Saturday 6th June - Work continues!

 A free day today would let me carry on with the many numerous jobs I still have to get done on the Lotus Cortina. You also need to remember that I bought this car mainly in bits, some of which I don't even realise are missing until I go to put things back together! 
After fitting the twin 40 carbs the night before, I connected the choke cable up. I then tried to connect the throttle cable up, but found that I am missing a vital part. (See what I mean?)
I then moved onto fitting the fan belt, but found that the plastic dynamo pulley was hitting the dipstick tube whenever it turned. Luckily, I found a smaller, metal pulley, so I fitted this one instead. 

I then fitted the radiator into the car (After polishing the brass header tank) and connected the heater hoses and radiator hoses. Next I removed the front side lights and indicators and gave them a wash with some washing up liquid and hot water. While these were soaking I painted the black inserts on the front grill and re-fitted the all important Lotus badge. 

With this done I jacked the car up and put it on axle stands so I could get the exhaust fitted. However, by now it was getting quite late and I was struggling to twist, turn, balance and hold the exhaust up all on my own, so I will save that for another day. I was pleased with what I managed to get done though, but there is still quite a way to go yet. But I will persevere! 😊

Friday 5th June - Twin 40's next!

 I had a free afternoon today, so I ventured into the garage with the intention of getting my recently refurbished twin 40 Weber carburettors fitted. 
I could have had these refurbished to look brand new, but I thought they would look odd on a car that has that has a look of 'Patina'. Therefore they were just tidied up a bit with anything worn or broken being replaced.

So, I fitted the carbs, then set about making up fuel lines and connecting them. I have to say, although not perfect, the engine bay is stating to look pretty good. I'm very pleased with it and and every job I do brings me closer to hearing it running for the first time in many years. 😊

Wednesday 3rd June - Piper Manifold!

It was time to get back to the Lotus Cortina and tonight I decided to get the new Piper exhaust manifold fitted. It comes in three separate parts. I assume that if it came in once piece you could never get it fitted due to the thermostat housing being part of the cylinder head casting on the Lotus engine. (As is the inlet manifold) 
This is a four branch manifold that goes into to one collector box, so the first two branches and joined together, but the third and fourth branches are totally separate. The trick is getting the two joined branches of the manifold onto the studs while making sure that the two separate branches fit into the collector box all at the same time. Not easy! 

Needless to say, it was quite a struggle and a considerable amount of swearing and cursing was involved! I was just about to give up and ring Piper to complain when all of a sudden it all twisted into place and slotted into place. 

The next mission was to get all of the eight nuts tightened up with very limited access. (Especially the ones behind the thermostat housing) However, eventually they were all tight and I had to admit, the new manifold looked beautiful! 😊

Sunday 31st May - Arena Essex Reunion Meeting

 Today was a day for all the old drivers that used to race at Arena Essex Raceway before it was closed down and sold a few years ago. It was also a classic car show as a lot of the old racers now actually own and restore classic cars. 
The weather looked good, so we set out just after 9am and headed down to Aveley football club which was the location for the meet. I took my Green Cortina and enjoyed giving it a run out. 

I think the organisers underestimated how many cars were coming as we arrived around 10am and couldn't even get into a designated parking space because they were all taken. Even after we parked up there was a constant flow of classic cars and lorries still arriving. 

I met up with a few people I know and no doubt  there were more people that I didn't recognise as well. (I last raced at Arena in 1990) There were some great cars there as well with a lot of them being American, but a few little Fords there as well. 

I was a good day, but we left around 3pm. I wanted to get home and cut the rear lawn before the rain came down. Which it did about an hour after I cut it, so my timing unusually, was spot on!