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Oscar of Markoz

TF Cortina Project

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"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.

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Next up, finish this manifold, try to pressure test it and then start on the turbo manifold.

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"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.

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Now I'm going to buy my own ARGON bottle to have also and I'll get back into the intake manifold.

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Wow that's a lot to take in one post... Did you migrate this thread from another site?

 

Looks like you know your way around Cortys. I had a TF 6 factory 4-speed GL. Had what looked like S-Pack seats. Rust in usual places. Rear lower control arm brackets on chassis were an eye-opener, picked only on a rego one year. Could've ended in tears that one.

 

I had it on straight gas.

 

Mine was actually raised by about 1-1/2" due to a fuckup at the spring place, and I ended up liking it more that way. Still handled well for a Corty. Saab 15" steelies, sway bar, removed rear one.

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Yeah first one was in NSW Alps, it's actually hail on the road.

 

Second one I was a bit north of Wangaratta and pulled over to look at a map and she slipped into the boggy ditch. A top bloke in a Hilux came and pulled me out for the couple of beers I had left.

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Fabulous work, O of M.  Top marks on the battery box, and the symmetrical look of the 'bay is totally different to all the other Cortys I've seen.

 

Great fab work on the turbo manifold, and the mods to the EFI intake runners. Awesome.

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"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.

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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.

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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.

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You can replicate a as cast finish my getting various grades of sandpaper and hammering it into the surface of your welded and ground parts for that extra factory look

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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

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You could sand blast it and use a 2pac clear coat over it we used it on my dad's engine and it's lasted 10 years and still looks as good as the day it was put in the car, hard to believe but these photos are 10 years apart

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"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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

intakemods9.jpg

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.

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Loving the Corty love... I had a TF on gas many moons ago. I had the rear lower control arm mounts rust out and fail a roadworthy, had to fab new bits a bit like you did.

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"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.

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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.

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