Sunday 14th May. An early morning drive.

 I was awake early (again!) this morning and although the sky was overcast, it didn't look like rain. So I decided that my estate hadn't been for a run for a while and needed to stretch its legs. 

I filled up with petrol and took a drive over to Wallasea Island. It's in the middle of nowhere and therefore you don't get much traffic out that way. (Although the cyclists seem to be growing in numbers!)

It was a pleasant morning out and the Cortina estate behaved impeccably. She looks great with the new Rostyle wheels fitted I have to say. It's made her look a tad more 'sporty'. 

I like this car and the fact that it's so original, but truth be told, it's probably too original for me. I like cars that have been messed around with a bit so that I can mess round with them further and put my own mark on them. I couldn't do that to this car as it would just ruin it. So in reality, I think I need to put it up for sale and let someone else get some pleasure from it. It needs to be taken to shows rather than used and abused on the type of events that I do. I'll be having a long hard think before I let it go though, so it could be with me for a while yet. 

Saturday 13th May. Two jobs to do....but only one succeeded!

 Not a lot to do today unfortunately. I'm at the stage where I'm waiting for parts to be refurbished so I can fit them back on the respective cars. (The gearbox for the Zetec Cortina and the cylinder head for the Triumph)

One of the jobs I needed to do was to change rear wheels on the Zetec Cortina. I had never removed the rear hub caps on this car until last weekend and when I did, I discovered the Wheels were what's known as 'JBW Smoothies'. These are supposed to be similar to the Lotus Cortina steel wheels, only they aren't. They don't have the correct centre's and are, in fact, completely smooth. (See below.) 

I hate these wheels with a passion and think they just look awful. So, I ordered two 13 x 6J Cortina wheels from Retro Ford and fitted these instead. They are a much better looking wheel and they have the centres that the original wheels have. I'm planning to run the car without hub caps, so the wheels have got to look right. (As below) So an hour or so with my tyre machine, and the job was done. 

The next job was to re-fit the clutch onto the Zetec Cortina. I had removed it while the gearbox was out so I could carry out an inspection and decided whether to retain or replace. The inspection showed that there was no wear and that it has plenty of life left in it, so it could be refitted. I had borrowed a Cortina gearbox first motion shaft from my friend Keith to use as a clutch alignment tool, but it wouldn't fit in the back of the crank, so obviously the Zetec spigot bearing is a different size to the Cortina. I will have to look for a different tool that fits. So, with not being able to refit the clutch, that was the end of my day! 

Saturday 6th May. Gearbox removal

 My sole intention this morning was to remove the gearbox from the Zetec Cortina so that I could take it to a Ford gearbox specialist on Tuesday. Before I could do that though, I had to cure the sticking throttle issue on the Green Cortina so that I could move it out of the garage. This actually took a lot longer than I expected and I ended up fitting a modified Lotus Cortina pedal in place of the bodged effort that was already on there. 

This took a good couple of hours, but is now a lot better. I'm still not completely happy with it though and I will be revisiting it at a later date. If I hadn't have had to take the gearbox out of the Zetec, I would have persevered with it.

Removing the gearbox was also a challenge as the twin cam Zetec engine is a lot bigger than a standard Cortina engine and space is tight. I ended up removing the bonnet to be able to get to the bellhousing bolts easier. Once the gearbox was out I also found traces of the cars original colour up inside the gearbox tunnel. It was originally Goodwood Green, which is the same colour as my four door Cortina. Whoever painted this car did a very thorough job, because although I knew it wasn't the original colour, I had never seen any panels showing the original paint. They obviously painted it inside and out. 

By the time another three hours had passed, the gearbox was out and ready to be transported to Baldock in Hertfordshire on Tuesday It's going to be a couple of weeks before he starts it, so in the mean time, I'll be able to get some other little jobs on this car. 

Thursday 4th May. The Zetec Cortina returns home.

 After being on the waiting list for numerous weeks, I had finally got the call to take the Zetec Cortina into the paint shop last week for repairs.  On a drive home last year, the ball joint had sheared and forced the suspension leg into the front wing and bent it. It was dropped off at the paint shop on Friday 28th April and today was the day I was getting it back.

I was quite apprehensive I have to say, as it's an unusual colour and getting it matched could have been a problem. However, my fears were unfounded and I was very happy with how it looked. You wouldn't have even thought that anything had happened in the first place. 

It wasn't cheap, but you get what you pay for. The next job is to get the gearbox rebuilt and then it will be ready to do the shows. I'm looking forward to driving it again. 

Monday 1st May. Overdue test drive!

 I was awake early this morning and the sun was shining, so I decided to take the Green four door Cortina for a long overdue test drive. The problem when you have too many cars like I do is that you struggle to find time to drive them all. 

I took a drive over to Wallasea Island Marina and managed to get some good pics before the sun disappeared. 

The drive was good in general, but I still have a bit of a knock on the nearside rear which I think could be the exhaust. The brakes still felt a tad spongy and the throttle decided to start sticking open on the way home. 

So, once home the car resumed what seems to be its natural position in the garage (Wheels off, up on axle stands) 

I then inspected the brake lines on the rear and found that one of them was showing signs of leakage. I tightened it up, but then left it for a few hours with the brake pedal pressed down to see if it was still leaking.

While waiting for this, I looked at my 'sticking throttle' issue. This turned out to be another 'bodge'. (I've found plenty on this car!)

Instead of using the correct assembly for the throttle cable, somebody had made up a plate with a huge nut and bolt going through it, and then drilled through the pair of them together to put the cable adjuster through. The problem was, they hadn't even drilled through it straight which left the bolt with a massive cut out in the side. I will be looking to make a more professional looking item, so I can get this 'mash up' off of the car, so that the throttle will no longer stick open. Watch this space!