1966 MK1 Cortina Deluxe

[Partridge]

Lovely stuff! I think it looks far better on four spokes, those steelies look a bit Trabantesque.

Looks like a very interesting and worthwhile project. I also assumed you were older. I wish I had the money and courage to buy a car at 16 or even 20.

I'm 21 and after an XJ40 in the new year

[jonny69]

Looks great! Wears its multi-colours brilliantly!

 

Give me a shout if you want any engine building or tuning tips. I've built stacks of pre-crossflows from stockers to full-bore screamers - I love those engines. I've used quite a few engine machinists over the years too and had a few good and bad experiences, so I'll let you know who has been good and who to avoid

[Angrydicky]

There's a few younger guys on here now. I'm 23 and Warninglight is the same I think. Philibusmo, R9UKE, Explosive Cabbage and MiniMad5 are all about our age as well.

[derskine]

Aye I did think there were a few more of us.

I don't like to associate myself with most of my generation.

 

I'd like to perhaps fit a 1600 crossflow at some point, it's still old school but I feel the piston rings may be on their way out on my pre x, as it does put a little oil out the filler cap, however, this could also be a blocked crank case breather.

It does pull well enough for what it is, though a bit quicker off the mark would be nice.

 

It'll need a new gearbox soon though, it whines in all the gears and makes rattly/springy noises when driving.

[jonny69]

For what it's worth you could just rebuild the 1500. It's extra faff and expense to put the crossflow in for little gain these days, because they'll all need rebuilding. You'll need to file out the engine mounts (1600 is a wider block), move throttle linkage to the other side, mate up the exhaust and find a late front-bowl sump. Just my 2p, but as an alternative to that you can put the 1500GT manifolds on and use a GT or Kent 224 cam when you rebuild and everything should just bolt up.

[derskine]

That does make sense - I had a cosworth a2 camshaft that I sold!

If it works out cheaper to rebuild mine than to buy a good crossflow I'll do that, but GT (or similar) cam, weber 28/36 and gt exhaust manifold are certainly on the cards as the engine still should have a bit of life left as is.

[red5]

I'd love another Mk1 - have to be an Aeroflow though, unless it was a fleet 1200 3dr....

 

Had 4 of them - and a 1500 Corsair.

 

Had a 1500 GT motor with a breathed on cam and a slight tickle around the ports - revved like a loon and surprised a fair few newer motors. 1500's tend a burn a bit anyway if pushed so don't worry toooooo much. I'd rebuild it as well - done the crossflow and pinto conversions - more hassle then it's worth in many cases.

 

HVJ669E how I miss thee...

[Noel Tidybeard]

my granddad had a cortina tudor ex driving school 144JOB

[babydriver]

Anyone see the 1500GT on car SOS last night mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Luverly as said above the original engine in that looked and sounded the doggies to me.

[derskine]

Foad took some excellent pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

I really love this car...

[Taff]

that is a very nice car, mate.

 

Jonny69 is right about the motor, throw your bunce at the 1500gt, far better than a xflow IMHO

[Ghosty]

Quality.

I'd love to have something like that in a year's time when I'm 20 - alas I'm a student in Wolverhampton, and with the luck I have, it'd be nicked before I'd even had a chance to drive it.

[CortinaDave]

Love it. Looks great. My mk4 S is almost MOT worthy but still in hiding as its a million different colours and I can't afford a spray job at the moment. This makes me want to get it out on the road anyway.

[derskine]

Yellow filler primer, lacquer, away you go!

[Alan_Green]

I will weep if you paint this. 

[martybabes]

 

 

HVJ669E how I miss thee...

 

Ravenhills of Hereford?

[320touring]

Looks superb!

[Sudsprint]

What a fantastic car.

 

Love everything about it.

 

Cortinas don't feature in my childhood but my (pipe smoking) uncle had a Corsair 2000E and that was fantastic, if totally trumped by my great uncle Stan who (at 80) ferried his two mistresses around in his smokey old Jag 420G shagwagon...

 

I digress. 

[scruff]

It's ace how you are obviously so keen on it for what it is and not the value bollocks. I have a few friends who bought their 50s/60s chod when in their teens and without exception they are "death do us part" jobs.

[Dippy]

Great car and I love it just the way it looks now. Also good to see somebody young messing with cars, I had to show a 27 year old electrician how to connect jump leads last week.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I thought it looked okay in the first few pics.

[tooSavvy]

2p.... Savv says "No Paintiee....".  The car lives, as it is, not trailer queen wannabee.

 

 

TS

[PiperCub]

My sister had an identical 1200 one about 30 years ago! Was really nice - she ruined it......

 

Liking the WIP look.

As others have said, nice to see a young person getting into a decent passtime (not stupid videogames etc).

[jonny69]

Does look great. That pale bluey grey green is such a 'right' colour for Mk1 Cortinas.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

As others have said, nice to see a young person getting into a decent passtime (not stupid videogames etc).

 

True.

 

I just prefer the blue rinse 'we've had it from new' look the car had originally. As it stands it'ds a bit too 'OMG/ratluk/scene' for me. However, it's not my car.

[derskine]

Most of the primer is covering welding, as an apprentice I can't really afford to have it painted properly at the moment, it couldn't of been left as it was when I bought it, there was a lot of filler and rot which looks deceptively good in the pictures.

 

But anyway, it's how I want it to look for now, I do need to sort the gearbox though.

[nisfan]

Most of the primer is covering welding, as a car breaker I can't really afford to have it painted properly at the moment, it couldn't of been left as it was when I bought it, there was a lot of filler and rot which looks deceptively good in the pictures.

 

But anyway, it's how I want it to look for now, I do need to sort the gearbox though.

EFA

[derskine]

I've been driving this a lot lately, it's been really reliable and I've been enjoying the massive attention it gets.

Had pedestrians shouting nice car and talking to me whilst I'm waiting at traffic lights and nice looking girls saying it' a nice car  - that doesn't happen to me very much!

 

I'm planning to buy a Weber 28/36 DCD, a Burton fast road camshaft, a new release bearing and an exhaust when I get paid next Friday.

This should bring it up to about GT spec, the camshaft is said to give 8bhp increase over a GT but my engine isn't the high compression GT engine so I reckon it'll be about the same.

This gives me ~78bhp which is 3 more than my Polo, the Cortina weighs about the same, and the Polo feels like a flying machine.

 

Changing the cam means pulling the engine out, but the release bearing has been rattling, so it's worth changing that, I'm also tempted to change the gearbox at the same time.

 

I was also spotted by a man in a white Proton...

 

[derskine]

I recently bought all the bits to make the engine GT spec, which weren't cheap and I'm starting to think I should have just got a Pinto... fuck it, it's done.

 

I set about hauling the engine out to fit the cam on Friday. I've done this before numerous times so it wasn't too bad, it only took a couple of hours.

Once it was out I slung it in the back of the 340 and took it to the unit.

 

I bought a bottom end gasket set but some how managed to lose it, so until I got another what I could do was a bit limited.

 

Got the sump and timing cover off though, removed the sprocket and timing chain, withdrew the old cam and put the new one in.

 

 

I liberally coated the cam and followers in cam lube, this got everywhere.

 

 

 

Rebuilt it all with new gaskets, rope seals etc too, so hopefully it won't leak as much as before it was a litre a week or something atrocious like that.

 

 

 

I enjoyed this, lately I've been mostly getting on with welding/fabrication when working on my cars. This was a pleasant change aided by the simplicity of

these engines.

[derskine]

I got this too, for a bit of a bargain at £70, it's just surface rust and is actually in really good nick.

 

 

Also this, but it needs a rebuild