Hi, been on this site for awhile but thought I would post the build thread of my Cortina.
I work for Classic Ford Magazine and it's my project car, but some of you may know it from previous owners as it's been modified for longer than it's been standard...around 25 years or so which is cool.
It's been through many owners in that time and been treated to many modifications. I bought the car with the intention of fitting a Zetec turbo engine as I know them well and wanted to avoid the obvious Cosworth YB route.
Naturally, and as ever the car has evolved and it's gone a lot further than I intended, in pretty much every way.
So to bring you up to speed:
Cut and paste from another forum...
Well, here's my project and a bit about it.
I'd always liked Mk2 Cortinas ever since I laid eyes on Puddy's Pro Touring YB powered Lotus, that was converted to LHD so it could run the exhaust inside to gain ground clearance.
Anyway, I bit the bullet and decided to buy a Cortina to call my own.
I did look at a few clean standard examples, but as I always planned to modify it extensively, I looked for something that was structurally sound, and ideally had a few things done to it already to make my life easier as everything would be changing over time.
I didn't have to look far.
Previous Staff Writer Gareth had bought this Cortina and not done much with it . So I made a call and even though I'd never seen the car I paid for it and had it low loaded down from Newcastle to London, to Ignition Advantages who gave the car a clean bill of health.
It sailed through an MoT after some washer jets were fitted, so I got insured and took my first ever drive in a Cortina!
As it was fully stripped inside with only a pair of bucket seats and some very hard suspension it was quite an experience, but I love stripped out cars and enjoyed it!
It needed a little paint and wasn't 100% mint but it was solid and a good base for what I wanted.
I loved driving the car and put some miles on it taking it to shows and using it where I could at weekends. However, it needed modifying as the car was quite well known in the scene I wanted it to be more 'mine', so I started picking up bits.
First was wheels. The thing was I loved the look of the wheels that were on it, but knew I had to change them. That's when I came across some very rare split rim versions of the same wheel. These will be made wider and change in colour before they are on the car though.
Next up was the cage. I 'd seen the great work done by Alan Dent at Alachi who makes suspension and steering parts as well as building race cars. I asked if he could do me a cage to suit the engine and power I had in mind. And the cage that was in there left a lot to be desired.
So Alan made me this blinding cage that I'm over the moon with. It's braced down into the boot floor and ties into the shell in about 15 places.
Alan's work is fantastic and it's totally transformed the way the car drives (as you can imagine) but in more than one way.
I work for Classic Ford Magazine and it's my project car, but some of you may know it from previous owners as it's been modified for longer than it's been standard...around 25 years or so which is cool.
It's been through many owners in that time and been treated to many modifications. I bought the car with the intention of fitting a Zetec turbo engine as I know them well and wanted to avoid the obvious Cosworth YB route.
Naturally, and as ever the car has evolved and it's gone a lot further than I intended, in pretty much every way.
So to bring you up to speed:
Cut and paste from another forum...
Well, here's my project and a bit about it.
I'd always liked Mk2 Cortinas ever since I laid eyes on Puddy's Pro Touring YB powered Lotus, that was converted to LHD so it could run the exhaust inside to gain ground clearance.
Anyway, I bit the bullet and decided to buy a Cortina to call my own.
I did look at a few clean standard examples, but as I always planned to modify it extensively, I looked for something that was structurally sound, and ideally had a few things done to it already to make my life easier as everything would be changing over time.
I didn't have to look far.
Previous Staff Writer Gareth had bought this Cortina and not done much with it . So I made a call and even though I'd never seen the car I paid for it and had it low loaded down from Newcastle to London, to Ignition Advantages who gave the car a clean bill of health.
It sailed through an MoT after some washer jets were fitted, so I got insured and took my first ever drive in a Cortina!
As it was fully stripped inside with only a pair of bucket seats and some very hard suspension it was quite an experience, but I love stripped out cars and enjoyed it!
It needed a little paint and wasn't 100% mint but it was solid and a good base for what I wanted.
I loved driving the car and put some miles on it taking it to shows and using it where I could at weekends. However, it needed modifying as the car was quite well known in the scene I wanted it to be more 'mine', so I started picking up bits.
First was wheels. The thing was I loved the look of the wheels that were on it, but knew I had to change them. That's when I came across some very rare split rim versions of the same wheel. These will be made wider and change in colour before they are on the car though.
Next up was the cage. I 'd seen the great work done by Alan Dent at Alachi who makes suspension and steering parts as well as building race cars. I asked if he could do me a cage to suit the engine and power I had in mind. And the cage that was in there left a lot to be desired.
So Alan made me this blinding cage that I'm over the moon with. It's braced down into the boot floor and ties into the shell in about 15 places.
Alan's work is fantastic and it's totally transformed the way the car drives (as you can imagine) but in more than one way.
[/quote]
) Glad to see it here though, always wanted a 2 door Mk 2, looked at one once, but ran away when the old guy showed me his hair spray can repairs to the sills 
Is it staying yellow?
