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. 

Sunday 16th October - The last Battlesbridge Breakfast meet of the year.

 Sunday morning started off bright and beautiful, so I decided to have a run over the breakfast meet at Battlesbridge Antiques Centre. The classic car season is coming to a close, so I thought I'd make the most of it and get another show in. 

I decided to take the Cortina estate out for a run. (Might as well get some use out of the new battery!) I didn't have time to wash it, but it still looked presentable anyway. 

Before long, good friend Peter Silk had arrived in his Triumph and Keith Halstead in his Lotus Cortina. Another Mk1 Cortina arrived which turned out to be fellow Cortina Mk1 OC member Terry from Laindon

 

The sun was shining, and it was even warm for the middle of October. We had a few cups of coffee together, had a good look around at the other cars and had a good old chin wag. Around lunch time we all made a move as we all had other things to do. It had been a lovely morning out though. And probably the last one for a while. Pity. 

Saturday 15th October - New rear springs!

 The new rear springs I'd recently ordered arrived on Thursday, so today was the planned fitting day. Before I started this job, I had another little job to do on the Cortina estate first and that was to fit a new battery. The battery had never been that great on the estate, (or so I thought) so I bought a new one from Halfords and fitted it. However, whilst I was fitting it, I found that one of the cables for the cut-out switch was loose. This could have been providing a poor earth and therefore cranking the engine over slowly which will give the impression that the battery is flat. So, with the new battery in place, I took the old one over to the work bench and hooked it up to the battery charger. The green light came on straightaway meaning that the battery was already fully charged! So, it was the cable causing the problem then! A brand-new battery purchased for nothing! Great!

Anyway, with that dealt with I then started on the rear springs. I did the driver's side first as it's easier. (No exhaust in the way.) The new springs are single leaf instead of the usual multi-leaf spring arrangement. I had also ordered them to be made one inch lower. 

Because I had only changed the springs in the summer, everything came undone nice and easy, and it didn't take me long to change both springs. With the car lowered back down, I then had to adjust the front coil over springs to a similar ride height. This will have to be done numerous times yet though as the car will need to be driven a few times for the springs to settle down. It did look fairly level by the time I finished for the day though, so at least that's a good starting point. 

Monday 10th October. New fuelling for the Green Cortina!

 I'd received a text at the weekend asking if I'd be interested in purchasing some Weber carburettors for my Green Cortina. 

I thought about it over the weekend and decided I would. The carbs in question? A set of Twin 40 Webers. A fantastic piece of kit that will increase power output, look great, and sound fantastic!

I collected them on Monday night and have put them to one side for the time being until I get the suspension finished on the car. Then, they will be rebuilt, cleaned up and be ready for fitting. I can't wait! 

Sunday 9th October - Strut replacement continued.....

 So, quite early Sunday morning good friend Dave Maton arrived, and we wasted no time in starting where I had finished off Saturday afternoon. 

All parts were thoroughly cleaned before being re-fitted with particular attention being paid to the front wheel bearings, hubs and carriers. Once all this was done, we then about bleeding the brakes until we had a decent brake pedal. 

With the brakes sorted we then re-fitted the wheels and lowered the car back onto the floor. Normally we would have taken the car for a test drive to settle the springs and shocks and then adjusted the coil overs to the required ride height. However, seeing as I hadn't yet ordered the new rear springs there was little point as we would have no idea what the required ride height will be until the new rear springs are fitted. 

A small job of replacing the temperature gauge then followed and we then decided to go to the cafe for dinner. It was now gone 1pm and neither of us had eaten, so we were both hungry. 

The sun was shining so I decided to take the Zetec Cortina to the cafe and go for a small run out after. It had been a successful day and we had achieved everything we intended. 

Saturday 8th October - Front strut removal

 Today was going to be a busy day with the planned removal of the two front struts. (Or suspension legs if you prefer)

I was out in the garage quite early and I didn't want to start making too much noise just yet, so I finished another little job I had been preparing. 

Since I've had the car, it has had a 'Twin Cam' badge on the boot. Well, this looks ok, but it's just not right. The engine in the car isn't a twin cam, and I was starting to get tired of people asking me if it had a twin cam engine in it at car shows. 

The power plant that is in the car is actually a Mk2 Cortina 1600GT engine, so I bought, prepared and painted a 1600GT badge and put it where the twin cam badge was. It isn't perfect as it's only an experiment at the moment, but it's certainly more accurate than the badge that was on there. I think it looks quite good too. From a distance! 

With this and another small job complete, it was now gone 9am and I could start making a bit more noise. So, the car was jacked up, placed on axle stands and the process of removing both struts began. This can be quite a time-consuming affair as it isn't just the struts that have to come off, but the wheels, front springs, brake discs and hubs, brake callipers and brake pipes. (Oh, and the strut brace!)

I also had to be done by about lunch time as I had a guest coming round for the afternoon, so I ignored breakfast and just cracked on until I had done what I needed to do. Luckily, everything went to plan and I was finished by 1pm. 

The reason for removing the front struts was because I had recently bought a full coil over set complete with new shock absorber inserts and strut tops. The fitting of these though, would have to wait until tomorrow. 

 

Thursday 6th October - New shocks

 When I recently attempted to lower the Green Cortina by one inch to match up the ride height with the front, I found that the shock absorbers were 'bottoming out'. This means that the shocks were too long for lowered cars and are only really good for standard ride height. 

After shopping around, I bought some lowered and uprated shock absorbers from Retro Ford. The shocks are made by Gaz at Basildon, I went there first, but the lead time on having some made was four weeks, whereas Retro Ford had them in stock. (They obviously buy them in bulk for a cheaper rate and then keep them on the shelves.) 

In the near future I will be getting some new springs as well, but I haven't decided what type I'm going for yet, so the shocks are a good cure for the interim. 

Thursday morning was quite mild, and I had nothing else to do in the morning, so I fitted them before leaving for work. It was an easy job, so it didn't take long at all. I've also set them at quite a hard setting, so the ride should be a lot less 'bouncy' than it has been.