Lizzy

Does anyone know where I can get a new CAMSHAFT TIMING GEAR for my V4 2-litre petrol engine please (May 1968 Mk1 Transit)? Alternatively, somewhere I could get mine reconditioned, as the castellations are fine - it's just the ring in the middle that needs tightening up/replacing? I would also be interested in hearing about any other parts available for my van, thank you.

Someone gave me this Cortina exhaust (a few years back) when they saw I had a Mk3, but it's off a later one. Not sure which, sorry. But if you can identify it from the photos and would like it, it's free. I live in Hemel Hempstead. I did offer it previously, but it was walled in by a large amount of logs! It took me a while to get to it...

Thank you very much to Vista for alerting me to this thread! I've been 'off air' for a while a) due to starting a new job (temporary but involving a very long commute) trying to finish a distance learning course I have to complete by August 10th - yes, last minute dot com! and c) because I've finally got demoralised about my Escort, after an endless stream of set-backs!!! I did manage - FINALLY - to squeeze her through an MOT, but OMG - what a nightmare. After working my way through the 3-page list of faults I was served, and the wheel nut saga, and several bodges later, she has a temporary light switch, and wipers that kind of work, but now HMRC are being (insert rude word) about letting me register her in this country. Anyway, that's another story... could I post a question somewhere about that somewhere? (they never answer the phone, so I can't ask them). Oh, and the person who offered to do my bodywork (i.e., proactively put a card on my Cortina's windscreen at a show) has disappeared.... So, overall, may I be forgiven for feeling a bit demoralised? But re. the light switch, I have just seen that the one on eBay is already £46.50, and so Cortinabully's shed offer is looking very attractive right about now. Yes please!!

Sure does - thanks for the recommendation!

I can't return them - I promised I wouldn't as he said his profit margin is so low he would make a loss if he had to absorb the cost of posting them to me. We talked for ages on the phone and he measured them whilst on the phone to me and they sounded fine. (But not...) So yeah, a bit awkward. :/

'It's a 7/16" UNF open taper nut with a 60 degree taper' I bought a set of these, and they are the same size (width) as the ones I already had Does anyone want them?? On the bright side, I have since got the right ones from Speed Shack. Speed Shack works with a manufacturer who makes them specially, using a machine to add the extra width. I would highly recommend this supplier!

Nope

One that looks like this. I've tried Golden Days but no luck this time

My Mk1 has had a strange conversion done on it, abandoned halfway through when they realised that you can't get wiper blades to fit. The arms are off a later model and are too long. The trouble is, I can't now simply put Mk1 arms on because the bits they attach to are wrong (they are a bolt that goes through a hole in the end of the arm - see below). So now I (think I) need to try and convert back to a Mk1 mechanism because I can't get the right length wiper arms otherwise.

I've discovered that the reason I'm having trouble getting wiper blades to fit is because someone's put new wiper arms on, using some random bolts. They're too long and too wide at the ends. I have found what I think is one of the original wipers lurking at the back of the passenger side shelf - just the one - and it's shorter, with the same hook at the end, but slimmer. I've been looking at Mk1 Escort wiper arms on eBay and they don't have a hook at the end, so now I'm really confused. Does anyone know whether it's OK to get one without a hook please? Any advice would be gratefully received. Here is the wiper I found in my car (x3) and the ones I'm wondering about buying:

I'm well excited. Hopefully right wheel nuts on their way now, rear shackle pin bushes and brake calliper being fitted Sunday, sparky visiting on Monday, and new 4-branch manifold being fitted (with free-flow stainless exhaust!!! ) on Tuesday - my MOT will soon be in sight!

:D

Thanks for the tip Jay! I will give him a call. And thanks to Kahn also - defo don't fancy wheels falling off! My studs are well long though... Just as a matter of interest, I've been loaned a wheel nut to try out, just out of a mate's spare bits pile. No idea what Ford it's off, but it fits really nicely. It's tapered, like the ones I bought, only wider, and has a hole right through. If I could identify it, and buy some more just like it, I'd be laughing...

I have double checked, and the wheels I have are definitely Capri Laser RS alloys, and the wheel studs on my Escort are 7/16 UNF. The wheel nuts you first posted were unsold and have been relisted as item 331493989343. The wheel nuts I have are listed as item 280533675468. (They are the ones that are too narrow for the wheel holes.) The question is: are these two sets of wheel nuts definitely different?

I had a look on eBay and there's loads of different kinds of tapered ones, and I don't know which ones to get!!