1968 Ford Anglia 105E saloon. Moth balled.

The first little job was to plate a hole in the chassis above the rear wheel which the previous owner had cut out and then forgot to plate.
The only way to get to it was to cut straight through the rear quarter.



Ken Bridges from the 105E owners club sent me a small section of van rear quarter that I used to fill the hole.An added bonus was that I could also re-locate the fuel filler by using the van panel.




The hole left by the original filler in the back panel will end up with a battery cut-off switch like on this Escort.

Next up are a couple of cars from off here which not only caught my eye but blew my mind.
The first needs no introduction and I believe the style would suit an Anglia down to the ground.



One thing that stopped me going this route was finding I still had a couple of litres of Riviera Blue paint from when I sprayed my old van.



Then some one posted this pic,thank you,whoever you were.



Like oh my God!!! That is beyond stunning imho and I want. ;D
So that is now my main inspiration for my Anglia although as a nod to the Hot Rod Anglias the roof will be metallic black as well as the wheels and mirrors.Probably.

The Anglia came with Mk2 Cortina front struts already fitted which is the way to go for better suspension and disc brakes.However they need modifying to get the correct geometry which mine hadn't which is why it looked a little bow legged from the front.

First off I fitted a pair of Escort eccentric top mounts,which I had bought for my Rickman but never fitted,these helped a little.
Next I wanted a pair of Milton TCA's to sort out the bottom of the struts but at the time Kevin,(he is Milton) was ill in hospital so I had no choice but to make my own.
First I bought a pair of Anglia TCA's off the Bay and cut them in half.



I was given the length of the modified ones by a mate so then I lengthened mine to siut and welded them together again.



They were then given a lick of satin black,fitted with poly bushes and Bob's your uncle.Ok,so they're not adjustable but when I did have adjustables on my old van I never did adjust them once they were fitted.

Wheels???

Although I like Minilites I didn't want to use them because it seems like they're everywhere so I decided to go for some 7 x 13" RS alloys.



But this year they have been re-manufactured and now you can get them from loads of different places from as little as £295 a set and now they are flavour of the month which has kind of put me off.

I wouldn't mind a set of ATSs but would have to mess about with pcds of either the wheels or the hubs and don't really want to go there.



I found these on Compomotives website last week and they are 8 x 13" and 4 x 108mm so would fit right on but I expect they would be a lot of money but my God they are sexy.Would need to be re-sprayed metallic black though to fit in with my scheme.



Oh well!!! for now I'm putting on a set of 7 x 13" Compomotive MSs, that I've borrowed off my mate Neil,fitted with 165/65 x 13" tyres and painted Metallic black,they'll do till I make my mind up.




I could bore you all stupid with some of my half-assed ideas but for now I'll leave it there.
I'll update now and again as and when I get stuff done.

Right,now where was I?
After cutting my struts in two it was now time to stick them back together again.Using the Capri inserts as a guide I worked out how tall I needed the strut bodies to be and removed the required amount,which luckily also removed the original spring seats,and that left me with a nice straight tube which I welded back together. I slipped over the threaded coil over conversion leaving 30mm at the top and welded that on and then sealed the threaded tube with seam sealer just for good measure.



I decided that while I was at it to "wedge" the struts as well for a little added strength as they are almost 40 years old and will have to put up with a lot more power,far better brakes and much improved handling.Hopefully



Etch primered.



Satin blacked.



Then final assembly.



For a first attempt at such jiggery pokery I'm over the freakin' moon with how they've turned out. ;D

Quick question, what holds the strut inserts in? Are they threaded at the top and screw in? If so I take it you used the tops off the old struts? Can't quite see what you have done there.

brilliant ;D

i love seeing the work being done more than i like seeing the end result , keep it up

Hi Jonny,

If you look at this pic you can see that I cut the struts right underneath where the spring seats are brazed on.The insert is fully home in the strut so you can see how much of the internally threaded top part I need.
I roughly hacksawed through the old spring seat and then carefully cut the top 70mm of internally threaded tube to weld back on.I then clamped the strut and the short top piece together using a piece of angle iron and a couple of jubilee clips to keep them square and tacked them together before running a weld round them.Then a quick linish and the coilover threaded tube was slipped over them and welded 30mm down the strut as can be seen in the next pic.




Hope this helps.

I wanted to add a strengthening gusset to the steering arms I cut down, just to be on the safe side, so I made a little template out of a bit of card and using an angle grinder shaped a piece of steel to suit.




Then I put the arm in my vice and welded the gusset in.



Hacksawed it down to size.



And Robert is indeed your mothers brother ftw. ;D