1966 Mk1 Cortina GT

6 minute(s) of a 210 minute read

That block helped me out no end, I now have plenty of spares which is great if anything goes wrong.

I have also acquired a 711M 1600 crossflow block and crank and an Eaton M45 for a rainy day project once the Cortina is roadworthy

I'll focus more on what's happened since 2016 as this was when the Cortina moved in with us officially!

To move the Cortina meant I had to get the shell rolling and placing the engine in situ - the engine bit was a bit redundant as it was stored in my Grans garage and we actually bought her house so I had moved it for nothing!

I stuck with the plan to not only build the engine up using its original carburettor rather than playing with the bike carbs that I had on a bench to avoid complications. I also wanted to replace the dynamo with an alternator because of the additional electrical loads I was going to add; the mechanical pump was toast and I figured I'd fit an electric fuel pump plus it allows for more carbs! An electric coolant fan because I intend to use the Cortina almost daily so will have to deal with traffic and H4 headlights for the same reason.

To do this I would need to add a fuse box because the Mk1 only has 1 fuse for the indicators! I'd also need a relays for the headlights, fuel pump and the coolant fan.

Alanis Morissette knows nothing about Irony!

Whilst working my way through the fuse box installation which was me having the Cortina fully wired up insitu, cutting a wire then extending it to the fusebox and returning it back to where it came from. It was a solid plan on paper because if it worked before it should work after but with a fuse.

In reality the side light was being problematic so I wiggled the wire, I heard a fizzing sound and then my fingers got very hot! I jumped back to watch the side light wire get incredibly hot and smoky - it was like watching a long dynamite fuse in an old western!

I managed to cut the power just as it made it's way into the dash wiring but it was toast! As ironic as rain on your wedding day!

This left me frustrated, I'm not an electrician by any stretch so I decided to speak to autosparks in Nottingham who are able to produce wiring looms and add the additional items I wanted. I rang them to discuss and we agreed on a price of £400 - £200 for a standard loom and another £200 to modify it - a bit strong considering the fuse box I bought from them was £10!

An hour later I was at their workshop to drop the loom off to be told that they've decided the drawings they have aren't up to scratch so they'll need to make new ones, so my loom will cost £800! any looms made after than would be the agreed £400 because they won't need to reproduce a drawing - so I was being coerced into paying their development costs! Needless to say I didn't take them up on the offer!

With a knackered loom and a ludicrous quote I thought I'd have a go at making my own loom. I ordered new wires in the correct colour and spec and made a cup of tea and slowly removed a wire from the loom and made a new one its place - I even used the correct uninsulated bullet connectors, it's as close to the original as anybody else would do it. All in all this loom fix was £100!

Being wary of how I ended up in this mess I used some old chipboard removed from our house that I turned into a pin board, if anyone is in my situation I'd recommend this - I used some old 90 degree racking brackets as earthing and simulate the loom till its all present and correct. It looks ropey but it worked!

Once satisfied this was transferred to the car.

I have recently pulled the loom out of storage but I'll get to that in a later post, those of you who are still awake after this - well done!