Beeper

That's like Butlins Pwllheli in north Wales. I had a few very enjoyable holidays there as a kid, even took my at the time, GF/fiance' (that didn't last thankfully) along with my younger sister and her boyfriend there for a day visit back in 87 when I had my awful Mk4. Yearrrrs later, I took my wife, but it's now a Haven site and Jeez what a disappointment?!!! Nothing is free anymore. EVERYTHING is pay pay pay. No fairground, no snooker hall, no roller rink, no train or chairlifts to the beach, which was a struggle for the Mrs who was walking with a stick at the time. Haven took a great camp, filled it with static caravans and turned it into a sh!t camp. I'll never return.

I remember when I was about 14, we went to Butlins Skegness and the kettles in the chalets (we went with friends) were totally choked up with lime stone. I can't call it scale because it was like a solid rock inside, covering the element, the base and half way up the sides. We all suffered from mild constipation for the week we were there! The water must have been clogging up our internal plumbing as well!

No I didn't, I'll try it again now that I've remembered where my thermometer is! A nice long glass one from work! 88 is stamped on the 'stat, so now I'll have to double check it. It was a bit scaled up, kind of like what you get in a kettle. I know that varies depending on your location, but it wasn't anything like the kettles on the east coast. They look like the inside of Wookie Hole! Our water is pretty soft in this neck of the woods but, I don't know how long that thermostat has been sitting in that engine, and remember, I bought it from Wisbech! Well that's effed that up! I boiled a kettle 'cos I couldn't be bothered waiting for the pan to boil. I poured the boiled water into the pan, turned the ring on full, suspended the thermostat in the water and placed the thermostat, which I've had for years, into the water and CRACK! The bulb on the bottom broke into pieces and there was a nice little blob of silver mercury rolling around in the bottom of the pan! Yes, I should have put it in the cold water and waited but, I'm 60 now and I can't waste what time I have left.

Hi, I'm back again. I took the 'stat out, brought it home and tried it in a pan of boiling water, it eventually opened. Now let's go back a few years, around about the time I put the car away in the lockup I had the radiator re--cored. A year or three (maybe more) afterwards I noticed that the bottom of the rad where the galleries go into the bottom part, was a bit wet. "Great!" I thought, so I bought some radweld stuff and put that in. Now it cured the weeping rad but do you think that maybe it caused the thermostat to stick shut? As I said, it eventually opened in the pan, but not as quick as I expected. This afternoon I went to the lockup with two Ad-Blue containers full of fresh water (didn't take either of my big water fire extinguishers because after inspection, neither of them have a tyre valve on them, so I can't refill and repressure them! So no back flushing today! ) I took the bottom hose off, emptied the block, refitted it and put the housing back on without the 'stat. Filled it with clean water and started it up. Now I don't know if it is the head gasket of not! It's stopped flowing out of the top of the radiator but there are some small bubbles to start with and a little steam out of the tail pipe! I was just going to get a new gasket and take the head off today but I said to myself, "That's a job for another day!" (lazy git) no thermostat.mp4

Me too. I haven't driven 'Red' on the road since his last MOT back in October 2014!

Me too, I now realise how my old schoolmate felt when I gave him a drive a few years back. I've spoilt myself with my other cars because turning the wheel now feels like I need arms like Geoff Capes!

I never thought of taking the 'stat out. I'll try that next time I go over to the lockup. I'll take a flask of boiling (almost) water, also I'll take my full size 'water' fire extinguisher with me as a stand in for a hose pipe, see if I can reverse flush some of that brown silt out! Watch this space.......

1/ yes it does. 2/my hose pipe won't reach the garage which is 1.8 to 2.0 miles away, depending which route I take! 3/ yes, my finger can vouch for that as in the video. 4/ so am I. Thanks for your input.

I'm just curious as to why you/anybody would 'need' PAS on a Cortina with a Rover V8, when the Pinto SOHC block is heavier than the Rover V8 block? I suppose wanting and needing are two different things though.

At the moment yes. Over the winter it had antifreeze in it and I didn't run it, except maybe once or twice when it would fire up without melting the positive lead to the knackered starter, but not long enough to get it up to temp properly.

I think I may need to do the tappets!

Right, update and not a happy one. I bought a new radiator cap, for anybody in the North West there's a little shop in Old Swan, just outside of Liverpool called 'MOTORNEEDS' specialising in parts for older cars. He's a nice guy, regardless of some of the negative feedback on Google maps. After I paid for my new rad cap he said, I've got a book for you, and produces a Ford Cortina mk3 Owners Handbook. OK, it's for a pre facelift but it was free so no complaints here. Back to my dilemma. 20260328_171612.mp4 So, 1/ Where did the water go? 2/ My finger is OK, it was only washing the dishes hot. 3/ Now I have silt and bubbles WTF is wrong now??? The rad had a new core fitted around about the time it went into the lockup for hibernation, back in September 2014 after its' last MOT pass! Hoses fitted with the rad.The bottom one crunches when I squeeze it!....If I had any hair left, I'd be pulling it out now, oh and I can't flush it out 'cos it's about 2 miles away from my house and my hosepipe won't reach! Oh, I missed it overflowing with the cap on as well. 20260328_171926.mp4

They didn't have viscous fans in 1975. I have a video or two IF and when they finish transfering by clockwork bluetooth!

Thanks for that Craig. Won't I have to block off the overflow pipe as well?

I had the car running a week or three ago, as I mentioned in a thread somewhere. Yesterday I had it running and the temp gauge didn't work. I then discovered that the rad was empty, or as near as dammit! After putting it back in the lockup there was a nice puddle of water on the floor, under the overflow pipe. Today, I go and fill up the rad, leave the cap off and fire it up. Whilst ticking over the water level started to come up into the neck of the rad and trickle into the overflow pipe. I rev the engine, the water goes down a bit, as expected but, no bubbles in the water. I refit the cap and wait for the temp gauge to start working, then I look in the engine bay and water is coming out of the overflow pipe again. I rev it and it stops, then it comes back on tickover. The exhaust is a little steamy with some water splattering out but not steamy like the Flying Scotsman or the Queen Mary! I'm putting this down to the cool weather at the moment, fingers crossed. So what do we reckon? Gasket or cap?

That one looks like my old Mk4, 2 Ltr GL XWU63S. £220 from St Helens auctions on the East Lancs Road. Possibly the worst car I've ever owned. After putting the winning bid on it, a Mk4 two litre S went through and was bought for £250! was I gutted? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes! The camshaft on mine was so rattley it sounded like a diesel! It still ran good though. Could I parrallel park in it? Nope, even with better rear view than my Mk3 GT, I always ended up either on the kerb or about a foot away from it!. Then the hidden rust came through the new Ford Royal blue oil paint paintjob! Drivers sill, drivers floor going in as far as the gear box. Also the drivers side doors, the rear C pillar vent and drivers rain gutter. My Dad suspected that it had sat in a pond as it came without a log sheet, not a good sign. It ended up on a scrap yard flat back wagon. Before it went, I filled the engine with water as I didn't want somebody else getting the benefit of the head that I'd spent ages grinding and polishing and regrinding the valves. Especially as the scrappy took it away and didn't even pay me for it! I needed it gone quick, to keep mother happy!

I think that I can safely say that all the rubber parts on my 76 (EDIT: it's a 75 not a 76, N reg not P reg doh!) F/L came from Dagenham! Void bushes were all a bit tired and replaced with FloFlex polly bushes. Tie bar rubbers were wafer thin sponge, resulting in a CLUNK at every speed bump, regardless of speed. I can't find a pic sorry. The timing belt stripped a few teeth, fortunately no engine damage done. Sorry again for the dodgey focus. Today, I fired up the engine and whilst revving it, the charge light started to dimly flicker but, it went out again at tickover. I noticed it giving a little squeel last time I was at the lockup and the fan belt looked a bit er,... thin, shall we say? Down to the stitching at parts. Getting a bit thin I think! Fortunately, I had a NOS fanbelt knocking around back from my Mk1 Fiesta days and it fitted perfectly. Apparently not much difference between a Valencia OHV and a SOHC, if anyone is looking for a cheaper alternative. In fact, when I searched and checked the part number (I have since chucked the motorcraft card cover away so don't ask), it came up as mk3/4/5 Cortina and mk1/2 Fiesta compatible. I've STILL not bled the brakes yet though!

Good news. The council aka the housing association, have just called me and the garage roof will be getting sealed on the 5th of March, fingers crossed. EDIT: And I've just called to double check and they're coming out on the 9th.

All this talk of damp garages has me even more worried now. It's not icing sugar, it's dried cement that's left when the water evaporates!

I'll keep you posted chaps.

Yeh, it's not the pipe across the axle because, as I said, it's coming out of the drivers side when I undo it and that's the one with the bleed nipple. No damage to the pipe since leaving the MOT station which is only 2.3 miles away from the lockup, therefore I'm thinking it must be a seized piston in the cylinder. I was kind of hoping it would be something a bit simpler. Mind you, I have a new set of springs for the rear shoes, so a strip down is called for anyway.

OK, now in my quest to get my Mk3 back on the road I need to bleed my brakes, because a while back the seals on the reservoir leaked the contents all over the servo. I fitted new seals and put some fluid back in the res' to stop the seals drying out and cracking. Today I go to the lockup, get the car out of the garage, with it's binding brakes, 'cos it's stood for so long. I get my new Eeezibleed kit the wife bought for me a couple of years back and hook everything up. Off comes the back wheel and I crack open the bleed nipple................... nothing. I open it a bit more, still nothing! I take the nipple out completely and still nowt! I blow through the nipple and it's clear. I have a prod around inside the hole on the cylinder and guess what? Nothing! Time to delve deeper into the system I think. I back off the pipe union connecting the right side to the left and fluid starts coming out! So in the end, I refit everything and do the usual, put it away cos' it's a job for another day! Now has anybody got any ideas as to why the fluid isn't getting through the brake cylinder to the bleed nipple? The brakes were fine when it passed its last MOT in 2014 and it's only been rolled out of and back into the lockup on various occasions since then!

Helena, bobby & a few others are still great people but rest 🙄🙄🙄 ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^

Oh, my apologies to Daveyboy20 for hijacking your thread. I shall now leave and let normal service resume.

Yes, it now has Ford Sports Rims (dartboard) and 165/13's (it came with the pressed steels and original trims and chrome hub caps) and an original steering wheel. The little white Mountney 4 spoke that came with the car was a bugger to turn, so that had to go! I had 185/70/13's on my GT and I don't remember that being so difficult to turn. That had an Escort/Capri steering wheel the same as this. I dunno who put that on. You can see the little white one here.. I also don't know how the previous owner turned it 'cos she was only a slip of a thing. I then upgraded to an original wheel which I bought from a guy either on the MTOC before I became an "unwelcome member", (because I didn't want to join their little club) or somebody from on here. Cheshire or Warrington way, if I remember correctly.