LagoonBlue

Brakes only slow you down but for some reason MOT guys seem to be keen that they are there. Better sort that out then Jokes aside, this is not a how-to, just the way I did it. Everything feels and seems right but I can not be absolutely sure until I get to test them out for real. Rear cylinders were easy as they are available and affordable. These have the correct 17,80mm bore for my DeLuxe. Front calipers can also be bought but are on the pricey side. Mine were in not that bad shape so I decided to refurbish them. Girling 14LFMKI with 48mm pistons. Sourcing parts for these took some searching, easiest would of been to get a kit from Bigg Red but in my case that proved to be too costly after shipping and taxes. This Autofren D41409C kit was the closest I could source. One kit per side of course. Some differences though; Pistons in the kit have a lip on them but to the best of my understanding that is not an issue if the correct dust seal is used. Bleed screw that came with the kit was too short but luckily a local shop had the correct part in stock. Bridge seals in this kit are not correct, I bought mine from Anglo Parts (part number 052.574). Every manual warns against taking the halves apart but if done right that should not be an issue. Make sure not to mix the halves! Some sources say that the bolts are tightened to yield (as in stretch bolts) but in my case I found that hard to believe. First off bolts were not that tight when I removed them and they were stamped as being grade Y; That is in predecimal speak almost the same as DIN 12.9, hard as can be. No visible signs of stretching in these so I re-used them, not that I could of found new ones anyway. After sandblasting (not the bores, threads or mating surfaces!) and a thorough clean I painted the halves with primer and rim silver (both Max. 120°C). Zinc plating would of been preferable but as this car is not going to be raced painting will be adequate. Better than nothing anyway. I scraped the paint off around the mating surfaces and gave the lot another clean before assembly I smeared red brake grease to all the moving parts and lightly to where the halves join. Piston seal went in first followed by the piston to about half the way in at which point I installed dust seal on the top of the piston and pressed them all the way in. After that it was easy to slip the dust seal to the caliper making sure it went all the way home. On the locking rings I made the ends touch and put that side over the seal first. As I put the halves back together I was careful not to bind the bridge seal. For torquing the bolts I installed caliper onto a spare strut. For the little bolt I used 31Nm, for the big bolts 58Nm. There is no gap between the halves, that is the removed paint later patched with a small brush. And the finished calipers ready to install. All in all a fairly easy job once I had the right parts in hand.

Thank you! I try my best. Ghosted by yet another paint shop If ya don't want the job just say so, can't be that hard. All the same as there is now a decent chance that I can get my first choice to do the car. Might take a while to secure a slot as the guy does good work and is hobbyist friendly. Whilst that is brewing I have been keeping myself busy on other bits and bobs. Couple things are waiting on supplies so I rummaged my "to do" shelves and spotted an intake manifold in need of some TLC. Right off the bat I managed to break off the coolant hose adapter into the manifold but after a good while of faffing about managed to dig out the remains and run a tap in the bore. This was the older type angled adapter that can not be turned with a socket and it was truly stuck in there. Luckily I had a spare adapter so no real harm done in the end. Next I got me one of these cheap soda blasting things; Decent enough results, halfway done here; Was something new to try out, has it's pros and cons. +Does not hurt aluminium +Reaches corners that brush will not +Any residue can be washed off, water soluble +/-Makes a mess, I used my blasting cabinet so not an issue for me -Does not work on rust -Media is one time use only -Slow process (at least with this setup) Used close to half of the 5 l jug but some was lost on experimenting and getting the settings right. Will not be doing any bigger job than this manifold but might be ideal on carburettors and other delicate small things. Spots like this just look too ugly Little better.. Not too smooth though, something to do with laminar flow and condensing fuel drips 0.20mm gap in the middle. Might need to be trued, I will have machine shop take a look next time I am there. I could stick some 600 grit on the stone and have at it but that's not really the proper way.

It's not over restoring if it's back to stock, I thought whilst re-bluing my rear ashtray retaining clips To be fair this was mainly to test on how the stuff works. Meant for things that go bang but should also work on cold bluing screws etc. Yet another batch of small bits painted; This time around some seat brackets and the correct type of heater box. Seat brackets I hung on to a frame from both ends, keeps them from flapping about whilst painting. My DIY heater resistor. I went with 3Ohms 50W resistor since I had couple in stock. Glad that I did since even this gets rather toasty in use. Hopefully should still fit, if memory serves me correct there should be enough room under the dash. If not I will make it fit And finally the heater box back in one piece. This was quite a puzzle to assemble, I think I got everything in the right place (except the wire from fan to resistor which should go on the right side terminal, got to remember to fix that). Though I could of have adapted my series 2 heater matrix to work on this box I had a fairly decent earlier thicker type, only had to clean insides of it with vinegar since it was chock full of calcium deposits (which is why one should mix the coolant only with distilled water). I replaced flap gaskets and matrix spacers with EPDM, that stuff should not turn into dust quite so fast as the original foam. For sealing the lid and duct passthroughs I used Sika 710 Butyl sealant. Stays flexible and allows dismantling.

Yup, I always forget that domestic models had the dash mounted ignition switch. Steering lock (or equivalent anti-theft device) became mandatory in Finland at 1968.

Thank you! Good to know on the keys, I have enough stuff on my keyring already so if I can have all the locks work on just one key it would be all the better.

Still nothing meaningful to report on the bodywork side of things, every place is currently at a standstill due to vacation season.. Nevertheless will not stop me doing other stuff in the meantime. My latest finds; Roll of gasket paper, made in England so should work on the Cortina Restoration manual, charmingly outdated but still has some good nuggets of information. Actually had this on loan from the library years ago so knew to snap it right up when I saw it offered for a tenner . Super hard anti-roll bar poly bushes. Most likely I will not use these but were cheap enough to get just in case. And last but not least a set of new old stock Burton FP210 tappets. These are the earlier narrower type, I already have a set but those might be the later thicker type. Were at a car boot sale close by and cheaper than from Burtons so why not have a spare set. I restored a series 2 plastic heater box ages ago but since then I have found enough bits to fix up a proper tin box. But as is typical; Spot the difference? It's the tubes that sprout out from the sides (18K280/1). Those have flaps operated by cables coming from the dash. The box that I had painted does not have the provisions for flap assemblies, instead it connected directly to accordion tubes. Luckily I still had my original box, though I had to change the four mounting brackets on the corners from a donor box because there were some extra holes drilled in them. After that i sand blasted and primed it. I will let it cure for a week or two and paint it together with some other bits. Better that I caught this now rather than later. Before I moved the series 2 box to storage I measured the resistor on it (looks like a spring). For such a low resistance it is best to do a 4 wire measurement. And the survey says; Let's call it 2 Ohms. Blower motor operating current is 3.5A in free air and stall current is 8A from a supply of around 12.4V. I do not have an original resistor for series 1 box (they were prone to failure) but 3 Ohms rated at least 10W seems to be the ticket, though I would rather use a 20W or so resistor to err on the side of caution.

About time that I put something back together. Parts waiting for assembly. Bump stop/dust gaiters not in the greatest shape but are original FoMoCo parts and will still do the job. These are the instructions that came with my NOS strut inserts. There are couple points that are not in the workshop manual or Haynes repair manual, first is to fill the remaining space between insert and tube with engine oil to prevent corrosion and the second is that "special" nut should not bottom out when tightened. Topping off with oil. For ease of handling I bolted the strut on top of a scrap rotor. And then the problems started "special" nuts that I had were not correct, they bottomed and the insert was left rattling in the tube, not good. A few choice words and closer look later I deduced that correct nuts must have come with the inserts back in the day but mine were of course missing. Luckily I found one nut from my pile of parts that was the correct size for these exact inserts, that gave me the dimensions I needed; That still left me one nut short of a pair (heh..) so I modified one of the misfits. Using a poverty lathe (drill and angle grinder) I machined a washer and a small piece of tube to press fit inside the nut. After that filed it level not forgetting to add a chamfered edge in the center to allow for strut inserts seal. After that diversion I could continue with the assembly; Pair of assembled struts Even though it was not mentioned in the instructions I added Loctite to the troublesome "special" nuts. Top nut can be torqued to correct spec only after installation. Couple small nicks to touch up on the paint work tomorrow courtesy of my crappy "widow maker" spring compressors and I can cross these off my list.

Ever paint a bunch of parts and after the fact find out that you forgot that one little pesky washer? Do not succumb to despair, instead dust off the Worlds Cheapest Airbrush™, source a graduated syringe and load up the required amount of paint straight from the can. Suck up the hardener and thinner from a cup as to not contaminate the hardener jug or use a different syringe. Mix thoroughly and shoot the part with paint. Experiment with different speeds and/or settings to get the desired thickness. Saves on paint and cleaning the airbrush is heaps easier compared to full size gun. Will also work for those little spots that you missed because it was too dark/bright, be prepared to buff out the overspray though.

No worries I would say that you made the right choice, a little too far gone.

A friend came to visit with his latest acquisition; -72 Morris Marina 1.8 Super DeLuxe. 1.8L Big Block. Fun little car, this one is a light rolling restoration. Better than their reputation warrants, yes the front suspension is quite peculiar in these early cars and brakes are not the greatest but still going strong after 50 years. And remember that Roy Haynes designed this after MK2 Cortina so can't be all bad. Just keep it hidden from Jeremy Clarkson There were some screw holes from long gone speaker pods in my kick panels. To make them at least a bit less noticeable I plastic welded the holes shut. Usually I snip a sliver of material from somewhere that will be hidden but in this case I had a scrap kick panel to nick it from, needs to be the same material for this to work properly. Using a temperature controlled soldering iron helps a lot. I filled the holes from the backside to make less of an mess, very similar process to TIG welding. Will stink, try not to inhale the fumes too much. And done, still visible but no more holes so already a million times better. If really needed these cold be textured to make the fix almost disappear but these are out of the sight line under the dash so plenty good enough.

Thank You! Yet another parts haul.. I certainly have enough bits already but for a fair (for today's market) price of 45€ how can I say no Especially interesting to me were those rubber bumpers for the doors. Up and middle in the pic. Came from here; and here; No idea what happened to my original ones but I am (almost) fairly sure that they were missing when I got the car, the holes are there. Lower bumpers did came off quite easily so might have fallen decades ago. I checked the parts book and sure enough these do have parts numbers; Bumper (door upper) right 3014E-7023032-A ,left 3014E-7023033-A Bumper (front door lower) 3014E-732033-A Upper bumper mounting screws are a special type with a tall-ish barrel shaped head.

Still no real progress on the bodywork, I have an estimation lined up for next week so fingers crossed those guys are up for a challenge. In the meantime I have done lots of small stuff and here is one of them. Since one of the TCA's was bent I was suspicious of the spindle arms (3014E-3130-B and 3014E-3131-B) so decided to check them and was I glad that I did. One was bent upward by about 3mm. Luckily I have spares, so gathered them all in one pile and after wirewheeling the reference surfaces clean did some measuring. Surface plate optional but smoke 'em if you got 'em, right 24-25mm from here to plate. 90-91° 93-94° View from top down, angles measured in parallel to bolt holes. That should be suffice, hard to see how these could be out of whack without effect to measured points. I also did some visual comparison side by side and stacked top to top. Luckily my best ones were also the least rusted so I protected the tapers and after that sandblasted and primed them. Added to my growing heap of bits to paint black.

To work on the rear valance I dragged the car out into the sun; Really not that bad, weird how issues get blown over proportion in ones head over time. Just to make sure I shoveled some filler on it to see how much it would take, actually not much at all. Shot with filler primer to protect the metal. Will still need some work but should come up ok. Looks that I do not need to use my NOS valance after all, would of been fairly big job to change. This was also my first time trying out some Mirka mesh type sanding paper that my friend recommended to me. Yes, it's a bit more costly than the regular stuff but well worth it. Also remembered to pin the hinges. First I thought about using 3,5mm roll pins but those would of been hollow so instead I used precision ground 4mm alignment pins that i found in my junk drawer. Easy to install and punch out when needed. Of course the hinges and backing plates are now "paired" and can not be switched around willy nilly.

Thank you! Takes it's time but well worth it. Right hand side gaps came out actually fairly good, except this bit; Lower edge too narrow. Much better after a quick cut and weld. Lines up nicely. I am happy with that, must remember to pin the hinges (Drill small holes through hinges and A-pillar,two pins per hinge) so that removing and reinstalling doors will be easier in the future. I predict lots of this in the near future; Not a sack of potatoes but will definitely need some attention. And naturally there is sound deadening right where a need to use a dolly. Comes off easily by warming up with heat gun and using an oscillating multitool thingy with a smooth edged blade. Does not cause any damage to metal. But first I need some practice in a less conspicuous spot. Engine bay will do nicely, some small dings and patch seams to hide. Wings are on with self tappers for now and will be welded later.

Received today my new track control arms from the other side of the globe; Seem decent enough, because ball joint is a different design the dust boot (if you can even call it that) looks a little iffy but with proper care should not be a problem. Even came with grease nipples. Not that there are much options anyway, NOS TCA's come up for sale every now and then but can be quite pricey. However these were not free either; Parts 133,77£ Shipping 28,83£ Customs 53,85£ Finnish post handling fee 2,49£ -------------------------------------------------- Total 218,94£ One more thing to cross of the list so that's good. I should have new inner bushings that fit these. After checking some diagonals I found out that one edge of the front valance needed to be ~10mm forward; Small relief cut. Sorted. Took a lot of massaging but got left hand gaps to a somewhat tolerable state. Very awkward job to do with only two hands. Pair of welding magnets and pieces of allthread with wide washers at the end held the door in place long enough for me to tighten the screws. About as good as I can get it. Wing might shift a bit when welded. Gaps are about 5-7mm. Got to remember that it's a Ford not a Ferrari Having a decent worklight helps a lot. I made this from a LED ceiling light by fitting a flex to it, maybe not something to copy if you need to pass the PAT but that is something I do not need to worry about.

After a cleanup of herculean proportions I reclaimed enough space in the garage to work in relative comfort; At least I can walk around the car now Loads more junk still to sort through but beats working out in the rain. Now I can start gapping the panels, a mind numbingly boring process but one that can not be skipped. First I roughly set everything in place and quickly found the first issue. The bonnet was too low on one side, even with the rubber bumper at the upmost setting. Luckily was not that far off so poor mans frame rack got that sorted Chain attached to the frame rail kept the jack from running away. Next step would be to line up rear edges of the doors and from there step by step towards the front. Rinse and repeat until good enough..

Ah yes, makes perfect sense. Good to know for peace of mind since those cast TCA's came from my car. Nothing else seemed to be tweaked on the steering setup but I will definitely take a closer look. Yep, I would like to enjoy my Cortina as long as possible once it's done

Finished painting the springs. As expected only needed little sanding with green Scotch-Brite and couple coats from rattle can. Next I went through my collection of track control arms; What a sorry sight.. How does one even bend a cast iron TCA Sheet metal ones have bad ball joints and this one that i found later, is all rotten but gave me an excuse to see what it would take to press out the (utterly knackered) joint. Well it did come out at about ten tonnes but not in one piece, the short of it is that these are not serviceable. Luckily though cast TCA's are still available.. in Australia that is. Not horribly expensive even after shipping and customs so I will likely order me a pair next week. And then some more painting. The weather was great and I had prepped enough small bits to justify the hassle of using the proper stuff; Two pack Acrylic, a bit pricey at 50€ per litre but did get the hardener thrown in the deal. Went a "little" overboard on the PPE this time but since I got 'em, might as well use 'em. Very fashionable Tyvek overalls, box of nitrile gloves and Scott Proflow EX PAPR with requisite filters. It was my first time painting with blower respirator and I must say that it was a definite improvement over half mask. Eye-wateringly expensive though if bought.. Cortina bits just hanging around. Sorry for the poor pic.. I did both struts, bumper brackets, heater box and couple other parts. I thinned the paint about 10% and used my best sub 20€ gun with 1.4mm nozzle (0.1mm over the spec since that is what i had). I did two coats and the result seemed decent, very good coverage, no bad runs and laid flat. Always nice to practice on bits that do not need to be 100% perfect.

Great find! Here Cortina struts here are sniped by Anglia enthusiast because it's a common conversion.

On the subject of springs.. I rummaged from my horde of parts a decent pair of front springs, sandblasted and painted them. I used rattle can etch primer and cheapest store brand top coat i could find. In theory spay paint should stay flexible enough but time will tell. Spring is in the air! (I'll get me coat) I painted these wet on wet and top coat boiled a little, not a biggie since I missed couple spots anyway. I will let these air out for a forthnight or so and go over them lightly with Scotch-Brite and try again. Even though new front springs are readily available I chose to recondition these as quality of repro parts seem to be so hit or miss these days.

Sun is out so it's time to do a small job I have been putting off. Now that I have a known good LH wing (well the back half at least) it would be great if the other side matches. I threw together this jig from scraps that were at the reach of my hand. Narrow strip of 1mm sheet against the wing with a stout(ish) frame and small pieces in between to mate the two. Little bit of masking tape for shimming and protection. Jig in use. Remade bottom half of the wing is straight cut to length and upper half has couple millimeters of original inward facing seam edge left. Way back when i released the filler panel for repairs I had to cut it almost to the edge. Worked a treat! Pretty much a mirror image of the left wing. I copied the hemmed edge from the original but doubled the amount of spotwelds from the inside edge of the seam to filler panel since the crimping force might be weaker than in original.

Thanks! Little by little, let's hope I can pick up the pace a bit now that the weather is getting better. Here is something that I did not know before looking it up, seems that series 1 and 2 have different rear springs, at least on the higher up models; And in typical Ford fashion a long list different options in the book.. Though most do make sense, ie. different springs for estates and saloons. Kind of a moot point since if I am not mistaken series 1 & 2 springs are interchangeable, though maybe shackles need to be changed to suite. On a similar note, something I checked today since I had the parts book at hand; On the left are NOS rear brake cylinders that i found some time ago at a local flea marked amongst all the pots & pans and baby clothes (Metelli 04-0115) and right is what is supposed to go in the Cortina. Definitely not the same but the weird thing is that these were listed to fit Cortina 62-72 according to a quick Google search, maybe I missed something obvious Eh, were only a fiver a piece so no real harm done.

The second slowest progressing resto on the Internet continues.. Still heaps of snow on the ground but had couple nice sunny days to do some light sand blasting and painting. I had almost forgotten about these rear side window trims and quarter glass posts from the doors. trims were a little pitted but usable.. Fast forward a couple weeks and i had the change to pick up this lot for 60€. Came from the same guy that i bought the Cortina from. Roof from one of his hidey holes had caved in during a storm and he had rediscover these Boot lid i got for the 1600 deluxe emblem alone and the steering box has nice bushings on it. Front bumper is not horrendous but will certainly need more than a wash & polish. Interior door handle is fine and the visors were thrown in the deal. Of course rear side window trims from this lot were in better shape than the ones i had just done.. So I blasted and painted them too. Not too big of a job and it's nice to have set of spares on hand. What's next, who knows.. Maybe I will start bugging painters again for estimates, oily bits also need sorting and the garage is a disaster zone as usual

Time for a nice little indoors project. My export spec car has dual circuit brakes and as a part of of that system it is fitted with (the often discarded) brake pressure differential valve (part No. 3015E-2K493) It's main job is to make bleeding the brakes a royal pain in the rear, as a secondary function it will light up the brake warning light on the dashboard should one of the circuits spring a leak. Which might be handy i guess Mine was in decent condition apart from the rubber parts and of course those are not available. Some time ago i had local hydraulic shop cut me new seals from suitable material (Part No. 3015E-2B262) These being so small they were just on the edge what their equipment could handle but certainly better than i could of made at home. The second rubber part was the plug/dust cap (Part No. 3015E-2K570). Valve will certainly function just right without this part but since i had the remnants of the original i could jot down the dimensions; And that gave me an excuse to try out something new. I had a friend 3D print me a mold; Using syringe i filled the assembled mold with black Würth A8 Pro silicone sealant. As per these instructions https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/ i mixed in a small amount (maybe 6:1) of corn starch to function as a curing catalyst, though in this case i might have got by by without since the wall thickness is quite thin. After couple experiments with different mold releases (i though i had the proper stuff but bugger me if i could found it, in the end i used silicone spray) and curing times i had acceptable part in hand. Fits just as poor as the original Not going to make any spring bushes with this method but for small non critical stuff like here it worked surprisingly well.

Thank you for the confidence! Who knows, seeing how hard it is to book a competent painter it might come to that. Being a single stage job it should at least be fairly forgiving. I had to satisfy my curiosity and braved the cold long enough to do some comparing with my old and new wings. Filler panel was better than i expected Apart from the jacking point hole bottom edge also looks decent. Really hard to take a good picture from this angle but i think the dimensions are not too far off. Certainly better than i thought but still happy to have the genuine article to use. I can take measurements if anyone needs them for reference.