ORIGINAL CAR: 1970 Mk2 Cortina
Owner: David Evans
Length of restoration: Four years
In theory, I was never supposed to have this car. I was in Singapore with the missus – we were there for a holiday – and I saw it come up in an online auction. I put in a bid and thought there was no chance, but won it. So then I spent the next two days trying to work out how to tell her!
It originally had a 1600 motor and was modified by a guy in Tasmania. He had it engineered over there, which was why I was interested. I don’t know how it passed, because it wasn’t really safe.
When I put it on the boat to come over to the mainland, the handbrake didn’t work, the brakes didn’t really work, and they had to tie it down.
The V8 and the auto were already in it, which was part of the attraction. Technically the V8 is a 289 with 302 crankshaft and a warm cam. The transmission is a C4, plus it has the 9-inch rear end.
It needed a fair bit of work to sort it out. I’ve ended up doing pretty much everything except the interior trim. It’s okay, and the car gets driven, so that’s not a priority.
The first thing I did was the cooling because it was overheating – the radiator was just wrong. It now has a big radiator from Norm at Aussie Desert Cooler. Because it has limited space, I made up a low-profile fan cowl with rubber flaps that let the air flow through when it’s moving.
It came with a 660 double pumper carburettor, which I never could get working properly. In its place, I installed a Holley Sniper fuel injection unit which is great. It runs just fine.
From there I got started on the chassis. I bought a front end from the UK and got the struts done with adjustable coil-overs. In the rear, I made up my own set of lowering blocks to change the pinion angle. I was getting some driveline shudder and ended up getting the tail shaft balanced.
Along the way, I needed to put a lot of effort into the brakes. They were originally Ford XD discs on the front with Holden HQ calipers, plus the stock drums on the rear. It just didn’t stop – you’d be pushing and pushing on the pedal and get nothing, then one wheel would lock up. Not good.
In their place it now has VE discs and calipers on the front, with Ford pattern discs on the rear. I had a chat with Terry at Hydroboost and he suggested putting in the Dana 1-inch master cylinder, along with the booster components I bought from him. When you look in the boot, you’ll see I have an electric vacuum pump with storage tank, along with two vacuum boosters – one for each end of the car. Now it stops properly!
Initially it was a different gold colour with a white roof. The duco was pretty old and peeling off in places. We were at a petrol station one day and a van next to me took off and clipped the front corner as he turned out. That got me a new paint job!
The insurance company decided they couldn’t match the old colour or patch it up properly, so they paid for it to be rubbed back, sealed and repainted.
As part of the project, I ended up buying a little CNC set-up, plus a 3D printer, so I could make parts. They include the bracket and bearing in the firewall for the steering column, badges around the car, including the 302 badge on the rear and the blanking plated for where the window winders were, the lowering blocks, spacers for the swaybar in the front, the Cortina wheel caps and even a clip for the glovebox.
While the car had a full set of gauges, I decided to swap them out for a cleaner-looking set, which involved some extensive rewiring. One addition was a digital gear-position indicator, sitting between the tacho and speedo.
The car is mostly ‘analogue’, but I’ve added a couple of features, including central locking, which required XA door latches, and power windows. The latter were made up from a kit you can buy online, which included motors and cables.
What does it drive like? It’s really good now that the suspension and brakes have been done. You don’t notice the extra weight in the front unless you really push it. Drive it normally and it’s great – you could use it as a daily driver.
I had a Mark 2 years ago when I was younger, so it’s good to be back in one – albeit a much better version!