2007 thus far

well, it's still too early to tell how 2007 will be for me. but so far i believe my overall knowledge with cars have increased.

alot of money will be spent this year to fix up the ford as you all know. and as for the putra, major engine mods and suspension components overhaul are underway.

hope chinese new year brings in some extra cash to carry out work on both these cars.

also, R3's Time Attack has been canceled this year as far as i know. so the only other autocross would be GRA. motorsports in malaysia is just shitty. so you guys overseas who have organizations like SCCA should count your blessings. open track days at sepang will also start close to the end of the year.

maybe it's a sign that i should concentrate more on my studies. hahah. oh well.

oh and the guys at AMC are a real bunch of classic car maniacs!!! cool guys too. nice chevy impalla although i wouldn't drive it if i had one cause it's tooooo friggin long! you'd need a bus parking space to park one.

but yeah, car should be at AMC by end of february 2007. so stay tuned.

All Makes Classic Malaysia

i've been told about this place in KL where they restore classic cars. apparently pretty damn good too.

just emailed one of the guys there and waiting for a reply. will visit them tomorrow.

finally! the pieces are starting to slowly fall together. :)

visit them here: AMC Malaysia

Minilite?

i've noticed alot of fords (in the UK especially) like to fit Minilite wheels onto their rides. why is this so? is it purely for styling or what? because according to WheelWeights.net, the Minilite Magnesium (forged magnesium) of size 15x7 weighs 4.76 kg (10.5 lbs). BUT, there are other lightweight japanese rims that weigh less such as the Enkei RP-F1 (contemplating a set for the putra) which weighs 4.44 kg (9.8 lbs).

now, you may be thinking that, "aiya, this nick tok kok la. only a few hundred gram difference what!!!!" BUT have you thought about price and availability. the minilite as quoted here is RM3936 for a set of 4 wheels! whereas for the RP-F1, i was quoted RM1200 for a set of 4 at one of the wheels shop opposite N-1 Racing (the one with the yokohama signboard). but i don't know if it's local or not but i lifted it with my pinky! so friggin' light man. unless someone can tell me the exact price and availability of Minilite EV2000 15x7 wheels in Malaysia, i guess a cheaper jap wheel will do. in time to come.

for those who don't know what Minilite wheels are, i've done you a favor by adding a link HERE. so now you don't have to Google and search and stuff. :)

Early ang pow or late bday/xmas gift?

ok, car is still sitting on my driveway obstructing traffic around the porch but it's all good.

recently two publications have given me greater confidence that the 'tina can be fixed up to a good and shiny finish. (i still doubt our local panel beater skills, sorry)

they are classic ford and car care(1985).

Classic Ford


Car Care (1985)


classic ford mag is good as you can get inspiration from what overseas ford owners have done on their rides. pretty amazing people. by chance, i managed to get a hold of december 2006 issue which featured cortinas from mk1 to mk5. pitted them against silly drag races among other things. but what made me buy it was because of the red 'tina that was fully restored to a fricking good condition. you wouldn't believe it was a junk car. it took a father and son team 5 years to fix it up. where 3 years was spent waiting and hunting for donor cars for replacement parts. the cool thing is that the father is a metal fabricator by trade and the son works at a auto restoration workshop! and his boss was nice enough to allow them full access to the workshop+tools on sundays. how bloody cool is that! i doubt we'll ever get to see something like that here. anyway, these guys gave me inspiration to be patient with the mk3 and to understand that restoration WILL TAKE TIME (and money :P) enjoy some of the pics courtesy of calssic ford.














good stuff i tell you. :)

on to Car Care. i've noticed this collection at my grandpas place but never really cared much for it. until today when my dad came back from visiting his dad, he told me he brought back 7 binders of car mags. again i didn't really care for it until i came downstairs and saw the stack and like WTF! i eagerly flipped through the pages only to realize that i've stumbled upon the holy grail of restoring and maintaining older cars! but some stuff can still be applied to current cars too.

it's got everything! from panel beating, electrical, mechanical, engine systems, diagnosis, workshop tooling, etc. sorry guys, but no 'pinjam here pinjam there' business ok?

here's the collection sitting snugly in my modest bookshelf:


anyone else has seen or owned this set? pretty old la, 1985...and it's not missing any of the 160 issues that came with it. which brings the sum (in 1985) to RM 720.00! with inflation to present day value (inflation of 8% p.a.) of RM 3000+!!! madness i tell you.

ahhh, another week and a half and i can start on the mk3 with peace of mind (or will it smash my mind to pieces?)

Different car, different damages.

well, this has nothing to do with the ford but since i own it, i might as well put it up to let you guys know why i've not spent money on the ford yet.










see the cracks? sadness...that's where my money will be going. to the putra to replace the cracked rocker cover that you see in the pics. was quoted RM1014 from Proton service/parts center but apparently it shouldn't be that expensive. a nearby parts store quoted me for RM746 only and ensured me that it's a 110% genuine original proton part. any take on the matter?

there are other alternatives like J-B Weld where some forums swear by them. awaiting from a reply from them on where to get them form KL, Malaysia. unless anyone of you know, pls step forward. :)

last resort, a trip to the chop shop seems like the best place to get one as i've been told a dohc head roughly goes for RM40 only with a week or two guarantee.

More damages

looked underneath the car and the bad weld jobs continue. remember i had mentioned the floor pan is already rusting away? well, some genius welder decided to weld a sheet of mild steel underneath the rusting floor pan to support it!!! WTF!!! now i've gotta do MORE bodywork.

also, the engine crossmember which the engine mounts sit on, has a slight crack (about 1") on the passenger side. sad sad sad :(

things will be going slower now that i've gotta fix up the putra for the upcoming autocross/time attack series. apparently there'll be 7 rounds from GRA and 6 rounds from R3...crazy man. 13 rounds in a year! freaking cost a bomb...let's see, RM150 per round, 150 x 13 = RM1950!!!

so don't expect major milestones with the cortina mk3 project yet. but once i finish my training at Lotus Scientific, i'll be working on both cars as much as i can till uni starts.

Slow progress

Been rather tired the past few days so no real work has started on the car. only thing is the air con has been completely removed. that means the ancient blower has been stripped from the car.

also trying to figure out a way to remove one of the extra vents from the dashboard. seems like i have to move the steering rack out of the way in order to access it. oh well, later only la.

Engine stripping part 1

so tired...worked on the car till 10.30 pm last night. at the office now...sooo sleepy.

more pics for everybody. the ammount of rusted screws and incorrect bolts are starting to piss me off. our local garage/workshop ppl should be more competent when it comes to doing their job.

although i do notice most of them don't become car mechanics because they like it. well, it seems that way. i bet what makes a good mechanic is not only his/her technical background, it's also the interest in cars that makes the job that much better and rewarding. but i bet none of them give a shit. they just want to go on with their lives customer after customer providing shoddy service.

i digress.

smelly plug cables. why smelly? because when the engine is hot enough, it starts to melt the silicone and causes a smelly smoky substance to enter the car while i was driving it back home the other day


compressor and heat exchanger assy removed


do not adjust your monitor, the heat exchanger/cooling coil was shaped like this when i took it out


bug-eyed low lights


itchified, so i decided to remove the headlight flange thingy. look what the rust worms did to it!


ye ol' fuses

ye ol' fuse connector


hidden compartment at the engine bay firewall leading under the dashboard area. i have no idea whatever the hell that place is for


random pics



that's all i've got for today. price of an engine crane is about 200-300 ringgit...very tempting.

On the first day of christmas...

yup, i did get the car as a christmas gift of sorts. the catch is i'd have to restore it. oh well, should be fun.

throughout most of the blog, i shall let the pictures do the talking. unless you don't understand what's going on, pls post a comment and i shall get back to you as soon as i can.

for those of you who frequent Zerotohundred forums, you may also keep up to date over there. Link: ZTH: Ford Cortina Rebuild

on christmas day itself i had already started to strip the car as much as i could, considering all the good food that was consumed earlier during the day. some problems that i came across was the bolts/nuts that were rusted shut, thus making my life miserable. i had to apply a gallon of wd-40 and if that didn't work, the good ol' hammer and screwdriver did the trick.

some stupid repairs made by the panel beaters before i got my hands on the car are:

1. instead of properly butt welding the new pieces of sheet metal to the body panels, they opted to overlap weld the damn thing. thus causing years of rust to bubble beneath the gaps of the new sheet metal.

2. the hole that was caused by one of my cousin's foot was tack welded with random pieces of sheet metal, which now looks like this __/ (side view) because the tack welds at the front portion of the sheet metal have rusted of...anyway, it's a bloody tack weld...what did you expect?

3. there are 4 fucking layers of paint! primer,white paint, primer, black paint. need i say more?

4. random screws have been replaced with inferior ones...some which do not make sense. either too long or too short.

5. the japanese make seats that my grandad changed were mounted in a very unsafe way. the welded thick washers on the japanese seat subframe to match the mounting paints on the cortina...and there was one point where they welded the washer on the the floor pan of the car...thus causing me to rip out bits of the floor pan...incompetent i tell you.

here's a collection of pics since the day i got the car. for now, it'll be about stripping the car to it's bare metal (as much as possible).

enjoy!