Despite suffering a flu bug, I ended up in the garage again today as Dave Maton was free to come over again and help finish of the brakes on the Zetec Cortina. We gave the cafe a miss this time and got started in the garage as soon as he arrived. I'd had the brake pipes made up during the week, so these were fitted and we were then able to connect the new handbrake cables. 
We then bled the brakes to get all of the air out of the system, going round twice to be sure. Then we refitted the back wheels and went for a test drive. The brakes felt good and I was happy with our work. 
It was still fairly early and Dave was here for the day, so the next job on the agenda was to turn the Green Cortina around and get it in the garage backwards. My recent attempts at curing the oil leak hadn't worked, so the next stage was to take the engine out. (Again!)

It didn't take long to push the Cortina out and turn it around. (I couldn't drive it because it would have pissed oil all over my new drive)

Once the car was back in the garage, we both got stuck into it and before long, we had the cylinder head off. I then set up the engine crane and after not much longer we had the rest of the engine out and on the floor. This is now the third time this engine has been out since I've had this car, so this time it needs to be done right. It will be going to an engine specialist soon and hopefully, all the problems will be rectified. 

 Today I was lucky in that good friend Dave Maton was free to come over and help with my proposed rear disc brake conversion on my Zetec Cortina. 

We had a quick meet in the local cafe for breakfast before work commenced, but then got stuck into it. The first job was to get the  car up on axle stands, remove the rear wheels and then remove the drums, shoes and backing plates. 

The rear disc brake conversion is a fairly new kit from RetroFord and at present there are no instructions with it, so some educated guesswork was required. 

By mid afternoon we had done all we could do. I now need to get some brake pipes made up and then once they are fitted and the brakes bled, then we can connect the new handbrake cables. 

I was quite pleased with the days progress even though it left the car unusable. Another couple of hours work once the brakes pipes are done will see it back on the road. 

 I hadn't planned to enter this event this year, but good friend Richard Warr wanted to do it. The only snag was that his car is still in the workshop having some major work done, so I agreed to do it with him and use my Triumph. 

The only snag with that was that my Triumph was in storage at Colin Wake's place in North Essex. Luckily, Colin joined us as a third crew member for the event, so he spent a couple of days using the car for work to make sure it was all ok. 

Richard made the journey to my place and stayed over on the Friday night in readiness for the event start at Saturday tea time. We just had a few drinks on the Friday night and a takeaway as we didn't want to feel like crap Saturday morning with so many miles ahead of us. 

Saturday morning saw us make the 50 mile journey to Colin's to collect him and the car and then after a good breakfast in a local cafe, we made the 200 mile journey to the start. 

The start was at 'The Great British Car Journey' museum at Ambergate in Derbyshire. We met up with the other crews and after dining on jacket potato's and plotting part of the route, we set out into the evening. 

The theme for this event was motor sport, so extra points could be gained by visiting race tracks and race car manufacturers, so the first part of our route took us through Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, before nipping into Leicestershire on our way to the halfway point at Rugby Services. 

After a mandatory 30 minute break, we set out through Leicestershire, (again!) Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire before heading for the finish in Northamptonshire. We visited some great places including Snetterton Raceway, Silverstone, Rockingham and many others. 

By 8am we were at the finish and awaiting the results. Colin had done really well and had acted as navigator and spent all night plotting and directing. Richard and I took turns to drive. 

The finish was an interesting place as well with plenty to look at while we enjoyed a bacon bap and a much needed coffee. 

The results were announced and Colin's hard work had paid off as we were rewarded with 2nd place. (We weren't that bothered about winning, as the winners have to organise next years event.😉)

We all had a great time, although we were pretty shattered by Sunday morning. Colin still hadn't had enough and wanted to drive home as he hadn't driven on the event. We were back at his by about 11.30am and enjoyed a cup of coffee in the sunshine before making our separate journey's home. 

The car did well and we reckon we covered just over 750 miles in total. The only time we opened the bonnet was to check the oil before heading for home. It seems to be back to its old reliable self. 😁

 I finally managed to order the correct dipstick tube for the 1600 Mk2 Cortina GT engine that's fitted in my Green Cortina. Or so I thought. When the tube arrived I found that it was a very loose fit going into the hole in the timing cover. It needs to be a tight fit so that the oil wont seep out of the gap. 

So, I decided to remove the timing cover so that I can take that, and the dipstick tube to engineering company to see what they can do for me.

So, I've now removed even more parts from this car in order to complete just one job. I said to my mate Dave on the phone 'it's one of those cars where one job turns into three or four more!'. 

I have to admit, I'm getting to the stage now where I'm considering selling it and replacing it with something else. (Maybe a Ford Anglia-Another favourite car from my childhood)  I'm a bit tired of throwing money at it, only for it to cause me a different problem. I honestly think I've spent more time laying underneath it, or with my head under the bonnet, than I have actually driving the bloody thing! 

 I received a phone call the night before from good friend Dave Maton saying that he was coming to Shoeburyness on Sunday morning to collect a fuel tank for his Morris Minor. he knew that I'd got myself into a situation of having an immobile car in front of the garage and a mobile one trapped in the  garage, so would I like a hand to 'shunt cars around?'. What a top bloke! So I gratefully took him up on his offer.

So, Sunday morning, I filled the differential with oil and bled the clutch master cylinder while waiting for Dave to arrive.  

Once Dave arrived we got stuck in and pushed the Green Cortina onto the drive and I reversed the Zetec Cortina out of the garage. Temptation got the better of us both and we couldn't resist taking the Zetec round the block the couples of time to 'get the oil in the diff circulated'. 

After having a bit of fun, we pushed the Green Cortina into the garage where I could resume my latest challenge with it at another time and Dave set out on his journey home. (He had other stuff to do) He certainly done me a favour though, so it was a very worthwhile morning, plus it's always good to see your friends! 

 I had taken my Zetec Cortina differential to Herts & Bed transmissions in Baldock, Hertfordshire the previous Saturday for him to replace the crown wheel and pinion and also fit a limited slip differential. 

The crown wheel and pinion are a new item from Retro Ford and the ratio is 3:31. I've bought this in the hope that it will bring the revs down enough and I can avoid the huge task and cost of fitting a five speed gearbox. Calculations show that it will reduce it by 300 revs, which doesn't sound a lot, but is. (If you drive your car at 2000 revs, then increase it to 2300 revs, you'll see how much more the engine has to work)
I also purchased a Blackline limited slip differential which will also stop the accidental wheel spin that the car gives me in the rain as the LSD will provide more grip. 

I set out early and was at Herts & Beds transmissions  at 6.45am. Luckily, the top man was already there and after paying my bill and having a bit of a chat, I was on my way home. 

A trouble free drive saw me arrive at my friend Gavin's house in Wickford and after a cup of coffee, I left my car at his place and jumped into his Triumph and we went to the Billericay classic car breakfast meet. It was still quite cold, so there wasn't that many cars there really, but a beautiful Cortina Mk1 2 door GT had come down all the way from Bury St Edmunds. All of us Cortina fans at the meet had never seen this car before, but all agreed that it was a very nice car indeed. (See below pic) 

We spent a few hours at the meet, but left when everyone else started leaving. On arrival at my place, I changed into my overalls and went into the garage to refit my differential. It only took an hour or so to get the rear axle back together including refitting the half shafts and bolting the propshaft back on. 

I then refitted the back wheels and all I had left to do was fill the new differential with oil and bleed the clutch master cylinder. (I had removed it and replaced the seals the week before) By now though my long day was catching up with me. I'd got up at 4am and was doing my Saturday shopping in Tesco's Baldock at 6am. so I could be at the transmission place for 7am!  I was starting to feel cold as well, so I called time and went indoors. 

 After yesterdays disappointment of finding that the Green Cortina was still leaking oil out through the dipstick tube, I went out for breakfast with Gavin and we discussed the issue thoroughly. 

When I had this problem originally, I posted a question on a Facebook page as to what could be causing it. Some of the answers were helpful, some were very negative and some were just downright ridiculous, so I was nowhere near an answer. A few people said it was crankcase compression caused by knackered piston rings, but my engine doesn't smoke, doesn't burn oil, doesn't have an oil haze floating over it and doesn't even smell oily, so I really can't believe that my engine needs a rebuild. 

Once back home, we started investigating a bit more. Gavin was reading through the workshop manual and found that the oil capacity of the engine should be 6 pints, or 3.5 litres. The only way to check that that's what was in the engine was draining it out. So, I made sure that the oil was reading maximum on the dipstick, and the drained all of the oil out. (Including the what was in the oil filter)

To my surprise, all I got out of the engine was 4.5 pints. So that meant that somehow, the dipstick wasn't reading correctly. After even more investigations, we found that the measurement of the dipstick tube from the timing cover to the end of the tube where the dipstick enters should be 5 inches. Mine was only measuring 3 inches. So, from what we can make out, a previous owner had fitted a dipstick tube from a 1300cc engine instead of a 1600cc engine. This will also explain why my dipstick reads maximum oil level when its really 1.5 pints short. 
Luckily, Burton Power Products sell the tubes brand new, so I've now got one on order. Hopefully, you never know, this might, just might cure my problem. 

 Not many people notice, but on my Goodwood Green Cortina, the bonnet is a slightly different colour to the rest of the car. It's something that I'd always noticed and something I'd planned to get resolved one day. So, on a bright and sunny morning I set out to go and see the paint man at East Hanningfield. This would also be the first trip out since (hopefully) curing my oil problem. 

I had a good run over there and the car drove great and sounded great. The paint man then spoiled things somewhat by telling me that the bonnet on the car was pretty much scrap and full of filler and advised me to find a better one. 

To make matters worse, I then looked under the bonnet and found that I hadn't cured my oil problem at all and that the oil was still coming out of the dipstick tube. 😞

So, I drove home somewhat deflated, parked the car up, covered it up so I couldn't see it and went indoors and sulked for the rest of the day. 

It's annoying because I love this car, but I just don't think it likes me very much. That's tough though, because I'm not giving up with it, so it's just going to have to live with me! 

 I had never been to the Canvey Island breakfast meet before and so decided it was time to check it out. I had been warned that it was mainly American cars, so I didn't bother digging the Cortina out and went in my every day car, a Peugeot 308 estate. (A good parts collector!)
I arrived at 10am to find the meet was already packed and I had to park outside on double yellow lines. A quick walk round showed that it was indeed mainly American with a few British cars thrown in. (Including a very rare Vauxhall Victor estate) I've nothing against American cars, but they aren't my thing at all, so after taking a few pics, I set off for home. 

Once home, I put on my work clothes and got to work on the Zetec Cortina. It needs new rear wheel bearings and I also needed to find out what the ratio in the differential is. 
Luckily everything went well and all came apart fairly easily. The half shafts were put to one side in readiness of someone pressing the new bearings on when they get time. I've never done these before, so I'm going to let someone else do them first so I can learn how. 
The differential was then marked up so I could count the teeth on the crown wheel and then also count the teeth on the pinion. Dividing one by the other will then provide the ratio. (As you can see below)

The differential actually looked in good condition, but it will still be sent to a specialist for checking over before going back in the car. I'm also considering buying a new crown wheel and pinion from Retro Ford which will give the differential a ratio of 3:31 instead of the 3:54. Basically, with the 3:54 diff, the car will be doing 3,800 revs per minute at 70mph. The 3:31 will reduce the RPM (revs per minute) down to 3,500 at 70mph. This will make a big difference when cruising on motorways and fast carriageways and hopefully I'll no longer need to carry out the massive, time consuming and expensive job of converting to a 5 speed gearbox. 

 What with the weather being as cold as it has been, (The next person who mentions global warming to me is getting kicked squarely in the nuts!) I've been in hibernation mode and have done absolutely nothing to the cars.However, there was a breakfast meet on this morning at Billericay, so Gavin and I decided to venture along. I took the Zetec Cortina to see if the recent attempts to fix the fuel gauge have been successful. 
I'm glad I did take the Zetec, because I had been considering buying my old Cortina Mk1 estate back and was about 90% certain that I was going to own it again and was ready to pay a deposit on Monday morning. However, once I'd started driving the Zetec I decided that it's such a great car, that I should be spending money on that rather than buying another car that I haven't really got room for. The meet was fairly well attended considering the cold, although the cafe there needs to up its game before the really big crowds arrive in the summer. (£6.45 and a 20 minute wait for two drinks-and they got one of those wrong!)
Around lunch time I made my way home and put the Zetec into the garage ready to do more work on it. The current job list includes finding out what ratio differential it has, replacing the seals in the clutch master cylinder and replacing the nylon bushes on the gear selector. Ideally it needs a five speed gearbox, but I'm going to investigate different differential ratios before I get into that, because it's such a massive job. The transmission tunnel has to be cut, adapted and welded, plus the clutch and propshaft needs to be altered and a new gearbox crossmember needs to be made. I'm not ready to do all that yet, so I'll try other options first.