Steering Box refurbished and refitted

At the end of April, I collected the rebuilt steering box from Holman Engineering in Surrey, a family owned small business nestled between houses on a residential road. The rebuild kit I bought in January for a Mk1 Cortina unfortunately wasn’t quite right, the ball bearing races were too small, but I assumed the rest of the kit that included the gaskets and sector shaft bush were all ok. Jeff (Holman Engineering) sourced the correct size ball bearings with bearing races and the rest of the build was apparently straight forward.

Steering Box rebuild kit
Steering Box rebuild kit (MK1 Cortina) – note bearings and cups too small for Corsair application

It only took a couple hours of an afternoon over the Bank Holiday weekend to re-install, though it was a bit heavy and awkward to get the steering shaft up into the interior without the column bracketry catching on nearly every edge and surface. I made the mistake of tightening the bolts to the body/chassis too soon that it left me no wiggle room to attach the bolts to the pedal supports and dashboard. A bit of back tracking loosening bolts, I could wiggle the steering shaft into place and get the other securing bolts under the dash lined up and fitted. I just had to reconnect the steering drop arm and drag link, refit the steering column bits and the job was done.

I had to wait before I could take the car out for a test drive as I needed to get some SAE 80EP (AGL-4) oil for the steering box, but my local motor factor couldn’t source the specific grade I needed. In the end I used Amazon to buy 2 litres so I can use it on the gear box later, as well. A week later when the weather had improved (or had stayed dry long enough) I took the car for a test drive and to serve as a trip to get some more fuel. It felt so much more positive and responsive to my input and was very smooth to turn and drive. Coupled with the new shock absorbers all round the Corsair is much nicer to drive, just a minor misfire to check which could be a failed spark plug as before.

I also took the opportunity to fit a replacement steering column shroud I had bought a while ago, as I had cracked and glued back together my original shroud a few years ago. However, I was missing two bolts, so I had a rummage in my spare bolt jars and found some metric bolts that would fit if cut down and re-cut with a new thread. It was was one of those things that bugged me for a while and now I have 4 bolts to secure the two halves of the steering column shroud.

End of a Grotty Year

Finally on the 17th December, I got to take the Corsair out for a drive on a dry and sunny afternoon. I went to see Paul at South Coast Customs and Classics near Blandford, Dorset to talk about our VW Beetle and the welding work it would need. It was pleasant drive out and the roads weren’t too filthy with all the recent rain. A few days later the weather was back to damp and miserable and I had hoped to drive the Corsair to West Moors like I had done before not only to collect the dog food but also check out an interior light lens I had seen on Ebay a couple of months ago. These are new in that they are 3D printed.

The quality is good and will allow good light to come through, but my interior light didn’t have a bulb and I wouldn’t surprised if it didn’t work anyway. The original lens was extremely fragile and literally crumbled when I removed it from the light base. These were modelled on the interior light of a Mk2 Cortina but like many parts of the era they are the same as the Corsair. There is another type without the slot for the on off switch, which I think may be for the estate variants luggage area and it had a shallower profile. With this 3D replica the fit is not as neat or snug as the original but where the original was a crumbly mess this more than makes up for that. For the purist (or those seeking originality) they won’t meet expectations but for the rest of us, perfectly usable, check out the pictures.

ford cortina/corsair interior light lens
3D printed interior light lens – Ford Corsair but fits Mk2 Ford Cortina

Message me in the comments with an appropriate non spam type reply and include a genuine email address and I can forward the contact details I have for the person who can make (print) these to order.

Late May Update

View looking out towards Shaftesbury on the B3081, having come up Zig Zag Hill

With the lock down still in place, restrictions were easing for people movement, so I decided to take the Corsair for bit more of a leg stretch one evening, rather than the local within a mile of home movements. I made short video of to film the journey of the Corsair up Zig Zag Hill and motoring along on the B3081 but I didn’t account for the (mobile phone) auto focus on a bug splat on the windscreen, so the trip up was mostly blurred. I tried again a few days later, with better lighting and getting the focus to stay trained on the road and got back a good enough result, shared below. The brakes felt OK, no signs of locking up, though they were a little spongy and the handbrake was not as effective as before. Some adjustments will be required on the rear drum and hopefully improved the handbrake.

Minor work included a repair of the passenger side window winder, this time I applied more penetrating weld as per my drivers door window winder fix I did a while ago. Preparation and set up took the longest but had the glass runner arms re-welded to the winder mechanism and all seemed a lot stronger this time. I also tackled the broken bracket in the passenger door holding the window (glass) runner to the door internals. It was rusted through and the metal left was very thin, however with some very unattractive, splatter welds it was secured again. No photos, I wouldn’t want to upset the purists, but it does the job and is now hidden by the door card.

I now have all the parts required for the front suspension maintenance, which includes new strut inserts, top mounts, poly bushes and steering arm rebuild kits. I will embark on that task once the carport upgrade has been done.

August Summer Driving

Changeable weather for the month reduced options for driving the Corsair as I hoped to take it into work for a decent long run. However, the brake seizing problem was seemingly cured (weekend 10/11th) by replacing all the brake fluid in the system with new DOT4 fluid, my grown up helper assisted with pedal pumping and fluid top ups. Thinking about it, the fluid was last done 3 years ago and quite probably had ‘gone off’ with water absorption which reduced the fluid’s pressure tolerance. A 20 mile test drive around the lanes of Hindon to Tisbury was a good try out which didn’t reveal any problems.

Another bonus this month was my success at winning a hotly contested Ebay auction for a rear view mirror. Original, good condition mirrors for the Corsair and Mk1 Cortina are quite rare to find because the plastic becomes brittle, crumbles and the silver mirror backing often deteriorates just as per mine. Saturday morning (17th) I had a decent run out to Westmoors, 40+ mile round trip, in the Corsair and it was a good run with me chasing the traffic rather rather being stuck behind part time drivers and no problem with the brakes. Later, I fitted the mirror and what an improvement that was. Later drives with the new mirror in place was that it didn’t wobble as much as the previous one and I did have better general view as well.

A drive out one Thursday evening brought back the dreaded brake seizing issue again. it was brisk, spirited drive up Zig Zag hill an then along the back lanes towards Cashmoor and the ‘Gussages’. However, I had another event of slamming on the brakes was required after a near head on with a tractor. This may have upset things a bit with the brake system, because on the way home and going back down Zig Zag Hill I could the feel the pedal become more firm and the further I went on the steering vibrated more as the brakes seized on again. I just managed to get the car home without a forced stop. The next day I re-bled the system just to ensure it was air free and took it for another drive to Sturminster and Durweston then home anlong the A350. Again, after about 22 miles the brakes became hot and the Corsair became difficult to keep going. I pulled over about a mile from home and checked all the wheels for heat. The rear wheels were fine, but the front wheels were very hot, not just the discs but the rims too! I have ordered new brake discs and pads, as the current discs were rusty and pitted and could be binding therefore causing heat to build up and thus raising the brake fluid pressure in the system?

Door Cards and Knobs

Plenty of driving has ensued for the month of September. A visit to the Breakfast meet at Haynes International Motor Museum on the 2nd, two trips to my place of work (54 mile round trips), a drive to Gillingham and onto  Sturminster Newton and another trip to Salisbury has put on the miles and smiles.

Here is another video, this time with a former work colleague driving the Corsair back from his leaving do.

Continue reading “Door Cards and Knobs”

Accelerator Pedal re-install

accelerator pedal mechanism
Accelerator mounting circled in red; awkward bolt (arrowed) to bulkhead behind heater.

A couple of spare hours, and with my little helper to hand, was enough to get the accelerator rod mechanism cleaned up and back in. The small mount (circled in red) that fixes to the brake and clutch pedal mounting had completely seized solid. It was so solidily stuck that when I initially tried to press the ‘gas’ pedal it would flex the firewall/bulkhead rather than pivot in its mounting. It took a vice, several soaks of WD40 and a week to free off and enable the small mount to rotate around the rod, freely.

The rod was treated to a clean up by wire brush and two grades of wet and dry then a coating of sprayed on grease to keep things lubricated and clean-ish. It was the first time this piece of the car had ever been removed in 46 years, evidence being the over spray on the special rubber grommet on the firewall, which will need replacing.

drivers side footwell
Interior drivers side footwell with accelerator pedal (silver rod) re-installed. Brake and clutch pedals yet to be put back in

Installation was reverse of the removal, just less of the cursing as the youngster was present. The heater proved to be equally tricky to get back in as it was quite heavy to lever upwards and be aligned with it’s mounting holes for the bolts to go in. Next step, will be the re-install of the clutch and brake pedals.