1965 Ford Cortina

With this new off-topic forum up I might as well share what I work on right now, a 1965 Ford Cortina.
It's a low mileage original paint car.

Since purchase I have installed a set of 6x13 inch Lotus style wheels, converted the front struts to coilovers with Bilstein inserts, Bilsteins in the rear, lowering blocks and some steel braided brake hoses.

Future plans involve a 2 litre 16V fuel injected engine and a 5 speed trans.


As bought.


And now.



Interior is pretty much perfect. Don't worry, does horrible floor mats are long gone.


Suspension upgrades.

 

Wow that thing is clean, what engine is it now?

Dan

 

It's a 1.2 litre with a whopping 54 horsepower.

 

My first car was a 66 cortina gt ...Got it when I was 13, wish I still had it ,they are impossible to find here now .

 

A Daimler Hemi would be cool in your car

 

Put a 1600 x-flow in it .
They're cheap to wake up and 130-140 hp is easy for a DIYer.

Run a 4.4 rear diff head from an Anglia Van [a bolt-in]
and a Sierra 5 speed transmission and Bellhousing. [you will need to convert the clutch to cable or use an aftermarket "rocket" or "Type 9" bellhousing.]
https://www.retroford.co.uk/product/anglia-cortina-to-type-9-bellhousing-a003/

All Ford Kent, SOHC, CVH, and ZETEC engines use the same block to bellhousing bolt pattern. [Lotus, FVA, BDA are Kent based]
If you sort the transmission out now ,any future engine swap will be easier.

A Zetec 2.0 can be disguised to look like a Lotus twin cam.

I had the same model car as yours but with the "perked up" engine option


And the period correct wheels for these cars are "Minilites"


I really miss my Cortina ! It was the most fun car I ever owned [I loved racing it in the rain where it would blow the doors off high horsepower racers]

 

@Mikko_

Mk4 -5 Cortina disc brakes are a bolt-on to early Cortinas
You get larger diameter discs, and the mounting lugs on the callipers are offset to allow for this

A tandem M/C from a Mazda E2000 van was a bolt-in [vertical bolt pattern]



Later for racing I switched to a smaller bore "stepped bore" M/C [this required a horizontal bolt pattern]
Mk 2 Cortina's had an adaptor to convert a vertical bolt pattern firewall to a horizontal bolt pattern Tandem M/C

I cut-n-shut the front LCA's and welded a 7/8" UNF bolt to them. Then machined up an alloy adjustable LCA with a L/H thread Heim on the inner. [camber adjustment was easy]

 

I'll be using a 2 litre Zetec (which I have) and a 5-speed Sierra Type 9 trans which I also have.

I have this bellhousing for it, to use the original Cortina slave cylinder.
Bought it from Retroford.


I appreciate your advice on the brakes, thank you.

 

Cool car!

 

I had one of those Cortina,s in Australia . Probably around 1973. Painted it True-Blue by hand. Every day another panel . Wider wheels on the rear were from a '63 Falcon ( same bolt pattern ).

 

Is that a brand name or ..? I saw a set that look like that for $200. I'm wondering if they're copies or Minilites.

 

Your Cortina reminds me of early 70s(?) Toyotas.

 

I wonder how narrow the Cortina wheels are and if Falcon bottlecap hubcaps fit.

 

You have plans underway

Another Brake trick [along with Mk4-Mk5 discs] is to use 4-pot callipers off an Austin Princess [1980 era]
These callipers bolt on to the Cortina Struts as a direct replacement.

The downside is trying to find a good usable pair

A side note Austin Princess cast steel callipers were made by "Automotive Products" or AP [they have the letters AP cast in them]

Be Careful of buying Genuine Minilites from the 60's , they are made from Magnesium and usually stress cracked to death.

Minilites is an actual brand but 50 years later it is referred to the style [original Minilites are still being produced from Alloy instead of Magnesium alloy]

Minilites have an incredible pedigree in Road Racing! Even in SCCA Trans-Am racing in the USA
Here is the Parnelli Jones Mustang



note: all Minilites have 8 spokes [some Replicas like Enkei's from Japan have 10 spokes on 15"s and 8 spokes on 13"s and 14"s]
Enkei's are a nice wheel , I wouldn't pass them up because they aren't genuine

 

Very cool! I’d never heard of a Ford Cortina until I watched them race around the Goodwood circuit back in 2011.

 

Thanks for all the comments and that you like the car.

@Kerrynzl Burton Power has new Princess calipers: https://www.burtonpower.com/new-4-p...ipers-pair-ford-escort-rs-capri-cal4potv.html

 

Those callipers are what you want.
Especially when you can use vented MK3 Capri discs.

I used Mk 4-5 calliper setup and got some "Performance Friction" 90 compound pads cut to shape .
I could almost stand the car on the headlights.

My Cortina was LHD [which is extremely rare in NZ] and one problem I faced was brake fluid boiling over onto the exhausts which caused a fire once. But I never had any stopping issues ever.

Your biggest issue with a Zetec is finding a suitable oil pan .
You will need a steel pan to cut in modify.

On my engines I built a trap-door baffle system inside. And the WINGED SUMP was donated off a Toyota 2LT Diesel engine
The swaged winged sump looked Factory




Note the lowered front mount for the sway bar. This created Anti-dive under braking

 

Retroford has me covered on the sump: https://www.retroford.co.uk/product/zetec-rwd-front-drop-wet-sump-blacktop-a002bt/

Quite expensive though.

 

Cool car like the old Datsun 210? I've had 3 Opel mantas the '71 rallye had a Weber ,2.5 exhaust with a header and a golden ram muffler . It sounded exactly like the old Honda 750-4 motorcycles that had a 4 in 1 header from kerker. No fart can sound. Had 13 x 6 vega gt wheels with br60 bfg tires and a 69 Camaro front spoiler cut down. Fun cars. This is not mine but they are still neat .

 

Those sound cool I looked at one for 16k a couple years ago but it was rough for that much money.

 

Minilites are cool beans! As mentioned vintage ones are for restorers, not road cars. They have been made by a number of companies over the years, I worked at one place that has their copies made in China, so pay attention to who's supplying them. They seemed to be good quality stuff, just be aware.
Being based in southwest USA, it wouldn't be the easiest choice for getting to Sweden.
https://www.vtowheels.com/shop/cate...trib=&attrib=8-49&attrib=&attrib=5-31&attrib=

 

First stick shift car I ever drove was my moms 66 Cortina GT! I was the ripe old age of 12

 

I love Cortinas, somehow one ended up in the little town I grew up in, unfortunately it was scrapped after a fender bender. Please post updates!

 

https://www.acmespeedshop.com/
Hap has some cool stuff as well as Minilites clones
Dan

 

I like Opels.
Never had a Manta but 3 Ascona (or 1900 as they were called in the US), very fun cars.

 

A SBC in a Manta A was a teenage fantasy of mine.

I've loved Minilites ever since my dad had a set on his Fiat 850 Coupé, c.1968.

I'm on some British car groups on FB, and I find myself repeatedly commenting, "Everything looks better on Minilites."

 

I was in auto tec for college and a guy in my class had an Opel gt with a Buick turbo V6 .

 

I started watching "Made In Dagenham" movie this morning About the woman striking at ford in England at the cortina factory.

 

Yeah, The T/A Challengers ran them too!
Also on the AMC in the back.

 

This is a better video
https://www.facebook.com/MotorSportRetro/videos/bscc-crystal-palace-1964/10154484096679782/

Mk 1 Cortina's [GT or Lotus] are insane fun to drive.
You can drive the crap out of them beyond the limits of tyre adhesion and still control them.

You drift them into a corner and "3 wheel" them out of a corner.
Racing in the rain with a locked rear on a bumpy uneven surface is even more fun.