show me: mk5 cortina estates?

My old wagon...Its still out there and taxed.

I converted the fronts (and rears on they way) to coil overs on my mk3, you can find the thread through my profile if your interested to read. I know the coiover won't affect the front suspension geometry and therefore tyre contact patch however it does give me ride height and damping adjustability as well as a massive range of spring rates to choose from which can easily and cheaply be changed. I want to run a low cortina that handles, I know it's goi to be a bit of work to get it right and probably involve new wishbones on the front and 4 linking the rear. I'm also running 15's so should be able to run a slightly higher ride height wihilst maintaining the lows! Just need to get round to finishing it now!

Have you ! sweet !!
she was starting to go crusty at the rear ends of the sills but was pretty solid, how is the old girl now? still sideways at every wet roundabout ;D, not very powerfull but enough low down to get the oot

I always laugh when people talk about the TC like it was a muscle car, an it happens a lot with the locals. Someone even goes as furtheras sying that they handle great with the rear jacked and the front lowered, but they are clearly clueless....

So anyway, ownin a Taunus on hydraulics , which is just like a 'tina but with diffrent body panels, and having fiddled with the suspension in every possible way, or almost, i can give you some insight.
First and foremost, if you expect sports car performance you simply wont get it. If you want a responsive car ( the fact that youre plannin on a DOHC conversion leads to believe so) with decent handling it can be done.
All that Bortaf said is true, but if you only want a cool cruiser with the aformentioned characteristics its all good.

Then, poly bushings. In my experience they suck! They are the worse possible choice for adjustable suspension as they are too stiff and don't cope well with the rising and lowering, so much that i switched back to rubber for the most. The bushings on the rear upper arms squeak so much that it seems that the car will fold like a wallet everytime i take off, and althou WD40 kills the squeak completely they are the next ones to go.
In my experience they seem to work better on the front arms, possibly because they are only working on one plane, as opposed to the rear, but this is only a theory i have.
As far as lows, i'd go as far as the ball joints allow, followin the same rule as above, so if you just want a "nervous" cruiser. I don't mean on they're limit as that would result in catastrophic failiure, but i'd leve as little travel as possible in reletion to how stiff the suspension set up will be. The best thing would be to swap them with BJs with more reach, but being that there is zero aftermarket for these cars finding, them is a mission on its own.

I personally drive very low, i set up the hydraulics to bottom out at the very end of the BJs travel, and before taking off i hit the switch veeeeery little. If you check my build thread imagine the car a inch higher up front. thats how i usually drive with no problems wwhatsoever. Consider that i don't abuse it at all, but its not like I'm alwys looking out for potholes and stuff, also cause the way i set it up handles and feels better than stock.

The rear....SUCKS! LOL You cant lower it too much, or the driveshaft will hit the tunnel, and/or the pinion U-joint will snap or at least cause scary vibrations. For the first 2 years that i owned it i drove around with hacked springs, the rears were only 3 turns LOL, infact i often had the driveshaft hittin if i encountered too deep of a pothole! Once one of the coils got stuck sideways, i can tell you the fun to set it back straight...i ended up securing them by welding a piece of tubing on the bottom in which to slide the coilend into.
The joys of inexperience wouldnt trade that experience with anything. I learned so much by fcukin it up badly its prtty unbelievable.
To lower it a respectable amount properly anyway, you need to rise the driveshaft tunnel right under the rear bench and leghten the upper trailing arms, althou i have yet to leghten them so i don't know how much. I can speculate that 2" should be enuff, but I'm making them adjustable just to stay on the safe side. I drove for years with the carrier bearing rubber bushing torn, and that allowed for more lows without the U-joint binding, but when i swapped the whole driveshaft assembly last summer i was left unble to do so anymore...
The brakes are curse word. True story, but they are also fine if once again you only need a kool cruiser. Of course new everything wont hurt.
Its not a pretty picture i know, but these cars arent very well engineered to be totally fair. I can easily say that compared with other Fords of the era were probably the worse. I still love them of course in a masochistic way...
Now get to work andshow us a beige slammed wagon!

Not sure how I missed this thread considering I used to have one. There's also a lot of beige going on, but that's great as mine was beige too!

I bought mine off eBay years ago, had a mate weld up a couple of bits and bobs resulting in the rear suspension becoming part of the car again, which is always a bonus. Then I dropped a five-speed box in it and put it closer to the ground via some lowering springs and some shiny new Spax dampers. it was a lovely old thing, not sure why i sold it to be totally honest.

Have some pics...

Before lows...



After lows...



Pre-new suspension comedy cornering shot...



Some more shots...






This was the day I collected it...



It was a wonderful old thing. A lovely 2.0 Pinto lived under the bonnet, so it shuffled along nicely and it was pretty mint. It lives on, I believe, but the last time I saw her, she was looking rough. That beautiful roof had been pulled off with the once hidden metal crudely painted black. I feel I really let that car down.

Interestingly, the lowered springs came from a man in Swindon whom I featured in Classic Ford. He's building a MkV 'tina wagon and I have to say, it's a work of art...



Lovely fella who goes by the name of Mike. He's an incredible fabricator, as can be seen by the car he's building. Full custom chassis, V8, two-door conversion. It's a labour of love for Mike, and one that'll be done when it's done and not a moment before. Check out his website (including the feature I did) HERE!

Chris

That last one is the finished version of the one at the bottom of page 2. Owned by a mate of mine in Rugby