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.