Rebuild of 400I Chassis 40877

Al, Did you use a bottoming tap to finish the threads on the blind holes? Nice job!
They look more like Lucas switches from the underside now.
Almost makes one homesick.

 

Very nice work!

 

With such a fine thread I drilled the holes right through to make tapping easier.

They even have Lucas written on the bottom of the switch. I have purchased some Lucas 34889 108SA toggle switches to repair the damaged switch. I will just swap the toggle arm over to the Ferrari type.

Cheers Al

 

I have finally set up my zinc plating kit & started plating the rear suspension arms. It is a time consuming process but so far its going well & the Goldbright solution gives it the original cad colouring.
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Great stuff, Al! Incredible that you are doing this yourself.

Aidan

 

Al,
What process do you use to prep the parts for plating? The parts look nice as new. Do you plan on using any type of over coating, epoxy or lacquer, to keep the finish as near to new ? Or do you plan on letting them develop a time formed patina?
I love the idea of doing it yourself. For me, that is the enjoyable part of restoration, not paying a third party. Gives you a sense of "ownership" for the restoration.
Good work!

 

I have a small sandblasting cabinet & just sand blast them, rinse & then electroplate the zinc. They are then dipped in an activator solution & into the Goldbright for 30sec. After applying the gold colouring they need to hang untouched for 5-7 days to allow the protective oxide layer to form. They then should last many many years. I used a Jane kit - Jane Kits : zincplatingkit: nickel plating kits, zinc plating kits, copper plating kits, gold plating kits

It does give you a lot of satisfaction doing whatever parts of the restoration you are able to do.

 

Al, great project and impressive skills you demonstrate. When I was a lad in the UK, I thought the Mk II Escort was such a cool car, the RS 2000 in particular. And if one's Dad had THE Ghia version of Cortina, as opposed to a mere GL, then he was clearly a man on the move! I remember them in dark metallic brown with fawn vinyl roofs. We once had a blue Granada Ghia from Avis for a week and I thought that was the dog's gonads. Then we moved to the US in 1981 and the Fords here were decidedly less cool, difficult to reconcile with the Euro products. Your 400i is gorgeous, and I wish you well with its rehabilitation. John in CT, USA.

 

Thanks John,

I grew up with Cortina's as well. So the Cortina's were where it all started for me. This was my second car & the first one I rebuilt in the mid 90's. I still have it but it has not been on the road for a while after spinning a big end bearing.

Cheers Al
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Where was the photo of the cortina taken ? If it's in your garage can I come and live with you please ?

Oh. excellent work on the 400 too !!

 

It was in Peter Warren Ford of Sydney. It had pride of place in their new car showroom for a week to advertise the upcoming All Ford Day. My car actually won Concours De'Mode that year.

 

That Mark III Cortina is a handsome car. You must have watched "The Professionals"? Always a great celebration of Ford/Essex cars. John

 

I was always a Mk 2 guy myself - 1967 1300 being my first car, the second a 1970 1600E

I sold the "E" early in the 80's but still have some photos - one attached.

Engine built to a very high performance spec - stage 2 cam, twin Weber 40's etc. It went like stink and pissed off many a lotus and V8 yank owner I can tell you !

Oh for the simple times when an engine rebuild cost the same as a loaf of bread does today and the engine could be swapped in 7 minutes flat.

ahhhh - good times !
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The little MK2's were great cars. I have one of these in the collection but it has the engine out at the moment. Love the 70's small Fords but my favourite was the TC or MK3. At last count I had about 14 Cortina's & all models from MK2-MK5 (our TF). I would still love to add a MK1 lotus Cortina to the collection but they are going for silly money at the moment. The poor Cortina's have been pushed aside lately to work on the 400I though. I'll never have any spare time or money.
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The rear wheel bearing replacement is not going as per the manual. Apparently the large bearing should have come out on the hub when it was pressed out but it didn't. Now I'm left with both bearings still in the housing with a spacer tube & a retaining ring in between them!

Has anyone been in this situation before? What was the solution for removing the bearings?

When I do the other side I will apply a little bit of heat with a heat gun to the housing to make sure the bearing comes out with the hub.

Cheers Al
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^^^^Yikes^^^^

 

You can destroy one of the ball cages, allowing the inner race to de-center and freeing up the roller balls and inner bearing race. That will allow the spacer to come out and provide access to remove the rest.
Alternatively, there are pullers that grip bearings in a similar way (after destruction of the ball cage) inside the space of the balls.

 

Definitely use heat and a BF press

 

Roger on the BF press!

 

The bearings are out!

I ended up using the bush puller kit I bought recently to pull the new suspension bushes into place. The spacer tube had a ridge in the middle which allowed me to pull against it & remove the smaller bearing first. I just didn't know what the locking ring setup was like but it allowed the spacer tube to be pulled through the centre of it OK. I was then able to push out the larger bearing no problems.

Cheers Al
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Nice work! Now that they're out give the hub a quick blast and some POR15 and you're good for another 35 years.

 

United Bearings Oklahoma city. big time savings

 

I've spent the last couple of days manufacturing tools for setting the diff pinion bearing preload as I could not find these commercially available.

For those interested I ended up buying a second-hand sleeve unit to get the right spline & then welded this to an old spark plug socket. This will allow me to use a torque wrench on the end of the pinion shaft.
I then needed a way to hold the 56mm ring nut. So I purchased a ring nut socket & machined the end off it. This was then grafted into a big old spanner.
I needed a way of attaching the 200mm pulley to the pinion shaft to set the preload so I machined up an adaptor out of a long 22mm socket which will fit onto the end of the spline tool & hold the pulley. I put a M12 thread inside the end of the spline tool. This has two functions as I can then secure the pulley adaptor with the bolt & then when I'm done use the bolt without the adaptor to push the spline tool back off the pinion spline.

Cheers Al
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I looked at this thread & realised I have not made any updates so far this year!

Progress is slow but I'm pleased with the results all the same.
The rear suspension arms & bolts are all plated ready to go back in.
The rear hubs have nice new bearings fitted.
I spent the day today setting the diff pinion bearing preload. A lot of messing around but it is now spot on. The home made tools worked a treat.
I have a new set of coil over load levellers & a set of rear shocks coming from the States.
It's time I got back to cleaning up under the rear of the car so it can get a coat of paint & the rear suspension can go back in.
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Good day Al,

Progress is still progress! Keep up the excellent work and pics!

Cheers,

Sam