopefully I can get the tunnel all finished off and start doing more interesting jobs.

Ok more progress from today, got the sides of the tunnel fully welded to the floor and made the bits that run up the firewall and got those welded in as well, they took a lot longer then I had expected, actually everything has taken a lot longer then I was expecting, but it is starting to look pretty good I reckon And with the tunnel top fitted (again) I have re-thought the firewall piece but ran out of time to make up a new bit Oh yeah and a nice surprise turned up today, some race harnesses which my wife got for me which was pretty cool, does mean more work to get them to fit though...... So I am a bit gutted that my week turned into only 4 days, I reckon another day or 2 would have had it nailed and I could start putting it back together, might need to take a mental health day or something next week and keep going with it.

Ok some more progress, basically today was spent trimming and fitting and trying to figure the best way to do the firewall transition, so there isn't much in the way of pictures. I got both sides of the tunnel tacked in place and the tunnel top clamped then folded up the firewall transition (or the start of it) but I am still not sure that I am happy with it so I will sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow. Anyway here are some pics Tunnel Clamped Tunnel & firewall transition I also mentioned in an old post that I wasn't happy with the stainless headers that I made so I started making some new ones (not today) I have cut down some butt weld 90's to get them as close to the bellhousing as I can then will go to tube to get as much clearance as I can with the steering box, I had a trial fit and it looks like it will do the trick. Unfortunately it looks like my week in the garage is going to turn into 4 days but I have a plan, I am leaving the other shell sitting in the middle of the driveway which is going to drive wifey nuts but I can't do anything with it until I get this car done so it should be enough to guarantee some more time.

Yeah I think so, my only real concern is that the motor has been sitting for a long time and I haven't turned it over or anything so the apex springs might have lost some spring plus it will be full of spiders but they should burn out ok.

So carrying on from yesterday, I stripped the whole front end off the car so it was completely clear of everything leaving this hole Something that I did with the other shell that I was never really happy with was the handbrake mount so this time I decided to re-use the Anglia one, so the first thing to do was find the spots welds and drill them out. Handbrake mount removed then out came the grinder, and out went the old tunnel Then in went the 13b I was never really happy with how high up the firewall the tunnel came on the other shell so I took my time and only cut the minimum out, this will make it look a bit better to me. Gearbox in position So now comes the time consuming bit of piecing the tunnel back together, I had a tunnel folded up a while back in anticipation of getting the motor into this shell but it needs a fair bit of trimming etc to get it to fit, here is the start of it anyway. The forecast isn't looking great for the next few days which is a shame as it's been nice working in the sun but most of my time will be spent welding now so it doesn't matter too much

On hold at the moment

Ok so I have the week off so time to get this project back on track, the job for today was to get the motors stripped out of both shells and all the other bits and pieces removed so I can start cutting, this isn't a very exciting update as that small job ended up taking me all day. Crossflow out Rotary Out Old shell moved out of the way It probably would have gone a bit quicker had I not stripped all of the suspension and diff out of the old shell, I thought about putting it all back together to move it but that was going to be quite a bit of work so I managed to get it out of the way with an old skateboard under the front and a sack barrow at the back which looked pretty funny but did the trick. Anyway I spent the rest of the day getting everything clear so tomorrow I can start cutting

Yeah I know I couldn't get a straight answer on how they were put together so figured I would take the risk and see. In fairness the guy at Milton told me that i might have problems with them. The thing that surprised me was the quality of them they are a bit average to be honest considering how the guys over there wank on about them The other bits I got were ok though