Jump to content

Korean Cortina - MOT day


mat_the_cat

Recommended Posts

Well, I hope there will be more of the former and considerably less of the latter in the future!

 

That picture with the petrol tank,jump leads and soda crystals looks like some sort of ied, the straw,ply wood and Transit(?) wheel giving it a retro Irish feel rather than a more Eastern vibe.

 

Not a Transit wheel, but bonus points for the fact it's off a van. Double bonus points as the PCD is exactly the same as on a 5-stud Transit, but it's actually from my early shape LT35 camper. I did wonder if the thieving bastards return, whether they would be frightened off by a bubbling petrol tank with wires coming from it...

 

This is brilliant. So many people would have given up on this long ago. Kudos for you getting started again! I hope to see it at shows in not too distant future 8)

 

Thanks  :-)  You'll need to get yourself along to mid-Wales in May then, as that should be its first outing! Unlikely to be finished by then, but hopefully will be mechanically and structurally sorted. Enough to get onto a trailer anyway as the venue isn't a million miles away from me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done you for restoring one of the forgotten cars of the 80s 90s. My mate had one and let me drive it once or twice. I d have one as a daily. The local dealer here was Calex car sales which was a tad unfotunate for Hyunadi! Given the reputation of said dealer locally. However they sold loads of them. Killies taxi fleet for a while was either Lada Riva or Stellers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update on the electrolysis - seems to have done the trick nicely!

 

post-5223-0-86996300-1499628038_thumb.jpg

 

I might slosh some 2 stroke petrol mix inside it, as the slight oilyness may stop it from rusting until I've prepared the shell where the tank mounts to, and can fit the tank then fill it. Managed to fix the sender too, which had rusted solid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We got one out of the auctions for about £40 all in. Tried selling it for a few weeks, had a bit of interest but it was hopelessly unreliable, every time someone came to see it, it would pack up. Sold it to a banger racer at work who was impressed with it on the oval.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder why they seemed so popular with banger racers? Maybe just because they were cheap and RightWD?

 

Yesterday I went to my local motor factors to get a 15 mm grommet, 6 & 8 mm fuel pipe and pipe clips. Would you believe that they had no grommets AT ALL, no 8 mm pipe and only jubilee clips?! I guess a lot of modern motors have specific fuel pipes which clip together.

 

So today I went a bit further afield, found a factors which had what I wanted and got chatting to the guy behind the counter about what I wanted. He seemed both surprised and interested, and threw in the fuel pipe clips for nothing! Nice one :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They were popular with banger racers because they were ROCK 'ARD motors. No cam belt to get damaged and break, strong bodywork, RWD and a solid rear axle, so pretty indestructible. They were much stronger than the Cortina it was based on. Although very cheap to buy they were never very common, so pretty rare on the banger track. Not the sweetest handling cars, I used to heat the rear springs up with a gas axe to lower the back end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Latest progress has been the offside chassis rail. Wire brushed back to bare metal, then all seams treated with phosphoric acid to slow any rust in them. Long term the only cure would be to split all the spot welds and remove all rust but with the limited use its likely to get, a 'slow down' job should last a good few years.

Then ran new copper petrol feed and return lines to the engine bay. 8 mm was left over from a central heating job, the 6 mm was only a few quid from an air conditioning supplier! Not touched the sills yet...

post-5223-0-26563500-1499628174_thumb.jpg

In other news, how rare is this?

post-5223-0-95484300-1499628204_thumb.jpg

An original factory tool kit - sadly the tools themselves have suffered after a few years storage in a damp shed :(

post-5223-0-63843000-1499628249_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before the petrol tank goes back on I've been cleaning up the shell where it mounts. Quite pleased that most of the rust underneath didn't take too much work to get back to shiny metal...

 

post-5223-0-72008400-1499628406_thumb.jpg

 

This is the only area which needs welding:

 

post-5223-0-93367000-1499628431_thumb.jpg

 

It's a shame that I can only spend an hour or so on it at a time, as it's really slowing me down. On the positive side though, I've got a new welder which already seems to be giving better welds than the Clarke unit I had previously. The feed mechanism seems to be that little bit smoother although not in the same league as a nice Butters machine I had a go on a while back.

 

More good news is that the front calipers have now been rebuilt. I've only seen a photo of them so far but they do look good :-)

 

post-5223-0-06546600-1499628354_thumb.jpg

 

Sorry to the purists (and Vulgalour especially!) as they aren't the original calipers, but it's my car so I can do what I like :-P  What's the general consensus on modifications anyway?

 

Bizarrely I feel a bit guilty about not doing the work myself! With the exception of a rebuilt gearbox I've done everything else on the car, so it feels a bit like cheating farming out work that I know I can do. It was just that I felt like treating myself, and at the time was busy with a load of other non car-related stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me I like any mods to be neat and look 'factory', although I have a thing for red brake calipers! I guess I'm doing now what I wanted to do when I was 18 (when I simply painted the original M16 calipers bright red...)

 

The brakes were always a bit of a weak point in that they were prone to fade, and in fact the later '87 on models had vented discs as standard although only twin piston calipers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IIRC... someone on 'tweb was looking for struts...made of unobtaium + gold plating... however [VERRY] helpful local spannerman did jiggling/slotting and got something else to fit.... dunno what, sadly  :-(

 

The spring pans had rotted through....

 

 

TS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why would I be offended at any of the work in this thread?  It's all top stuff and paying someone else to do work is no bad thing if you can afford it especially on fiddly stuff like calipers.  I look forward to seeing the Stellar in person, I don't think I've ever seen one outside of photographs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IIRC... someone on 'tweb was looking for struts...made of unobtaium + gold plating... however [VERRY] helpful local spannerman did jiggling/slotting and got something else to fit.... dunno what, sadly  :-(

 

The spring pans had rotted through....

 

 

TS

UPDATE, twas Practically Cla**ics!

 

Hyundai Pony 1990 fit straight on (...err, with a bit of a 'jiggle', mebbies)  8)

 

 

TS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did think they looked familiar, but couldn't place them... I understand now.  I'm probably wounded by it or something.  I will try and remember to liberate the calipers from the banger Princess after it's been raced as it'll be unlikely they'll be knackered.  Who did you get to do the refurb?  Looks a nice job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good idea to save them...quite a desirable part I'd bet!  It was Bigg Red who refurbed them and TBH I'm really pleased with both the job and the service. Not cheap, but it feels like I have my money's worth if you know what I mean. They've now arrived, and I've assembled them with pads and a link pipe:

post-5223-0-80275000-1390864919_thumb.jpg

 

Hopefully they actually work as good as they look, which is obviously the most important thing! Still been wire brushing the area under where the tank mounts, and have put on some rust remover to remove any traces which may be left. Should be able to move onto welding in the next couple of days, then tank back in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...