Cortina as daily

Capri86

Hi,

Just wondering does anyone here have a MK4/5 Cortina as a daily?
I have 2 cars at the moment. an S40 and a fabia. I was thinking of selling the s40 for a classic daily. Yes I am hoping to avail of the cheaper tax/insurance and possibly no NCT but I do realise the maintenance costs involved.
I still think it would be cheaper than owning an expensive Volvo where the costs of parts are crazy money.
I'm no stranger to driving old cars as dailies. I drove a Capri as a daily for over 2 years.
I have 2 kids now so I figured the cortina would be a nice run around. Are they reliable? I can work on them myself as long as I can get one with a good shell.

Thanks

corktina

yes in all respects. I did it for years. Go for a mk5 because they have (slightly) better rust treatment and are cheaper . If being NCT exempt is important to you remember pre 1980. Maintenance is very simple as are repairs. I never have paid a mechanic and I am no mechanic myself. Parts can be got without too much difficulty most likely from the UK/ebay

hi5

Some early Sierra's are coming available now

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C396296

Capri86

corktina wrote: »

yes in all respects. I did it for years. Go for a mk5 because they have (slightly) better rust treatment and are cheaper . If being NCT exempt is important to you remember pre 1980. Maintenance is very simple as are repairs. I never have paid a mechanic and I am no mechanic myself. Parts can be got without too much difficulty most likely from the UK/ebay

Thanks for that. Would you reckon it's cheaper, including maintenance than running a newer car, considering the potential problems a 1.6d Volvo is capable of having. I would have plenty of extra cash if I sold it too. I know using classics as dailies can be expensive but I would love to combine my love of old cars while hopefully saving a little bit too.

Capri86

hi5 wrote: »

Some early Sierra's are coming available now

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C396296

Oh yeah that's right. A Sierra would be a nice daily driver.

corktina

I had a 1990 as a daily for a year too, same as a Cortina in essense.

Repairs are not expensive if you need them. Our 2010 Fiesta on the other hand needed a new radiator fan and it cost €450 inc labour...shocked!

jimgoose

Mk. IV and Mk. V Cortinas are noble yokes. Get the 2.3GL Cologne V6. G'wan! :cool:

Capri86

jimgoose wrote: »

Mk. IV and Mk. V Cortinas are noble yokes. Get the 2.3GL Cologne V6. G'wan! :cool:

Yeah the cologne is a great engine. Probably cost the same in juice anyway.
I'm well used to the pinto engine anyway. Cheap as chips to fix

bugsntinas

we use our mk5 as a daily and am lucky that it is a '79.we love driving the old girl,apart from the mornings as the auto choke don't work and have no money to sort it,we haven't really had much trouble with her i think in the last year we've replaced the fan belt.prices are going up as decent ones seem to be asking around the €3000 mark.you can get them cheaper in the uk,get them from a site,usually off ebay but you can't always trust sellers.as corktina said parts,panels etc can be got easily enough in uk and some from here.i'd highly recommend one.

winnie the schtink

there never was a mk5 cortina

bugsntinas

there's always one ain't there!!
ok a cortina 80 for the perfect.from 1979 to around 1983.

Tzar Chasm

we had 2.0 td S40 here for a while too, I feel your pain brother, my advice to anyone is, first time you lift the bonnet in befuddlement, patch what you can to get it shifted on down the road, once they start giving trouble it seems to never stop.

if the cortina styling are what you are after why not consider a granada, they were a fine beast back in the day, much higher spec vehicle and still reasonably fix able by a novice

corktina

Capri86 wrote: »

Yeah the cologne is a great engine. Probably cost the same in juice anyway.
I'm well used to the pinto engine anyway. Cheap as chips to fix

hmm dunno about that. I'd go for a pinto engine one for ease of maintenance etc and the fuel consumption would be better. The only advantage with a 2.3 is you can lift it out and drop in a 2.8 (now there's a thought....)

Capri86

corktina wrote: »

hmm dunno about that. I'd go for a pinto engine one for ease of maintenance etc and the fuel consumption would be better. The only advantage with a 2.3 is you can lift it out and drop in a 2.8 (now there's a thought....)

Yeah if it was for daily use a pinto would be best. My 1.6 laser capri was still fairly heavy on petrol though, and it was a 5 speed

jimgoose

corktina wrote: »

hmm dunno about that. I'd go for a pinto engine one for ease of maintenance etc and the fuel consumption would be better. The only advantage with a 2.3 is you can lift it out and drop in a 2.8 (now there's a thought....)

The advantage of a 2.3 is it's a six-cylinder. A six-cylinder!! And IIRC the old 2.3GL was quite common around here at one stage, so I should say decent enough ones can be had. I personally wouldn't give a rattlin' scuttery foork if the thing did 8 MPG - anyone concerned about that end of it is probably in for a rude awakening with an old Ford regardless!

jimgoose

Another nice thread about this very thing here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=86403095

corktina

That's total eyewash. The 2.3 was rare to the point of being almost unknown in Ireland. I don't believe I have ever seen a genuine Irish 2.3 .Because of the tax rates, the commonest Irish Cortina was always the 1.3 .

The 2.3 is thirsty and underpowered, the only reason it was offered was a vanity Company Car thing, it offers no advantage over a 2 litre pinto in terms of power and speed and the Pinto is much easier to maintain.

jimgoose

corktina wrote: »

That's total eyewash. The 2.3 was rare to the point of being almost unknown in Ireland. I don't believe I have ever seen a genuine Irish 2.3 .Because of the tax rates, the commonest Irish Cortina was always the 1.3 .

The 2.3 is thirsty and underpowered, the only reason it was offered was a vanity Company Car thing, it offers no advantage over a 2 litre pinto in terms of power and speed and the Pinto is much easier to maintain.

I recall encountering a few of them as a youngfella in East Limerick. A friend of my fathers had one, for one. And I am well aware of the popularity of the 1300 Pinto around here, for the usual reasons. My point is that, despite it's extra complexity, the Cologne is a properly strong engine, a little bit unusual, and great fun.

corktina

But it isn't .It existed only so the Senior Salesman could say "Oh I have a 2.3" and be superior to his underlings.

Most 2.3s were in fact Ghia models not GLs in any case and , yes, there was a 1.3 Pinto but not in this market, the 1.3s were Crossflow engines (Or Kent if you prefer). The Pinto 1.3 you will find only in the Taunus sibling.

In conclusion, you will be disappointed if you think the 2.3 is properly strong or great fun. It is a bit unusual alright, but for the wrong reasons. It is in fact not any superior to the 2 litre and finding one will be pretty hard in any case.

The easiest and cheapest option is a 1.6 pinto, there are a lot of very good condtion 1.6s around and they are lively units not much short of the 2 litre in perfomance, especiallyif they have tubular manifold and Weber carbs fitted. You can drive them all day long without fatigue and they are well able to cope with modern traffic and the engine is pretty well bullet proof.

jimgoose

corktina wrote: »

....

Well I like them!! :cool:

corktina

so do I but for the practicality of finding one and maintaining it, a Pinto is the likely outcome.

oceanman

why limit oneself to a cold running cam chewing ford engine at all !!...plenty of other power plants will fit into a Cortina without to much hassle..

jimgoose

oceanman wrote: »

why limit oneself to a cold running cam chewing ford engine at all !!...plenty of other power plants will fit into a Cortina without to much hassle..

Hell yeah! Like a Windsor V8, baby. Drag-STAAAHH. Oh, wait a minute...

corktina

but this is a daily runner around.. the most reliable and cheap thing is a 1.6 pinto, stock.

Capri86

I can't complain about the pinto. Never gave any trouble except in the cold I did have trouble starting sometimes. I did have the tubular manifolds and a nice weber carb too so it made a nice difference. Think I would go for the 2.0 next time though

corktina

auto choke needs understanding...you push the pedal all the way down to set it and release and then start with no feet on the pedals. All things being equal, it should fire right up

Capri86

corktina wrote: »

auto choke needs understanding...you push the pedal all the way down to set it and release and then start with no feet on the pedals. All things being equal, it should fire right up

Yeah it mostly worked. But if it didn't first time, second time fired straight up. The time I had the most trouble was when I had a weak battery. Alternator failed too but that was a cheap fix, easy to fit too! Unlike my Volvo which cost a fortune to replace and fitting it was horrible

_Conrad_

Capri86 wrote: »

Alternator failed too but that was a cheap fix, easy to fit too! Unlike my Volvo which cost a fortune to replace and fitting it was horrible

Lovely thing about the old cars isn't it? Specially with a big engine bay like a cortina, everything's just sitting out there easy access, out quick and fixed/adjusted/replaced.