550hp mk2 cortina

[30psi MK2 CORTINA]

Hello guys and gals.

My name is Jordan ....... I live in Australia and im a self confessed ford nut... esp the old skool ones. Anyhow i thought id join your forum and show you guys how we do it Oz

 

Car : 68 Mk2 cortina

Colour: Nissan blue

Engine : Toyota 4age turbo ( cossies are WAY too $$$ over here )

Engine management : EMS 8860 with O2 sensor and FULL laptop data logging.

Gearbox : 5 speed supra ( W57 ) with ceramic button clutch

Suspension : Bilstein coilovers front and bilstein shocks rear with single leaf springs.

Wheel : 16x7 performance superlites in the pictures but have changed the rims since then.......... now same wheel but 16x8 and dished offset

Tyres : Bridgestone potenza RE540's semi slick track tyres

Brakes:FRONT wilwood 4 piston superlite calipers with 13inch (330mm) x 32mm rotors.

REAR wilwood billet dynalite calipers with 12inch ( 297mm ) x 10mm rotors

Diff : --Currently under conversion.. but is a Ford Falcon 7 3/4inch with billet Moser axles from the US and Billet Full spool center ( perfect for track days! )

FUEL: ELF turbomax

HP: 313 rear wheel kW ( 420hp at the treads ) est 550 at the flywheel

 

Note : the difference in colour from the guard to the door is just the flash from the camera

 

This is a run down of my setup

 

ECU: EMS 8860 with full data log, o2 sensor and electronic boost control.

M&W CDI ignition

50mm AVO blowoff valve

Injectors are 870cc run at 55 psi fuel pressure.

Tial 44mm external gate with 2 inch screamer

1szfe shimless bucket cam bucket conversion

I run the big port head on the latest Gze block ( with oil squirters) The head has been extensively modified ( ports and combustion chambers) and over size valves fitted ( 1mm on inlet and 1.5mm on exhaust). I use performance valve springs , HKS vernier cam gears and Crow cams. 265deg and 9.5mm lift

 

 

I also use a 2mm HKS steel head gasket, standard pistons, rods and crank although the rods and crank have recieved a big work over too. (linished , lightened , shot peened and sonicly releaved for stress.)

 

 

The whole lot has also been balanced and blueprinted paying particular attention to bearing clearence. (9000+ RPM and 30 psi u cant risk anything) The head and mains have been studded with ARP. The conrods are also using ARP.

 

On the outside i have a custom inlet plenum and a GT3540R pumping upto 30psi, Large front mount cooler (500*450*95) and 3.5 inch stainless dump pipe. 3 inch straight through system with no cat converter.

 

 

 

You can see how the Carbon heat bsheilds i made. It was my first attempt with carbon fibre and it didnt come out too bad!

 

The shield actually folds over at the ends and follows the contour of the radiator. This was hard to achieve . I ended up making a radiator shield out of alloy with no folds on the ends to follow the contour of the radiator. I then filled all the gaps in between the alloy shield and the radiator with bog waited for it to set and pulled it off creating a mould in which i could create a final piece from carbon.

 

I never took photos of this process as it was a bit of a learning cure for me and i wasnt even sure if it was gonna work.

 

This one shows the heat sheild i made that is attached to the bonnet ( so when i close the bonnet the excess heat from the extractors wont effect the paint on the bonnet.)

* carbon fibre dosent conduct heat very well so its perfect for a heat shield application

 

NOTE the big valves and modified combustion chambers. I cc'd the cumbustion chambers also.

 

 

some more pics of the under side of the car

 

A pic of the gearbox x member / chassis brace i made. The brace bolts to the chassis plus also bolts up through the floor to add extra rigidity.

 

This is the new fuel pump setup. I have gone to twin 600hp bosch motorsport pumps . This was for two reasons the first being the thirst of the engine

And the other is incase one pump is to die i can pull a fuse for the dead pump and still get home on the other.

I use a Bosch EFI pump as a lift pump.

 

 

The supply for the lift pump is not the best setup i have ever made but it does the job. It is one of the few things left from when i did the inital conversion when i was 16. ...... Guess you could say my engineering skills have progressed a little since then

I will eventually make a custom alloy fuel tank but it is alittle down the list of things to do.

 

The surge tank setup

 

 

I have recently cut my inlet manifold in half! (which isnt shown in the above pics)As i had NEVER been able to stop it from cracking due to harmonic vibration. It is a prob that has plagued me for years now !!!!!!!!!!.. The motor runs very stiff urethane engine mounts to stop it torquing ... so this doesnt help + neither does 9000+ rpm.

 

I have tried EVERYTHING imaginable to stop it cracking.Even though its braced it still cracks!

so no suggestions please

 

This time i was about to dyno the car and the day before dyno i notice another crack!!!! -- needless to say there were a few choice words said.

 

I decided to do what i had thought of some time ago and cut the bastard in half !!

I then joined the runners with silicon hose to allow some movement in the runners and hopefully counter act my problem !

like i said i had thought of this solution some time ago but kept putting it off because it may ruin the look of the manifold but it came down to an easy decision. Looks or performance ??? ---- Performance wins every time in my books !!!!

 

 

 

 

I have used better clamps and different silicon hose on the end product plus had the runners welded at the ends to stop the hoses from blowing off.

Here is a pic of the plenum finished with decent clamps etc ready to bolt on.

 

Im pretty happy with the way it turned out and should have cut the thing sooner !

 

 

Now i knew that having the manifold joined with silicon hose would allow some up and down movement in the manifold still even though it is braced but what i didnt count on was

 

not up and down movement like i talked about but backward and forward movement, Which was causing the plenum to be pushed back into the firewall from the incoming boost rushing in from the IC and hence causing my runners to be skewed (out of line)

This is something i hadnt thought of ..!

 

So i ended up making braces up out of 1 inch square alloy bar.

Ill explain how i have designed them to stop the back and forth movement as well as the up and down movement of the plenum.

 

These are the braces i had to make up to stop the horizontal movement in the manifold.

 

i milled some slots in the bar so that they would fit either side of the tangs that have been welded to the inlet manifold.

 

So basicly the braces will work like the ones in the above pic but will be far more direct in contact (will sit either side of the tang) with the manifold and will allow no flexing.

Here is a pic of the old braces next to the new.

You can see how milled groove allows the braces to sit either side of the plate stopping any flex that can occur. When only one side is used to stop movent ( like the old braces) It was still allowing some back and forth movement ...... which was far too much hence the runners dis-aligning.

 

 

 

Coilovers:. The shock is a 40mm item which i had valved to suit the weight of my car and the rate of the springs .......... i could do jumps with these puppies

 

 

Here is a pic of the alloy hubs i had made up to suit the 330mm rotors and my new 5 stud deep offset rims

I had em anodized for good measure. I choose to switch to 5 stud ( 5x 114.3mm pcd) for two reasons. The first is it gives a far wider choice of rims . This stud pattern is very common .... toyota / nissan / ford / opel all use this pattern so stockies and different offset rim are plentiful. Reason number 2 was the falcon diff is std with this pattern.

 

Pics of my new rims....... They are the same design as the originals in the pics but are a inch wider / 5 stud and dished style offset. ( they look tuff ) They required custom offset front hubs to make them fit the front.

NOTE: the one with the tyre is the 7 inch rim so you can see the offset difference.

 

I recently finished milling and turning up the other little bits and pieces for my brake conversion... Incase you havent realised i do ALL the fabrication work myself. Im a mechanic by trade and handy with a welder and milling machine

 

So here is some pics.

 

First is the caliper brackets i had to make up. The wilwood caliper sits at a zero offset to the factory mounts ( caliper sits inline with the mount)..... meaning a straight forward caliper adapter wasnt going to happen...

So i had to make one , which i ended up making out of 25mm x 65mm steel blocks.

The end result is a offset bracket which took some time to machine up but came out really good !!

 

These are of the bracket before the finishing touches.

 

The old Vs the new in this pic.. Not that the old brakes were bad...... I just couldnt pass up a set of wilwoods all round

You may or may not beable to pic it but i even made billet bearing caps for the hubs......... im a little obsessive compulsive .

The old front brakes were nissan GTR skyline items which i machined the original cast cortina hub to make fit.

 

Pics of the rear brake conversion and the new diff im in the process of doing.

Note: the rear rotors are just for dummy fit. I have new slotted rotors the same as thr front for the rear.

 

This is a pic of the diff girdle / backing plate for the diff. It actually has retainers on the inside that push up against the bearing caps to stop them "walking" around uder extreme load.

I have also welded on that plate with all the holes drilled and tapped onto it. This is for the watts link so i can adjust the rear roll center of the car up and down

 

Last of all....... pics of my full spool diff center and billet axles

[Airbag]

seriously awsome bet it's a handfull.

 

[lotusless]

that was quick i only just posted welcome on the new members bit

your car is fookin lovely mate, it must have ben a knightmare

making the bits all fit but what a result at the end!

[mossy]

Now that.........Is fooking amazing! Credit to you sir!

[4parajon]

Welcome to the site

That has to be one of the nicest Cortina's ive ever seen

[Mk2Jo]

That is one of the nicest looking 'tina's I have ever seen

 

Welcome to OSF

[FredTransit]

Now that......... is just lovely.

[Copey]

wow...just...wow...

[Trevmk3]

thats looks really nice Jordan

 

the footmats are

[MightySprocket]

wow

[peranapete]

Car looks brilliant !!!!

[Lukey]

Fookin' Luverly!!!!!!!!!!!

[jay]

mate, u got some skills..........

 

 

[kevmk2]

Welcome to the site, very nice looking car

[30psi MK2 CORTINA]

Bloody hell kev ! your car aint too bad there either

 

Geez.... you guys dont mess about on this forum.... plenty of replies already !

 

Cheers for all the top comments..... it would be safe to say i have busted my balls on this thing over the years (10 or so now ) and poured more coin into it than id like to mention..... the best bit ( or worst for the misses ) is im far from done !!

 

If ya think the car looks good in them pics .you should see it with the new rims on it !!!!!!!!! I have done chassis mods to get the car a llittle lower and still have ample travel...... it looks tuff as hell. Ill post some finshed pics when the diff is back in her.

 

I only just had the car dynoed and blew the diff on the way home. 420hp at the treads and a std cortina diff and you get that

 

As it states above im currently doing a diff conversion / turrets watts link etc and when this is done ill be back to the dyno to see what this little 1.6L is capable of !

 

I very confident ill smash the 420hp mark .... Im a mechanic by trade and pretty handy with a welder and grinder if you havent already picked up on it. Add to this the fact that my mates have a machine shop and i have access to their milling machines and lathes ......there is not much i cant do. Its just as well too as im a super fussy b@st@rd and find that when i do have to pay someone to do something for me i often find im not happy with the job and could have done a better myself !

[ratman]

Stunning

[D4N]

shiny, shiny very shiny

[Pye Man]

Yor car should be in a magazine. It looks stunning! I quite like how you Aussies use Jap motors. Bit rare over here.

[30psi MK2 CORTINA]

Yeah jap motors are so easy to come by over here and cheap too.

I bought the 4AGZE which is the supercharged version of the NA 4age for $1700 AU -- about 500 - 600 pound in your money.

 

Now for all of you unawear of these little suckers and what they are capable of here goes.

 

The super charged version of the 4age (4AGZE - Z being toyota code for super charger) comes std with forged pistons with ceramic coated crown ....

massive steel conrods - the rods are bloody gutsy !

reinforced block

Oil squirters that spray the bottom of the piston skirts to keep em cool under heavy load

A steel crank - factory !

And last but not least a head which is based around and VERY similar to the BDA.

 

Another thing i liked was that it comes with solid cam buckets not hydraulic .... so it bascily built like a brick shit house from factory and there is really no need to change ANYTHING unless you start heading into the 600hp zone (which i will soon) and then all i plan is to change the rods to some H items.

 

Add to this how light they are and how they rev = 9500 rpm is a walk in the park on a fresh engine and they are a VERY cheap , HP hungry engine that will handle great in any chassis.

 

PYE man: I too find it funny how different countries have different ideas and paths to go down when modifying a car. I have noticed over the past 5 or so years you guys have been doing more of a variety of conversions using different engines over there ...opel , hyabusa etc ( i like it when people think outside the box) ....I mean lets face it.. the YB is a bloody nice engine but they are getting on a little now and there are smoother and not mention cheaper options out there that can do just as well or if not better than the YB.

 

I must admit i would have loved a cossie (who wouldnt ) but when i first did this conversion i was 17 and had almost no cash. So the toyota engine and its price was a no brainer.

 

 

I have also noticed your rim size of choice is finally creeping up to around 15 inch over there. ( 15 inch rims on a esky are the norm over here.. almost no one runs 13's)

In Oz they run big rims anywhere upto 18inch on small cars like cortys and eskys the also run the brakes to match!

For me 16 inch is the limit..... Its the perfect size. It looks tuff....I can run large 13inch brake rotors ( just ) and have a good range of sticky rubber to choose from.

I feel anything over this size of rim on a corty and they just dont look right..... you cant get em as low either!

 

 

A pic of the factory piston with the rod in the back ground

[escort21]

Awesome car...a credit to your workmanship ...post it on Buysellcortina and you'll be over whelmed with praise

[escort21]

What was the shell like when you started building it?...over here most of the restorations start with replacing half the car due to rust

[30psi MK2 CORTINA]

The shell was pretty straight with very minimal rust ( there was some on the RH rear quater around the bottom of the guard.)

The roof also had some dings in it from something but other thn that it was sweet.

 

We are lucky in that we dont have snow and the roads dont get salted so rust is of little concern over here.

Thats not to say they dont rust....... just nowhere near as bad as you guys get.

 

 

I had thought of posting on buysell cortina but id have to resize all my pics because the are too big for there site.

Thats a pain in the arse! (im on dial up 56k )

[marky4]

that is one beautyful cortina mate

 

some fantastic work you done there

[ZetecVan 2.0]

Now that is nice! I thought about a 4age for my saloon as someone I know is going to be producing conversion parts soon.But the CA18ET came up for buttons so I got that instead.

[Rick]

thats absolutely fantastic

 

i think the Retroford boys n gals should get over there and feature some of the Aussy machines.

 

the quality of that build looks well... perfect