Restoration 101 (CHAPTER II) - 1975 Ford Cortina MK3 - #Tina254

Technically this isn't 2016 ... bear with me

THE PARTS JOURNEY BEGINS

Tina has numerous parts that had already on the path to failure and several which were past tense.

Rule no.1 with this aged beauties - 2nd hand is the same with no hand ... it will still fail !

So go new as much as you can - will last an equal lifetime if maintained.

Numerous parts can be found brand new and genuine in Kirinyaga Road, Nairobi - shop of choice

"Patel's Garage"

10th October 2015

PrettyFace informed me we have a blessing coming ... uhhmmm priority change I say.

"Kujia hii gari kabla niiuze next week" I said to Aves

He appeared !

Oh! Oh! Its real

In life ... your pack determines the smoothness of your journey ... Malit tumetoka mbali

Dare Devils wenyewe

We are three here ...

Well ventilated ...

Finally ... she is not alone ... theater room

A year later ...

LETTER TO TINA:

It was not my will to leave you here ... it's His will, purpose for me for the past and fourth-coming months to Veer off this path but one day we will rekindle this flame.

Forgive me ... our patience will pay off

9th November 2017

"Eh, niaje ... nakupa leo tu uchukue Tina uanze kazi" I said to Aves (CEO of Aves Customs ... moved from Land Mawe to Thome opposite Garden City Mall behind Home Land

Chop Shop Nairobi Garage haha

Front Sub-frame - OFF

The work ahead ... 43 year old windows - doors - dash - electrical - steering OFF

BTW ... the rose red you see is her original color ... not the white

Rear differential - swing arms - shocks - wheels and exhaust : OFF

There are many ways to skin a cat :

- Mechanical 1st, bodywork 2nd and interior last

- Bodywork 1st, mechanical 2nd and interior last

I choose option 1 - at least if I blow my budget, I have the hardest part done

Speaking of budget, Stima Sacco changed my life - my 1 and only finance partner.

You listen and you act. Well, I am holding my end of the bargain - acting on that dream.

http://www.stima-sacco.com/

!!! PARTS !!!

So before we go any further ... we have to talk about Tina is at some point right?

Click HERE to know much more about her

She was designed to move the crowd ... that character that looks serious to actually know something and that naive and hot blooded teen - raw power

I begun collecting her parts locally 1st :

PART No. 1 : Engine Head Block gaskets

PART No. 2 : New crankshaft sleeve bearings

PART No. 3 : New Piston rings and springs

PART No. 4 : Valve cover cap - the other was burnt

PART No. 5 : Window winder handles (others are broken)

PART No. 6 : Main center prop-shaft bearing plus bushing (the other was made from my tribesmen)

PART No. 7 : Push to Start Button from Zakale Swap meet that Tom organized ... kwan iko nini?

PART No. 8 : Filter King high pressure fuel filter ... again got at Zakale swap meet

PART No. 9 : High Performance Spark Plug Wires for American V8s - meaning I have 2 sets of high voltage lead wires - thitima

PART No. 10 : New OE Distributor cap - original on your left cracked

PART No. 11 : New timing belt - as tough rating as I could find

PART No. 12 : Got another starter - new inner parts

PART No. 13 : Several lock springs

PART No. 14 : Nitoyo Oil Filter

I call this the zunguka squad

PART No. 15 : Mercedes Benz Classic Rear Seats bought from a club member (Memory foam and springless seats - will fit snug

4:20 gauge

PART No. 16 : Rear door Lock (original took a beating ... its like it used to talk ...

time to keep it shut!!!

Dimanga squad manenoz zitaisha ...

PART No. 17 : Original soft dash from S.A from a parts Cortina - speaking off ... need to introduce you to someone

to replace the previously rotten dash

Cleaning the dashboard gauges ... Cortina is royalty

0-INFINITY REAL QUICK !

PART No. 18 : Chloride Exide maintainance free battery ... this died from abuse shortly after ...

PART No. 19 : Electric Eels ...

PART No. 20 : Front Door Locks ... hmm

PART No. 21 : Gas shocks for the front hood

PART No. 22 : LED 'Fog' Lights

PART No. 23 : LED lights (to be used in the dash and ambiance lighting

PART No. 24 : Thermoplastic Door open latches

PART No. 25 : Used XL Cortina front grill from SA

PART No. 26 : Fire Extinguisher

So after this purchase things went down on the low .... met Meli ... almost sold Tina ... then one day decided to assess her fuel system

Checked out the tank to see how bad the rust is ...

Shaolin Ben accessing the work the previous mech had done ... arts and craft work man

Fuel Tank sheild - Swiss Cheese !

Porous ...

So as usual it is quite important to some breed of restorers to have the urge to upgrade the aesthetics and performance of their projects.

I choose lights - eyes are the window to the soul ... I decided to do my own LED experiment

Went to a shop that deals with LED signs and described by idea na kazi ikaanza

PART No. 27 : Custom LED Rear lights

wire here ... wire there

Eka moto (light it up)

Once dismantled; this is how the look inside

This is how they look in the dark

After seeing how they were made and still being asked questions about things we discussed earlier with the electrician before delivering nothing like what I had instructed ... I will make my own later and yes ... these are Datsun lights

PART No. 28 : Subaru seats bought from a club member as well (Shout to Abduljabbar - this guy delivered seats with his big ass Escalade ... that is heavy machinery)

24th August 2017

Word of Mouth is progressively becoming a significant driver to influencing brand purchase behaviour ... it works.

A fellow vintage / classic car lover in one of our WhatsApp classic car groups recommended a local overseas shipping website that is based on providing a way superior shopping and customer care experience than other brands in the market do not ... convenience and the right is price - WIN

Put an end to your importation problems and drama with https://vitumob.com/ !!!

I had an extensive list of parts I wanted delivered to my door step - went to eba, chose my parts and passed the buttom to vitu mob ... some day later they called

15th September 2017

They delivered to my door step - convenience big win

Cheki hizi vitu vile ni kibao ! Madness

PART No. 29 : She needs to breathe

PART No. 30 and 31 : She needs to stop

PART No. 32 : I need to know how slow I am going right?

PART No. 33 : Pull - Stop

PART No. 34 : Rally option to protect headlight glass

PART No. 35 : Skrrrrrrr !!!

So clean - power transfer and uphill tasks

PART No. 36 : Protect steering soft parts from dust

PART No. 37 : Brake fuel doesn't levitate

PART No. 38 : Coolant needs circulation

PART No. 39 : Again, as mentioned ... it is important to stop and stay there

PART No. 40 : Who needs a car that winks the whole trip??? Not me

PART No. 41 : Remember how wasted the original fuel tank was? Cant know if there is unicorn piss in the tank

It goes in here

PART No. 42

PART No. 43 : Steering smoothness and rigidity is key

PART No. 45 - 46 : Replace all the rusted parts in the disc brake callipers

they go in here

PART No. 47

How does this work?

Step on the accelerator pedal with some level of sanity and budget to awaken approximately 30 horses

Need to get to that meeting in less than 10? Step harder ... 45 horses come to the rescue

A probox dared you to get to Meru fast ... bye wallet and hi 90 to 120 horses

Ying to the fuel Yang

PART No. 48 : New debe to make noise with !

Not this swiss cheese thing

PART No. 49 : It is important not to tip over when alighting btw ...

PART No. 50 : Leaking windows? Hapa si Flintstones

PART No. 51 : Classy women know where to jewel

PART No. 52 : Again ... key to driving is stopping at will

PART No. 53 : Leaking doors? Bedrook mobile Tina ain't !

PART No. 54 : Need to make sure she maintains rhythm

PART No. 55 : Jewel her eyes

PART No. 56 : Direction is key

PART No. 57 : Polish to her shoes - dame ni kiatu pia

Reflection rating mwenda

Mirror mirror in the rims ... who is the 'shinniest' of them all?

these caps are heavy

19th September 2017

PART No. 58 : Electricity is fundamental to machinery health (Classic Car club member connect)

PART No. 59 : Copper brake lines

So ... since we done with mechanical for now (until all bushings and suspension parts are made and delivered sometime God knows) we move to aesthetics.

Car of the past were acts of nature - raw - pure - art - curiosity - beautiful ... that is why I had to make sure I respect what her creator envisioned ... her shoes therefore have to be period correct to complement her style and period - STEEEELLLIEEEESSSSS !

Below are the concepts I was playing around with to see if I can keep the stock look but upgrade to modern performance - larger diameter and width ...

Mimi ni mchoraji so the Kamba (Wakada) in me must be flaunted

I got a taste of what was readily available through Pnut (+254 796 277653) ... cleeeaannn

Pnut has crazy BBS rims as well - super wide

Also sourced from a club member who was off-loading his current rims for more tasteful rims sweet deal to get rims and tyres at once right?

Unfortunately would not complement Tina's stock look ...

This is his ride before ...

and after ... game ni moto ... you can do it too

I decided to look outside the local scene ... STUTTGART rims !!!

Most affordable original rims but customer care is shit - mention shipping to any 3rd world country and they go dumb ... oh well we move on

These babies are beautiful

I actually saw a Noah with these rims along Ngong road

Through Google escapades I bumped into God's response to my prayer - South Africa have a mature car culture and fortunately had a FORD factory them days ... SA have a drift scene ... so through gumtree I bumped into PHAT Steelies profile and liked what I saw ... exactly what i had in mind.

PHAT Steelies are is major custom rim fabricator who feeds into the SA drifting car scene with banded Steelies - take a look at his work; get my drift ?? (' ',)

Meta Meta finish

DOPE !

Normal and Boring for who ??

Remember the guy in SA I said I will introduce you too when talking about the new dashboard? Well people are kind and Baba Gillian is a true representation of this. Dude has a FORD Cortina MK3 and resides in SA ... despite his tight work / family and hustle schedule, he spared time to source me several parts like dashboard - locks and light lenses ... task was monitoring the logistics to get this rims delivered to Nairobi safe and sound.

PHAT Steelies had just made rims for another FORD Cortina MK3 days before ... so we were in good hands ... check these other babies out :

After some weeks discussing sizes and quotes and assistance from my squad, my custom FORD Cortina MK3 17inch 8j Steelies were ready for ready for approval :

20th September 2017

He sent me this pics in the afternoon - as usual due to Nairobery mentality I had to make some realtime requests to know this stuff is legit.

"Hi ... please write Ryk on those rims right now and send again" ... eh the battery of words that were thrown at me looooooool

Sensitive stuff this is - machine weighed and balanced

Legit bruh ... legit (though he got so mad withdrew the rims and threatened to sell them to another loool

Baba Gillian (who by the way deals with Nuts and Bolts - with shop located in Kikuyu) sorted me out - approved the rough finish - they were cleaned up and sent over

4th December 2017

Steelie flavour is here !