Greg's Cortina Mk1 GT Build

Again, long time between updates but a few more projects undertaken. The rear springs did come out again and have been reset a little higher. Definite improvement. Unfortunately, I have an annoying clunking sound over bumps in the front passenger side suspension that I am yet to diagnose. It could be in the coilovers and I am thinking of putting a small helper spring in to see if that fixes it. I went over every nut, bolt and bush but it’s so far eluded me. Next stop might to try and gopro it.

Along with playing with suspension I have also been working through some electrical gremlins. My fuel gauge has never worked properly and my temperature always seemed suspiciously low. I decided to do away with the original style voltage stabiliser and replace it with a Solid State instrument voltage stabilizer from Spiyda in the UK. This was a simple job that required splicing into the correct wires on the loom. The good news is that my temperature gauge now works and while the fuel gauge needle now moves a little bit, it still doesn’t work properly. I have bought another device that will allow me to match the impedance on the sender to the gauge and will fit that one day when I get around to it. The hardest thing about that job will be setting the levels, so I will need to drain the tank to do it properly.

My tacho has been converted to work with negative earth but it was always a bit unreliable due to the electronic ignition. To fix this I purchased a kit to convert the original tacho to an RCV unit that would work with the electronic ignition. This kit requires you to remove the old electronics from the back of the tacho and fit a new modern circuit board. You the calibrate the tacho and install it into the car. I chose to use a spare good condition tacho for the conversion and it proved to be a pretty straightforward job. Really the only challenging part was working out where to run the new wire directly to the coil. As I didn’t want to mess up my original looking engine bay too much I ended up running it tucked up under the drivers front guard. Again, I neglected to take photos but if anyone is interested in the Spyda gear, here is a link to their website – https://spiyda.com/

I did get the car out to the Small Ford Concours & Display Day at Camden and was pleased to win Best Restored. I don’t do many shows but it’s always nice when other people recognise the hard work you’ve put in.