Oscar of Markoz

Thought I'd share a project I'm working on for a customer. See it here at https://www.facebook.com/ToughGarage

"On todays episode on Australian Cortina ....." Ok, work around home has been very busy since starting up Tough Garage. Been doing a heap of work on a MK2 Escort. It pays the bills (for the cortina) so no use complaining. But I did manage to get some tedious work out of the way and that was to full weld and smooth the turbo merge collector. After Tig welding and MIG welding to fill in small area and then deburring it all, I have a finished product and it looks awesome. I welded all the inside joins and smooth them off and all the outside also, then made some clearance for the bolts and nuts that go through the flange. Took alot of time, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Now, I can move onto full welding of the rest of the turbo manifold. I managed to get a mate who works at Plasmaman, to help out with a custom fuel rail as modding the one I had turned to **** and I wasn't 100% happy with it.

Hey mate, have a look over these that I did for a TE. I folded the chassis lip up so you don't need to cut the lip, stronger and less cutting of standard metal. If your in Sydney and are interested in getting them done, let me know and I'll give you some details. They take about 4 days to get done and so far everyone has been happy with the price. https://www.facebook.com/ToughGarage

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ......" Did some more work on the intake manifold. Firstly I wanted to remove the brackets and bungs that were cut or molded into it. I'll put some bungs for vacuum lines etc later into the back of it, so its much neater for plumbing. So what I did, I cut the peices off with the grinder and then shaped and used those peices as plugs to plug up the holes. It worked a treat. Yes it was tedious work, but its the same material so I though it would work best. I just welded the top of it close to the surface and then filed them smooth. I then decked the ends of the runners that meet up to the injector manifold. I got some 80g emerycloth and nail it to the bench, then spray it with WD40 and then pushed the manifold back and forth along it. 4 hours later, I finally had a decked set of runners. Dead flat now and butt up perfectly. I decked the injector manifold while I was at it. Did some porting of the runners as due to being cut into so many peices, they had overlaps and all sorts of stuff. Using a combination of the allow burrs and the metal burrs, along with an extension for the die grinder, I finally got some decent results, I think! 6 hours in this one. OOFT! And this is what it looks like now. I did some work on the fuel rail also, but I'll go into more detail later after I get the bungs for the ends put on etc. Next I'm going to pressure test the manifold, just in case, and then see if I can get it flow tested at RPM Motorsport with Steve. I might need to make the throttle body elbow first, but I'll see what he says. Also finish off the fuel rail.

Hey guys Just wanted to know what the XE XF fuel rail is made from? Is it metal that's coated or is it stainless steel? Thanks

Oh ok, I get ya. Yeah, not 100% sure I'm going to be running E85 yet. I will need to get the rail recoated in something as I'm welding on it, so that could sort that out. Thanks for the info guys.

Whats Hygroscopic fuels?

Hey Guys, just a warning. Recently bought a ebay radiator through a seller called Winner Racing (yes from China). Item arrived and it doesn't fit in the car at all. They gave me terrible after sales support to the point that wanted me to modify the radiator to make it fit. Cracked me up. So please be aware of these guys. Since its $110 to send the stupid thing back and Paypal only cover $45 of it, it looks like I'll have to end up keeping it and getting it modified to fit. Not happy Jan!

Hmm, that's an idea. So the clear binds well then to the metal?

I want to paint the surface also, in like either a satin black or silver. Not sure yet. So I think the paint would get rid of that casted look. And if I sandblast it and leave it raw, I think it'll be hard to maintain clean etc. Hmmm, dunno

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ....." Finally got around to welding up the intake runners and filing them back. They still need more sanding and alittle shaping etc, but are pretty good. Getting the hang of welding cast alloy is alittle tricky but it all came good in the end. It was a matter on knowing my machine as much as knowing the technique. So I filed and sanded the welds back to make the runners resemble something from factory. I'll smooth them and the plenum and injector housing so they'll all match and look nice. Alot of crap comes out of the cast when you weld it, so it tend so get pinholes and stuff. So I would weld, file and then reweld to get it as good as possible. You can see in the last photo it comes quite close to the battery cover, so I'll make a recess area in the cover so it clears alittle better. Now I just need to deck some of the faces, mainly runners to plenum and them the other end and also the injector housing, just to make sure all the surfaces are perfect and then pressure test it all. Once thats done, I'll start on the recess of the battery cover and then tig welding the turbo manifold.

Thanks bear351c. Much appreciated

Yeah, I've got the thread going on a couple of different forums. Looks like yours went everywhere mate. Good stuff

"On todays episode on Australian Cortina ...." My TIG's HF start shit itself so I took it for repairs under warranty. They used up replaceing the whole machine, looks to be a slightly upgraded one too. Anyway I ran out of gas and so went out and bought my own bottle as I was sick of paying the BOC rental fees. But I bought it for the MIG as I thought I might as well start the firewall cover plate. So I had to make up a few bucks from wood and then basically clamped and hammered and dollyed till I had the swage looking as close to the original firewall plate as possible. But this time of course it covers the whole firewall not just 1 3rd of it. I made it drop down in the centre and sits in across the top lip, a depth of 15mm all round. So I had to make up a bracket with a rivnut in it and spot welded it on to the firewall. This holds the plate out at the correct depth all the way around and lets me screw a bolt in at that spot also. Curving the panel slightly all the way around was the hardest part as after its got the swage in it, its quite strong, but slowly slowly I manage to curve it correctly. Now I'm going to buy my own ARGON bottle to have also and I'll get back into the intake manifold.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." Ok, so finally slowly, slowly, getting the hang of TIG welding Aluminium. Tricky stuff, especially on this cast shit. Lots of crap comes floating out the top of the pool. But I managed to finally find a setting that its happiest at for now. Getting some decent welds on the intake runners of the EFI manifold that I cut up a while back. Also got some aluminium carbide burrs to make porting them out a breeze. So what I would do it tack 1 half onto the base of one side, acetone it clean, then full weld it, then port it smooth. Then do the other half and base, full weld and port. Then weld the 2 halves. So the centre join of the 2 halves is where I need some long stem burrs. So I'll burrow some off my mechanic once I'm at that stage with all the runners. TIG was going well till the HF start shit itself, luckily its still got warranty. And I'm out of gas anyway as my new joins off the reg where leaking. DOH! You live you learn. Next up, finish this manifold, try to pressure test it and then start on the turbo manifold.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ...." I finally finished the battery cover. Well just a few more areas need rewelding to fill up some holes, but otherwise done. I made the whole thing from sheet metal, folding and shapeing as I went, using cardboard templates helped somewhat also. Constant measure and remeasure of the original to get the right heights and slopes etc. Using a tool I made to get the swageing right and trying to replicate the originals swages in the same places. I also made the lip just like the original to make it look like the battery covers lip is the original, but really the original is under it. I made up some brackets out of sheet metal also and put some rivnuts in them to secure the cover to. Theres one towards the centre of the firewall on the lip, then one on the back of the firewall on the curve and another behind the bonnet hinge bracket. So they'll all technically be hidden. Either by the Firewall plate that I have to make up, the engine itself or the bonnet bracket. It was by far the hardest thing I've done on this car so far but I'm very happy with the end result. I'll have to make a recess of some sort for the intake manifold but I'll work that out once I've tacked up the intake manifold together. That could also cause issues getting it in and out, but I'll see how I go when I get to that. Its a battery cover after all, so should only need to come off when changing batteries. Next up, the firewall plate and tacking the intake manifold together and full welding the exhaust manifold.

Getting there, more shapeing and trimming left to be done. Also have to make some clearance here and there for the intake manifold and also to allow the cover to hug the firewall better where the swages are. Sits funny in the photo cause its got no mounting brackets made up yet so it just sags instead of staying in its spot.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." Just a short update. I've been flat out with house renos to keep the missus happy and the old job for mates here and there. But now I've done them and started on the Battery Cover. Its basically mirroring the other side of the firewall. Alittle tricky as I don't have a swageing machine, but I managed to make it work. So far its turning out really nice. Still got a fair way to go though. Will update again once its completed

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..... " Have been busy doing some house reno's to keep the missus happy and so production is on pause with the cortina. Had I small gap while the wife couldn't decide on ceiling lights and so I grabbed it and did alittle more on the car. I started making the round edging for the firewall extension on the LHS. I used some old brake line and bent it up. But then I noticed the bonnet hinge brackets are different shapes and wouldn't have looked very good at all if I left them that way. So I started measureing and cutting and welding and this is what I ended up with. Original hinge RHS hinge I was copying. I had to fill in a strengthening hole that was in the centre to make it look the same as the one I made. It would have been too much work to replicate the strengthening hole. New hinge bracket Edging for new firewall extension. Next up, I'll continue on with the firewall extension to finish that up. It'll be a cover for the battery and probably house the wiper washer bottle also. But that'll be after I finish the reno's. DOH!

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." I had an old XF Falcon EFI manifold sitting around and always wanted to use it, but didn't like how the TB faced the exhaust area and that the plenum basically sat on top of the rocker cover. So I decided to face the TB towards the opposite side, the only problem is the runners curl up and over towards the original side. So after finding a nice place for the plenum to sit, I started cutting down the runners and joining them back up again. I cut them at the flange ends and then would check to see which sections of the runners would suit which bends. There were 3 different bends which all needed to be made twice for all the runners. The ones furthest apart had to bend more, whereas the ones closer to the centre needed less bending. It was really tricky work, but I got there in the end. I just need to TIG it all up now. I'll place a 90 degree elbow on the TB plate area, so that the TB then faces forward. I'll port all the runners to get the joins all flowing nice and maybe even place a air divider in the plenum just after the elbow incase it doesn't distribute air efficiently. Next up, I think I might put the Intercooler in and start mocking up the cooler piping.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." After making the exhaust manifold and see how little room the big old starter motor left me with, I started looking into seeing if any other starters would suit that were smaller. Turns out (after receiveing plenty of great info from xfalcon and cortina central members) that the FG 6 cyl starters are the go and much smaller. Smaller and Lighter of course. With just some minor cutting of the housing to allow it to fit. Plus I'm sure its got more power than the old one ever did. All for just $70 2nd hand. Love it. Now I've got plenty of clearance forward. I just need to give the firewall a small tap as its just got 5mm clearance to the side of the solenoid. But no big deal. Next up, mocking up a new EFI intake manifold and plenum.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." Many moons ago I bought all the gear I needed to make up my own exhaust manifold for the turbo. It came with a quickly made and tacked together merge collector, a turbo flange, multiple 45's and multiple 90's in 2 different sizes and a long peice of pipe to suit, which was maybe a metre long. I got it all through Turbo Exhaust out at Smithfield. I recently bought a header flange from Liverpool Exhaust/Hurricane which is all laser cut and a really nice peice. The one that Turbo exhaust supplied was a 2 peice job which was better suited to extractors. So I first fixed up the merge collector as I wasn't overly happy with it and the gaps weren't tight enough. Then it was a matter of starting the jigsaw puzzle which is the turbo manifold. Alittle cut here, a little cut there, grind here, grind there, weld this on, weld that on. And after 2 and a half days, it was all tacked together, ready for full welding. Just a word of advise, your better off starting from the furthest point and wokring your way back in, the last one was a real tricky bugger. The turbo I bought many moons ago also, its a GT35/40 by Garret which I bought from GCG Turbos. Its rated at 700hp. NICE! Next up, I'll probably start either routing cooler piping or work out engine pulleys and alternator options etc.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..." I decided to make up a set of my own engine mounts as I've seen some break on these things and didn't want it happening. So I bought some 5mm plate and started shaping things to mount to the standard chassis rail locations and also the engine locations. Once I had made the plates it was time to measure up the stems which are 5mm square tubing with 4mm round tubing on the ends. I bought a set of Super Pro bushes which suited the size of the tubing perfectly. Further careful measurements and then put the plates in place to start setting them up and tacking them in place. Although I was able to do most of the measurements while off the car using the old mounts. I had to make clearances for the bolts that mount the engine plates and the plate sat nearl over the top of the bolts. But it worked out well. I also made the LHS mount as the blockoff for the fuel pump hole in the block. On the steering shaft side I have much more clearance now too. Next up, time to start on the turbo manifold. YESSSSS!!!

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ...." I made a new battery tray after I had removed the previous one which was rusty and not in the best spot. I made a half box from the same thickness sheet metal as the firewall and then started cutting till it fit in the firewall. Its all welded in and grinded back and smoothed, so it sits like one peice. I had to remove a small section of firewall from under the LHS guard area so the battery tray would drop down far enough and still be big enough for the battery. I'll give it a coat of sound deadener later Also at the other end there is a brace made into the firewall, I notched it and then plated it back over to keep its strength. In the battery tray I made the holders for the battery clamps. And the whole lot is painted in Epoxy 2 pac which I just brushed on, but I'll give it a blow over once I'm actually preparing the bay to paint. It doesn't cut into the cabin side any more than the old air con unit used to. I'll later make a cover plate which will be the same shape as the RHS of the bay and that will make it look symmetrical. Now onto making some new engine mounts and dropping the motor back in to start making things up like turbo manifolds etc. Exciting!

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ...." I managed to reverse mount the wiper motor with the help of my mate Norm. He sent me a few photos and info on his setup and it helped heaps as I was over thinking things and wasn't sure at first exactly how the motor actually worked. I was thinking that it turned one way and then turned the other way, but it just spins in one direction, so once I knew that, it was all good. I took some measurements and cut a hole for clearance to allow the wiper motor to sit behind it normal position. I then made a plate to mount it again but now further back sucken into the firewall in a way. I measured the old centre point of the motor and made it the same spot on the new plate. I angled it roughly the same (doesn't have to be exact as the pivot points work on all axis like a balljoint). I welded the plate in covering the sides up to enclose the firewall again. I only needed to reverse the very first pivot point for it to work. I removed all the pivot points anyway and regreased the lot and also cleaned out the wiper motor and regreased also. I haven't powered it up just yet, but it should be fine. The to and throw of the arms is limited by the arm lengths so its not like it can wipe any more or any less. I just need to play with the parking spot of the wipers which I do by removing the rear plastic cog and repositioning until it works as its supposed to. Next, making a new mounting area for the battery in the bay. It'll sit in the firewall also.