1966 Mk1 Cortina GT

4 minute(s) of a 210 minute read

Thank you for the kind words.

After all the crawling around on the floor it was rather nice to sit at my bench and build the gearbox whilst drinking tea and listening to music!

I discovered the Elan 5 speed gearbox after getting the bits via an elan specialist, I've looked at photos of the box and it bolts directly to the engine which means it'll fit to mine. after that it should be an elan clutch and figure out the prop but worth thinking about. When I come to build the supercharged engine I had considered MX5 gearboxes as they're 10 a penny.

I have been tripping over the engine for the last year, it was strapped to a wooden board with some caster screwed to it so I could move it out of the way when I needed space but now was the time to sort it out!

The engine had run before I removed it but I hand't done a great job of the sump gasket and using the garage as a body shop plus moving the engine around had taken its toll - it looked rough. I have an engine stand and even now I can't work out how I lifted the engine onto it, on my own at 6:30am without making a sound or having a hernia!

My video on the engine

but I'll share some parts that weren't filmed

This was after I stripped everything off and masked off the mating faces.

The sump has a front bowl which is great for bashing against high kerbs or squirrels that haven't ducked in time!

It's not structural and it's not visible once fitted but knowing I could have fixed it and didn't would annoy me no end. With some heat, a percussion adjustment tool and colourful language the dent was significantly reduced.

When the Cortina was crafted in Dagenham the engines were painted green and from what I could see the paint suppliers debate of what shade that is so I had a bit of artistic licence and went with British racing green. I've kept the aluminium parts silver but used satin high temp paint to keep a consistent finish and the exhaust is painted in anthracite high temp paint to give the illusion it's not rusty.

I'll admit that I was impressed with what I had achieved - something I don't usually say about my work.

Things went rather quickly from here, I was fortunate enough to borrow an engine crane from work so not wanting to take liberties the engine was dropped back onto the ground so I could fit the flywheel and clutch, the gearbox was painted to match the engine and the next day they were mated. This was the saturday when Borris said we could visit people so long we kept our distance so I managed to do a socially distanced engine fit with the help of my father and Mrs. Jim making tea.

It was a fairly quick job but physically draining given the area and maintaining distance but communication was good. I was elated - I still am 3 weeks later I haven't had a functional engine and gearbox in the Cortina since Cadillac arrest in 2006.