Mondeo-bashing dream Marina

[xbo11ox]

Yo, I had a dream last night, in it I bought an old Marina or Ital 1.3 off the bay and converted it to injection and coil pack ignition using cheap discarded bits from a late-model injected mini MPI. Also I installed an overdrive gearbox from a spitfire. I lashed it full of waxoyl so that it could be used all winter without worries. It would cruise at 75 all day and did 45mpg no hassle, pretty good eh? 20k a year was no problem to it either. Then I woke up and realised the earliest I could do it would be 2010 based on my current project progress rate.


cgi.ebay.co.uk/1975-MORRIS-MARINA-1-3-SDL-GOLD_W0QQitemZ140151309053


cgi.ebay.co.uk/1973-MORRIS-MARINA-1-8-SDL-BLUE_W0QQitemZ120154675610


cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320152083608

L8RZ

[arthurbrown]

Y'know what Reg Bo11ox, I have been thinking about Marina's too.
A nice early double-grille affair, hubs changed for van type ones, "JDM" 8x15in wheels with 0 offset (or lower), and a nice 1430 A-series on carbs. Yum yum.

However, if I feed this information into the Pog Project Predictor Machine, it forecasts that I will complete the project on or around the 12th of Never, 2056.

[reanimation]

I hear ya! sounds like a top idea and its not impossible but is on a stack of other stuff to do!

Before my Retro Rides days, i had perverse ideas about building a modern Turdblowa-Diseasel Capri for commuting to my dream city career job... instead i cycle or fiesta 1.1 it to my half way house job! ;D
Cortina modern TD could be cool, Marina Zetec much better though

[spottedlaurel]

Maybe not quite so useable for cruising, but there's a '67 Minx in this week's CCW, fitted with a 1760cc Perkins diesel.

(O/T x_bo11ox, I had a dream recently where you beat me at Scrabble by four points, I think Rmad was scoring).

[skamanfrank]

At the imp National the tow car for a lovely yellow racey Davrian camped opposite me, was an ital estate with a later marina grille, 10j rear wheels and a 2 litre rover 16v under the bonnet! It was a SERIOUSLY cool car

[xbo11ox]

spottedlaurel said:

Maybe not quite so useable for cruising, but there's a '67 Minx in this week's CCW, fitted with a 1760cc Perkins diesel.

(O/T x_bo11ox, I had a dream recently where you beat me at Scrabble by four points, I think Rmad was scoring).

Funny that, I defeated Ms_bo11ox at scrabble this weekend by 4 points, I 'body-slammed' her early on in the game with the word 'trawler' over a triple word score, she put up a good fight but was unable to recover after that.

[keithyboy]

That pick-up has got so much potential it's untrue. Never been a big fan of Marinas but I've got so many ideas for that.

[Lewis]

In PPC they had a similar fair, that Zetec Cortina. Lovely!

[marinanut]

This little beastie turned up in Malta......1275 Turbo engine and hand-built bodykit (which I believe the bloke will make for you), Honda rear lights and a cool stance.



Personally the 2.0 16V Rover engine would be the weapon of choice with the R380 gearbox and an MGB axle. ;D

[arthurbrown]

Bin the plastic and that would be KOOL

[grizz]

Like this, never took notice of Marinas before.

What are they like to live with ?

[Seth]

Hey MrB,

Surely your project progress rate is actually pretty stonking, just you've got so many "projects" its hard to see it that way. A daily driver Marina for yourself should surely come higher on the list than another car to weld up at fatha_bollox's and sell on? Plus if you bought a good'un then you could do the mechanical changes a bit at a time.

[cornishmorris]

Ive ran marina's for 20 years as daily drivers,sad i know,but i've never had any major grief.Helps if you got a shed full of spares and are good with a welder tho.Tuning wise the maddest i one i've got has a triumph 2500 engine and 'box.

[Lewis]

Alternatively, just buy an 1850HL and tune it up a bit. That'll get you 30 to the gallon all day long (manual/OD), probably more on crusing pace and probably be nicer inside, better equipped and more tunable off the bat....Probably handle better as well, although not having driven a Marina, can't really say

Just an idea...

[arthurbrown]

Where's the fun in that?

[reanimation]

cornishmorris said:

Ive ran marina's for 20 years as daily drivers,sad I know,but i've never had any major grief.Helps if you got a shed full of spares and are good with a welder tho.Tuning wise the maddest I one i've got has a triumph 2500 engine and 'box.

Welcome!

We got ya now, i love threads that bring in new people

Cant wait to see pictures of your Marinas!

[xbo11ox]

seth said:

Hey MrB,

Surely your project progress rate is actually pretty stonking, just you've got so many "projects" its hard to see it that way. A daily driver Marina for yourself should surely come higher on the list than another car to weld up at fatha_bollox's and sell on? Plus if you bought a good'un then you could do the mechanical changes a bit at a time.

You are 176% correct there seth, none of these cars I have were bought to sell, I bought em cos i wanted em! But reality has set in and I have just too many. Its nonsense doing these cars up then flogging em for beer money, I don't wanna just fook em off without contributing to their future survival however, or else they would have been better off not coing into my ownership in the first place. So, do em up to a decent standard then pass em onto someone who gives a toss, is a good interim strategy.

[Rob]

I like Marinas.

I'd be tempted by a Coupe - not disimilar to my old one... slammed with pulled arches... probably a standard (or bmw mini supercharged)... WITH THESE !
Konig Rewinds... they do Marina PCD too... yummy yummy...

[marinanut]

grizz said:

Like this, never took notice of Marinas before.

What are they like to live with ?

Get a good'un and they're very useable; five seats, humungous boot, not a bad ride, fit 175/13 tyres and grip is OK, brakes on the disc fitted ones are good (drums are brown trousers), rust shows up fairly quickly and having good metal thickness (early ones are forged from 0.047" steel)are a piece of p*ss to work on. Only real bad points are the gearboxes can get noisy and lose 2/3rd, clutch slave cyls get waterlogged and rust in the bores and sometimes the halfshafts can work loose. Tuning is beer money, loads of bits (Mini and MGB for engines, Triumph for drivetrain) and the Club has just started remanufacturing some body bits. The BL parts bin is almost as accessable as Fords..........

[MR TIKI]

This is the Ital SKAMAN mentioned,it's running a 16v big lump with allsorts of super sorted mods,this ain't no 'tow car' its a racer! built by Colin Cashmore of Ashford in Surrey.This man knows his stuff,he builds 930cc and bigger Imp engines too.he's the Davrian it tows belongs to his son Graham.Colin also runs a totally cool Imp with 4 inline kawasaki carbs on a home built 930cc engine. this is graham's Davrian