Heatwave 76 Gina I got a Cortina...................

[8BAK465]

The chassis outriggers were like Play Doh on mine. Luckily it came with replacements.

Mine has what i was told a new outrigger in the boot

But it was way longer

After checking underneath the underseal is flaking off the outriggers but they had a dammed good smack from an MOT style hammer and though covered in flash rust seem rock solid

So upon checking out the part number it seems its a LH Chassis repair section (the longitudinal member that runs between both outriggers and front chassis legs.

not sure if LH is from drivers point of view or looking at car from front but neither are rotten

However the passengers side had two dents in it yet its still rock solid it looks like it was jacked up in the wrong place.

But it doesn't appear to have affected any strength so dont know really.

Once I have addressed the grot up top and stabilised it in a traditional banger fashion ill take a closer look.

Boy I am having far too much fun with this fine car

[8BAK465]

So another little update on progress with the photos getting more and more like a Hammer House of Horror production

So did i say there were a few holes here and there?

I am grinding back and loosing the metal but coating with Jenonite as I go along turn the rust a lovely shade of black

So the sills from what i can make out one good one bad

It doesn't look so bad here but this one has ventilation underneath and you can see the "structural" filler is starting to crack under the bit I removed



Will get a photo on the next roll of film

This I think stems from that dog leg at the base of the front nearside wing

I cleaned out the hole a bit after the departure of the breakaway filler separatist group



Wasn't much point of Jelonite it needs cutting out and replacing but you can just about see the end brace is still there and might clean up once the grot has been cut out?

The rear arch dog leg near the rear door on NS is holed but once cut out plated and levelled out with filler the rest is solid so has been drowned in Jelonite



Next the bottom of the rear door has some of this new fangled "Air Conditionong" like they have in Rolls Royces



Its only on low in the rear

But is switched on full blast in the NS front door





But its not all bad news I have found some surprisingly solid areas I was expecting to be crunchy

More about those areas later

[NorfolkNWeigh]

It’d be nice if you can get this finished for next summer , in time for its 15th birthday. You’ll be able to celebrate when we’re all celebrating the Silver Jubilee. Maybe respray it in Silver, that will be the colour of 1977, after all.

[8BAK465]

It’d be nice if you can get this finished for next summer , in time for its 15th birthday. You’ll be able to celebrate when we’re all celebrating the Silver Jubilee. Maybe respray it in Silver, that will be the colour of 1977, after all.

Yes I want to enjoy the summer next year not sure about silver though I quite like the white.
Hoping to have it running and driving before that though it may be with red lead wings and bonnet

[8BAK465]

So on it continues

I stripped off the paint to bare metal at roughly the height the rear bottom dog legs repair panels would come to and its lovely strong bright rust free metal so I then protected it with good old Jelonite



I didn't strip the base as far on the drivers side the minute a hole and filler appeared I knew it would have to go so why bother stripping it further when its getting cut out



So next I took off the grill and sidelight/indicator lights and started to grind down the bonnet.

As predicted it soon went into pin holes but compared with some I have seen it will do so I treated the rust and later will fill the pinholes and for good measure fill the strengthener bar with oil



It's pitted but still strong enough



It may look bad but at least I have slowed down the rust



Then after that I took down all those cracked paint areas on the front nearside wing to bare metal and though pitted in some areas still very strong and responded well to the Jelonite



And ive now removed the wing mirrors as the glass was all tarnished Might not put them back may upgrade to door mirrors as I sat in a relatives new Escort the other day and the view from door mirrors is so much better



The eagle eyed amongst you might notice I took off the side trim its all labelled and in the boot.





And last but not least I was advised to strip the paint from around the headlights here is the worst side



As you can see nearly perfect just one small pinhole



And unbelievable the other side was Perfect

No Rust,No Holes



I continue to do as much as I can each day but updates are slow as the developers are on strike that have my latest developed roll of film

Updates as I can though might have a few more pics from the old roll

Ta ra for now.

[8BAK465]

Last 3 from this 36 Roll

There's another being held ransom so more updates once I have got those back

So when the car arrived the Front Driver Door wouldn't lock or latch,Front Passenger would only open so far

Rear Passenger Door would unlatch but not let go and open

And Rear drivers Side was seized solid

One by one they have opened apart from the Rear drivers side well after prizing off the door panel which sadly broke its back board in the bottom corner getting it out with the door closed,peeling back the plastic behind and soaking the mechanism inside the door several times a day over a week and lying on the rear seat kicking the door my neighbour finally gave it the kick it needed,

And....................



Hoorah its open!



You might of noticed in the pics the boot lid was tied down to the bumper?

It was stored with the boot open which seized the lock solid

in the open position

So....

Its been removed and is in a jar or White Vinegar hopefully seeing the error of its ways
(only really took that pic to finish the film )



We will see.......................................

More next week hopefully? Chop Chop Boots where are my Photos

[8BAK465]

So what have I been up to?

Well as you all know after this heatwave all its done the last few weeks is Rain

I am not sayings its no welcome but though the emergency water trailers at the end of the street have now gone the hosepipe bans still remain

And her at number 49 she would grass up her own shaddow

So I have turned my attention to inside and the carpets.

To say they were shabby is an understatement!

Not sure where the rust is coming from but it was all over the under dash shelf when I removed it as well as on the carpet



And on the drivers side its threadbare.



And the back Isn't much better



I had to remove the seat belt base bolts the one on the nearside passengers side came out really easy but the one on the drivers offside took a mechanic down the road a socket on the biggest breaker bar he had plus an extra long metal tube over the end sticking out of the rear door and above the roof before it gave up



But the carpets are out now and photos will follow but in the meantime I got sidetracked and took out the heater

More to come

[mercrocker]

Not wishing to be an instructor of egg-sucking but that interior is gorgeous - you might want to store it elsewhere whilst prodding and poking with blunt instruments. Don't ask me how I know this, suffice to say I have a splendid irreparable gouge in my Cowley headlining (which couldn't be removed like the seats, sadly).

[8BAK465]

Not wishing to be an instructor of egg-sucking but that interior is gorgeous - you might want to store it elsewhere whilst prodding and poking with blunt instruments. Don't ask me how I know this, suffice to say I have a splendid irreparable gouge in my Cowley headlining (which couldn't be removed like the seats, sadly).

Sadly nowhere to put them right now but before anything major happens they will be removed.
There is one cut in the seats but it was already there.

They are nice the seats though but might be investing in some covers for next summer so i dont melt to them

[8BAK465]

So as I was saying I got sidetracked and upon finding there was rust leaking from the heater box thought it best to remove it

So took out the bolts disconnected the heater pipes from the in the engine bay and as it fell away from the inside of the plenum on the bulkhead then found I couldn't move it and it was jammed solid



Turned out the drivers side vent tube was trapped above the handbrake

So started to drop the handbrake the first screw come out second one had a rounded head

Dad kept telling me those Phillips headed screws were like the work of the devil and he didn't trust them and he loaned me a big flat head screwdriver and his junior hacksaw.

You need to cut a slot in it then it will come out with that screwdriver he enthused and he was right

But what a mess



I had to remove the blade from the hacksaw handle and sneak it though a gap I cut two slots neither in the middle and the second one did it

So then the heater could slide sideways to the passengers side but it was still stuck!

Turns out somebody (probably my Uncle Dick) had replaced a choke cable and routed it wrongly around the passengers side vent tube and through a gap in the middle of the heater box

So it was hanging up on that!

The choke was seized anyhow so I couldn't remove it from dash (ill worry about that later) so unhooked the other end from the Carburettor



Then removed glovebox liner and pulled it though



At last its Free



I think that will be a winter project to rebuild and refit