mk2marty Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Hi all So yeah, been lurking round here for a bit, and decided it was time to start a thread on my Cortina. Watched it keep popping up on Tardme on and off over the years, getting more and more modified, and more and more decrepit. Decided the last time that I should save it, and I bought it from a dude in Hamilton a few months ago. This was how it was when it went on the transporter: It was on 3 cylinders, the front guards were buried in the back, along with tonnes of other stuff that belonged on the car (including the dodgiest exhaust known to man), but on the plus side it was very nearly rust free, had a supposedly rebuilt engine, was already lower than standard, had those awesome Wildcats on it and a set of Recaros. Plus I sort of knew some of its history through some people. It arrived on a damp Thursday morning and some reassembly of the larger parts and a general cleanup commenced. Front guards went on, the interior got vacuumed, indicators in etc. By lunch it was beginning to look reasonable... And a token shot of the engine. It all seems fairly standard in there, and it's actually reasonably quiet for a Pinto. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 During the holidays from tech I decided to crack on with the car. First port of call was the Nightshades that covered the taillight lenses, which didn't really suit the car. To remove it took several hours and lots and lots of cutting wax. I pulled the rear drums off and had a look at the shoes, got the headlights back in, the front bumper back on, plate surrounds, speakers, replaced the plastic backing to the front door cards (because the original plastic membrane had gone AWOL), sprayed some fish oil around it, and did other non-noteworthy greasing/oiling/mainenance. Also, in within the detritus there were some awesome 1980s brown rubber floor mats hiding in the spare wheel well which I cleaned up and re-fitted. I decided to go with the Mk4 grill, I was considering some spotlights in the future so this allows me to recess them a bit, away from the bumper. It's also a point of difference to most other Mk5s, and to my eyes it looks better than the standard slatted grill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 Freed up a sticking calliper and got the extractors on. They really don't fit too well, and I am kinda paranoid about them cooking the rubber donut at the end of the steering idler/the UJ/everything else in their general vicinity. Rerouted that vacuum hose to the booster round behind the engine, chucked some new plugs and fresh 95 octane in it and lo! It ran on all four.. so I took it for a noisy trip up the road to celebrate. It was beginning to look like a car again. And as an aside, this was the stereo setup I was originally going to run: Sanyo deck from the internet, and equaliser and amp from Dad. Been kinda inspired by Ed/Orion's efforts regarding period audio gear, and a modern headdeck is beyond the budget limitations and would look simply ridiculous anyway. Also heatwrapped the extractors. Probably going to turn out a total waste of time and money, but I installed them in the car anyway... ...where they promptly caught fire. Arsehats. Still, they turned a nice golden brown colour and the smoke went away eventually. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 I bought another front subframe and some miscellaneous bits from a guy in Manurewa and proceeded to swap them into the car. I knew the subframe was bent when I bought the car, the beam itself sits quite low (even at standard height), and due to their design they have all the structural rigidity of cheese. This one had an unfortunate meeting with a kerb or something by the looks of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 After a couple of weeks of inactivity, a sudden burst of enthusiasm meant I got an intact right front indicator lens, and some vent piping so now all the vents can blow air. A Pickapart mish meant that I now have a better (but still period) cassette deck courtesy of a dead Tredia, and some fairly good speakers from a Honda. Some awesome 70s fins for the wipers as well. Here she is all blinged' up. AA badge, headlight covers, wiper aids, leckey aerial etc. Needs a sunvisor... Discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 So the other day it got an exhaust. And what did it do to thank me? It puked coolant all over the man's floor. Bastard thing. So I had a bit of a look and it turns out that the radiator cap wasn't functioning like a radiator cap because it had no seal, and the thermostat was in back to front, much to Dad's amusement. Chucked some new coolant at it while I was there. If they can't put a thermostat in the right way it makes me kinda worried about the rest of the supposedly rebuilt engine now.. In truth it was probably my fault for not checking the thing properly before I went , but i was getting sick of it sounding like a tiger moth every time I had to move it. But anyway I decided the carb needed a birthday, because it's lack of a functioning secondary was starting to irk me. Blew the jets out and found a large lump of crud lodged in one of the feeder jets in the float bowl. It goes a whole lot better now, pulls better from low RPMs, and the induction howl from the cut up air cleaner is really quite addictive. What worries me is that someone in the past has tried to remove the bolt that goes into the choke water housing, snapped it (because they rust in) and simply Araldited the hole up. Might need to do something before all of the coolant disappears when the glue lets go. Replaced the gearbox mount as well, to stop the fan chewing on the radiator, as it was prone to doing occasionally. List of shit that still needs doing:-Straighten L/F chassis rail/subframe mounts so the car steers in a straight line and sits level-Straighten L/F front valance so the headlight no longer points at the ground-Rear axle bearings, because there are bad growly noises there-Wheel alignment-Front shocks-Probably rear shocks as well-Get WOF, go cruising etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 It must be about time for an update. So the L/H chassis rail got pulled back to where it should be, which made a big difference to the way it drives, and it sits level (or at least as level as these ever did). Got some 175/70/13s free, so they were stuck on the front. They make interesting growling noises, but they cost me nothing, Patched some rust in the R/R quarter panel. Unfortunately when Ford built these, in order (presumably) to solve NVH issues, they filled the rear quarters with expanding foam. This would be fine, except that after thirty years it tends to hold moisture against the panel, which then rusts from the inside. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt at filling rust holes. I'll have to replace that part with new steel eventually, but until then the large amounts of Fishoilene it got doused with will have to do. Replaced a couple of balljoints, some wheel cylinders, brake fluid, and the oil and filter. And then this happened. Which made me quite happy indeed, considering it was off the road since 2010, and had been generally neglected before then. Went on a hunt for the source of the growls coming from the rear end, procured a slidehammer, which made getting the axle out dead easy. Measured the bearings, and will go hunting for some that fit in the next week or two. Have a nasty feeling however that there could be diff side bearings at fault as well. The axle bearings felt a bit rough anyway, so they'll get done and then we'll see how much it changes things. And some brake shoes arrived, so they will find their way onto the car in due course. As will the fuel filter and some new fuel line, hopefully to reduce the tendency for engine bay fires that these have (aside from the brass fitting that goes into the carb coming out and spraying fuel everywhere, and there really isn't a lot I can do about that). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 So a couple of things happened today. Took it for a decent drive to some beaches out west. On the way home, a bolt that retains the timing belt cover decided that it didn't like it's current home and would much prefer to work its way out and become lodged in between the bottom of the cover and the crank pulley, creating a terrible grinding noise and those charming wear marks in the cambelt. What's more, is that the viscous coupling for the fan is obviously in league with that bolt and has decided that now is an ideal time to start growling and squealing. So I probably need to find another one. And the valve stem seals need doing at some point, because it's doing the usual Pinto smokey start thing. Here is an enormous photo as evidence: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 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/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 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/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 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/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 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/ 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 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/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Can't match the big events of the previous few updates, but i've been making small improvements to it Got another L/F guard and windscreen from a Mk5 at Pickapart. Some moran that owned the car prior to me has attacked the screen with really harsh grit sandpaper in an attempt to remove the bit of black paint where the interior mirror mounts, so the new one will find it's way into the car in due course. Not long after this, the GCs at Zebra Manukau got a Mk5 2.3 Ghia in at their yard, so I had to visit and grab some high-spec goodies from it. Ended up with a glovebox light, clock, interior light and spotlight grill, and an intermittent wiper relay and switchgear, since Ford neglected to fit mine with one. The clock in it got really loud and then it died, so I bought another one. It didn't go either, but since I now had two of them I figured i could fuck with one, so I pulled it apart, filled it full of CRC (because I couldn't see anything else wrong with it), and now it works. Guess all it wanted was lubrication..? Did the same to the other one, and I now have two working clocks. Go figure. I put the one from Zebra in, since it was nicer. Installed another (working, at least for now) electric aerial Fitted the spare guard, or what has turned out to be dangerously close to a 'feature panel' as Honda fanboys call them. To avoid the associated stigma of having such a panel i'll probably get it painted to match the rest of the car once the panelshops reopen after new years. It looks like this now: I'll probably put the left mirror on the new guard at some point. Shame the lower valance still looks like a cheesegrater though... It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but note the crappy (even by Cortina standards) panel fitment around the door line, rust/bog/dents, crap paint, and wonky wheelarch profile, legacy of the frontal this car probably had in the past It looked worse in person, believe me. Got some mudflaps with blingin' chrome bits on them, so they went on too. Big thanks to Ben (Zebra Dude) as well for donating me some taillight lenses. Also, found some ancient Trademe photos of when it was all standard and mint and old folks spec. Awww.. Might try find it another monsoon shield now... Tell me to keep the rat-look panel here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 i'll probably get it painted to match the rest of the car once the panelshops reopen after new years. Wow, that was nearly a year ago. Procrastination level x10 In fairness, I bought an Escort which kinda slowed things down a bit, but its back on track now.. I think the car got sick of waiting for me to do something, and took matters into it's own hands. This appeared under the radiator cap. It's most likely the head gasket. I don't know what the previous owner did to the head (if anything) with the supposedly 'reconditioned' engine, so i'm happy it's lasted this long. And anyway, I can do it properly myself this time (and if it goes wrong, I can only blame myself). I procured another cylinder head from the last Cortina they had at Zebra (a 2.0 S), and it is at the reconditioners as we speak. They seem to think it's usable, so with any luck at the moment a Kent FR30 is on it's way here from England, and hopefully it makes an appreciable difference to the engine. It doesn't need anything too lairy, it still needs to be usable as semi-daily transport. Might try some basic Vizard-spec porting once the head comes back, although what good it will achieve and whether it will be at all noticeable is totally debatable... I was going to get a Burton rocker cover to go with it, but it won't fit with the DGAV carburettor (it's missing the cutout for the autochoke water housing). Oh well. My new rear axle bearings leak, which is annoying. They don't have the rubber seal around the outside like the OEM-spec ones did, but it also looks a little like the oil is coming through the bearing, rather than around it.. Will go and have another talk to the bearing people at some stage. Bought some more wheels (apparently called Wildcat Cheetahs) which unlike the current ones are properly shiny, properly 4x108, and properly not covered in kerb rash. They are also currently on the Escort, but that's another thread update completely.. I kept noticing more and more rust appearing over the winter, and it was getting depressing. Mostly along the bottom of the windscreen - found out the sedan one doesn't fit, sadly - some more around the tailgate handle, the rear quarters, and the 'feature panel' was starting to irk me. So the time came to bite the bullet and get some paint done For the first time in a year it's all the same colour. And this is what it looks like at the moment. Still need to finish putting it back together, it's a good opportunity to spray rust inhibitor around and tidy up some of the things that didn't get done the first time around. The interior needs a massive clean too, it's covered in panelshop dust. That intermittent wiper relay, the switchgear to match, and the glovebox light are all still waiting. One day... Hoping it's all back together and the camshaft has arrived in time for the Waipu cruise. Failing that, there's always drag day Will try and take some better photos once it's all together I was well supervised throughout discuss here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/41622-mk2martys-83-cortina-estate/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted December 23, 2015 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 An expensive (and belated) 21st present to myself turned up yesterday In time for Christmas, though Will assemble the head and swap it over Christmas, all going well. And in other news, the car is all back together and on the road. Did the Waipu cruise, which was fun. Also got Drive Inn to put a new centre bearing on the driveshaft. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2marty Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Way too many photos in this thread.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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