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. 

Saturday 2nd May. More work on the Lotus Cortina

 I was supposed to be getting the engine back this weekend and was looking forward to fitting that, and the gearbox back into the car, but apparently my engine builder is still waiting for parts. Very disappointing!

So, I decided to get on with other things instead. First on the agenda was the works fuel tank that I have decided not to use due to the amount of holes in it. It's still part of the cars rallying history though, so I decided to repaint it and put it back in the car.
I gave it a coat of grey primer before refitting it and to my surprise, the grey primer showed up a lot more pin holes than I'd originally spotted! Once the primer was dry I then gave it a few coats of satin black. 
While waiting for the paint to dry I found the spare wheel bracket and cleaned that up and secured it to its proper place in the boot floor. I then put the spare wheel in although the 175/70x13 tyre isn't too keen on fitting properly in the original spare wheel well, but it did go in.....sort of!

With the paint now dry, I then refitted the works fuel tank and bolted it in place. I also had to re-route the original fuel line as this will now have to feed off of the main fuel tank in the boot floor. I also fitted an inline fuel tap so that I have control and can shut the fuel off if ever I have to drain the tank, or have a leak any time.

My next job was to fit the rear bumper. I had this chrome painted last September and it's been sitting in my loft since then. I had to find some suitable nuts and bolts for the nearside as both of the captive nuts have been broken off at some point. This wasn't too bad a job and it certainly makes a difference to how the car looks from the back. 

With not much else I could do, (Not on my own anyway!) I decided to put the propshaft back together complete with it's new bushes for the centre bearing. I also then fitted the new clutch release bearing into the bellhousing complete with all the retainer mechanism and springs. (What a pain that was!)

By now it was getting on for 5pm, so I decided to call it a day. There is still plenty to do yet, but my massive list is definitely reducing. (Along with my bank balance!) I'm going to pester the life out of the engine builder over the next two weeks so that I can have my engine back and ready to fit on the next Bank holiday weekend. Wish me luck!