Friday December 16th. Fleet reduction programme-Stage 1.

Due to my recent penchant for Mk1 Cortina's, my fleet of classic cars has grown considerably over the past year. This would be ok if I had plenty of car storage, or even a workshop that I could rent for a reasonable sum, but unfortunately renting costs are ridiculous at the moment so that's not an option for me.

With this in mind, I've decided to cut down on my current collection and the first one to go is the Mk1 Triumph estate.

The car was being stored at Colin Wake's and I was going to bring it home in February, do the work required for MOT and then advertise it on Ebay. However, a friend of mine just happened to find someone that was in desperate need of a Mk1 estate, so a deal was struck and delivery was arranged. 

So, I left my house around 6.20am to head to Colin's. The temperature was -4 when I left mine and the drive up the A12 wasn't a pleasant one. My windscreen washers had frozen and visibility was poor.

I arrived at Colin's where we had to load the car onto the trailer. The first obstacle was that the battery had gone flat and the bonnet had frozen shut and we couldn't open it to jump start it! 

We then tried pushing the car to where the trailer was but kept slipping over on the frozen grass, so we ended up reversing the Land Rover and trailer down the track to nearer the car. Eventually we got it loaded and then went back inside for a warm up and a coffee before setting off. 

We had planned to leave about 8am, but the flat battery saga had cost us time and we ended up leaving at 8.40. We headed north up the A12 and then onto the A14 where we met out first delay caused by an accident near the Great Blakenham turn off. Once past this we carried on through Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket where the temperature had dropped to -5. The Land Rover's windscreen washers had frozen up as well at this point!

There was another long delay just before the junction we wanted to turn off at Lutterworth, so we opted to come off the junction before. We then put our faith in Colin's up to date and mega expensive sat nav to find us an alternative route, only for it to send us down a farm track that was only really fit for tractors!

We eventually got to our destination some time after 12pm and unloaded the car. By this time the bonnet had thawed out and we were able to jump start the car and drive it into a parking spot. The new owner was there and he was pleased with his purchase. 

We then headed back to the A14 and even managed to find a truck stop where I had steak pie chips and peas and Colin had an all day breakfast. By 13.30 we were on our way again where we encountered traffic jams at Wellingborough and Huntingdon, both which held us up considerably!

Some hours later we turned off the A14 onto the A12 and drove straight into another hold up, again caused by an accident! It seems a lot of people just cant handle these icy conditions!

Our hopes of getting home in daylight were now dashed and by the time we got back to Colin's it was fully dark. In fact by the time I got home it was 17.50 and this trip had taken the same time as the trip a few weeks previous when we went from Colin's to West Sussex, then to Norfolk, then back to Colin's. This trip was a 100 miles less! 

It was a good day out though and we had a good laugh. Plus the bonus was that my fleet is now reduced by one and I no longer have to worry about storing the car or carrying out any work on it. The Cortina estate will probably be the next one to go, but not just yet. 

Sunday December 4th - Abortive Mission!

After speaking to Dave Maton on the Saturday we decided to meet up at the Breakfast meet at North Weald on Sunday morning. Dave wanted to give his car a run after his recent engine replacement and he also has some bits that I need for my Triumph estate, so I could get these off of him while I was there. 

I decided to take the Cortina estate as it hasn't been out for a run for some time. So, after playing musical cars so I could get the estate out I set off around 9.15am. The Cortina was running well and the heater was lovely and warm. I was just about to turn onto the A130 to head across to Chelmsford and then then the A414 to North Weald when I got a phone call from Dave. We had already spoken this morning and arranged to meet at 10am, so if he was ringing me, I was guessing there was a problem. 

Sure enough, he was ringing me to tell me his engine had blown a core plug and that he had broken down. He was also sitting in a lay-by awaiting recovery. Not a good day for him. Well, I could have carried on, but I didn't know anyone else going and I suspect the cold weather would have kept quite a few people away anyway, so I turned round and headed home. Pity, as I was enjoying the drive. Oh well, maybe another time. 

Saturday 3rd December. Inlet manifold works....

 I'd been trying to find a fitting that I needed to screw onto one of the existing fittings that's on the inlet manifold for the twin 40 carburettors. I'd been really struggling with this, so the other alternative was to try and get the original fitting undone and replace it. The problem was though that this fitting looks like its been on there for many, many years and the alloy manifold and metal fitting had probably fused together. 

After speaking to our metal work expert at work, he advised soaking it overnight in GT85 and then heating it with a blowlamp before attempting to undo it. So, Friday night I left it soaking and Saturday morning I got some heat on it. Unfortunately, the gas in my blowlamp ran out but luckily, I had managed to get a fair bit of heat on it before it did. My ratchet still couldn't get it undone, so decided to risk it and put my extra-long bar on it and hope that the alloy didn't crack. I was relieved to feel it turn a fraction and then just kept putting light pressure on it until it relented and released its grip. Good result! New manifolds are over £200, so I really didn't want that kind of expenditure at this time of year. Or at any time come to that!

With this now removed I could now fit the replacement that I had picked up from Keith Halstead. I was pleased I managed to get this done as this was something that had been nagging at me since I bought the carbs. All I need now is for the new throttle pedal to arrive and then I have everything I need to make the conversion. 

Thursday 1st December - finishing off

 With the temperatures dropping, work on the cars has dropped off a bit recently, but today was quite mild, so I got to finish off some of the jobs on the green Cortina. I had put the engine back in after changing the sump gasket, but it still needed the new oil pump and filter fitting plus other jobs.

I was also looking to fit the twin 40 carbs that I have on stand-by but discovered that I will need to move the starter solenoid as this will be in the way, fit a longer clutch cable because this will also be in way and also change the throttle pedal as this isn't suitable for the twin throttle cables that I'll be using. So, with all this needing doing, I decided to leave the twin 40's and put the original twin choke weber back on for now.

I did get it all finished though and it's all now back on the road and driveable. A massive bonus is that the new sump gasket has done its job and I no longer have an oil leak. Great result! 

Sunday 27th November - A very long day!

 My alarm was set for 6.30am again this Sunday (Two weeks running! What's that all about!) as I had another long Journey to make. My first port of call was to get to Colin Wake's house in Frating (Or Farting as I call it) just North of Colchester. My Triumph estate was finally ready for collection from Norfolk and we were using Colin's Landrover discovery and trailer to collect it, but we had another journey to make first. 

So, I arrived at Colin's around 07.30 and with no fannying around, we got on the road straightaway. It was a dark morning and peeing down with rain, so the conditions weren't pleasant. Our journey took us down the A12, M25, M23 and A272 to our destination at Billingshurst in West Sussex. We were here to collect a Triumph Mk1 Pi from here and take it to where my Triumph estate was near East Dereham in Norfolk. Bit of a treck then!

After a quick cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich courtesy of our host, Richard Brake, we were on the road again. We had a choice of going either way around the M25, but a quick look at google maps showed that both ways were filled with solid traffic anyway! We opted for going clockwise, but met crawling traffic between the A3 and the M4 junctions. Undeterred we carried on in the rain and didn't stop until we turned off the M11 at junction nine. Here we had a quick coffee from the flasks we had brought with us and then I took over the driving for the remaining drive up to East Dereham. 

The Christmas traffic had obviously already started, and the normally quiet Norfolk roads were quite busy. We didn't get held up though and we arrived at our destination around 3pm. The car we were delivering had no engine or gearbox so that had to be rolled off of the trailer and pushed into the workshop, but my estate was a 'driver', so that could be driven out of the workshop and up onto the trailer which made life easier. 

With everything strapped down and secured Colin nominated me as driver again, so we set off as it was now getting dark. We had been blessed in the sense that the only times it had stopped raining so far, was when we were loading or unloading cars on or off of the trailer, but it started in earnest again now that we were leaving and it also got very dark, very quick. The route from East Dereham was the A47 to Norwich, around the Norwich ring road to take the A140 to Ipswich, and then the A14 and A12 back to Frating. The rain hammered down all the time and the visibility was a nightmare.  It was still raining when we arrived at Colin's so he decided that the estate could stay on the trailer for the time being. I couldn't blame him! I still had to make the journey back to my place, so I didn't hang around. I had left my home at 6.45am that morning and by the time I got home it was 7.30 pm. It had been a good day though and I enjoyed spending time in Colin's company. All I've got to do now is clear some space at my place so that I can get the work done that's needed on the estate. 

Sunday November 20th - Essex Winter Rally.

 So, the reason that Richard Warr had come down to mine for the weekend was also because we were booked in for the Club Triumph Essex Winter Rally. Both of my Triumphs are currently in storage, so we were using my former car 'Rusty Custard' with Richard driving and me navigating.

The alarm was set for 6.30am Sunday morning, (Hence the obligatory Saturday night drinking was somewhat subdued) and by 7.15am we were on our way up the A12 to the meeting point at the Marks Tey diner near Colchester. 

By the time the diner was open there were a good collection of Triumphs there and also some friendly faces that I'd not seen for a while. 

With coffee and breakfast consumed, we were handed our packs and clues and started trying to figure out the route. (Which was across four separate maps!) We managed ok with most sections, but the last section was proving difficult, so we decided to just get on with and worry about that bit when it came to it.

We set out and headed East into the Essex countryside and gradually picked our way through the pre-planned route. We did go wrong at one point but got back on track after about five minutes. 

It was a long route (about 80 miles) and by lunch time we felt that we were started to fall behind as we had to be at the finish by no later than 2.30pm and we still had a lot of ground to cover. We managed another couple of sections, but with time now getting on we decided to cut the last section and just head for the finish. (Better to miss a section, than be disqualified for being OTL-outside time limit)

After a fabulous Sunday roast at the finish location, the results were announced, and we found that we had finished in a dismal 4th place out of 6. We both felt that we had done better than that, but it is what it is, and we accepted that we had must have just been shit! We did feel that the route was too long for the time allowed though and this was backed up by the fact that three other crews had cut the route to make the finish as well. 

However, it was a good, fun day out and it had been a great weekend as well, so no complaints. 

Saturday 19th November - Engine back in.

 Good friend Richard Warr was coming down from Worcestershire today as we were taking part in a Club Triumph Rally on the Sunday. He was due to arrive around mid-morning and had also offered to help me put the engine back in the green Cortina. 

Due to the M40 being closed he didn't actually arrive at mine until gone 11am, but that was ok as it gave me time to do all of the preparation work before the engine went back in. After a quick cup of tea, we set to refitting the sump complete with new gaskets. With this all bolted up and tested for leaks we then lifted the engine back into the car (with the engine crane of course) and then started bolting in all the ancillaries. 

We refitted the fan and alternator, exhaust manifold, starter motor, fuel lines and water hoses etc. I then called it a day as I had discovered that the oil pump was an old cannister type with a paper oil filter. These are obsolete now, so I decided to upgrade to a more modern 'spin on filter' type oil filter. The problem with that is I would have to wait until Burton Power Products was open on Monday morning so I could buy one. We also never refitted the radiator or carburettor because I'll be fitting my recently purchased 'twin 40's once I get some new inlet manifold studs. (The ones on the engine were in very poor condition) The radiator was left off as this will give me more room when it comes to fitting the new oil pump. (The pic below is of the cannister type oil filter)

So, with no more to do, we refitted the bonnet, got cleaned up and went out for an Indian and some beers. Might as well make the most of it! 

Thursday 17th November - Engine out!

 For about three months now I've had an oil leak from the back of the Green Cortina's engine. I was pretty sure that it was only the sump gasket rather than the rear crank shaft seal, but I wasn't certain and would need to remove the engine to find out. The reason I suspected it was the sump gasket was because it was only a static leak, meaning that it still leaks even when the engine isn't running. If it was a crank shaft seal it wouldn't leak while the engine isn't running as the oil wouldn't be that high. (But it would be high enough to reach the back of the sump)

So, I decided to bite the bullet and get out into the garage early to make a start on it. The job went a lot better than I expected and by the time I needed to get ready to go to work, the engine was out and on the floor. A good morning's work!

Wednesday 16th November - Test drive

 After a dismal start weather wise, the rain finally cleared up and I was able to take the Blue Cortina for a test drive after repairs had been carried out to the bottom ball joint. 

I didn't go too far, just around the block a couple of times, but I was pleased to discover there were no knocks or bangs and everything felt right and as it should. In fact, the steering actually felt more precise that it had previously. I also noticed that my steering wheel was now off set, so fitting this new ball joint has also altered the tracking slightly. So, now that the driver side has a new ball joint, I'll also be fitting a new one to the nearside soon as well. Once that's done, I'll be checking the tracking then. 

While the Blue Cortina was off the drive, I de-dusted the Green Cortina that's been sitting in the garage for ages and took that round the block for a spin too. I have another big job lined up for this, so I wanted to turn it round and reverse it into the garage. Whilst it was out the sun decided to make an appearance, so I grabbed the opportunity to have a quick photo shoot. I think it looks rather nice with its new wheels. Top Job! 

Tuesday 15th November - Progress made.

 After my little mishap on Sunday afternoon with the front suspension collapsing, I made contact with my friend Keith to see if he had any ball joint parts available. Luckily, he did, so a trip was made to his home in Wickford on Monday morning to collect the required parts. The rest of the parts in the casing had survived, so it was just the ball joint itself I needed. 

So, Tuesday morning, I built the ball joint assembly back up with the new part and then refitted it to the car. The job went smoothly with no issues and didn't take long at all. I even had a go at bending the lip of the damaged wing back in and tried my hand a bit of panel beating as well. It still needs to be done professionally, but it will suffice for now. I was going to take the car for a test drive, but just as I had finished, the rain came down, so the drive would have to wait for another time. I have to say I was quite pleased with my mornings work and also glad that the car is back on the road so quickly. 

Sunday 13th November - A good start, but a bad finish!

 A very misty Sunday morning saw me heading to Harlow to meet Dave Maton. We were going to attend the North Weald breakfast meet. Neither of us had been to this before, so we didn't know what to expect. Judging by the large queues to get in, there were obviously a lot of people attending as well. Dave was in his Triumph Mk1 and I was in my Zetec Cortina. We finally got in and started making our way around the vast amounts of cars there. 

There was plenty of variety there, but too much modern stuff for my liking. I did manage to find another 2 door Mk1 Cortina though. One that I'd not seen before either. It was fitted with a Cosworth Turbo engine, so was no doubt a seriously quick car. 

By about 12pm Dave and I had seen enough, and both had other things to do, so we made tracks. I had a good fast drive home, but then with about 200 yards before I reached home, I lost my steering for about 2 seconds and then heard a loud bang and lost control of the car which forced me up the kerb. 

A quick investigation under the car revealed that my bottom ball joint had sheared off and separated from the suspension leg. The wheel had also pushed itself into the front wing bending it out and damaging the paint. 

My next problem was how to get the car home. While I was trying to figure out what to do, Pete, a guy that I know from the Brookside pub was just arriving home with three of his mates (and shit loads of beer) ready to have a beer and footie afternoon. After a brief conversation with them (One of them was a mechanic) we got to work with my large trolley jack and some ratchet straps. Between us all we managed to push the car down the street and even up onto my driveway. What a brilliant bunch of blokes! I need to buy Pete some beers next time I'm in the Brookside. 

Once home the car was stabilised on axle stands and the offending item removed for investigation. The bottom ball joint had indeed sheared. I know there's damage to the car and it's a pain having to carry out repairs, but 15 minutes before this happened, I'd been on the A130 travelling at 70mph, so I would say I've been a very lucky man! It could have been a lot worse! 

Saturday 12th November - New studs.......again!

 Arriving home Friday evening, I found that the postman had delivered my new shorter studs from Retro Ford. So, wasting no time Saturday Morning I got to work fitting them. I did a quick comparison on the shoulder lengths of the two studs and found quite a considerable difference. 

Within about an hour I had the shorter studs fitted and now the wheel nuts were able to bolt all the way up to the wheels instead of bottoming out on the shoulder. At long last I was able to remove the wheel spacers that had been on the car ever since I've owned it. The wheels looked in a better position too and I was finally able to re-fit the hub caps as well. a good day. 

Wednesday 9th November - New studs

 After fitting the new front hubs and studs on Sunday, I thought I would tackle the rears and fit new studs there as well. The rear has wheel spacers which I've been looking to do away with some time, but I've been having trouble getting the right studs. 

To do the job properly I removed the half shafts from the car and put them in my bench vice. I then knocked the old studs out and put the new studs in. I wasn't sure about these new studs because the shoulder looked too long to me, but I'd never know if I didn't try them. 

So, with the new studs fitted the half shafts were slid back into the axle and then the brake drums and wheels were added. My suspicions were confirmed as the shoulders are indeed too long and the wheel nut tighten against them before making full contact with the wheel. Meaning that the wheel nuts are tight, but the wheels are loose! 

To keep the car mobile, I removed the wheels again and re-fitted the wheel spacers that I am so desperate to get rid of. I then called it a day and went indoors to ring Retro Ford to discuss this issue with them. After a long conversation it looks like the manufacturer that makes the studs for them has changed the specification which is now creating this problem. (Apparently, I'm not the only person who has had this issue.) The call ended with them agreeing to find me a set of studs with a shorter shoulder and post them to me. How long that's going to take, I have no idea. So, for the time being I'm going to have to live with the wheel spacers. Bummer! 

Sunday 6th November - New Hubs

 To my surprise the new hubs for the Green Cortina arrived on Friday. I say surprise, because I had been told they were out of stock and they were waiting for them to come in. 

So, while the weather was still reasonably mild I decided to get out to the garage and get them fitted. I had also ordered new front wheel bearings and new wheel studs, so the first job was to press the bearing sleeves in. This was made a whole lot easier by using my 20 ton press. I don't use this piece of equipment very often, but it doesn't half make life easy when I do! With the bearing sleeves in I then put new wheel studs in. Unlike the bearing sleeves, these have to be 'pulled' in as opposed to pressed in. 

Everything was now looking good, so the hubs were then fitted to the brake discs. After giving everything a good clean with brake cleaner the assembled units were fitted to the car along with the brake callipers. 

The front wheels were added after this and then the car was finally taken off the axle stands and lowered to the ground. Considering I had decided to have a day off of working on cars and sit on the sofa doing bugger all, I had achieved quite a lot. I've still got to replace the wheel studs on the back wheels, but that's not urgent and can wait for another day. At least this car is now driveable again, that's a bonus. 

Saturday 5th November - A trip to Norfolk.

If you go back to April 9th on this blog, you will see that a Triumph Mk1 estate was purchased from Nottingham and delivered to near East Dereham in Norfolk for some welding work to be carried out. Well, to cut a long story short, the estate joined a long queue of cars to be welded and had to wait its turn. 

On collecting the estate in Nottingham, we had found the brakes non-existent along with a few other issues. Now that the car was ready to be moved into the workshop it needed some brakes so it could be moved around without crashing into things.

So, Dave Maton and I set out for Norfolk taking some newly rebuilt brake callipers and other brake type parts with us. On arrival in Dereham, the first thing we had to do was get the car started after its long lay-up. This wasn't too bad and after manually priming the fuel pump, it started and ran fine with no issues.  We then had to move it from under the canopy where it had been stored and down to the workshop. (With no brakes!) Using just the hand brake for brakes I managed to reverse it down the lane and get the front end into the workshop. 

With this done the front end was jacked up, front wheels removed and both brake callipers (which were seized) removed. We then fitted the rebuilt callipers I had prepared some time ago and also fitted new brake pads. Bleeding the hydraulic system was next on the agenda and after doing each side twice we had a semi-decent brake pedal. (The whole system will be checked thoroughly when the car eventually arrives at my house!)

The other job I wanted to do was to replace the driver's seat as it had completely collapsed and you're almost sitting on the floor when you try and drive the car. I had brought up an Alfa Seat with me, so this was fitted as well just to make the manoeuvring a bit easier. 

By the time we had completed our work it was gone 3pm and it was time for Dave and I to make tracks back to civilisation. I still had to drop Dave off at Harlow before heading back home.  We suffered non-stop rain on the way home which slowed things down considerably and I ended up not getting home until gone 6pm. It had been a reasonably successful day though, so we were quite pleased with our efforts. 

Sunday 30th October - two steps back!

 So, after my dilemma of the spinning wheel stud on Saturday, I decided there was only one way to resolve the issue and that was by very carefully cutting in the wheel nut with an angle grinder. Obviously, the hub itself is knackered as well, so I now had the job of removing the brake callipers, brake discs, etc on both sides so I can replace the hubs. (I've opted for upgraded alloy ones from retro Ford.)

So, once again the car was jacked up and placed on axle stands (I think it's spent more time in this position than it has driving on the road!) I removed all of the nearside hub first as I was waiting for it to get a bit later in the morning before I started getting noisy with the grinder.

I used the air grinder first of all to cut into the wheel nut but had to move onto the electric grinder in the final stages. It did put up quite fight, but in the end, it was no match for my perseverance. (As you can see below)

With the front wheel finally off, I was able to remove the front brake calliper and front hub in readiness for the newly ordered parts to arrive. So, the Green Cortina has now reverted back to what seems to be its natural position. I.e. In the garage, up on axle stands!

Saturday 29th October - One step forward.......

With all the right parts now in my possession, I set about putting the Green Cortina back together. The first job I tackled was fitting the adjustable shock absorbers that had been repaired by Gaz on Monday. This is an easy enough job, and it didn't take long. I then fitted the new wheels from Retro Ford on the back and took the car down off of the axle stands at the back. Looking good!

I then started on the front end. I fitted the 8inch springs I had bought from Gaz on Monday. With the car lowered on the floor I found it was a bit too low to be honest and also, the springs were coming out of the holders when the car was jacked up. So, I fitted the 'helpers' that Gaz had provided and this raised  the front up one inch, and also took up the slack between the tops of the springs and the upper mounts, so it looked much better

While inspecting my work, I then noticed that it didn't look like the wheel nuts weren't locating in the stud holes on the wheels properly. I jacked the car back up again found that I could rock the wheel even though the nuts were done up tight. Further inspection revealed that extended wheel studs have been fitted on the car and they have longer 'shoulders'. So, therefore the nut was tightening on the shoulders before it was even making contact with the wheel. 

The only answer would be to replace all of the studs with ones with shorter shoulders. So, I started to remove the wheels again. To my dismay and horror one of the front studs was obviously worn on the splines where it fits into the wheel hub and was just spinning round when I was trying to undo the nut. I was stuck with a real dilemma now, because how can I get the wheel off if the stud is not gripping and the wheel nut wont come undone? It was at the point that I called it a day and went indoors. Sometimes when things aren't going right it's best to just walk away and leave it for another day. Plus, I had to have a serious think about how I was going to get this wheel off with the knackered stud. You can't get to it from the back because of the brake disc and back plate, so it's a real problem.    

It was really annoying though, because the car was looking good on its new wheels and sitting at the right height. 

Monday 24th October - A trip to Gaz!

 My first action on Monday morning was to make a phone call to Retro Ford to discuss a leak I had found on one of the adjustable rear shock absorbers I had bought off of them recently. Chris at Retro Ford was helpful and offered to change the item no problem. Retro Ford buy these items from Gaz at Basildon, so instead of me posting it back to Retro Ford, then them posting it to Gaz who would then repair it and post it back to him for him to post it back to me, it was agreed that, as I was going to Gaz this morning anyway, I would take it with me this morning and he would ring them and tell them to go ahead and repair or replace. 

I then had to quickly go out to the garage to remove the offending item as I had forgotten to do this at the weekend. (I actually removed both shocks so Gaz could inspect the other one as well)

On arrival at Gaz I handed the shocks over where they were taken to the workshop to be addressed straight away. (Impressive!) I then spoke to the main man there who advised me to try a set of 8-inch, 200 lb rated springs instead of the 12-inch, 160 lb springs that had been fitted. He also provided a set of 'helpers'. These are very small spring inserts with a low poundage. The reason for this was so that if the 8-inch springs are too short, I can fit the helpers which would then bring them up to 9-inch. Luckily, he had all these items in stock and because I had had the inconvenience of having to take the shocks back off and bring them back, he did the springs for a very good price! They also repaired the leaky shock absorber while I was there. Very good service indeed!  The normal lead time for springs is about four weeks, so I was resigned to the car being off the road for a month. 

 The pic below is an original 12-inch spring, a new 8-inch spring, and a 'helper'. I can't wait for the weekend now, so I can put everything back together.

Saturday 22nd October. Front spring investigations.

 My first job Saturday morning was to take both front wheels off of the Green Cortina and put 10mm wheel spacers on to see if that would then move the springs and height adjusters away from the tyres. it did cure the problem, but I don't like using wheel spacers and extended studs, so this wasn't an option for me. I did give me a chance as well to look at the damage to the two front tyres and confirm my fears that they were ruined. More expense! You can also see where they tyres have polished the adjusters and taken the paint off of the spring. 

The blue Cortina also has coil overs fitted, so I then took a front wheel off of that in order to see what was different as I don't have this problem with that car. I discovered that the springs on the blue car are much shorter, and the adjusters sit much higher up the strut so that they clear the wheel much better. (See below)

I then had a break from the Fords and completed a couple of jobs on my daily driver Renault Clio. It had passed its MOT recently but got a couple of advisories that needed addressing. They were the nearside track rod end, the rear exhaust mount. These went very easily, and I also replaced a rear number plate light bulb while I was at it. 

I then decided to get stuck into the issue with the Green Cortina. I wasn't looking forward to this as I thought I would have to remove the entire front struts, and I know how long this had taken me a few weeks back when I originally fitted them. However, to my surprise and elation all I had to do was put the car up on axle stands, undo both of the inserts and lower them, and then move the struts into a position where I was able to remove the top mounts and pull the springs out. With the springs removed I then put them in the car ready for a trip to Gaz on Monday morning to see what they could do for me. 

 

Friday 21st October - 2nd test drive!

 So, still not happy with the ride height at the back of the Green Cortina, Friday morning before work I fitted one inch lowering blocks to the new rear leaf springs. With this done the drive to work went well and once at work, I parked the car in the warehouse on its nice flat and level floor. 

It looked good and I was happy with it.

However, when I moved the car at the end of my shift in the nice quiet empty warehouse, I could hear a squeaking noise. Puzzled, I looked underneath and found that the newly fitted front coil over springs were in contact with the tyres and chafing grooves into the sidewalls. With this in mind I took the shortest possible route home and drove at no more than 40 mph. The last thing I wanted was a double blow out at 70mph! I then spent the rest of the night on the internet looking at how to resolve my latest problem. Damn!  

Wednesday 19th October. Test Drive!

 Today, I finally had a bit of time to take the Green Cortina for its test drive since fitting the new springs. I was hoping to have good, spirited drive, but today must have been the day that all the 20 mph pensioners were out! 

A leisurely drive up through Rochford, Ashingdon, Hockley and Rayleigh took place instead and I managed to find plenty of 'bouncy' roads to give the suspension a good settling. 

I parked the car in the road opposite when I got home and had a good look at the ride height. I'm not completely happy with it I have to say as it doesn't seem low enough at the back for my liking. Having said that, the road opposite (and all of the roads around my area) is on the slant, so you can't get a decent level reading. 

I'll take it to work tomorrow and park it on our dead flat warehouse floor. That will give me more of idea of what's what. I do suspect though, that I'm going to be fitting lowering blocks to bring the back down another inch.