1965 Clark Cortez

[LAndy]

May 17, 2021 19:28:46 GMT metalshapes said:

Nice old truck.

Very cool color combination too.

What spec is it? 6, small block, big block? Stick or automatic?

I like longbeds a lot better than short beds.

They look more balanced to me, and they are more practical.

But for some reason short beds are more popular...

Yea I love the colors on it.
Not sure of the spec, it looks like it's a small block V8 with an automatic transmission - I didn't stick my head in too far because of my recent interaction with a snake! No idea if its RWD or 4WD though. The longbeds do look better in my opinion too. It would be great if it was running because it would make picking up supplies for the Cortez far easier!

May 18, 2021 12:20:16 GMT Morris63 said:

Nice to see updates on this, eating the elephant bite by bite!

That pickup is just the sort of thing you'd see Kevin & Mook from Junkyard Digs doing a YouTube revival on!

And I agree with metalshapes, longbeds just seem more "right" and useful as a pickup to me too.

Yea, still chipping away at it. Hoping to make some more serious progress over the next few months, especially when L is on summer holidays from school.

May 18, 2021 12:37:10 GMT HARDCORE said:

This is aces! & you're in a good place for epic RV roadtrips

Thank you! Yea, we can't wait to get it running, reliable and built inside. Our plan is to travel for at least a year in it around the States and then 6 months in Canada. Well, that's the plan for now.


___


Also, I've been given the provisional nod to go ahead and inquire about the Ranger. Honestly, the passenger side rear quarter could be missing - I have no idea! So, it'll be a tentative "So, that Ranger... How long has it been parked up?"

[LAndy]

(Second time of writing this... )

Wait, what's this?! A second update in a week!

Last night I headed off to the Cortez by my lonesome as L wasn't feeling too well. We'd been planning to go all week but as usual, life happened and we'd not made it there.

The mission: Remove one of the front shocks to measure up for replacement.

As the Cortez wasn't drive-able... Insert ironic shocked face, I had to work in the open fronted shed where we keep the Cortez, this meant no power and no airlines, oh the horror! This time of year here in Virginia is great! The mornings are cool and comfortable, the afternoons and evenings warm (80f / 26c) with low humidity and best of all... NO BUGS! (Those little Bar-stewards are coming though and the LOVE ME!) so working outside was really nice!

With the Cortez jacked up and safely supported by TWO axle stands I set about the task at hand.

Wheel off, check!
Douse "the shizzle" out of every nut and bolt that would be attacked, check
(Side note: I've been doing this for a while every time I've had access)

Looking at the top nut on the shock I wasn't feeling too confident, it looked super rusty, but armed with my 9/16" (I think) cranked angle ring spanner I gave it a cheeky turn, the shock spun.
"Ok, I wonder if I just grip the body of the shock I can undo it?"
(Inner monologue: "Stupid idea, but try it!")

I gripped the body tightly (ooo-er!) and braced myself for either a struggle or a difficult job aaaaannnnnnnnddddddd the nut just came undone, easy-peasy! Er... What?!

Moving onto the bottom bolt/nut. Now armed with a 3/4" ring spanner and an adjustable (I know, I'm sorry) opened all the way to 1" I got them in position, braced myself, started applying a little pressure (Inner monologue: "Wait, is that coming undone already?"). It came undone super easy, like alarmingly easy, concerningly easy!

So, yea! Shock out!



And it was dead, like proper dead! I compressed it totally by hand and then fully extended it, it wasn't doing a thing!

Anyway, next job. The bump stops. This ancient rubber bump stop looked in a right state! With the shock doing sweet FA it's not surprising really, especially as it looked as old as Noah's ark. I expected this to be easy compared to the shocks (prior to actually removing the shocks) but this proved to be a right mission! By the time I'd got it out it was in two pieces.



Last job, drop link. The upper-bushes, I'd previously noticed looked in a bit of a state so they were quickly undone and removed. Upon closer inspection the lower bush looked even worse! And a quick wobble of the drop link highlighted a lot of squeaking and movement.

Now, rearmed with my 3/4" ring spanner and adjustable (...sorry) I once again expected a fight, however just like the shock the nut came loose super easy and just like that the drop link was out.



By this time I was rather dirty and super sweaty and it was ready for home!

Shocks, bump stops and drop link bushes have been ordered this morning and should be here by the weekend.
We're also expecting new belts and speedometer cable to arrive soon!

More soon!

Andy & L

[misteralz]

Enjoying this thread, even if I don't comment. But I have to now. Adjustable spanners? The absolute devil's work. Use them to find out what size a fastener is by all means, but never to actually undo anything.

[jimi]

May 20, 2021 14:05:30 GMT misteralz said:

Enjoying this thread, even if I don't comment. But I have to now. Adjustable spanners? The absolute devil's work. Use them to find out what size a fastener is by all means, but never to actually undo anything.

There speaks someone who has never walked a couple of miles up a 1.1 road to a breakdown carrying their tools ! or swung around 80ft in the air in a riding belt in the wind and rain with all your tools attached to you with lanyards.
Every tool has it's place and used correctly a good shifter (Bahco) has it's place in any toolbox

[hollidaysc]

you do realise that now you have publicly admitted that one side of the suspension was easy to remove that the other side will be completely welded together and will require an oxy torch and/or a pile of cutting discs to remove ? Good luck (in the nicest possible way)

[misteralz]

May 21, 2021 6:49:30 GMT jimi said:

May 20, 2021 14:05:30 GMT misteralz said:

Enjoying this thread, even if I don't comment. But I have to now. Adjustable spanners? The absolute devil's work. Use them to find out what size a fastener is by all means, but never to actually undo anything.

There speaks someone who has never walked a couple of miles up a 1.1 road to a breakdown carrying their tools ! or swung around 80ft in the air in a riding belt in the wind and rain with all your tools attached to you with lanyards.
Every tool has it's place and used correctly a good shifter (Bahco) has it's place in any toolbox

Not quite. I used to work offshore and yep, a 12" Bahco lived in one of my leg pockets. And yep, it got me out of the shıt more than once. But that's a very different environment to working in a barn! I've still got a 12" Bahco in my toolbox here, but it's used for changing gas bottles as I can't justify the outlay for the right sized spanner for that particular twice a year job!

[jimi]

@ misteralz
My apologies, you do know what it's like, 17 years as an underground electrician and 30+ years offshore as an electrician has given me a fair appreciation of shifters and when their use is appropriate, they are not for every job but they certainly have their uses.

[LAndy]

May 20, 2021 14:05:30 GMT misteralz said:

Enjoying this thread, even if I don't comment. But I have to now. Adjustable spanners? The absolute devil's work. Use them to find out what size a fastener is by all means, but never to actually undo anything.

I know, I know... I didn't have a spanner large enough and honestly I couldn't be arsed walking upto the garage to see if there was one in there. If the nut and bolt had put up more of a fight I probably would have gone and looked for something more suitable.

May 21, 2021 6:52:56 GMT hollidaysc said:

you do realise that now you have publicly admitted that one side of the suspension was easy to remove that the other side will be completely welded together and will require an oxy torch and/or a pile of cutting discs to remove ? Good luck (in the nicest possible way)

Yea, I kinda thought that after I'd posted. We'll have to see how it goes! I've been giving both sides a good blast of PB Blaster when I've had access so hopefully that's done it's job! I know the ARB nuts on the drop link will come free so it's just the top and bottom nut on the shock and the nut on the bottom of the drop link... If it does put up a fight I have plenty of cutting discs!
Thank you!

[PhilA]

Those pieces look very much like they came from the Mopar stable. Makes sense, being as they got the engine from them.

Probably B100 van or similar light commercial.

[LAndy]

May 22, 2021 4:16:59 GMT PhilA said:

Those pieces look very much like they came from the Mopar stable. Makes sense, being as they got the engine from them.

Probably B100 van or similar light commercial.

I suspect they are but so far I've not been able to find exactly what they're from - Though being completely honest I've not done too much digging.

[PhilA]

May 24, 2021 16:01:07 GMT LAndy said:

I suspect they are but so far I've not been able to find exactly what they're from - Though being completely honest I've not done too much digging.

Now that's been said they're probably going to be from something obscure.

Start looking for Nash Ambassador parts

[LAndy]

Killing it on updates this month!

Yesterday me and L had a hugely successful day working on the Cortez.

Jobs finished:

New shocks installed, check!
New bumpstops installed, check!
New bushings in the droplinks installed, check!

So, how did we get on?

We'll let's start here, easy job first.



Bumpstops,absolutely dead - I actually ended up tearing this one in two while undoing it. I was expecting the other side to be just as difficult but I set L loose on it and it was out in less than a minute!

Enter.



And installed.




Next job was removing, cleaning and rebuilding the drop links, again, dead bushings.



Enter new bushings.



We actually found that we needed to cut off about 5mm from the flat end of the upper bushings as they were too thick. It appears the best was to cut polyurethane is a hacksaw!





And here's L expertly installing them.



Next job was the shocks, having previously removed everything from the passenger-side all that was left was to remove the drivers side. Again, everything came apart super easy and this shock was as dead as the other side - No wonder the ride has been so bad!

Working on the passenger side first we noticed that the bushing on the bottom of the stock was super tight against the bolt, so a G-clamp, a socket and plenty of lube was used to bring them together, and everything was bolted up in no time, happy days!

Here's where things went briefly south! L was trying to release the shock from the retaining strap, she compressed the shock fine, lifted the strap up and then her finger slipped as the shock tried to extend trapping the tip of her finger between the upper and lower of the shock, as soon as she started shouting we were both pushing the shock back down and she got away with a slightly squished fingertip but relatively unharmed... The good news is that she didn't damage the shock either!


(We went with a slightly longer, heavy duty shock)

With the last shock installed and everything checked for tightness we threw the wheels back on and took the Cortez off the stands. It now sits level (Boo, no rake) and is a good 3" higher at the front - I've never been so happy in my life to see a vehicle higher after I've worked on the suspension!

The pictures aren't perfectly inline but here's a before and after.

Before


And after.



I did a quick suspension travel test by bouncing on the front bumper and there were no bad noises to report, we couldn't go on a test drive as the engine currently looks like this...



As we're STILL waiting on belts to be delivered!


We've also put out another video, the final one of our fuel tank saga! If you're interested please go check it out!



Thanks!

Andy & L

[PhilA]

You want a spare?



(It's a kar-boo-ray-turr, get it right).

This one's off a 318 Fury so it's gotta be good. The dead spiders only assist.

[LAndy]

May 24, 2021 19:07:17 GMT PhilA said:

You want a spare?



(It's a kar-boo-ray-turr, get it right).

This one's off a 318 Fury so it's gotta be good. The dead spiders only assist.

Thanks for the offer on the car-buh-ray-turr (did I get that right?) Phil but if we have any more issues with our current one, I will be taking great pleasure in tearing it off and replacing it with a new shiny one. Maybe the addition of some dead spiders would help things on ours?

[wildrover]

May 24, 2021 19:07:17 GMT PhilA said:

You want a spare?



(It's a kar-boo-ray-turr, get it right).

This one's off a 318 Fury so it's gotta be good. The dead spiders only assist.

I don't think that will work, as far as I am aware those spiders are specific to the Fury... LAndy will need the uprated commercial spec dead spiders

[LAndy]

May 25, 2021 17:25:51 GMT wildrover said:

May 24, 2021 19:07:17 GMT PhilA said:

You want a spare?



(It's a kar-boo-ray-turr, get it right).

This one's off a 318 Fury so it's gotta be good. The dead spiders only assist.

I don't think that will work, as far as I am aware those spiders are specific to the Fury... LAndy will need the uprated commercial spec dead spiders

I'm going to assume commercial spiders are bigger?.. In that case I'll keep the crappy running carb!

[PhilA]

Same carb, yours is a 318? Or is it a 383?

The jetting on your carb is much more critical than in a car though, as you'll be spending much more time with the throttle fairly wide open due to the additional drag load of the bodywork.

Last thing you want it to do is run lean while you're on a steady 3 mile uphill incline and hole a piston because the burn is too hot.

Phil

[metalshapes]

Good point, PhilA.

Stick a Innovate Air/ Fuel ratio meter on it ,so you know...

[LAndy]

metalshapes and PhilA great idea! Though the EFI conversion has taken another step closer to purchase!
This bloody carb just refuses to work all the time!

So, yesterday we had a rather short day on the Cortez. Having previously measured all the belts and had them ordered in we found that because of the different sized alternator pulley width the belts we ordered were too long (Basically, when we replaced our dead alternator the pulley width was different so the belts didnt' seat correctly, hence new belts). Anyway, with the now correct (Just! An inch longer would have been better!) length belts in hand we set about installing them. This was easy going and soon enough we were ready to refit the radiator - Here we made a slight bo-bo but not installing the bottom radiator hose to the water pump before fitting the radiator but that was easily fixed.



The good news was that we could now finally go on a test drive!
We've not driven the Cortez since fitting the new shocks and we were excited to see how it would be different!

We refilled the radiator and fired up the engine to let the engine warm up and get any air out of the cooling system. It fired up great and ran sweet - If a little smokey - Burning off the oil from another wet compression test (Don't ask).

We both were at the front of the RV when the engine just kinda conked out! No fuss, just died... Great!
Quick check over and we had spark and fuel but when looking down into the carb I noticed that petrol was only coming out of one... er?... Squirter? Did a bit of checking other things with L turning the engine over occasionally with no luck!

SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I disconnected the accelerator and choke cables, unscrewed the top of the carburetor and started investigating. I did find a bit of crud in one area that was causing the blockage but I noticed that this bit... I am not sure of the name of it so it will be referred to as Stewart.



Well Stewart was stuck down, with a bit of a wiggle he came loose and popped back up. I messed with him for ages and got it moving a bit free-er but wasn't 100% convinced. With that done and eager to see if we'd actually made any progress I threw it all back together and hoped Stewart would behave.


L turned the engine over and it fired into life!



Before dying again shortly after.



Some precision engineering of tapping the carburetor with a spanner and L firing up the engine again saw it roar into life and continue to do so for the entirity of our test drive around the farm. So, the verdict.

Well, it certainly ain't a Rolls-Royce, sh*t it's not even Kia worthy but it's certainly more comforatble than it was and the squeeks have all disapeared too which is a bonus!

The next jobs include:

A good wash - It hasn't been washed in the near 2 years we've owned it
A good tidy inside - I'm not the back at putting stuff back where it's from!
New lower ball joint on the front passenger side
And the latest job that's been added is a new sump gasket because of this...



So we've already got this.



And this for good measure!




So plenty more to do!
Thanks guys!

Andy & L

[PhilA]

Stewart is your mixture needles assembly. That's pulled down by vacuum with the plunger you can see. Requires engine oil every engine oil change.

If they was stuck down, you'd be getting no fuel.

Phil