Whilst removing the steering box from the Green Cortina I discovered another part that needed replacing. (It just keeps on giving this car!) Luckily, a quick scan on ebay found the part that I needed and it was also being sold by my Friend Keith. After a quick phone call, I found out that Keith was going to the Battlesbridge autojumble and would bring it over for me and meet me over there. The part in question is a foam gasket that fits under the column shield and as you can see below, mine was quite knackered! 

I was at Battlesbridge quite early and while waiting for Keith to arrive I met up with Gavin for a couple of cups of coffee. Upon looking around the stalls I also found a couple of nice metal plaques for my garage wall. 
To be honest, the autojumble wasn't as big as usual and I had seen all I needed to by about 12pm, so I made tracks as I had other things to do. it was still quite a nice morning and good to get out. 

Our third time at the Gremlin Historic, and it was back into the “new” format of some competition on the Saturday evening followed by a full Sunday rally. Having had a disastrous Saturday in 2024, we didn’t want the same to happen again!

We got there in plenty of time, completed the measured mile, noise and scrutineering and went off to documentation where I plotted the first couple of regularities. There were plenty of speed changes planned, and there were some discussions with others about some of the Sunday navigation where two routes were possible, but we decided we’d finalise that later.

The first regularity was 10 miles and had some grid references with depart directions that said “follow the arrows.” The arrows weren’t actually visible from the road (which we had expected) but I’d marked the map clearly enough and we found the hidden controls. Unfortunately, we were one of several crews who dropped some time into the first control which was on a not as map white around the old Talgarth Hospital. We, as did others, kept going left only to find we were at the entrance to a house. Reversing out, and finding the control, saw us drop 43 seconds. There was a lot of local traffic around so we did quite a bit of reversing in general on that regularity, and we hoped the rest of the event may be a little easier!

Regularity two started quickly and was nearly 20 miles. This regularity went better, but unfortunately a staggered cross roads over a busy A road, with a control very soon afterwards, cost us time whilst we waited for passing traffic. We didn’t understand a couple of ideal times against what we had, but the controls were changed to passage controls due to issues with the timing so that may explain things. So, not quite as bad a start as 2024 but quite a bit of time dropped.

We headed to our accommodation and I carried on with the plotting. A bulletin was issued for Regularity three, where we could go either side of the river, so that clarified the route. Regularity four was over Epynt and included a black spot which didn’t touch the road, but I thought was intended to. I contacted one navigator, who had gone one way, so I asked someone else, who had gone the other. I was fairly confident in my route but made sure to ask the organisers in the morning (my route was correct, the black spot had been intended to touch the road). The navigation also mentioned to “drive through two SPs” but I couldn’t work out what they were, and the ordnance survey map key didn’t help. I decided they had to be Spot Heights (SH).

Regularity three was a busy start, with 36 miles crossing grid lines (and several controls in farmyards) and 11 speed changes. We had a good regularity with our penalties mainly under five seconds, before we had three tests over Epynt. The Scimitar is a powerful car, but we simply can’t keep up with some of the other cars out and were dropping up to 30 seconds a test here.

We had a quick coffee break before Regularity four, half of which I’d plotted and then went to tulips which were handed out at the regularity start. We were third best on this regularity which was good, dropping only 13 seconds (best was 11). Another couple of tests, and then Regularity five which was 26 miles with 13 speed changes. Unfortunately, we missed a turning which was quickly corrected, but there was local traffic and we ended up just under 30 seconds late into a control here.

Another three tests, so more dropping time, and then Regularity six which was over the ranges. The first half had been a herringbone and then there were more tulips passed through the window for the second half. This regularity went around the rifle ranges on some areas we hadn’t used before with some tricky, narrow overgrown sections where we were dropping time against the 30mph requirement. We were equal fifth best here, dropping 1min 04secs.

We had another two tests followed by the final “short” regularity of nearly 14 miles, but 8 speed changes to keep us busy. I was disappointed to drop 19 seconds here, our times had seemed ok and we don’t quite know what went wrong unfortunately.

We finished 5th in class and 12th overall, we’d managed to climb up a few places overnight from 16th, but it could have been better!

 Since owning the Green Cortina I've always felt that the steering had a lot of play in it. I'd always put it down to the fact that it was due to it having a steering box, rather than rack and pinion steering which is far more accurate.

However when you compare it to driving the Zetec Cortina the two cars are worlds apart. The Zetec steering feels nice and tight while the Green car resembles sailing a boat in force nine gales. 

While the engine is out of the Green car I felt that now would be the best time to remove the steering box and get it refurbished. Having no engine in the car gives you a lot more room to work. So after speaking to a few Cortina friends for advice and reading the workshop several times, I decided to bite the bullet and get stuck in. In situations like this, I always think back to what one of my ex-girlfriends, Amanda, said to me, which was: 'Sometimes, the THOUGHT of doing something is worse than the actual doing it'. 

So with this ringing in my ears I made a start. I'd had to work as well today, but started very early so that I could have a good few hours in the afternoon to get the job done. (I had to deliver one car to Margate in Kent, then come back and deliver another car to Maldon in Essex. I started at 5am and was finished by 12pm. 

Anyway, I digress, so I drank my cup of coffee while staring into my empty engine bay while trying to figure out how the hell the steering box (and column-they cant be disconnected whilst in the car) would be able to exit the car from underneath. (That's what the workshop manual had said!)

The first job was to remove the steering wheel, then the indicator and headlight arm and then the column shroud. I then found two crosshead screws that had to be removed to relieve grip on the column. Next was to remove the parcel shelf so that I could remove another bolt that holds the column to the pedal box. The last to do inside the car was undo the metal plate that the column goes through via the firewall. This also has a foam gasket which I knew was completely knackered, but luckily my friend Keith has one for sale and will be bringing it to the Battlesbridge autojumble for me to collect. 

Work then moved to inside the engine bay where I had to disconnect the pitman arm on the steering box from the steering link. This caused no problems and I was now at the stage where the car had to be jacked up and placed on axle stands to provide enough room to manoeuvre the steering box out from underneath. 

I also found out at this point that it's easier to remove the offside front wheel to gain access to the three bolts that secure the steering box to the chassis rail. (The workshop manual didn't mention that!) Once I'd removed the three bolts the steering box was free, but I still couldn't find enough room from underneath to remove it. I then decided to disconnect the track rod from the drop arm and this then gave me enough room to 'manoeuvre' the steering box out of the car. (The workshop manual never mentioned that either!) 

So the job that I had been dreading for months and months was now complete. It took just under two hours. It will now be taken to a steering box specialist in West Thurrock in Essex when time permits. I'm not sure I would have fancied doing it with the engine in place though, so I definitely wont be refitting the engine until the steering box is refurbished and back in the car! 😊

Having not been able to make the local 12 Cars recently, Devizes had moved the date of one of their events and it fitted with our availability. We agreed for this event that Gavin would drive Kermit and I would navigate, as it feels a long time since I read a map and the Gremlin Historic is coming up.

I wasn’t feeling great on the day of the rally and spent the afternoon sleeping (I work longer Monday to Thursday so I have Friday afternoons off), and only decided I would give it a go about 20 minutes before we were due to leave, with the viewpoint that it was better to regret trying rather than regretting not giving it a go. It was just over an hour to the start so I dozed a bit and took it easy before the rally started.

We were car 4 and having picked up an amendment for a link section, it wasn’t too long before we started. We were given the first handout as we left the first control and this showed it would take us to TC3 (Time Control 3). The handout said “all roads” (meaning it could use white roads on the map) and I realised we were off to Salisbury Plain. There was only 15 minutes OTL (Over Time Limit) for the first two controls so I knew I needed to plot quickly and make sure we went the right way! We had to stop and plot for a minute, as the navigation for the first two sections was a mixture of spot heights to go via, but also the odd thing (such as a spot height) to avoid. Even with the potti (magnifier), I couldn’t see exactly where the dots plotted for the spot heights and I needed to ensure we went the right way so we pulled up briefly so I could ensure my plotting was accurate.

We did ok in the first section, but by now were truly on the Plain. Kermit is a standard 998cc Micra and so Gavin was picking his way through the potholes and we dropped 6 minutes on this section. Part way through, on the bumps, the potti decided to stop working so I had a rummage around in my nav bag for the two magnifying glasses I carry as backup; I feared it was going to be a long night at this point… We were pleased to not get lost at all because anyone who has been on the Plain knows, there are roads on the map and then there are four times as many roads once you actually get up there! Seeing code boards (so we knew we were going the right way) and trusting my calls was pleasing with all the extra junctions and those on the map not looking the same in reality. We saw one other competitor on a parallel road going in the opposite direction to us and nobody came past us so we thought we were going ok.

The next section was a neutral, before NTC4 – TC5 took us via a series of map features and grid references, around 20 in total to plot. Again we were given the navigation at the control, so it kept me busy getting it down on the map and telling Gavin where to go. We did ok on this section as well, although we were still dropping time. TC5 – TC6 saw a herringbone handed in through the window and I simply couldn’t get the middle part of it to work. I tried working it backwards and then asked Gavin to help and he couldn’t quite get it either, but we had a guess at a route and off we went. We got to the next control and were told the finish (MTC7) had been shortened and we were given a revised finish map reference, and the final piece of navigation (tulips).

By this point I knew we were getting close to OTL, which was 30 minutes from TC3 – MTC7, and so to save time I called the first few junctions without having the whole route on the map, and just using the tulips given. It’s not ideal to do it this way but saves time, which we needed to! However, it did not take me long at all to realise a tulip was missing and I asked Gavin to pull up. I realised which tulip it was, worked out what the correct route was versus the route I actually had plotted, and made the call we would continue as we were, join up with the correct route and hoped we hadn’t missed a code board. We only saw one board in the section (the time card had space for two), but we were relieved to find there was only one board on the correct route.

We finished the event 1st in class and 3rd overall. I’m a novice by the event regulations (the middle class) but I found out at the finish I’d been given the expert navigation throughout by mistake, so that made me feel better about taking some time to do bits of it! We’d found all the code boards so finished on 0F (zero fails) and 27M (27 minutes), which was a pleasing result. We headed home where unfortunately I deteriorated overnight fairly rapidly, with a high fever and other symptoms meaning I needed NHS help and support and spent the majority of the next week in bed and missed many things I had been looking forward to. I’m still not back to 100%, but have returned to work after an unexpected week off and am now trying to get back to full health before the Gremlin.

 The 365 days since the last MOT had come round really quick and so it was time for the Zetec Cortina to be checked over again. I know that classic cars don't need an MOT, but it's a condition of my classic car insurance that this one does because it's classed as modified. (It produces twice as much brake horse power as it did when it left the factory!)

It would also be interesting to see what kind of brake readings I would get on the brake rollers seeing as I have recently carried out a rear disc brake conversion on the car.

The guy doing to the Mot was impressed with the car and the brake readings were spot on. I was worried that the new callipers on the rear would have a better braking efficiency than the fronts, (which is not allowed) but this wasn't the case. In fact, the total braking efficiency of my car was 69%, which apparently, is better than most modern cars. That's pretty good considering I haven't even got a servo fitted. 

The car passed with no advisories and I celebrated by driving round to Gavin's house and we both went to his local cafe for breakfast. A very good, successful day. 😊

(Look how small the Cortina is compared to the BMW!) 

 This was the first Battlesbridge meeting of the season and due to the bright sunshine I expected it to be quite packed. I was able to have a 'proper' drive today on unrestricted roads and test the new 3:31 ratio in the differential I'd just had built. I was really pleased with the result and I now don't feel as though the car needs a five speed gearbox. 

Even though I arrived early, there were still people that had got there before me. It looked like it was going to be a busy day. 

Good friends Gavin and Peter arrived shortly after I'd arrived so we headed to the marquee for breakfast and coffee. Cars were pouring in at a good rate and pretty soon they were starting to use the second field to get everyone in. 

It was a beautiful morning weather wise and a pleasure to be out in the sunshine again. I like this meet because as well as the regulars, there are always cars that I've never seen before which makes it very interesting. 

About lunch time I called it a day as I had things to do at home, plus I had to run some parts down to my engine builder. Hopefully he'll have my engine repaired soon and I'll be able to get the Green Cortina back on the road. 

 At last the weather was getting a bit warmer, so a visit to the Billericay breakfast meet was on the agenda. It would also be the fist proper drive for the Zetec since the fitting of the 3:31 differential and the rear disc brakes. 

I left early in case I had any issues and as a result, I was the first one there. The only trouble with the drive down to Billericay is the roads are all 50mph speed limits, so I couldn't get up to the speed I wanted to to test the diff. 

After a while other people started arriving and a few of my friends as well. We enjoyed a bacon roll and a coffee and spent time looking at the other cars. While I was there I received a text reminder that the MOT was due  on the Zetec Cortina in the next couple of weeks, so I rang the garage and booked it in for the following Saturday. 

All too soon it was time to head home and hope that the traffic wasn't too bad. (The A127 can be a nightmare when the sun comes out, because everyone heads for Southend!) Luckily, the A127 was fairly quiet and I was home in no time at all. It had been a good morning and nice to finally go out without needing a coat! 

With the weather unseasonably hot it was a return to the evening autotests run by Witney MC.

These are simple and good fun, the grass had been kept short by resident sheep over the winter, this meant the grip was generally higher than the normal first few events, in fact with the recent dry weather and no wind there was a lot of hanging dust!

With the Kent Targa Rally looming and having not used the ZR for a while this was an ideal shakedown before then. So I ran the car in targa mode complete with spares etc…

A big entry meant not all tests were completed but good fun was had by all and at the end I finished up 2nd overall. The ZR behaved it’s self and it was good to get back in the proper rally car after using the Rover 25 for a while.

Its been a busy few months since the last update, so here is a quick overview from motorsport during that time….

First up was the March SOCC 12 Car, this was a fun return to the lanes and we finished up clean and just a few minutes down it was a tight night and this placed us 6th overall and 1st in class. Always good to get a class win.

Then just days later it was out in Red Shed II, this is a Rover 25 bought originally for parts but it ran ok. So it was taken out onto a car trial to see how long it would last….

The day was dry unlike last years mud fest, this made for a lovely day outside but made the hills more challenging. After a few hills I got back into things and we finished up 14th overall and 3rd in class – not too bad for a totally standard car collected just days before the event.

Then just a week later it was a return to Weston Park navigating for Wayne Larbo in his Evo III, this had been through more work and had more power than before. This is event is short and sharp but with more modified 4×4’s banned it allowed us to have a fun and sideways day out at a former RAC Rally stage and finish up 6th overall and 1st in class.

Next up it was back in Red Shed II (Red Shed I was used and then scrapped around 2018) back to Silverstone Rally for another SOCC autotest. After sorting out the handbrake so it was more effective it was back to the fun – although I got a few too many cones we had good fun and finished up 4th overall and 4th in class.

Then after a few weeks away it was back again in Red Shed II but at Banbury Plant hire, this was a hot and dusty day and after a wide range of tests it we ended up equal 2nd overall / in class. Some great fun was had in Red Shed II which is proving to be a useful test bed for the rally car, and may stay longer than originally planned…. Though this may mean the end of the Golf… Decisions to be made.

 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. 😁