Slow but sure progress over the past couple of months. As previously identified, I did have to remove the throttle bodies to install all of the coolant pipes on the passenger side of the engine. It is a bit of a tight squeeze routing everything down one side including the throttle bodies, the majority of the engine loom, the alternator and the main coolant pipes (mostly 32-36mm diameter). So I did change the throttle bodies to the TJ 42mm DCOE ones which helped a bit and these should be a more reliable and an easier system to tune, not fired the engine up with these on but will do in the near future.

So the radiator, header tank, engine and heater are all now plumbed in and ready for filling with water/anti-freeeze. As can be seen by the picture to the right there is quite a convoluted set of hoses from the rad top to the engine side housing that had to go around the alternator, I did this in the end using the stock Puma hose and a 90 degree connector but it did tax the grey matter getting there.

Next job on the list was to prepare all of the trim and various brackets for painting, the reason for painting is that I think it will look slightly more modern and also the chrome was badly pitted on most parts so needed sorting out. I was hoping to have a local bodyshop do this but they would not touch the prep and painting of the chrome as they could not guarantee the longevity of the finish. Plan B was for me to prep and paint, pretty painful job but needs must ! So out came the angle grinder, flapper/sanding wheel and wire brush wheel and off I went followed by filling the badly pitted areas and then sanding down to accept painting.

Whilst doing this, for a little light relief, I made up a steering column cowl to cover the Mk2 Escort stalks, this involved chopping up an Anglia and an Escort cowl and filling in the gap with fibreglass and the filling and sanding to look reasonable.

The next part of the process was aided by a kind donation of a compressor which I added a regulator, a cheap spray gun and some high build primer and Ford Ermine White cellulose paint. I then converted an old gazebo into a spray booth and set to work. Although not perfect the results are OK and will do until I have time to make perfect. So the bumpers (and brackets), grill, front and rear lights, side window frames, seat brackets, door and boot handles and all chrome trim is now Ermine White and will be fitted in a couple of weeks when it has fully gone off and I have taken out another mortgage to cover the cost of the various gaskets and clips that I need.

A couple of other small jobs completed have included: getting quotes for a carpet set which will need to be modified from a standard set because of the tunnel, bulkhead and rear suspension mods and I have also drawn up and got a quote for clamps to hold the trumpets on the throttle bodies, will need to order them soon.

So, with the engine run at least once, all of the wiring and plumbing in place and hopefully in a months time all of the trim and doors done I can start to see the end of the tunnel.

So, more cleaning of the underside of the car. I think I can see the end after three weekends of wire brushing. I have now completed the rear section and one side. So, just the passenger side section and it will be ready for final prep (petrol wipe down, marine clean degreaser , wash, metal prep etch, wash) and then be left for a week to dry out before painting. The front arches have had two coats but need a  third so will go around with seam sealer and then finish off with that third coat. 

I have also made a couple of purchases - an Omex 710 ecu to run the engine and an Innovate LC2 wide band lambda system plus gauge for mapping the ECU. The Omex is a top of the range ECU and able to run the VCT on the engine and also control the injectors fully sequentially if I needed that in the future. The engine and uprights are back from the machine shop so I can install the spigot bearing. I also go time to trial fit the Caprisport 260 brake kit on the uprights, looks very good and should be plenty to stop the lightweight Anglia.

The throttle bodies are coming along as well. I have had an adaptor plate CNC laser cut to my CAD drawing, sourced some full radius trumpets and so have had a trial fitting. The TB's and adaptor need a small amount of fettling but all should go together well.

So in general I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting to a position where I can start to put stuff back on the car. Still a bit more cleaning to do, painting and also refurb of the rear axle. To sum up, progress has generally been good.

Buying

Managed to source the Zetec SE > Type 9 bellhousing and clutch fork and also got hold of a 215mm Pinto clutch, I already has the release bearing so drive line should all bolt together now.

Second on the list, and quite difficult to find, was a low profile, rear water manifold that will help get the engine 100mm back in the engine bay. Thanks to Shawspeed for sourcing the bellhousing etc. and the water manifold.

I also managed to get hold of a Polo radiator for £26 delivered, bit of a bargain. Other items that I have had delivered included a set of door locks and internal rods, a set of front indicator shells,  a set of Peugeot 205GTI 14" Pepperpot alloys, the correct track rod ends, the Caprisport GTR260 and rear disc conversion brackets, a gear stick, a wiper motor and a matching Sabelt harness to the one I already have. In addition the previous owner called to let me know he had an additional box of bits and a missing front window, this had the original boot lock so I now have a matching set of locks, a few bits of trim and most of all an Escort Mk2 pedal box that the bulkhead had been modified for.

Cleaning and painting

I had planned to get the car out on the drive and up ion stands so that i could clean, prep and paint the underneath, but the week I had off work to do this had a variable weather forecast so I changed tack and worked on just the front end in the garage whilst cleaning, prepping and painting a load of other parts ready to go back on. Thankfully all I found was some surface rust and the underseal came of fairly easily.

The underneath of the wings up to the bulkhead/front jacking point were wire brushed, cleaned with petrol, washed with POR15 Marine Clean, washed in clean water, treated with POR15 Metal Prep and cleaned again in clean water.  The plan is to leave then to fully dry out over the next week and then paint with KBS Rust Seal paint (off white).

I also gave the brakes, pedal box, cross member and various brackets a coat(s) of paint once I had sourced some Hammerite Dark Blue paint (now discontinued but a great match to the Anchor Blue roof/roll bar). i also touched up the anti roll bar and steering rack with Hammerite black sating paint. Pictures of the painted parts are in the Images section.

Made a few purchases this week including picking up the Corbeau Classic Clubman style seats (wide size for my fat a***) which come with head rests and white piping, a bit tarty but look pretty good in the car.

Also had delivered a few missing parts that I found on 105speed forums, these included a boot handle, a wiper motor, a pair of front indicator units and most importantly (and most difficult to find) a set of door locks and associated mechanisms. These all need a bit of TLC but as I am planning to colour code (paint all of the trim then that is fine.

So, having got the engine somewhere near clean last weekend I thought it would be easy to remove the sump, sort out the mangled sump plug and then give it a clean. But, no, the sump on this engine seems to be glued on so once you have removed all of the bolts it does not just drop off (like when they have a compressible gasket) it needs prizing off. I had no joy so may have to shell out for a tool to do this.

So, instead I thought I'd use my new toy, the 2 ton engine hoist, and see how the engine looks in the car. The outcome is plenty of space around the engine, exhaust side looks quite easy to route the exhaust around the cross member and the steering column. The sump bowl is slap bang in the middle of the cross member so a new front bowl will need to be fabricated. The oil filter looks like it will clash with the engine mounts so I may need a remote system adding to the parts list. Finally, the engine had a large casting on the rear to mount the coil pack and to route coolant to the radiator and the heater. This has been removed as it would mean moving the engine forward 100mm+, I have managed to source a low profile version (at a cost) but worth it to get it in the right place.

In addition to the engine I have chatted to Caprisport about brakes and looks like the XR4x4 bits I bought (an ebay bargain) are the right ones and will fit my uprights and axle with significantly less outlay that I was budgeting. They sell through Ebay and so I will be ordering caliper bracket for their GTR260 kit and rear axle kit and then sourcing some RS Turbo front brake discs (rears I can use from the XR4x4). Another bonus is that the rear hubs will not need machining but the downside is the fronts will.

So a fairly busy week in terms of planning and sourcing some hard to find parts but I can now see a plan coming together where the engine, brakes and gearbox will work in harmony.

....... cleaning my engine with a pot of petrol and a toothbrush !!!!!

Yes, that's right, toothbrush, the engine looks like it has had a rocker cover gasket leak (seems to be a recurring fault with this engine after the inlet manifold) and  there are areas (especially on the inlet side) that are covered in oil.  I tried Cilit Bang but didn't do much so resorted to petrol and a toothbrush. So, I got most of the engine clean but there is a layer of grime on the surface that will need wire brushing away. Got to leave some jobs for another day.

Also did a quick measure of the engine and I will have to do something about the rear of the engine. There is a casting that connects to the coolant system and acts as a mount for the coil pack which sticks out from the rear of the head. This will mean moving the engine forward 100+mm  which I do not want to do. I have seen slimline mods that move the radiator inlet to the inlet side but currently haven't found where to source them from.

Today was the day for sorting the shed and garage out so that I know what I have and what I have not.

The first job was to roll the car out onto the drive, jack it up, have a look underneath and in the light of day give it the once over. So, the conclusions are - still impressed with the body, found one slight bubble on the bottom corner of one of the doors which will need sorting, that's it ! Once jacked up, the shocks were wound up a bit so that I can get the jack underneath. I also found that I think I need new track rod ends, no big deal but another thing to add to the list.

Once the Garage and Shed were almost tidy it was time to decant and catalog the five boxes of bits that came with the car. I shalln't bore you with a list of every nut and bolt but here are the omissions - no biggies but will all need sourcing in slow time I suspect -

Wiper motor, gearbox rear mount, door/boot locks, front window and a couple of badges.

So pretty good all in all.

Next job is to identify what the front uprights are so I can spec the brakes properly.  That will be more ebay scouring then.

The three main components missing from the car are the engine, the wheels and the front brakes. Now, unsurprisingly these three are linked in an unholy alliance, so if you choose a solution for one then there are significant consequences on the other two. But, in this car's case there is a fourth variable (well really a constant) that has come into play and that is the body work.

The original plan, before viewing the car, was to use the Mazda 2.5l 24v V6 from the MX6 that SHMBO call the "silver front garden ornament" as it has not moved for two years. This could be joined with an MX5 gearbox and off you go. However, once I had seen that the car body was original, had not been changed and had no rust to deal with, plans changed. In order to tame the 200HP+ of the v6, the Anglia would need some large stoppers and wide tyres which would mean chopping the arches, not something I now want to do.

The solution was to change direction and build the car in the spirit of a "Lotus Twink inspired restomod", stock looking shell with race underpinnings and a small revvy 1.6l ish engine. So current plans are to use the 1.6l or preferably the 1.7l Ford Puma Zetec SE (Sigma) engine mated to  the Type 9 gearbox that I got with the car. I now have a long shopping list to get the Puma engine up and running and connected to the Type 9 gearbox.

The other consequence of retaining the stock arches is that this limits the width and diameter of the front wheels, current research seems to suggest this is a 5.5"x13" wheel (ET to be confirmed by possibly +19) with something around the 175/50/13 tyres. This will limit the choice of wheels but minilites in gunmetal will possibly go well with the white/blue paintwork but is a safe choice, I'll keep looking and get out and do some measuring.

The final piece of the jigsaw is that by limiting the wheel size this limits the brake size. Ideally I would like to go for discs all round and a brake bias pedal box. Looking around there are Wilwood 4 pots that will fit in a 13" wheel and a Granada caliper based rear disk mod, this may be a bit overkill but will provide the best braking I can get with the compromises made.

Back to the web for another search for potential parts/options/solutions. 

The delivery date came a bit sooner than expected, which is a good thing. Two days after agreeing a deal the previous owner arrived with the Anglia on a trailer, pulled by a van full of boxes of parts.

Nothing much really to say other than it fits in the garage very well. It is so small particularly when you think it was a family car when originally sold and is currently very low as the coilovers seem to be wound down to the bottom.

Following the delivery, I did a quick inspection and started to build a job list. Top of the tree is to drop the front and rear suspension as they need to be checked over and given a lick of paint. Next on the list is to give the underside a wire brush and a coat of paint/underseal . The underside is pretty good but the old protection paint is peeling off and there is the odd spot of surface rust but once sorted the shell will be as good as when it came out of the factory. Happy days. The car then becomes a big Mechano kit which I am sure will test my patience at times, get the grey matter going and will undoubtedly drain the coffers fairly quickly as the new shiny bits start to arrive.

I was not originally looking for a classic but was getting the mid-life urges for another project and so the story begins .......

For context my first car was a Mk1 Ford Escort with fibreglass bubble arches and the obligatory furry dice (well seat covers) and over the years I have undertaken some automotive tinkered until in 2000 I embarked on the build of a Fisher Fury kit car which was registered in 2005 and left my life in 2010, a sad day. The Fury shaped gap was partially filled by a Mazda MX6 scrapper which turned into a science project to see if I could get the lovely 24v v6 running on distributor and motorcycle carbs, this project is now on ice.

So, whilst idly browsing the classified I spotted what looked like a promising project in the shape of 1968 Ford Anglia that seemed to have everything I desired in a project.

After exchanging emails a viewing was arranged.  I arrived and it was clear, even from 50 paces, that this car was an absolute gem. Lots of care and attention to detail had been lavished on it, all the right things had been carried out to a high standard and she was ripe for someone to come along and complete the tremendous work that the previous owner had carried out.

The lowdown on the car is -

1968 Saloon Super Shell which I could not find any any signs of being welded, the owner confirmed that it was all original steel panels with no filler, this has been bare metal resprayed with Zinc and 2 coats of primer and then top coat in the original colours (Ermine White and Anchor Blue).

The modification and additional parts are sympathetic and will add to the driving experience. These included 5 link rear with standard axle and 8" drums, front bulkhead recessed, large gearbox tunnel, Escort World Cup cross-member, Escort quick rack, adjustable TCAs, Adjustable top mounts and Gaz coilovers all round. The car came with a load of bits including a radiator, two gearboxes, all glass, rubbers and interior.

So, I guess it was love at first sight, negotiations commenced and the deal was done. I now owned a 1968 Ford Anglia 105e Super rolling chassis and several boxes of bits. An ideal project for me and my Son to share.