Wednesday 30th August - More sensor replacements

Carrying on with my recent investigations with the Zetec Cortina, I decided I was going to replace one more sensor and then just leave it until it goes into Redline Tuning in a few weeks time. So, Tuesday morning I rang my usual supplier and ordered an engine temperature sensor. To my surprise they already had one in stock, so I collected it on the way to work.

This morning I had little planned, so I fitted the new sensor. I then filled up the car with anti-freeze and water which I'd had to drain out when I removed the old sensor. 

The car then started and ran ok, but it really needs a test drive to see if I have cured my ongoing issue. I don't have a lot to do this weekend, so I'll give it a try then. 

Saturday 26th August - Replacement bumper.

My Green Cortina has had the wrong rear bumper fitted to it since I bought it. It hasn't bothered me too much as it was a nice shiny item. However, it's always niggled me a little bit every time I've looked at the car from the rear. It's actually an estate bumper that's on the car and the estate bumpers have a small cut out so that you don't graze your knuckles when opening the tailgate. 

Earlier this year I managed to find a saloon bumper on ebay in the Derbyshire area and won it for £40. Good friend Dave Harvey collected it for me and brought it down on one of his visits. Just recently another good friend Keith Halstead had found someone that does Hydra-chroming. This is a chrome plating system that is far cheaper than normal chroming. So, seeing as the price was right, we decided to take a gamble and both had a rear bumper done each. (he needed his done for his Lotus Cortina)

With not much else to do today, I decided to fit it. It looks a lot better although I've still got to do a bit better job of lining it up correctly. It's now on the car and looks ok, but I will give it some more time at a later date.

The next job I wanted to do was to fit a new crankshaft sensor and new camshaft sensor to the Zetec Cortina. I had purchased these during the week and I was hoping that the fitting of these two would cure my issues. Unfortunately, they didn't. 

My next port of call will be to replace the engine temperature sensor as this could be giving the ECU a false reading as to whether the engine is hot or cold, which in turn could either make the fueling system supply too much fuel when the engine's hot, or not enough when its cold. I shall persevere! 

Friday 25th August. Where is that resonating coming from?

 I have to admit to being slightly disappointed when I collected the Green Cortina from having its custom made exhaust fitted at Scott and Hayward. Not at the quality of their work, they've done a great job, but the resonating that I've been getting at around 3000 revs was still present. It's like having an angry wasp in the car! I'd become convinced it was where the original exhaust was sitting too close to the axle and had spent many days over the past year or so underneath the car trying to discover the cause. 

On the drive home from Basildon on Wednesday I unclipped my seat belt and leaned forward when I knew the car was going to make its 'angry wasp' noise and listened intently. I now wondered if the resonating could be coming from the engine bay. 

So, today before work I carried out a full inspection of the engine bay to see if I could spot anything that could be causing it. I couldn't see anything untoward first of all, but then I noticed what I first thought was a bit of silver paint on my strut brace. (And wondering how the hell that had got there!) 

Closer inspection revealed that it wasn't silver paint at all, but that the air filter has been rubbing on the strut brace and had worn the black powder coating away! I knew that the gap between the two had been close, but had no idea it was touching. Obviously the engine is moving the most at 3000 revs and causing the two to connect. I removed the strut brace and with it off of the car I could see the full extent of the rubbing and how much it had been connecting.

Could this be it? Could this be the cause of the resonating that I'd had ever since I'd bought the car?  Could this be the reason I'd spent many days laying underneath it and playing with the exhaust in the hope of curing it? To be honest, the strut brace was one of the first things I bought for the car and I fitted it straight away. In fact I don't think I'd even driven the car before I fitted it, so the resonating has always been there. (It was delivered to me on a recovery truck and I'd never driven it before buying it.) 

It was a lovely day, so I decided to use the Cortina to go work. I was quite excited at the thought that I might have cured an issue that had been bugging me for so long. Sure enough, with the strut brace removed my resonating has finally, finally gone.  With the new exhaust in place as well there is no longer and any banging, rattling or knocking from underneath and the car is now a pleasure to drive. I couldn't be happier. There's something about this car that I really love and I've spent a lot of time and money trying to get it to drive as I would like. I have to say it feels like I'm finally there now and I'm more than happy. The only job left on my list now is to replace the incorrect rear bumper, but I have the replacement all ready to go on. (It's currently wearing an estate bumper instead of a saloon one) 

The drive to and from work was thoroughly enjoyable and I arrived home with a sense of achievement. Not something I've felt for a while! 

Wednesday 23rd August. - The Green Cortina returns!

 I received a phone call Tuesday afternoon at work telling me that the exhaust on my Green Cortina was done and my car was ready for collection. 

The number 25 bus was my transport for the morning and after a long route taking in Rayleigh, Shotgate and Wickford, I eventually arrived in Basildon. (8 miles for £2 is good value though!) I then had a bit of  a walk to get to the industrial estate where Scott and Hayward are and collected my lovely car. 

I'm pleased to say that the drive home was lovely with no knocks or rattles, but the resonating at around 3000 revs that I'd been getting was still there. I'd been convinced that it was to do with the exhaust, but obviously it's not. 

I'm very happy with the job they've done though and I'm looking forward to using the car more now. 

Tuesday 22nd August - Zetec investigations continue

After spending a lot of time on Sunday afternoon reading about Zetec running issues, I decided to replace both the crankshaft and camshaft sensors. These are both fairly accessible so it didn't take long to remove them. 

When I removed the crankshaft sensor I found the magnetized end of it covered in iron filings. This could well be causing my power loss issues as it could be affecting the reading being sent to the ECU. Below is a pic of how it looked when I removed it, and underneath that, how it should look. 

I then removed the camshaft sensor, but this looked ok. However, my train of thought is that these sensors could be the original items from the original Mondeo engine which would now be about 26 years old. Or, even if they were fitted new when the Cortina was modified (2005) they would still be 18 years old. Due to this I decided to replace both of them. They are currently on order and I should have them within a day or two. 

Monday 21st August - Time to move one on.

 My main issue for a long time has been owning four classic cars, but only having space to store three of them. Due to this, one car has always been away in storage either near Suffolk, or, more recently, on my next door neighbour's drive.

It always been a nuisance when it comes to wanting to use the one that's in storage, so I decided to sell one. This was a hard decision and I spent a good couple of months thinking about what one should be sacrificed. I finally decided that the Cortina Mk1 estate would be the one to go. It's a lovely car in every way, but as daft as it sounds, it's just too original. I like cars that I can play with and modify and make them go faster and handle better. The Cortina estate has obviously been treasured and loved all of its life and I just couldn't bring myself to alter it. Cars as original as this don't come up very often. 

After a couple of weeks of advertising, I was contacted by the Chairman of the Cortina Mk1 Owners Club who showed an interest. After a bit of bartering a deal was reached and he made arrangements to collect. The car was owned at one point by the guy that used to be the spares coordinator of the Mk1 Owners Club and apparently was very good friends with the chairman. So it was nice that it was going to someone who knew its history and also someone that would look after it. 

The plan was for him to be at mine at 11am, so we could do the deal before I had to leave for work, but unfortunately he was held up by an accident and couldn't get here before I left. 

I had no choice but to park the car on my neighbours drive and leave the keys and paperwork with him to give to the new owner. 

Apparently the new owner was very pleased with the car and after having fish and chips on Southend  seafront he then drove the car back home to Yorkshire.

Quite ironic really that he managed to drive the car 210 miles home to Yorkshire without a single issue, but I can't even get the Zetec Cortina 5 miles down the road to Battlesbridge!

I was sad to see it go, but it was the right decision to make. As all my friends have said......'It's not really you that car'. 

Sunday 20th August - Battlesbridge breakfast meet-Or not!

There was a classic car breakfast meet at Battlesbridge today and I decided to take the Zetec Cortina to see if had cured my recent running issues. I left my house around 8.15 and made my way down there. I didn't get very far, just past Rayleigh on the A127 in fact, when the car started losing power and mis-firing. In fact it started playing up while I was in the Rayleigh underpass and that's somewhere where you don't want be breaking down as there are no lay-bys or emergency pull ins.

I managed to nurse it out of the underpass and keep it going for a bit longer, but then it just cut out and died. At this point I was facing down hill, so I just let it coast until I reached the 'My Place' cafe and pulled in away from the dual carriageway. I tried starting the car but it just wasn't having it at all. It had never done this before. It had run sick for a little while, but had never died completely and refused to start. 

So, I rang recovery and prepared myself for a long wait. To my surprise though after ten minutes I received a phone call from the recovery man asking exactly where I was. Due to me being on a fast dual carriageway he had to collect me and the car and take us to a safe place. Well, I was only about 2 miles away from home, so that made the most sense as a safe place. This was the second time since June that one of my cars has had to be recovered. I'm not having the best of years!

Once home, I played musical cars again and moved the Cortina into the garage. Because of all of the electronics and fuel injection on this car, I don't really know what to look for when there's a problem so I just started with the basics and checked for a spark. The spark was good and strong, so no problems there. 

When it was being recovered and up at an angle (like in the pic above)  I  noticed that fuel was leaking from under the rear valance. At the time I just put it down to that fact the tank was very full and that the fuel was just coming out of the overflow due to the angle. On reflection though, I decided to investigate this further. I'm glad I did because I discovered a split fuel hose just before the in-line tap that I had fitted a few weeks previous. 

I've no idea why it split, but after replacing it with another piece of fuel line, the car started and ran fine!

So it's very probable that because the fuel line split, the fuel pressure would have dropped, which would have then caused the injectors to close and therefore starve the car of fuel causing it to break down. Plus air would have been getting into the fuel system as well. This fuel line was new as well, so I need to look at getting some stronger stuff if possible. I can't have this happening every time I try and go somewhere! 

 

Saturday 19th August - Scott & Hayward

 Ever since I have had my Green Cortina the exhaust on it has always been an issue. It was a home made affair that didn't fit right, hung way too low and was always banging or knocking somewhere. Since my ownership I had tried various things to stop it from rattling and even made up some brackets myself to try and secure it, but no matter what I did it's never been right and has always been a thorn in my side. The constant rattling and banging was just totally ruining the enjoyment of driving the car.

You can't buy proper exhausts new, and they very rarely come up for sale second hand either. It had now got to the stage where I had finally had enough of it and I had booked it in to Scott and Hayward of Basildon to have a stainless steel exhaust system custom made. Not cheap I know, but once fitted it will last a life time. So, Saturday morning I took the car down to Basildon and left it  with them as it was going to take them a few days. 

I then still had to get back home and buses are few and far between at weekends, so good friend Gavin came and collected me and we went for breakfast before he dropped me off back at mine. 

Wednesday 16th August. Zetec issues

 On occasions when I have been out in the Zetec Cortina, it's had a few issues with intermittent power loss. I originally suspected the electric fuel pump but fitting a brand new Bosch item didn't make any difference. 

The car has an 1996 Escort Si electronic fuel injection system and also has an ECU (Which I've since found out is also from an Escort Si) It also has a socket that an OBD code reader can be plugged into. 

So, I borrowed a code reader and also had a friend come round with his super expensive Snap on item to try and read the problems I was having with this car. Unfortunately, neither code reader could connect to my ECU, so it was a wasted exercise. It could be that my ECU is too old to be read and is also not a tune-able item. 

Through asking questions on various forums, I'd been told that my issues could be being caused by the MAF Sensor, which is an air flow sensor. So, I disconnected it to see if it made a difference, which it did. The car didn't hesitate when revved and the response was a lot quicker than with the sensor connected. I therefore decided to take a chance and order one to see if that cured my problem. 

Within a few days, the sensor arrived and I soon had it fitted. I've kept the old one as apparently, these can be cleaned up and used again. (I always prefer to fit new though)

Initial tests seem positive, although the proof of the pudding will be when I can get the car out of the garage and take it for a test drive. (Which hopefully will be Sunday)

I have also booked the car in to Redline Tuning at Laindon for a tuning and mapping session on September 18th. The Escort Si ECU is only programmed for 115bhp and being a twin cam engine I'd prefer it if it produced a bit more power. (Although the original Lotus Cortina's were only 105bhp anyway)

It certainly drives quick enough, but I might be looking at changing the fueling system at some point in the future to get a few horses out of it, so it may pay to upgrade the ECU now anyway. Watch this space! 

Saturday 5th August - Wheel changing in the rain!

 I had so much to do today, but the rain hammering down pretty much all day scuppered a lot of that. A few weeks back I reluctantly put the Mk1 Cortina estate up for sale. It's a lovely car, but if I'm honest, it's not really me. I like sporty and modified cars that I can mess around with and make upgrades to. I like to put my own stamp on them. The problem with the estate is that it's just too original and doesn't deserve to be played with. A committee member of the Cortina Mk1 Owners Club had owned it for many years and had really looked after it, so I never felt that I could 'alter' it too much. Plus, I haven't really got anywhere to keep it and it's presently sitting on next doors driveway behind locked gates. (Which is a pain if ever I want to go out in it.) One of the things I had done with the estate was to put a set of Mk2 Cortina 1600E Rostyle wheels on it. This made it look more sporty, but could also easily be changed back if I needed to to. 

Well, I have now found a buyer for the estate and part of the deal was to refit the original wheels. Luckily, the rain slowed a little bit, so I managed to swap the wheels over. It now looks how it did when I bought it. (See below-this pic was taken last summer-not in Saturdays rain!) As I was only changing the wheels, I could do this without removing the car cover and therefore keep the car dry.

I had also been thinking about trying the Rostyle wheels on the Green Cortina to see how it looked. However, after looking at many photo's I decided to stick with my retro Ford Lotus Cortina 'Lookalike' wheels. These wheels are brand new and run really smooth. They've got to be better than fifty year old Rostyle's that have potentially been bumped up and down kerbs, or driven over pot holes all their lives. So, I left the Green Cortina how it is and have put the Rostyles up for sale. 

Saturday 29th July - A bit of tinkering

 The fuel tap that I had been waiting for finally arrived on Friday, so I was able to get the Zetec Cortina finished at last. I also fitted an additional Vauxhall Vectra 3.0i filter and set it before the pump so that the pump wouldn't be at risk of getting clogged up by any crap that might be in the tank. 

After plumbing everything back in I switched the ignition on to prime the pump and also check for leaks. The new pump sounded a lot healthier than the old one and nothing appeared to be leaking, so all is well. I'm just looking forward for a break in the rain, so I can take it for a test drive now. (I could be waiting some time!)

The next job was on the Green Cortina and this was to fit a pertronix electronic ignition module. It already has electronic ignition, but this is made by power spark, which I'm not keen on to be honest. (I've had one fail in the past) This was a simple exercise of just unscrewing the module from the base plate in the distributor and fitting the new module on. This just left me with a bit of wiring to do and then I was finished. 

The car was then started and was running as it should. It will need a test drive to make sure I've got the timing spot on, but again, I'll wait until this nuisance rain stops.