Browndog's Mk1 Cortina

[browndog]

I have always liked Mk1 Cortinas. My first car (inherited from my mother!) was a 1962 1200 Deluxe 2 door. I remember it well. Red vinyl seats, white exterior ( was pale green but had been repainted white at some point) skinny wheels, crossply  tyres and rather slow! I passed my driving test in it and got my licence 2 days after my 15th birthday, good times!    After a succession of engine swaps, first a warm 1300, followed by a 3.0 V6 (while I was still at school) and finally the full banana with a 3.5 Rover V8, Toyota 5 speed, nine inch rear and full roll cage. I raced it in several car club events, before selling it in the early 1990's.   A couple of pics of me racing just prior to selling it: 

 

 

 

 

[browndog]

A few more Cortinas in between, and fast forward to beginning of May this year.  Trawling through FB marketplace, I spotted this car. It was built in late 1980's, same time I built mine, and current owner was selling it less engine. It was running a 393 Cleveland with around 600hp, with a 150 shot of Nitrous. He had run a best of 9.0 @ 150 mph, not bad for an old Cortina! I went to  Papamoa straight away to view the car, paid a deposit, and collected it on Saturday last week. 

I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do with it yet. It was deregistered when it was turned into a drag car, so I am going to investigate making it road legal again. Would be fun to drive to car shows, or nip down to the dairy for milk!  If that proves too difficult, then it will stay as a drag car only. Either way, I would like to go drag racing, so focus will still be on keeping it primarily as a drag car. Engine is TBC, although most likely a V8. 

It is very well built, and has some good parts fitted, half chassis rear, big tubs, very short fabricated nine inch with Strange 35 spline shafts, brakes and double adjustable shocks. Weld wheels 15"x12" rear and 15"x4" front. Front suspension is Ford Escort Gp.4 style struts, with Escort rack, rear end is ladder bar.   A few pics of the car racing, and prior to engine removal, and then on the trailer after arriving home on Saturday.   

  

 

 

 

 

[browndog]

had a few spare hours the other night, so thought I would see if the spare "Ford built" V8 would fit. After a bit of lifting, craning, pushing and shoving, removing a few parts which were in the way I got it most of the way in. Sump would not go down past front crossmember, so will need to remove that first, lift the car on stands, then try again. Looks like it will fit without any surgery though, so that's a plus.  

 

 

 

Should have got a bigger shoehorn. 

It's off to Cletus in a week for a "pre-certification" inspection, and that will help me decide if I want to make it street legal again. Lots of ugliness has been uncovered, but it is mostly small shit that is fairly easy to sort. As long as there aren't any large fundamental changes required, such as remove the rollcage and do it all again, then I think we will be okay. Fingers crossed! 

 

 

[browndog]

Took the car to Clint yesterday for a "pre-cert" checkup, and unfortunately the list was much longer than I had hoped! Lots of small stuff, which would be easy to fix. But some fairly big issues around the "half chassis" which had been added to the rear, as well as some issues to the original front chassis.  Upshot is, that while it probably will still pass tech for drag racing, the only way it will ever become road legal is to build a whole new chassis for it. 

At this point getting it road legal by building a new chassis is a much bigger project than I am prepared to take on. So for now I am going to continue down the path of keeping it is a drag car only, and tidying up a lot of areas cosmetically,  as well as improving on some safety items which are in need of attention. If I am still in love with the car in a few years time I may look at getting a custom chassis built then. 

Big shout out to Clint Field (Cletus) BTW, super helpful guy who has probably saved me from a world of pain and expense had I tried to get it road legal and THEN gone in for an inspection.  I can definitely recommend his services to anyone in the Auckland area.

Meanwhile, I am gathering some parts together, such as panel cuts, windows, regulators etc. to try and make it look more presentable. It looks good at a distance, but there is a certain amount of ugly close up that I want to knock out of it! Will update again soon.