It's alive... the Cortina at least

Well after many months of procrastinating and general busyness, journeyed to my friend's yard tonight to fiddle with the Cortina (1969 Mark II).

Hooked up some "new" fuel to the carb, and with a little syphoning of gas into the carb, it ran under it's own power... It did stall every time after perhaps a minute or two of idling. It hasn't been driven yet so no clue what will happen then. Just before I left put about $3.50 worth of gas into the tank (which was empty of any old fuel, I'm pretty sure), this didn't seem to be enough gas to keep the car running, probably need to put some more gas in the tank some time soon and then see what happens.

No one knows the last time the car was run, so we're making progress here, but the engine seemed to run nice when it was running... I suppose next thing might be to see if it needs a fuel pump, a good possibility I imagine. And maybe also change out the rusty old spark plugs as well, they still work though.

Now, thinking way ahead... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif What would it take to convert a Deluxe model of Cortina over to a 1600E spec "clone" car. I'm told that the 1600E model almost rates up there with the GT model in desireability, thinking way ahead of myself... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

James, congratulations are in order. Hopefully you'll have it up and on the road in no time. Good luck and happy motoring(when of course you get to that bit)

I wouldn't order that fuel pump yet. Last time it was spitting out at a decent rate. I have a gas can if you need to fill it up a bit more. Definitly change the plugs, check the timing, etc.

The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

Maybe this is my welcome to the world of British car ownership...

It's been five months since I said I was going to buy the darn car, and it still hasn't even moved two feet! After the work we did two weeks ago, finally got over there today to dump some more gas into it, turned the key and nothing... I suspect the battery just died again (but two weeks later?), unfortunately my friend wasn't around to get into his shop to put another one in, so I still don't know if it will run for longer than the two minutes it did before.

I'm ever so hopeful that I can get it running/operating well enough to perhaps drive it down to the car show next Sunday with all the other cars from our local British car club, but that seems to almost too hopeful now.

I'm just frustrated with long waits, and hoping to actually drive it on the road before winter comes on. It's my first personal experience with an old car and maybe that's just par for the course, all these little delays. I'm sure some of you can relate, probably just part of British car ownership.

Some day anyway... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Re: The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

Yep.....par for the course. Could be a number of reasons for the dead battery, number one being that if it is a used item, maybe it won't hold a charge? Like the one in my MGB? You are not alone grasshopper, we have all been there /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

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Steve said: Yep.....par for the course. Could be a number of reasons for the dead battery, number one being that if it is a used item, maybe it won't hold a charge? Like the one in my MGB? You are not alone grasshopper, we have all been there /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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The battery... thought of that. The battery comes from a stock of batteries my friend uses in various cars they buy and sell as brokers.

Have been thinking it would be wise to just go and buy myself a battery so I know 100% sure that it's a good battery. Just have to get enough money to buy a battery if I go that route...

Re: The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

Well, before you take that route, why not get a jump start, and sort out the running first......it may not be the battery, maybe it has a drain somewhere.....could also be that the battery wasn't charged that fully, and merely lost what little oomph it had? New battery would never be a bad thing though.........

Re: The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

On the CortinaList I'm on just received a big huge list of all sorts of fluids to drain and then replace with fresh fluids.

A list so long that I don't have the cash right now to even begin to finance it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif Was talking with a friend recently who spent over a year getting his old car ready for the road (not necessarily restoring it) and in his case as well it came down to simple finances as well. But he now has a fully functioning Triumph he is driving around, I suppose I have to learn how to have some patience, something I'm not very good at /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Re: The Cortina... feel like pulling my hair out

If the car has been sitting a long time, before you run it again, you should definitely change the oil & oil filter and the fuel filter....and drain, flush and refill the coolant....then you'll be able to run it safely (but keep an eye on the oil pressure and coolant temp.).

It's not too hard get close to 1600GT spec. The 1600E was, if anything, more desirable than the GT, by the way. It was a close-to-Lotus body spec with a 1600GT motor. Much nicer interior, too. I had a 1600GT for several years (75 to 79 from memory) and enjoyed it a lot.
If I remember aright, the engine differences from standard 1600 were camshaft, manifolds and carburetter only. Mine had non-standard struts, rear leaf springs and dampers anyway becuase I di a bit of rallying then, and I can't remember if there were GT / Standards differences.
The interior was different, better seats, but it was a long time back now!

Congratulations on getting the cortina running, it's always a good feeling to hear the engine come to life after a bit of work.
If the battery you have is questionable you can take it to sears or an auto parts store like pepboys or autozone and have it tested. I work at sears and about 95% of batteries tested come back bad so I think the tests are very strict. Good luck with the cortina.

Sherlock - Good to hear that it runs. You're about 10 steps ahead of my TR7 project right now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif As for the battery, try giving it a slow charge. If you take a flat battery and give it a fast charge you can damage it, or cause it to explode.

Jon12 - I worked at AvariceZone for a while. Most of the batteries I checked just had low charges and very, very dumb owners. The test basically watches the voltage when a load is placed on the battery. If it goes below a certain point, or the voltage drops so much after a few load tests then it's usually bad.