Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Nick W]

Mk5 Cortina has a roofline 1.5" higher than a mk4 which is a pretty major change! Although estates are the same.  ....

You sure?  years ago, a neighbour bought a saloon door for his MK4/5 Cortina estate. Fitted great at the bottom but was short in the glass! 

Positive. My W plate radiant red 1.6Gl saloon was bought for £25 with stoved in NSF door. After MOTing, and servicing it, I used it for my 90 mile round trip every day. 3 months in, I finally acquired a perfect door off a white mk5 estate for £10. Yes, I bought a door for nearly half what I paid for the car. What could possibly go wrong? I cleaned and painted it, and fitted it one Saturday afternoon. It fitted perfectly at the bottom as you said, but there was a 1.5" gap between the door frame and roof. Which gave my club members a laugh that evening when I mentioned it, as they all knew that a mk5 had a higher roof than a mk4.

I had a good thrash every morning between the M23 and Manor Royal, as the bloke in the 325 had this weird thing about slowing down for roundabouts. Did that everyday for 5 months!

[Nick W]

Those Cologne V6s certainly took some fettling...

Oil changes every 6k, tappets and plugs every 12k, plus another 3k of trying to stop the rocker cover gaskets from leaking

And that's without worrying about rust and coolant loss...

Remind me, what is the oil change interval recommended here for an Omega V6?

Dry rocker covers are simple; get a pair of alloy covers and the late rubber gaskets from Ford. Job done. Although they were rare, and are now outrageously expensive - the last ones I sold 10 years ago went for £100 a pair. Failing that, you just straighten the flange(just like any other pressed steel cover from the last 80 years), use the spreader plates from a Pinto cam-cover and forget about it.

Coolant loss on a Cologne is down to the thermostat or water pump, both of which suffer from very long, M6 bolts which are incredibly easy to snap off. It's really rare to find a replacement waterpump that doesn't have at least one broken bolt.

[05omegav6]

Got most of those TShirts

Wasn't aware of alloy covers or rubber seals, even my early Mk2 XR4x4 had cork gaskets that was a definite improvement that the 2.9 brought with it... self adjusting valve gear