Thought I would start a thread for my Mk3 Cortina, I must have bought four 2 doors before I found one that wasn't either hanging or full of filler as a base to work from.
Purchased this one owner, 50k miles, garaged all it's life 1600L back in 2006.
Stripped it down and briefly turned it into a Benetton special edition.
Stuck some new metal to it, really just sills and arches. Found a Mk3 Savage bonnet in the back of someones lockup in Luton, these things are so rare I couldn't believe my luck.
Added a 3.0 Essex V6.
I've upgraded pretty much all the running gear as they tend to handle a bit like a boat as standard.
One of these turned up, then another - kind of put the brakes on car time/money for a couple of years.
Decided my home made exhaust sounded terrible and looked even worse. So paid someone better at sticking metal together to make one for me. Tig welded stainless.
Going over the axle presented some issues, the upper radius arms knocked on the exhaust as it got close to the bump stops. I was searching for a solution and found a guy on here who had used arms from an Nissan 200SX that happen to be pretty much exactly the same, did a bit more searching and found they did a kinked version for super low cars. Sorted my problem out very easily.
Which pretty much brings me to where I am now, I've been having a bit too much fun in it this year and the gearbox isn't thanking me for it. I've a couple of plans for over the winter -
Replace gearbox with a 5 Speed one or Swap the Engine/Box out for a V8 with 5 Speed gearbox. I think the latter might win as buying or modifying a bell housing could work out expensive.
Upgrade the brakes to discs all round, I've some Brembos for the front and a Granada setup for the rear. The 2.8 Capri vented setup and 9" rear drums are OK but could do with being better.
Purchased this one owner, 50k miles, garaged all it's life 1600L back in 2006.
Stripped it down and briefly turned it into a Benetton special edition.
Stuck some new metal to it, really just sills and arches. Found a Mk3 Savage bonnet in the back of someones lockup in Luton, these things are so rare I couldn't believe my luck.
Added a 3.0 Essex V6.
I've upgraded pretty much all the running gear as they tend to handle a bit like a boat as standard.
One of these turned up, then another - kind of put the brakes on car time/money for a couple of years.
Decided my home made exhaust sounded terrible and looked even worse. So paid someone better at sticking metal together to make one for me. Tig welded stainless.
Going over the axle presented some issues, the upper radius arms knocked on the exhaust as it got close to the bump stops. I was searching for a solution and found a guy on here who had used arms from an Nissan 200SX that happen to be pretty much exactly the same, did a bit more searching and found they did a kinked version for super low cars. Sorted my problem out very easily.
Which pretty much brings me to where I am now, I've been having a bit too much fun in it this year and the gearbox isn't thanking me for it. I've a couple of plans for over the winter -
Replace gearbox with a 5 Speed one or Swap the Engine/Box out for a V8 with 5 Speed gearbox. I think the latter might win as buying or modifying a bell housing could work out expensive.
Upgrade the brakes to discs all round, I've some Brembos for the front and a Granada setup for the rear. The 2.8 Capri vented setup and 9" rear drums are OK but could do with being better.
Love the coke bottle tina! It's a Winner
