TF Corty Project

[Oscar of Markoz]

Hey People
Iam new around here but thought I'd post up my car. After seeing some of the cars on here, its not much, but hopefully one day will be able to cruise alongside some of the beasts around here and not be out of place.

History:
After owning 2 other TF cortinas, which were both riddled with rust, I found another 1 owner example. After some small talk with the owner I managed to get it cheap. The log books and Ford manuals were chucked in with it. Its a TF S Pac Cortina, auto with the air-con.
The interior was in great condition, air-con didn't work and had only 123,000kms. The suspension was wore and but otherwise this thing drove really nice.
And the major bonus, no rust. At all. After owning 2 I knew where to look. It was perfect.
I replaced the steering and suspension with my old items I had at home which were re-coed and modified (H/D lowered springs, whiteline swaybars etc). I put on a set of extractors and a Weber carb off a XE falcon. Replaced the diff with my diff which is an LSD with 3.45:1 ratio.
The car ran a 15.96, still with the BW auto.
After this, I had a really, really bad experience with a backyard panel beater/spray painter, which I don't want to mention as it just upsets me too much, SO DON'T ASK! HAHA!

Anyway, as of late, I have gotten back into it after a much needed break to calm down and replan things.
I have now mini-tubbed the car myself, by extending the standard tubs out to the chassis rail. I managed to gain enough clearance for a 265 tire and probably a 9" rear rim.
Iam making tutorials of all my steps now and putting them up on the ford cortina website. www.fordcortina.com.au

Here are a few pics
The day I bought it, at the previous owners house

After installing the said bits above (main difference is its lowered)



Progress:
I have bought a few bits which I'll keep to myself until I install them as its not worth mentioning. But the basic idea is to go turbo 6 and have a really nice streeter. But I do want things to be done to the best of my ability. So what I can do, I will.

Tubs


Rotisserie



DOH! I've found some rust. Its in the cavity where the seatbelt reel sits in the sill panel. I've managed to cut out the infected peices bar the sill section. Photos up soon.
I was really hoping the car was all clean.
On a good note, I managed to remove all the sound deadening inside the car. Hell of a job but I got it all done and now can see all the seams really well for further stitch welding to strengthen the car up as much as possible.

[Oscar of Markoz]

RUST!!!!
Its not much luckily.


Have to buy a sill panel section now and then weld that in along with a new made up support and replacement section for the lower part of the seatbelt reel housing.
This was caused by very badly fitted sill panel and rear wheel tub. The corner of these 2 sections has a triangle shape peice missing about the size of a 20c peice. The RHS luckily is perfect and completely sealed.

[MI69HT]

nice work mate keep the pics coming!!

[cycov8]

hey mate love the old cortina's
looks like ya doing a decent job with it on the rotisserie you a panel beater or something ???
but keep up the good work and as mi69ht said keep the pics coming

[noslx]

yeah keep us posted with the pics and it looks like your doin a pretty good job there

[simpson]

luv your work turning her upside down mate, i did the same thing with a torana. I'll find some pic;s and throw the up. Welcome to the forum mate

[bigred360]

welcome - love the rotisserie - what every home handyman needs.

Had a friend who had a TF with the 250 and a 4speed (ghia model I think) - used to frighten the crap out of me as it went bloody hard but would understeer off the road and braking was equivalent to backpedal brakes on a bicycle. Not sure if that was common but I'm sure you Cortina guys have got all that sussed out by now.

Keep the pics coming

[Oscar of Markoz]

Thats guys, I feel very welcomed already.

Cyco, not a panel beater mate. Just doing the undercarriage and prefer having a go at things myself 1st. I've learnt heaps so far over the years. Love your corty by the way, seen it at nearly every event I been too. Its really evolved.

Bigred, Yeah the old corty's aren't the best for handling. I got a Hoppers Stoppers kit which helps pull it up better already, along with rear discs aswell. Handling I'll work on abit, but the reality is that old design can't really be helped any further unless you change it completely. But I've learnt to put up with it and compensate for it in my driving style.

Thanks again for the kind words guys.

[Oscar of Markoz]

Small looking update but its actually a large one.
I remade the rusted sections of the panels that I removed. Welded them up and paint stripped with a stripper disc. I have since welded in the support panel and welded new nuts to the back of the seatbelt pocket ready for stitching into the car. The sill panel section that was rusted has been cut out and removed and the new section is now a perfect fit with about 0.5mm gap all round.

I was having trouble finding an underbody spray gun with an extension but managed to get one. I also bought the POR15 and some spare brushes to apply it on certain areas.
Tomorrow I'll be painting the support panel while its in there and then welding on the sill and seatbelt panel. If I have time, I'll POR15 the inside of the sills with 2 coats.
That will be it for the rust and I'll be able to start removing unwanted peices on the undercarriage of the car (eg, old jack points). I have to fix a section of my front crossmember which seems to have taken a hit and the steering rack mounting point on one side it not aligned correctly due to someone welding it back in crocked.
More pics of the replacement panels in place tomorrow, hopefully.

[Oscar of Markoz]

Ok, today I painted the POR15 onto the support panel for the seatbelt reel cavity. After than I tacked in the sill and seatbelt reel cavity panel.
I'll be welding them all in tomorrow and then hitting the sills with the POR15 inside.
Pretty happy with the results, considering I had to make some of those sections by hand.



That will be it for rust repairs, woohoo!