Oscar of Markoz

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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 ..."
Managed to finish modding the fuel rail. Cut off the old feed and return pipes and blocked them off with very small peices I cut out and tigged on.
Cut the 2 ends off and welded on some weld on male bungs. Turned out really good. Will probably re-tig weld the slight sink back that the weld left behind and regrind it to make it look smooth and factory.
Another peice to the puzzle.



Next up, finish the throttle body elbow.

Managed to finalise the crank trigger mount. Recessed the adjustable timing pointer. Had to modify the end of the vac pump mandrel because space at the front of the car is a premium. Came up alright
 

 

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"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.

"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.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"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.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ..."
 
Finally finished full welding the turbo manifold. I made it harder for myself (rookie mistake) because I didn't allow that much pipe coming off the header flange plate. So getting the tig into the back of it was really tight. I ended up having to buy a long thin alumina cup and that got the job done.
For added security and to smooth off the outlet I welded the header flange to pipe edge from the inside of the pipes also as the pipes were just alittle smaller than the header plate port sizes.
I smoothed all the welds off and it should look the goods in heat coating once I'm all done.
 



 
The lack of updates is of course due to me being flat out with Tough Garage jobs now. But its good when I find a spare moment here and there to work on my own car.
 
Next up, pressure test the intake manifold, make the throttle body elbow, mod the new fuel rail, make the dump pipe and external wastegate outlets. Should be fun.

I'm starting to look seriously at making parts for people to buy. Common but currently unavailable sections and patches that may be too complicated for the average diy guy to manage on their own.
 
I'll be making components by hand for the best fit I can possibly achieve. I can't make everything, but if it's feasible, I'll certainly give it a shot. To do this though, I will need to get my hands on a good part to copy.
 
So two questions for you. Firstly, what patches do you want most? Things like inner door corners such as this one for the torana I'm working on

No one currently makes this part so it was a good starting point.
 
Secondly, I need an honest indication of what you would pay for the nominated panel? I'm not going for a "highest bid" scenario, just need to be able to gauge what's financially viable. I'm happy to make anything I can for you guys and I'm sure you can all under for example, that I'm unable to put 20hours into a part if it's only worth $100.
 
So what are you looking for? All suggestions / requests will be considered and price can be negotiated privately if you prefer.

Enjoy

Enjoy

Enjoy

That will be a killer ride.
I've always like,the big boxy kit that was popular on mk2's back in the day, zakspeed maybe? That with the rs2000 nosecone is damn near small car perfection in my eyes.

My ultimate car would be a mk1 escort with sr20t conversion. Pretty common conversion but doesn't make it any less cooler. Good stuff il be keeping an eye on it.

"On todays episode of Australian Cortina ...."
Just a few more pics of the brake lines.
I bought some grommets for the holes in the bay, neatens it up. This is the LHS brake line which runs under the firewall lip.

Brake hoses also went on. I had to bend the neck alittle just to line up with the caliper.

Then finished off the rear brake line. Just a few bends and some cushion clamps and it was done. It just needs to the hose that attachs to the diff lines later on, but I'll get that done once I shorten the diff etc.



Next up, put the wiper system back in, and see if I can reverse mount the wiper motor to tuck it away.

Been a while since i have put an update up here, I finished off the last season well then sort of missed the mark in the finial shootout, still learning the car.
 
I have now just been fine tuning the little things and trying different things as well. We did a couple of test n tunes in dec & jan trying a new gearbox pickup setup and changed the cam sensors from magnetic pickup to hall effect of coarse i had to make some mounts for them and they are different intake to exhaust side. I also deiced to get rid of the original door trims and make up some alloy sheet versions to replace them because race car and all. That was all done before the start of the new season.
 
I ran a 1/8th mile radial race recently and had wanted to try E85 again in this engine. So to do that I changed out the injectors then its all in the keyboard tell the ecu what injectors you have, what the molar mass of the fuel is and a couple of other fuel settings and the ecu will re-tune the petrol map to suit E85. The car performed about the same which was expected but man E85 burns nice, all the tops of the pistons were cleaned and all the plugs were nice and clean. I deiced to leave it for now though and head back to 98 and run my regular season on it though.
 
We have been fine tuning the cam timing particularly the exhaust cam. When changing the sensors to hall we now have a better signal and have found some gains there. I can't wait for some cooler weather as so far it's about a 10th of a second faster then this time last year!! Also willowbank have changed the et cutoff for the series I run from 11.50 to 10.50 so no dramas trying to slow the car down in winter.
 
check out the facebook page as well
https://www.facebook.com/Jason-Stoodley-Racing-1558367151083789/?notif_t=page_user_activity