Ford Cortina Race Car
Discussion
Latest project in the workshop is a Ford Cortina GT that will be turned into an FIA spec Lotus Cortina race car to race in historic meetings across Europe.
Drove to Manchester to pick up the car purchased off Ebay, was pleased to see the condition was as described, once back at the workshop we went for a drive in "Tina" before she gets stripped. Pity to waste the 12 months MOT and Tax the car came with! Drove brilliantly, almost felt like a pity to take it off the road.
In her new home;
Custom re-trimmed interior, soon to be replaced by.. well not much really!
So, first day back at work yesterday and after getting her in the air and having a quick inspection with the wheels off (all looking good) we had a couple of hours left so started the strip down;
All looks very clean inside with nothing more than a small amount of surface rust. Will pull out the crossflow engine and gearbox next and continue with the strip to bare shell before it goes away to be dipped followed by lots of welding!
Drove to Manchester to pick up the car purchased off Ebay, was pleased to see the condition was as described, once back at the workshop we went for a drive in "Tina" before she gets stripped. Pity to waste the 12 months MOT and Tax the car came with! Drove brilliantly, almost felt like a pity to take it off the road.
In her new home;
Custom re-trimmed interior, soon to be replaced by.. well not much really!
So, first day back at work yesterday and after getting her in the air and having a quick inspection with the wheels off (all looking good) we had a couple of hours left so started the strip down;
All looks very clean inside with nothing more than a small amount of surface rust. Will pull out the crossflow engine and gearbox next and continue with the strip to bare shell before it goes away to be dipped followed by lots of welding!
That is lovely 
Will be watching this thread with interest. What are you doing when it comes to engine, 'box etc?
Also, I hope you don't mine me asking, but why take that car of the road? Looked lovely as it was. Surely a worse condition one could have been 'saved' instead of converting an already good car?
Will be watching this thread with interest. What are you doing when it comes to engine, 'box etc?Also, I hope you don't mine me asking, but why take that car of the road? Looked lovely as it was. Surely a worse condition one could have been 'saved' instead of converting an already good car?
Disco You said:
Hooli said:
Looks a shame to take such a nice road car apart 
I can't help but agree. I'm sure that the finished product will be awesome, but it still seems a shame to use such a tidy donor.That said, it's not my car, out of my control and will be interested in following the thread
First full day of work on Tina, some good progress made, now down to a bare shell.
Crossflow engine out, will be sold to add to the Twin Cam fund!
Front end off the car, will be stripped at a later date when the shell is away
The fun job of stripping sound deadening, perfect job for the apprentice
Rear end off, leaf springs will be replaced by a 6 leaf arrangement along with some axle mods and aluminium diff carrier.
Now the car is a bare shell, next job will be to cut/drill off all unnecessary brackets and start with the small bits of welding that can be done before the shell goes off to be acid dipped.
Crossflow engine out, will be sold to add to the Twin Cam fund!
Front end off the car, will be stripped at a later date when the shell is away
The fun job of stripping sound deadening, perfect job for the apprentice
Rear end off, leaf springs will be replaced by a 6 leaf arrangement along with some axle mods and aluminium diff carrier.
Now the car is a bare shell, next job will be to cut/drill off all unnecessary brackets and start with the small bits of welding that can be done before the shell goes off to be acid dipped.
Small update, shell is off on Tuesday to Pro-Strip in Nottingham for acid dipping which will be a couple of week turn-around, then the real fun can begin, full seam welding, roll cage fitting, larger diff hump and anti tramp brackets all to be fitted and welded in.
Front legs have gone to be modified to JDR/J.S Motorsport spec and will be closely followed by the rear axle.
Engine spec has now been decided, will be a brand new Lotus twin cam built by J.S Motorsport which should give 180hp and rev to 9000rpm
Front legs have gone to be modified to JDR/J.S Motorsport spec and will be closely followed by the rear axle.
Engine spec has now been decided, will be a brand new Lotus twin cam built by J.S Motorsport which should give 180hp and rev to 9000rpm
Cracking project, right up my street. Nice base car, saw the car for sale and thought the shell would make a perfect donor, was wondering though is 180bhp@9k to FIA appendix K spec? I was aware one Cortina built to appendix K has an exhaust manifold made of inconel, but didn't realise figures had got that high!
Yes will be fitting aluminium bonnet, door skins and boot.
unfortunately engine figures have got that high and with it comes a fairly serious cost. The Inconel manifold I suspect is a rumour as scrutineers are certainly clamping down on the Cortina's. We will be using a 1mm wall thickness stainless manifold and then have a couple of different systems to try out.
unfortunately engine figures have got that high and with it comes a fairly serious cost. The Inconel manifold I suspect is a rumour as scrutineers are certainly clamping down on the Cortina's. We will be using a 1mm wall thickness stainless manifold and then have a couple of different systems to try out.
Went to collect the Cortina from Tim at Pro-Strip (great service for acid dipping!) on Thursday, after seeing some promising photos from Tim.
Unfortunately when we got the car back to the workshop and on its side what came back was not in as good a condition as previously hoped.. amazing what can be covered up with a good paint job!
Just a few pics of some of the offending areas. The very poor repairs done previously in the cars life have made things worse if anything!
Unfortunately when we got the car back to the workshop and on its side what came back was not in as good a condition as previously hoped.. amazing what can be covered up with a good paint job!
Just a few pics of some of the offending areas. The very poor repairs done previously in the cars life have made things worse if anything!
Day 1 of shell repair, decided to work on cutting the areas out of the underside front half of the shell/prepping seams so we can have 1 person welding while the other is doing the sheet work. Seams were cleaned up with a knotted wire wheel then sprayed with weld through zinc primer for some protection. Have cut out the worst chassis rail and also the sill area that was rotted through and also tidied up some of the terrible welding efforts. A long way to go!
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