Saturday 27th September - Differential removal.

 Following on from removing the gearbox and propshaft the night before, I now had to remove the differential. 
This has to start with removing the drive shafts first which didn't take long, although upon removing the driver side one, the keeper plate fell out as it was in two pieces. (See below)

My first thoughts were that it had broken, but on closer inspection it appears to have been cut. I've no idea why someone would have done that, especially seeing as the passenger side one was intact. Very odd! 

Anyway, I carried on removing the diff as I need to take this and the gearbox to my transmission man in a few weeks. 
After removing the diff I counted the teeth on the crown wheel and pinion and found that the ratio was 3:9. The diff ratio in these cars should be 4:9, but that will be too 'screamy' for my purposes, so I'll probably have mine built to 3:54. 
The diff appears to be in good condition and the oil that I drained from it was a nice rich green colour. The oil that I removed from the gearbox was a very clean gold colour too, so hopefully they wont require too much work. 

Friday 26th September - Gearbox removal!

 In an attempt to get at more of the underneath of the car so I can clean and paint it, I decided to remove the gearbox. The gearbox will have to be inspected and checked over at some point anyway, so it made sense to take it out. 

It was all fairly straightforward with the only real awkward bit being the remote gear selector. This gearbox is the same that was fitted into the Lotus Elan so the gear stick would have come out in a different place in that car. 
I also removed the propshaft and centre bearing whilst I was at it and then called it a day. 

Tuesday 23rd September - Front axle removal

 My mission today was to remove the front axle along with the track control arms and anti-roll bar. This wasn't too bad a job although every single rubber bush was knackered and will need replacing. It wasn't really surprising as all of these bushes are 60 years old now and rubber perishes easily at that age. 

With the bushes removed I then turned my attention to the front axle and gave it a good scrubbing. It was painted in red oxide rather than black, so I wonder if it was replaced at some point in it's past. 

Friday 19th September - Top plates

 Another job that needs doing on the Lotus Cortina is the top plates. A previous owner, instead of doing them properly had just fitted protective plates over the top. 
I'd originally thought that they were riveted on, but closer inspection revealed that they were bolted on with Alan key bolts. 
after a bit of struggle, I managed to undo all of the bolts and remove the plates. The top plates underneath were not in great shape and look like they've already been replaced in the past previously. 
Another job out of the way, but I just need to find someone who can weld in the replacements now. 

Tuesday 16th September - Degreasing and cleaning

Restoring cars always has its horrible jobs and I started on one of these recently. With the car on its side, I made a start on cleaning up the underneath. This wont be a five minute job and I will be breaking off occasionally to do other jobs so things don't get too monotonous. 
I found a really good degreaser and gave the floor a good coating before attacking it with a hard brush to see what dirt and grease would come off and what wouldn't. 
I was very pleased with the results as a good cleaning showed that the floor pans were all original and no replacing or welding would be required. Some of the cross members are a bit battered and dented no doubt due to its rallying history, but nothing too severe. 

It was interesting to find that these cars were never rust proofed or protected when they were built and had to get by with just normal paint. With this in mind, I'm surprised so many of them have survived!