The madness continues...

[Sideways]

Looks like a Taurus SHO engine to me.

It is indeed a Gen1/2 SHO engine, just one of the ones I considered for the Mk1 GT...heavy bugger but beautiful looking.

PS that is NOT the SHO engine in there, I just plopped the intake on top of the Fiat motor to see how it would look.

[Sideways]

Cleaned up a little...

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Had a glance at some of the books.

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[Sideways]

Doors cleaned up nicely, just a quick wipe with Windex and a cloth...the usual Cortina rust is noticeably absent!

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[Sideways]

Have found a source for various 4 cylinder Ford engines from bare blocks to fully assembled, to built, even a FF engine.

Oh, he also has a BUILT 1702cc TwinCam, all the right bits, steel crank etc flowed head with a pair of 45s hanging on it - but I refuse to even ask the cost of that one!

Would look a little like the attached.

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[zephyrgary]

It is somewhat tempting but I feel you can get more power and reliability from a newer lump. Plus it will never be a real twink. Even 40 years ago I chose a well built crossflow over a twin cam and got just as much power without the hassle.
Gary in AZ

[Sideways]

It is somewhat tempting but I feel you can get more power and reliability from a newer lump. Plus it will never be a real twink. Even 40 years ago I chose a well built crossflow over a twin cam and got just as much power without the hassle.
Gary in AZ

I know...back in the day I picked Twin Cam engines up for a few quid and a couple of beers, back in the "old country"

People were literally taking the Twin Cams out of their Mk1 Lotus Cortinas in order to install a pre-crossflow engine.

Gas (petrol) prices back then played a big part but back then, most still didn't "understand" what Mk1 Lotus Cortinas were - the price of a GT compared easily with the Lotus version...and more importantly, what the Lotus Cortina would become as the decades rumbled on.

Newer lumps have great appeal but as I (dis)gracefully age, I tend not to welly the loud pedal and will not need this as a daily driver so going back to the roots may work well for me. It breaks? Fine, tow it home, fix and repeat.

Until it does NOT work for me at which time - the gloves are off!!

[zephyrgary]

Agreed. I have Hagerty on my Minor and XJ6 and that comes with free towing, so no worries. Also back in the day in the old country Webers had a terrible rep for not staying in tune. My MK1 Zephyr had triple Webers and I did not need to touch them in 7 years of ownership, so I wonder if that fear was over rated or we know more now.
Gary in AZ

[Sideways]

Agreed. I have Hagerty on my Minor and XJ6 and that comes with free towing, so no worries. Also back in the day in the old country Webers had a terrible rep for not staying in tune. My MK1 Zephyr had triple Webers and I did not need to touch them in 7 years of ownership, so I wonder if that fear was over rated or we know more now.
Gary in AZ

Definitely overrated, mostly driven by the inability of so many to know how to select the proper tubes and jets and other twiddly bits for Webers.

I once helped someone tune their Jag with triple Webers...took us quite some time and I was in the RAF at that time.

Some 4 years later, we bump into each other, literally in transit, me coming back from Europe, him heading to some godforsaken island in the Indian Ocean and we got to to talking.

He still had the car, he still drove the car almost daily and it was still in tune.

That said, I like Dellortos even more.

[zephyrgary]

I loved my Zephyr. At idle, it sounded like two Harley Davidsons. Potato, potato and it went like a rocket too. Not so much off the line, it had a steep first gear, but once you were rolling, gobs of torque.
Gary in AZ

[Sideways]

I loved my Zephyr. At idle, it sounded like two Harley Davidsons. Potato, potato and it went like a rocket too. Not so much off the line, it had a steep first gear, but once you were rolling, gobs of torque.
Gary in AZ

The first time I heard that "pobble, pobble, hrumph, bark" I was stationed in Belgium but I/we spent a lot of time in Brunssum which was a NATO/AFCENT posting, theoretically and practically a jumble of nations, British, German, Dutch...all the NATO people plus the Americans - and I have to say that whatever we thought of the USA back then they raised everyone's game.

Resented by some but appreciated by those of us who lacked hubris and we were dazed and amazed at what was spread before us.

Food new to many and in abundance.

The (USA) "mess" where we ate was so far beyond what I had previously been exposed to, with possibly the mess in Bahrain where the cooks did us well (there were no "chefs" in the RAF, just cooks) and while most cooks in the RAF were okay, the ones in Bahrain, given the environment they were in, typically served us magnificent meals. especially the various Prawn dishes.

Sorry, I digressed there while I was drooling, so there we were heading to the Cinema in Brunssum where they showed Hollywood etc movies, often before they were released to an unsuspecting public and on the way there...I heard, felt and smelled a '60s Mustang.

Pobble Pobble, hrumph bark, bark, howl...the driver looked back at my far too much teeth grin and gave it the wellie!

Some things stay with you until you die - and ideally for some time after that.

Keep on drooling...

[Sideways]

Bit more tidying up, sold off some bits, still have 4 spare doors and one spare hood left and they will also go to the 'recycling' if no one is interested.

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The passenger doors have been whacked around some so the plan is to mount them and then start the re-jigging process using blocks of wood, carpet and a variety of BFHs, swearing, cursing and consuming beer(s).

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Seats, door cards etc once cleaned are - like the body and the "Lotus" doors - in remarkably good shape, carpet is okay but I will just keep that as a pattern and get carpet locally. Probably do the same with the the door cards and other vinyly bits.

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Next task, now that I have a bit more space is to rub it down with scratchy things and then apply a coat of primer so I can more easily see the nasty bits.


At that point the actual work begins...the body (mine), now past 70 does not work as well or as long as it used to so progress will be a lot slower than in the past. I managed to repaint a Mk1 Lotus Cortina in a couple of weekends, back in the day but I suspect this will take a LOT longer.

Fine, I am in no rush.

[Brett Wilkie]

You can really see the angle on the rollover car doors, will those be easily repaired?

[Sideways]

You can really see the angle on the rollover car doors, will those be easily repaired?

Those will be the hardest part of the body work, bar none!

As I said, the "Lotus" doors are in such good shape I really want to keep them (though that Sherwood Green stripe will have to go!) and the main part of both is unbent, it is where the window frame attaches where the problem lies.

Since I have spares for that side, I COULD use the not so good doors but I also have the option of unpicking the weld from these doors where the frame meets the door and attaching to the good doors.

First thing I am going to try though is as mentioned above, leverage and swearing!

A good bodyshop could probably do these but the problem is finding one which does more than just panel swapping.

PS. as I do the strip and clean I am once again surprised at just how heavy the glass in these things is!

[Sideways]

You can really see the angle on the rollover car doors, will those be easily repaired?

Just did a quick 'fit' with the front bad door, it is out in two planes - bent inward and backward so I will remove it and do a bit of brutality then will will twiddle again.

Based on that, the rear passenger door will need a LOT of Brutality!

[Sideways]

You can really see the angle on the rollover car doors, will those be easily repaired?

Just did a quick 'fit' with the front bad door, it is out in two planes - bent inward and backward so I will remove it and do a bit of brutality then will will twiddle again.

Based on that, the rear passenger door will need a LOT of Brutality!

Some brutality involving lengths of wood and shoving and pushing.

Before...

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After some effort...

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I did bust the weld on the frame where it meets the door but that is the least of the problems, hammer, weld hammer again etc...