Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

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Guy Croft
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Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

Here are some shots of Cyril McMullen's Cortina being 'reconstructed' at Wellingore Garage. Cyril drove the car over from Belfast earlier in the year for a new (GC) engine. The unit is on shown on hot-test on my Youtube channel GC1438.

The suspension rebuild is finished apart from new rear springs and includes rebuild front struts, new front springs and adjustable rear dampers, uprated front anti-roll bar, those parts supplied very ably by the Lotus Cortina Spares Center in Crewkerne.

Here the engine is sitting on its mounts so that I can discuss placement of the oil system accessories, carb linkage, fuel regularor and other parts. The unit will get a new sealed alloy airbox with short rampipes - it did not have any on the previous setup.

G
Attachments
CM_car (9).JPG
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CM_car (7).JPG
CM_car (7).JPG (515.07 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
CM_car (8).JPG
CM_car (8).JPG (504.88 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
CM_car (6).JPG
CM_car (6).JPG (572.48 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
Weber twin-cable linkage fitted thru bulkhead.
Weber twin-cable linkage fitted thru bulkhead.
CM_car (5).JPG (75.6 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
bags of room anyway!
bags of room anyway!
CM_car (1).JPG (474.9 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
all-important electric pump to replace the old mechanical one.
all-important electric pump to replace the old mechanical one.
CM_car (2).JPG (76.41 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
Cyril's engine just prior to test
Cyril's engine just prior to test
IMG_5316.JPG (618.18 KiB) Viewed 13042 times
Guy Croft, owner
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

Let me know if those photos are unmanageably large please...!

G
Guy Croft, owner
badlyworntoy

Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by badlyworntoy »

Mk1 Sportinas turn me funny....very nice!! Oh and It does have a Hillman Avenger steering rack as I suspected.

I
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

thanks Ian

I was wondering about that. Is that a good thing?

G
badlyworntoy

Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by badlyworntoy »

Not particularly,Like I said its just a lot easier and slightly more cruder way of doing it...its the way it was done more often in the 70's/80's. These days folk tend to want to use all ford parts as they tend to drive a lot better this way (feels like an Escort),This involves using custom crossmembers shortened Capri or Escort racks and hacking up the strut tops to get the geometry correct as you have to use Capri 2.8i or RS2000 struts and various other modifications to get it all working. You wouldn't get much change out of £1500 just on parts doing it this way these days!

Remember the 3 significant things to happen in the late 60's
1 Man went to the moon (suposedly)
2 Kylie Minouge was born
3 Ford started manufacturing cars with rack and pinion steering (MK1 Escort)

I suppose at least with the Hillman/Talbot rack its easily converted back to steering box without any disturbance to the bodyshell and with the prices of MK1 Lotus and GT's rocketing out of most peoples budgets,the option of converting them back to steering box will probably add yet more valuen to cyrils Cortina.
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

Thank you very much for your helpful & expert reply Ian.

G
Attachments
new Racetech instruments....
new Racetech instruments....
IMG_5750.JPG (85.91 KiB) Viewed 12935 times
16mm rampipes for the alloy airbox we are making
16mm rampipes for the alloy airbox we are making
IMG_5749.JPG (79.74 KiB) Viewed 12935 times
Guy Croft, owner
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

wrong rampipes of course, my fault entirely, it's so long since I fitted an airbox...

Some update pics attached. Car is over at Lance Pritchard of OJZ Engineering, one of the top names on my short list of exhaust system fabricators.


http://www.ojzengineering.co.uk/page.php?page=101

GC
backplate way too thick & heavy ...doh no.1!!
backplate way too thick & heavy ...doh no.1!!
would not clear linkage.JPG (135.28 KiB) Viewed 12824 times
Attachments
airbox just fits but had to be relieved to clear the bottom-mounted Weber linkage...doh no.2!
airbox just fits but had to be relieved to clear the bottom-mounted Weber linkage...doh no.2!
CM airbox final (1).JPG (112.85 KiB) Viewed 12824 times
backplate had to be machined to give full engagement of the nyloc nuts that hold the PROPER rampipes in place ...doh no.3!
backplate had to be machined to give full engagement of the nyloc nuts that hold the PROPER rampipes in place ...doh no.3!
CM airbox final (3).JPG (103.39 KiB) Viewed 12824 times
world's most expensive airbox now ready to fit ...
world's most expensive airbox now ready to fit ...
CM airbox final (5).JPG (78.95 KiB) Viewed 12824 times
CM airbox final (4).JPG
CM airbox final (4).JPG (102.13 KiB) Viewed 12824 times
there is so little room betw the box and the inner wing I had to figure out a way of making it so that it could be bolted to the carbs in-situ - so it has a removable one-piece top/face panel held by a simple fastener array
there is so little room betw the box and the inner wing I had to figure out a way of making it so that it could be bolted to the carbs in-situ - so it has a removable one-piece top/face panel held by a simple fastener array
CM airbox final (2).JPG (103.63 KiB) Viewed 12823 times
Guy Croft, owner
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

few little updates as of today..

G
Attachments
airbox going on
airbox going on
IMG_5974.JPG (528.92 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
sealed off and awaiting ducting and filter
sealed off and awaiting ducting and filter
IMG_5981.JPG (102.63 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
OJZ header to GC spec 3ft 4-1
OJZ header to GC spec 3ft 4-1
IMG_5976.JPG (576.87 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
discrete single exit with a bit of cosmetic welded to the rear AX891 NHRA spec silencer
discrete single exit with a bit of cosmetic welded to the rear AX891 NHRA spec silencer
IMG_5977.JPG (540.94 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
car back on her wheels after total suspension rebuild & upgrade
car back on her wheels after total suspension rebuild & upgrade
IMG_5979.JPG (99.43 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
merge collector
merge collector
IMG_5990.JPG (98.21 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
the right coolant elbow now fitted with cambelt cover. Cooler and stat also visible.
the right coolant elbow now fitted with cambelt cover. Cooler and stat also visible.
IMG_5986.JPG (109.55 KiB) Viewed 12752 times
Guy Croft, owner
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

up at the garage half the day today doing the in-situ startup on Cyril's car, some footage on Youtube channel 'Guy Croft ' (now in my own name)

GC
Attachments
underside view of OJZ system and new adjustable dampers, dual AX891 silencers which work really well
underside view of OJZ system and new adjustable dampers, dual AX891 silencers which work really well
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IMG_6128.JPG
IMG_6128.JPG (486.67 KiB) Viewed 12610 times
Guy Croft, owner
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

no nice comments/questions for poor old Crofty then??!!

G
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Urbancamo »

We are all stunned by the quality of this build! Questions cannot be easily made..

Only thing I can ask, does box-shaped airbox work well when it comes to flow characteristics? Some say corners must be rounded etc. but I want to hear your opinion because you know exactly what you do.

All I can say, this is a real nice project. And really nice to see some other engines in these cars instead of those Ford Kents, Lotus Twincams and so on. Some driving footage from outside would be nice when the time is correct. We all want to hear Twincam sound.
Last edited by Urbancamo on August 23rd, 2012, 12:22 pm, edited 4 times in total.
GC_25
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by TomLouwrier »

Sure, I'll bite.

Real nice car and a very good installation.
It just strikes me as ehm... well... peculiar that the car reads Ford Motor Company, while in fact the Motor is a Fiat.
I can certainly see the value in a well engineered build, art for art's sake so to speak. It is just that these cross brand grafts (call them frankencars, call them mongrels) do not really 'have it' for me. Especially this early model Cortina has quite a pedigree on it's own with either a Ford or Lotus engine. Surely it wouldn't need a Fiat one? (though that is the better machine of course ;-) )

regards
Tom
GC_29
Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by Guy Croft »

thanks guys!

Tom you have a fair point. I would not necessarily offer up a Fiat TC to a Ford, it just happened to have one already albeit a rather tired old one. I would add however that it's by no means a first I have made engines for all Ford Escorts right up to transverse Mk3 including notably the one in my new book for Barry Ryan - though I heard it ingested something catastrophically and got 'pulled'.

Cyril the owner of this one is President of the Northern Ireland Italian Car Club and has a Fiat Samantha with a GC engine too, so a 'fan' of what I do.

The reality is - up to a point - I have to place commercial considerations (!) above authenticity quite often and personally think the pedigree of the TC units stands well in almost anything.

G
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by TS131Volumex »

Here , here .
Simply a stunning engine in a stunning car .
And , no doubt , there is an equally stunning Fiat powered by an equally ( or ' close to ' ) stunning Ford lump floating about somewhere .
If these things are done properly , as this is , the diversity can only make things more interesting . There are still endless premium authentic versions of these classics all over the place not to have to worry on that front for a long time .
Matt .
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Re: Ford Cortina MkI - Guy Croft Twincam installation

Post by 4v6 »

What to say?

A thing of beauty indeed Guy.
So simple in the bay compared to todays cramped and overcomplex stuff, wish they were all like this.
Not to mention the vehicles styling and presentation, todays stuff just looks stale in comparison to the breath of fresh air these dated "old uns" impart.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
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