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Posted

Firstly I'm thinking out loud, if the wife asks you haven't heard a thing! 

So drag racing, driving fast, love to watch but I leave it to the professionals, 

Quite happy cruising, loud motors cool cars, that's me, 

However. Somethings stirring. 

I can't stop thinkin of ways to get the cortina (mk1 1500) to go faster for longer, I. E. Quick off the mark, an gets to 70-80 comfortably an stays there cruising happily. 

I don't want to go the usual route, zetec motor etc. 

I want it still running the precrossflow

It won't do 70 comfortably as I think the noise, the axle the gearbox..... Something would give, 

So if it were you, what would you do. 

New axle upgrade kit from retroford? New gearbox? 

Interested to know what options are available 

Posted

You've to opposite goals there...... quick off the mark generally requires low gearing and loads of revs, comfortable 80mph cruising is generally via an overdrive gearbox. You can achieve a compromise - but it is that! A type 9 (4 cylinder) gearbox will give a suitably low first gear (most find it too low for general use) A V6 T9 has a slightly taller 1st but not by much. Couple this to a 3.89/3.90 diff and you'd get something quite spritely. The T9 being a 5 speeder has an over drive top which @ 80mph and the above diff would be turning over around 3500 rpm which is 'moderately' relaxed but with a 1500 P/X/F don't expect a lot of 5th gear acceleration!

Posted
1 hour ago, Vista said:

Start with working out what the defects are and fix those before assessing what you need to do for performance upgrades. 

Whatcha tryin to say! 🤣🤣

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Posted
1 hour ago, chinkamon said:

Whatcha tryin to say! 🤣🤣

If you've got unhealthy noises from your axle, get that sorted first and then look at performance upgrades. 

Posted
48 minutes ago, Vista said:

If you've got unhealthy noises from your axle, get that sorted first and then look at performance upgrades. 

Well... My train of thought was... 

Looks like I should send the axle and maybe the diff too, off to be sorted out,

maybe get some one clever to glance over the gearbox too,

but whilst thats great, I'd then be looking at money to maybe buy some goodies from retro Ford and upgrade the halfahafts new lsd etc,

so.... Maybe I should cut out the sorting the axle an just put the new kit in anyway.. As I'll most likely end up buying a kit after 1 too many shandys one night 😁

Whilst I'm there, maybe a different gear box.... So I may spend a bit of cash, to then pull it all out again and change it to something else /update bits.... 

See what I mean? 

Posted

Go and buy a 3.54 diff, I don’t think the 3.89 you will notice much difference and some new wheel bearings, put those in the rear axle 

get a decent ported cylinder head and maybe a mild/fast road cam with a twin choke Weber (usual stuff) this will give you a bit more revs for off the line and more power for the motorway speeds 

i wouldn’t recommend a T9 personally don’t think they are geared for what you need 

 

Posted
9 minutes ago, notenoughtime said:

i wouldn’t recommend a T9 personally don’t think they are geared for what you need 

 

I have a crossflow gt carb on it which provides LOADS of acceleration and an unknown diff but it just seems like it runs out of legs after 60 mph

Was thinking a new gearbox would be the way forward as if I had 5 gears I maybe able to maintain 70 a bit easier without revving the nuts out the engine, 

What gearbox do you think is good? 

Posted

Your final drive in the gearbox will be 1/1 no different to any other 4 speed with the 3.54 it will be much better 

my old cortina 1700 x/flow with 2000e box and 3.9 diff was excellent but the 2000e box has long first 

the T9 box has horrible first gear, you will need a quick shift but I personally don’t think it’s really a nice box to drive! 

My mexico has a 5 speed T9 which I’m going to remove and refit the original gearbox as it doesn’t make the car nice to drive 

Posted

It's how far do you want to go, I was going to keep my 2.0 Cortina Crusader etats as standard, but thought I'll just change the gearbox to a type 9 for econimic crusing, and give the engine a rebore refresh, but then there was a WPE sorted cylinder head going for a good price, then it would be good to have a Retrojet throttle body and.........:roll::grin:

  • Haha 1
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Posted

Other than perhaps an LSD, you don't really need any strength related axle upgrades for the sort of performance you are seeking and use you intend.

Personally I like the type 9 and have no real complaints about the short 1st. How much time do you spend in 1st gear anyway? 

Posted
2 hours ago, Vista said:

Other than perhaps an LSD, you don't really need any strength related axle upgrades for the sort of performance you are seeking and use you intend.

Personally I like the type 9 and have no real complaints about the short 1st. How much time do you spend in 1st gear anyway? 

Would the old English cope happily with lsd an a bit of spritely driving then? 

1st?about 3 seconds normally 😂😂

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Posted
2 hours ago, chinkamon said:

Would the old English cope happily with lsd an a bit of spritely driving then? 

1st?about 3 seconds normally 😂😂

Yes, it'll be fine. I have been running a 2.2 Pinto with around 160bhp (wheels figure) on  a plate type LSD equipped English axle for about 13 or 14 years

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