Been a couple of months since I posted but plenty has been happening since then. Coronavirus has meant my work has closed and so I’m temporarily out of a job until the pandemic has passed. Lots of time to work on the car which is good, but the lack of income means a couple of things might have to go on hold. I have completed the brakes and suspension as well as almost completing the wiring. I will post the wiring update in a separate blog.
With the suspension I had an issue with my track rods. The new tie rods did not move freely which would have meant a lot of issues trying to adjust the wheel alignment. After plenty of WD40 and a few hours trying to work them free I came to the conclusion that they needed to be re threaded. Lots of googling and a trip to United Fastners to determine the thread pattern and I was able to source the correct tap for left and right threads. After running the tap through everything moves smoothly and the track rods and drag link were fitted up. Next up was the rebuilt steering box. Warwick repaired and painted the firewall cover plate and everything was assembled. It was, of course, at this point that I realised that the steering tube had been assembled 90 degrees out of alignment. Fortunately it was a simple fix and I was able to unbolt the tube and clock it 90 degrees without pulling the box out. It did mean that the painted bolts will need a touch up.
The hubs were assembled with new bolts courtesy of United Fasteners and new locking tabs courtesy of Yesterford. The backing plates have been freshly powder coated and new wheel bearings fitted. New disks, brake lines and brake hoses and rebuilt callipers capped off the brakes. With a bit of help from my 16 year old the brakes were bled. Inside the car the refurbished hand brake mechanism was fitted with a new firewall grommet installed.
The pedals were installed. I had the accelerator pedal re anodised but they did a fairly average job and I ended up having to take it out to free up the movement.
Greg's Cortina Mk1 GT Build 