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! 

Saturday 23rd May - A very long, very hot, but rewarding day!

I had a very early start this morning as Dave Maton was coming up to help install the Lotus engine and I had a few jobs to get done before he arrived. The first job was to install the new engine mounts and this was straight forward and didn't take long. 
Next was fitting the dynamo bracket as I thought this would be a lot easier to do whilst the engine was out of the car. Again, this was fairly easy although I did have to re-cut the thread on one of the bolts as it wouldn't go all the way into the block. 
Dave arrived just as I finished this job and after a brief chat and catch up we mounted the gearbox onto the back of the engine. Before we joined the two properly, we had to adapt the spacer plate with a bit of cutting and grinding. Due to the new alloy sump and the new rear crankshaft seal plate, the original spacer plate doesn't fit properly, so it has to be adapted.
With this done we then got the engine crane ready and lifted the engine and gearbox into the car as one lump. It wasn't too bad a job and we had it done fairly quickly. 

The gearbox is a 2000E item only with a remote gear change so this had to be removed before the gearbox was fitted in the car and re-fitted once in the car. (Which isn't easy!)

The split propshaft was next on the agenda and the centre bearing bracket has to bolt through the floor, which means moving the carpet out of the way. This wasn't too bad a job though and again, we had it done fairly quickly. 
We decided to bleed the clutch next, but this is where our problems started as the clutch pipe didn't seem to want to screw into the brand new slave cylinder. With numerous attempts all failing, we then removed the slave cylinder and managed to persuade it to behave once it was on the workbench! 
Eventually we had a working clutch with no leaks, so with our confidence restored, we decided to bleed the brakes as well. 
However, before bleeding the brakes, we had to adjust the handbrake. These cars were fitted with a 'self adjusting' system, but like every other car built in the sixties, these never work, so we had to adjust the brake shoes manually. After doing this we then bled the brakes. This took some time as the car has been fitted with all new brake pipes, rebuilt callipers, new rear brake shoes and a rebuilt remote servo as well as refurbished clutch and brake master cylinders, so the brake fluid had some ground to cover before it reached the bleed nipples. Eventually though, it all came together and we now have a good brake pedal. 
While I was tidying up, Dave fitted the starter motor and by now it was around 4pm and my garage was extremely hot. Before we gave up and because we are both big kids, we wanted to see what the engine looked like with the newly refurbished twin 40 Weber carbs on, so we put them in place without bolting them on properly. I have to say, it does look good and I cant wait to hear the car running. There's still quite a bit of work left to do before then though. What a buzz that thought gives me though. 😁

Sunday 17th May - The engine returns!

 Today was the day I'd been waiting for for some time. The twin cam engine for the Lotus Cortina was finally finished, complete and ready for collection. I had started to run out of jobs to do on the car, but now with the engine finished I can get ready to fit it and then see if there are any other parts missing and start working towards getting the engine running, and the car driving for the first time in FORTY NINE years! 

So this week, I will start getting the engine bay ready and fitting the engine mounts and start organising the engine electrics. (Plugs, leads, etc) The plan will be to fit it over the long bank holiday weekend and then take my time and make sure everything is spot on before the big fire up. I'm looking forward to it!

Saturday 16th May - Billericay Breakfast Meet.

 Today, at long last would be the day that I finally got to take the Green Cortina out for yet another test drive. I had had a bit of a play with it after I drove it last, but didn't have time to test it, so today would see the result. of my tuning.
We made the short trip to the Cosy Cup Cafe at Billericay and it drove a lot better with hardly any back firing or popping, so things were looking good.

It was a really good meet as well and good friend Matin brought along his beautiful Mk1 Cortina GT. He's had a lot of issues with this car regarding the fuel tank, so it was good to see it back on the road again. I think it's a great looking car and I think the blue and black colour scheme works really well. (See below)

There was another nice Mk1 Cortina there as well and this one had a Duratec engine fitted with the biggest Turbo I have ever seen. A proper wolf in sheep's clothing this one as the outside and inside looks very standard. It's only when you see what's under the bonnet that you realise that it's a bit special.

It was a good morning (Although the weather could have been a bit warmer) but I had things to do, so I left there around half eleven. The car still ran well on the way home, but I did get a couple of 'pops' at low speed, so I'm not quite there yet. It's so close to running perfect though, that I'm reluctant to put it in for a rolling road session. The reason being that no matter how little they do to the car, they will still charge a minimum £300 plus parts and vat, so I think I'll just persevere for the time being.