1966 Ford Cortina GT - Cortinas 2 Cortina 2022

I don’t think the double width /anti dive kits are mounted any further forward. The outer mounts bolt through the anti roll bar brackets into the same holes in the chassis rails. You could always weld the bracket on further forward to gain castor but it isn’t then adjustable and I don’t want to damage the shiny paint. I could be wrong on all this but I know on Escorts that use the double width kit in combination with a Twin Cam ARB to get the castor.

your thread is always a pleasure to read! so, did you get these parts at the NEC?

Spent Saturday at the NEC with good mate who came down from oop north. Picked up a few bits and pieces but not as much as I was hoping for. So got some side light bulbs on Sunday from good old Halfords.

Here's some pics from Saturday:


















I was hoping to find a replacement flasher unit - but I took a picture of the fuse box and I'm sure the black boxes are relays - not flasher units, so I'll have to delve deeper to find it.







In other news, Cortinawoman is likely to be joining me for part of the trip to Cortina, so I need to make the car a bit more civilised (to be honest the bare floor look is getting a bit tiring!) I'm thinking about Dynamat on the floors followed by underlay and carpet - but Dynamat seems to be rather pricey for what it is - anyone used any cheaper alternatives successfully?

thanks blackpopracing - I'll have a rummage behind the dash.

in case you still have the original part in the car, that´s how a genuine one looks and though it´s a MK2 pic, it should be in the same position on MK1. easier acces would be of course, when you remove the instrument cluster.

I had an evening tinkering with the Cortina, achieved a few things but found more of a problem. So, I painted the underside of the rear valance seam which didn't have much paint on it. Then I replaced the front sidelight bulb. So far so good. 😀
Tried the indicators and the front drivers side wasn't working. Replaced the bulb and all is well although I think they are flashing a bit fast.

Next I thought I could hear a rumbling/rattling noise from the alternator, when you lift off, possibly bearings? So I squirted each end with wd40 but no improvement. I thought I'd take the fan belt off to see if the noise went away and it did. Put the fan belt on but a bit looser and the noise was gone. So far so good!

So I thought I'd replace the dodgy fuse I thought was causing the lights to go out randomly. Easy, only it didn't fix it, the lights now only work when I wiggle a bit of loom coming out of the fuse box! Also, the electric fan seemed to hold off when I turned the lights off (could be coincidence), but it feels like an earthing issue to me. Oh how I love electrics!

Hi consul315 that's a blast from the past - I think I only went to one National at Combe Abbey, but have been to quite a few at Stratford.

Did you go on the last Cortinas to Cortina run in 2012, as we may have met!

Look forward to seeing you in Cortina

Cheers Cortinaman

Tuesday night, I had an evening of tinkering. Main task was to try and suss out the lighting issue.

So I pulled out the fuse box to get a closer look and see if there was anything obvious, and find which wire was causing the intermittent fault.




Handy that the wiring and location means I can pull it out without disconnecting anything! Nothing obvious yet -



One spade connector had a bit of bare wire - but it wasn't that.

After a bit of wiggling each wire to see when the lights went out or came on, I narrowed it down to one fuse - not the ones I had previously been looking at (they were nothing to do with the lights!).



The fuse was a little melted and it seems that the socket was a bit loose - new fuse and pinch of the socket with some pliers and all seems to work (touch wood).

you might be able to make a cone to stretch it over with plenty of lube, otherwise it's probably a case of slitting and superglueing it.