M5Greg 83 Posted January 29, 2015 Its been a while since I have posted anything on my Carbodies Cortina but I have been busy with it over the last year or so. I think a quick run down of the cars history is needed so here goes, I bought the car over the phone around 20 years ago because the owner at the time had been told the car needed over £2000 worth of welding and remember this was 20 years ago. Being the know it all that I am I knew that no Cortina could need that sort of money spent on welding, so I bought it and how wrong I was. I found a local car restorer that was eager to help me restore the car to it's former glory and he fully understood I wanted all the rot cut out and every panel that couldn't be repaired would be replaced with new and mainly genuine Ford panels. Being totally ignorant of welding I was happy to watch all the panels and repairs being brazed together, thinking this was welding I was getting more and more excited as the rot disappeared and the new panels went on. After a few years the car got to the point of just needing a few small bits of welding and then painting, after about ten years of sitting in a heated garage I decided the car must be finished but I was going to buy a mig welder and teach myself to weld so I could at least say I did some of the welding. This is when I learned all about Brazing and how using it like glue was not the best way to restore a car especially on structural parts of the car (I'm being polite to the so called restorer). The first bit of welding I tried was on the fillet panel that was missing from the bonnet hinge support panel, grinder in hand I started to remove the old paint so I could weld the newly fabricated panel. Oh dear I said this can't be right my expert had repaired this whole area, what had gone wrong. This is when I realised, after kicking lots of thing and trying to forget all the money I had handed over that I would have to start again and try to replace all those ruined by braze new panels. After lots of swearing at my mig and melting lots old scrap panels, which I have a lot of I slowly got to grips with mig welding. This next lot of pics are just the beginning of a long battle to save my car. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted January 29, 2015 looking good, remind me which on this is (reg number?). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CorNada 2 Posted January 29, 2015 Bloody hell! thought I was at a post morton. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 29, 2015 looking good, remind me which on this is (reg number?). This one is TNC 88X Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 29, 2015 The next session was the O/S front footwell, the first few pics are of the experts repairs which involved him cutting out the rot, as you will see he was not totally truthful. You will also see the pics of the mk3 floorpan I bought which was in a lot better shape than mine and gave me the basic shape to help me repair the inner wheel tub. I had to move around the car starting repairs before finishing others because some repairs involved other sections that had to be done first so in the pics you will see this but I will cover each section as i get them finished (hope that makes sense, it's getting late) My welding is not the prettiest but it penetrates and I'm getting real good at grinding. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pete-H 66 Posted January 30, 2015 Nice work there it's a pity you didn't do the work from the start. Keep the pictures coming please? Pete-H Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted January 30, 2015 ahh yes number 15. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 30, 2015 As I worked my way around the O/S floorpan the next bit of rot was the drivers seat strengthening panel, both the floor and the strengthener needed repair. It didn't look to bad at first but this was because it had been filled with underseal, the plate was beyond repair but there was a fairly good one on the mk3 floorpan so I used that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 30, 2015 ahh yes number 15. The list that has all the cars on I put together for the Crayford club many years ago and the order they are in I did just on registration year apart from XRW 304X which is the last Crayford and the first Carbodies. All the cars I have looked at have the chassis number ending in 001 and the only numbers I can deffinatly say are one of the Tibetan Gold cars and one of the silver cars have number tags in a factory pic I have. The only other thing I found was under the rear parcel shelf of one of mine was the number 5 but this could be anything, I have also had over the years people telling me they have the first car built because of the 001 chassis number. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the-ford-cortina.com 225 Posted January 30, 2015 Must have been sickening to find all that work after it was supposed to have been done - hats off to you many a lesser man would have given up on it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captin Crayford 2 Posted January 30, 2015 Great work going on Greg :thumbup: You do a nice job, it will be on the road again very soon the rate your going.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 30, 2015 Must have been sickening to find all that work after it was supposed to have been done - hats off to you many a lesser man would have given up on it. There have been a few times I nearly gave up and advertised it as an unfinished project but all my family have made sure I go back into the garage and keep going, and then there are the days when it all comes together and it is so worth it. Another thing I found that as my welding got better and my confidence grew I would go back to something I'd already done and do it better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 30, 2015 Great work going on Greg :thumbup: You do a nice job, it will be on the road again very soon the rate your going.. Thanks Captain, apart from driving the car again the thing I'm looking forward to is putting it all together, but thats a way off yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5Greg 83 Posted January 30, 2015 I found a roll of film in the glovebox that hadn't been developed so after getting them done I found my expert restorer had taken some pics of the o/s sill while he repaired it, on the Carbodies Cortina's a 2 by 1 inch steel box section was welded on to the inner sill connecting the roll bar bottom and the front footwell strengthening panel. In the pics you can see that the front 2 ft of box section had rotted away so he decided to repair it with some sheet steel folded into a U shape and brazed to the remaining box section. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chris mk3 313 Posted January 30, 2015 .........phew, brave bloke, great, brilliant creative work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
