Greg's Toyota 4age Mk1 Cortina

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Hello all.

Discussion page http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=20334

The story begins back in 2004 when I was in Whangamata for new years. I saw my first Mk1 Cortinas there was a red and a blue one. I fell in love imediately!!!

At the end of my yr12 year (aus yr11) I broke my femur while riding a motorbike.

Lots of spare time on my hands I convinced my parents that it was time for me to finally get my cortina.

1963 Mk1 four door.

1600xflow

Mild Cam

2.0ltr mk3 webber carb

Capri 4speed

Austin princess 4pot

Mk2 Front strutts

13x7 modgies

It was 80% complete apparently just needed the rust in the sills to be fixed!!

It was painted primer grey.

My mate and I set to work getting it fixed up and sanded down ready for paint

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Of course being still only 17 and at school I didnt have much money to do a real paint job so had another mate give it a classic Matt Black paint job so we could take it up to Auckland for the 4&Rotor Nats.

Colour was horrible looked like absolute scum with the modgies. (sorry if thats your thing)

But hey we were young and this was all the rage

What ya think

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A few days after the nats I come across a guy who was wanting to swap some modgies for A set of TSW Apex 17". These were the wheels I had always wanted to have on my cortina, so a deal was quickly struck.

As it was nearly time to head back to boarding school this was all that was done over those holidays.

Car come back with me to school and I drove it every chance I got while the warrent lasted.

I quite liked the look of these wheels on the car, they suited well with the matt black

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So in march of that year 2006 I took my car for a warrent and it failed (it still hasnt got one yet)!! So I took it home and started trying to get it fixed up.

But as the story goes it was just to bigger job for me to do on my own, one problem lead to another etc etc.

worst problem one night doing skids in the paddock and this horrible knocking started it me engine.

After pulling the engine apart I found the problems!!

1 Snapped con rod

1 twisted con rod

broken cylinder head

cam shaft snapped into 4 pieces

broken bits of metal floating around in the stump

bent push rods

a hole smashed through the block

not sure what the sequence of events were but wasnt good,

A few months later I got the courage to pull the engine out and attempt to put another one in, so i brought an escort and started.

I had had no experience on cars before I got the cortina, I have just learnt as I have gone along

It was also at this time I decided that the matt black and interior werent going to do it for me so I started to pull everything out

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Over the rest of that year I keep working on the car and never made any progress.

Year finished and school was over for me. Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life I went and worked at doing pest control. This was good because it enabled me to pour money down the endless throat of my car.

It was off to the panel shop for a cheap paint job!!

This turned out to be the turing point in my car rebuild!!!

What was meant to be a quick 1 month cheap paint job turned in a 8 month total over haul.

Soda blast

all rust cut out

new doors

new bonnet

Donor shell for new panels and roof

primo paint.

It was not what I had planned but it never works the way its meant to!!!

While it has sucked alot of money (I could have a nice house deposit)

it does look good.

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when I first started this car it was always a question with what colour to paint it.

I want my big 17" rims with an eye catching colour!

Bright blue, that light holden green colour, ford purple.

The longer I owned this car the more I learnt about the history of mk1, and started to want something closer to original/period colour.

I ended up painting it Holden Racing Green. Its very much like british racing green but has more depth to it

One picture is with my friends mags that were chrome. Looked a tad to gansta for me

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While the car was in panel in paint I had put a sierra five speed behind the 1600xflow and discovered cheve orange paint. engine, gearbox, calipers, back brakes. everything possible was painted. Provided a nice contrast with the holden green , no one else seemed to like it though!!

Engine was put in and started up, but smoked a hell of a lot. Off to the mechanics, to find out that the engine needed rings etc so a rebuild or re power was then put into the question.

This was at the start of 2008 and I was about to move to Auckland to start uni, so the car sat in the shed for the next few months, while I was off trying to educate myself.

The hardest thing about doing this car is the fact that I live 3 hours away from where it is kept so only get to work on it when ever I have a chance.

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So halfway through last year (2008) after a bit of research with costs of rebuilding the 1600 xflow I decided I should just spend a little bit more and put in a RWD 4age with K50 box.

After a while I found a suitable a motor that was in an AE86 that was getting wreaked so I got all the parts that I needed,

Engine

G-box

Radiator

Driveshaft

Mounts

I would have liked to get the diff but ran out of funds!!!

The next mission was figuring out how to mount the engine. In the end I got mounts put onto the chassis rails and put the engine to them.

Fits rather nicely

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my friend who has helped with this car has an escort wagon and we painted its engine bay black with purple metal flake. It looks real nice.

So before the engine went it I cleaned up engine bay and gave it a spray of black with green metal flake. I wanted something different but subtle enough to go with the exterior of the cortina. Its good because you would not expect to lift the bonnet and see this.!!!!

Also the diff and calipers got the treatment to.

Pictures dont do the green metal flake justice!! Looks real nice in the flesh, especially in the sun. glows

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The boot holds a very tidy set up of surge tank and fuel pumps and battery aswell.

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The more I have learnt about cortinas the more interested I have been in keeping this car looking semi period. Hoping to create a modern classic you may say.

So I got some preformance superlights and got rid of the TSW Apex.

This has completed my final look I was going for.

They are 16" and run 205/40/16 tyres

these wheels set off the car I reckon.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I have air shocks and two inch blocks in the back.

It sits higher than the photo of just the wheel suggests

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it drives hahaha.

Still very rough, no brakes really but still starting and driving is a great starting point.

-Got the g-box x-member put in (bolted through the floor)

-Driveshaft in

-Brakes bleed (although not working properly,so need major figuring out, m/c not sending any fluid down to the back brakes!!!)

- Air filter connected up

-extractors cut down and exhaust welded up.

So all in all happy with the progress made. I think I might chance the master cylinder again but we shall see.

Really really happy with how the car sounds, engine still needs a tune but you can tell it will purr nicely.

What do you think of the ford badge on the grill, a keeper or scrape it???

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Also got some photos of interior.

Back seat is out of a GTE, just fits in. Its looks real bulky and snug and is nice because it has the arm rest.

Got a big blue gum cut down at home so there are some pics of the car posing in front of it

I'm wanting to get some ford centre caps for the superlights but havent managed to track any down yet!!!

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New Parts are always exciting.

Recond Ball joint

3 new tie rod ends

And some new Bushes.

Wanted to get the from the MK1 site but found a place in NZ. Ordered on monday and they turned up on tuesday (cheers http://www.enford.co.nz). Hopefully this will tighten things up a bit. I'm also looking at having a double sway bar set up. just brought a second sway bar and blocks but havent fitted yet

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So Iv got the driveshaft in and everything is back together.

I'm running the standard master cylinder because all the ones I tried wouldn't work.

I'm looking at putting discs at the rear before I got for a cert but not to sure yet.

In bed on night I could hear banging round on the deck, look out side and find this trying to get inside hhahah dumb possums!!!

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So just waiting for uni to finish so I can go home and take it in for a cert!!!

Before I do that i might look at putting disc brakes at the rear, possibly depending on cost.

Also I want to have a go at rebuilding the steering box.

So if anyone has a spare mk1 or mk2 steering box spare going cheap PM me please

Hopefully have warrant, cert and reg it december sometime!!!

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So Did a bit more work

Rebuilt the steering box

where do I start

I hope I remember where all the right parts go

YUS Success haha

two rebuilt steering boxes, one with all the best parts, the other with all the crap haha

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Also thing I got done, started putting in my new diff. Its got disc brakes, no more drums now.

I brought a capri front end...waste of time really but had good inserts, but they have way different tops, probably have to use escort top hats now......cheers Mr Mk1 for the measurements

differences between the capri and cortina

Also probably use the capri front discs. they are quite a bit wider. pic of the differences between thicknesses

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So just been chipping away doing bits and bobs.

Got legal spring and spring made captive just to put them in and decide its a tad low.

So I'm Looking into getting coilovers so I can adjust the height when I want to.

My steering box rebuild didnt go that well so want rack and pinion aswel.

Just collecting the bits for it all now. IM AFTER A REAR MOUNTED STARLET STEERING RACK SO IF ANYONE HAS ONE PM ME PLEASE.

Currently I'm working on a rear diff disc brake set up, just gotta suss hand brake cable and it should be all go.

The extractors run down to low and scrape on everything (middle of the road even) and I dont like that so I'm going to lllok and just running the standard exhaust mainfold now, which should stop the scraping but wont be as cool.

Pics are just of last weekend I took it for a drive.(mostly just annoying posing car photos). Felt like taking it for a run so chucked in standard diff and brake M/C and was off. I'm retarded forgot to tighten the clutch hoses so lost all fluid, and gear 200m down the road, quick road side bleed and sweet.

shortened inserts and new 250mm springs

Forgot to mention I put in my double sway bar too

Parked down the road after losing gears

IMG]http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac312/greggles8/DSCN2662.jpg[/img]

Let the girlfriend drive a little on the way home......700m haha she was still stoaked!!

Down by the river

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Hello So long time no update.

Well I have moved and progress has been slow until the last few weeks where I have had a massive burst of motivation.

Still stuck on this rack and pinion problem, it has been over two years now trying to sort this steering.

So I brought a KP60 or 61 engine x-member, TCA and already have a starlet rack.

I plan to have this in the car and then my 4age mounts should fit into the original starlet engine mounts because I have mounts on the engine made for a 4age to toyota K-series conversion.

I have hit a snag getting this into the car because for the engine x-member to be centered in the Cortina the mounts had to come off. I have drill out the spot weld and cut the mounts off carefully in hope to reweld them into the car once steering is sorted. Hopefully engine will fit in its new location as I would like to rid fo the ugly mounts that I had welded to the chassis rails.

Have figured the bolt hole spacings and drilled holes through the engine x-member to bolt it in to the Cortina. This will have to be reinforced and crush tubes put in at some stage to keep cert man happy but should be no biggy!!

The starlet gear is around the same width as the Cortina so no problems there.

The starlet has steering arms that with two scrapes with a fine will bolt onto the bottom of the Cortina strut. This fits fine until I tried to fit the brake caliper, and also when I fitted the TCA the ball joint scraped on the disc. So I thought that if I change left to right then this would give me the require clearance!! It did. But now the angle of the ball joints fitting to the steering arm has no free movement and the ball joint from the rack will not fit at all.

Have brought Mk2 Escort struts and all the tapers from the starlet ball joints fit in to the mk2 escort legs fine at first glance. The only problem is that with the struts being changed left to right now the calipers are in the front of the strut and not behind it as original mk1 cortina ones are!! (will this pose a problem??)

I have used the KP Starlet sway bar and it obviously goes into the starlet TCAs but more amazingly is that it bolts straight up to original Mk1 Cortina sway bar mounts.....YUS

I have had a spacer machined up which lets the escort insert fit the mk1 cortina top hats so they bolt straight in!!!

So far with fingers crossed in looks as though it is working very well, but will have to get the wheels on and everything bolted in before I claim it as a win.