d.p.n.s mk3 cortina

[d.p.n.s]

made some panels to covers... the firewall recess

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

when i bought this it was a shell and i was missing heaps of parts but the shell was the starting point for me.

i did buy some seats and door cards as well as the rectangle lights and a few grills  (i like the look of then and the 1st ones to come along)from a mate but still needed lights and lots of other stuff..so i all ways thought that one day ill stumble across a parts car..

being a face lift 76 it has the same dash as the mk4/5 and i dint hate it but lately ive been thing about after market gauges and maybe subaru b4 seats front and back or maybe bucket seats in the back as well.

then a mate rings me on Friday morning  and tells me he will around soon with a trailer......and later that day i had a parts car...........oh what a parts car.

its got everything that makes a GT a GT in it.

so i stripped it out on Saturday and got a pile of GT goodness.

the seats are pretty bad and will need an expert but they are all there.

the only part i dont need is the steering wheel and i have no idea how much they go for so i put it on trademe at $1 reserve..

the body of the parts car is pretty bloody good and has live plates and tags..so the plan is to take all the stuff i want and put all the stuff i no longer have a need for back on and sell it on to someone whos after a project.....far to good to just cut up...theres rust in the rear panel and i think thats it.

the big job is the dash steel back part....the face lift and pre facelift are totally different as you know so they need to be removed and welded back in ..in the other cars.

so i have removed the facelift from my car today

i will fully weld up all the areas with it out now and clean and POR15 what i can before i remove the other one from the parts car and weld it in.

cheers

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

got the re face lift dash support out of the parts car and the face lift one welded back in.....first time ive ever done it....this was the worst part...think the one going in my car will be easier.

can start puting the parts car back together with all the shit i dont want/need and sell it on.

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

got the dash support painted and put the rest of the dash together......very happy with it ...

pre face lift GT dash

now bog standard face lift.

car has a new owner as well....i have my mk2 stored at a mates and he dropped the other mk3 seats off for me today and couldn't  take his eye off it (it is a bloody good body)

so we struck a deal and hes going to put it in storage until he has all the bits to put it back on the road.......its a good day...dash lloks mint....cars going to a good home

 

 

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

started seeing if i can get the interior in and see what broken and what goes where.(they will need a good upholster to sort it all out...has been painted black and lots of rips.)

started with the back seat.

the bottom clips in the car that hold the bottom of the seat have broken off so i drilled hols and riv-nutted them.

the back seat frame will need to be straightened after sitting around with crap on them for years.

as for the base and as most of you know the base is held in with these little thin tabs.

and screws into these small hole with what is basically a PK screw

so i cut up some 3mm thick box section and welded them on and cut the old ones off

drilled new holes and used rivnuts

back seat all bolted in.

 

i bolted the front seats in and realized im in a situation ive never been in before.(i have moved seats,bolted in other seats,,,)

but im not a small person and normally everything isn't where it should be for me...like controls .gauges facing me ect ect.

but im still yet to weld the dash and everything in place ....so i could make things better for me while im at it..

i bolted the EPSC in place (still fits as same pedal box as facelift) and put gear stick in gearbox and sat the center console in as well.

now i can start putting dash all in to suit me....still need to make it all fit around the wiper motor and heater i made to fit the facelift dash.

on a side not ...1st time i have ever had seats in this car .........of cause i sat in it slamming it threw the gears making engine sounds.............i am human

 

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

so start of a new year (even tho its February now lol).thought i would clean the garage out and that met putting the mk3 back on the rotisserie and also making casters for it so i can move it out side....ive got some metal prep to do before POR15 and that en voles being able to hose it down..and dint want to do that in the garage..

bit of a bloody mess

all cleaned and ready to go

 

[d.p.n.s]

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.

 

[d.p.n.s]

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.

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

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.

 

[d.p.n.s]

1 tub completely done and 1 to go

 

[d.p.n.s]

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.

[d.p.n.s]

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...

 

[d.p.n.s]

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 .

 

[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.

[d.p.n.s]

decided to have a play with something other than rust /welding/cutting/making.......turns out pulling a 44 year old front end isn't as easy as undoing some nuts.

the front end 

most of the bolts had to be cut and studs pressed out..most of the bushes were none existent  .(i have a set of bolts front another front end )

all stripped down

after a couple of days with wire wheels on my drill press and some de greaser 

and a wipe down and coated in POR15.

i bought a full bush kit last year and found 2 good condition steering boots in my parts shelfs

and all rebuilt with what i have ...still need to get some new tie rod ends upper and lower ball joints and decide on discs and what calipers to use......and some split pins and thats the front end completely done.........once the world returns to normal.

and the crap left over.

 

[d.p.n.s]

Fixed the few bits of rust in the boot ..straightened the are the boot lock bolts to..straightened the boot rubber lip and aligned the boot itself...
Degresed the boot...metal prepped and coated in POR15..
While aligning the boot I found that strip between the bottom of the window and the top of the boot isn't very good...so once the world goes back to normal I'll have to find one....( cant get rust repair panels for that) so will have to come off another shell

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

so im starting to run out of parts and things to do....so i thought i would put the car in the middle of the garage on axle stands and start putting it together and make a list of things i need and need to do...

i cant bolt the doors on and gap them as its best to have the car sitting on its wheels to let it settle ...then gap them all (normally drill 2 small holes in the hinges so when i put at back together after paint i can put 2 small rivet heads in and its a good starting place for gap)

but i can start doing the front .. .....and its way out.lol

who would have thought cutting all of this out would have warped it to hell.(as much as i tired my best to not let it warp it did) doesn't help that i went from rectangle lights and plastic grill to GT.

so after way more hours than i thought i have the guards on and lined up at the front....now i can work on the slam panel to grill fitment.

 

[d.p.n.s]

i cut out the vents ..mainly as the water that gets in there is the main cause of leaks ive found and the other reason is its almost blanked off from the engine bay any way. 

i then welded them up

im thinking about moving the vents to the rear of the bonnet so the heat escapes better 

i then got around to cutting some holes in the bonnet and fitting the falcon GT bonnet locks.

and after having to straighten the slam panel (wood and a FBH) ..straightening the bumper and mounts..physically straightening the front of the black guard ..making mounts for the grill...thats the front almost all sorted.

 

[d.p.n.s]

the past few days ive been working threw the interior to see what i have and dont have...make sure it all fits and bolts in and out with ease .

starting with the vents...passenger side (still waiting on some ducting to turn up)

drivers side

pedal box,EPS and braces all in

dash panel bolted in very easy now all mounts have been made.

center dash brace,panel and cut down ashtray 

center gauge console and gear knob (found it in the parts ..think its a GT one )

hand brake console 

glove box (well door anyway )

dash pad...its a bit stuffed and doesn't fit very well at all will try and get another one (or even pull it apart and see if i can do something with it.

 same with the gauge cluster ..might try and find another or some parts maybe ..(some mounts are broken  .screen is cracked and the speedo looks like its has rust lol)

kick panels trimmed to fit

B pillar covers ...found some in good condition

the rear seat upper wouldn't fit because of the mini tubs ..( i had read people had issues with them after tubing..makes sense really ) so i cut 20mm out of each end and welded the springs back on.....fits perfectly now.

same with the base ...trimmed 15mm out of the back brace and bent it in and welded it back up..

as for the front seats there is about 6 million holes for them and the 1 i needed........no captive nut. so i had to use a bit of wire to pull a bolt threw and weld it captive.

found the best 2 sun visors i had and an interior light

 

 

 

 

 

 

[d.p.n.s]

im not an upholsterer and have never done any thing with upholstery so this may not be the professional way to do things but its my way..

i decided to have a play with the dash pad....(new ones cost are pretty bloody expensive as are good second hand ones ....if you can find them) the  dash pad cover is in pretty good condition ..not cracks at all..it just a bad fit ...so i peeled the cover off.

i cleaned the steel base up with the wire wheel.

this is the fitment i have ....if not good.

so it turns out that this rusty little bugger is the only thing holding the dash on.

so i went on the hunt for some screws...turns out i had a few cam cover screws from a 1ggte sitting around that once you remove the rubber washer are very flat....and the washers got drilled out to use as....well washers on the dash pad.

so after a bit of hammer and dolly time and another 10 screws it started to fit better.

now the front of the dash pad sits down against the front of the panel and has 2 small tabs to hold it in place...theres a small steel bar in it that i believe holds it in place but its not attached and when i try to fold the front down and use the 2 tabs  it just pulls back out ..so i made a thing.

so after a heap of gluing ....clamping...welding this is what i have.

its starting to look much better and i might just save myself the hassle/cost of another one...just need to do a bit more with the top front lip and the little bits on the side....but im pretty happy with it so far.