Modified Anglia's
This page is for peoples projects of the modified Anglia variety.
The Ford Anglia has a distinctive shape and lends itself to be modified in many ways to improve the steering,suspension, engine transplant etc.
If you are in the North West of England and you have an Anglia that has been modified send me a picture and a few words about your pride and joy and I will put it on this page.
There is an Anglia modification culture out there and your project would be just what somebody else may have done or are presently doing and they would welcome your experience.
e-mail robin.spencer105e@ntlworld.com
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ROBIN SPENCERS 1967 Historical Rally Anglia Super
1967 Historical Rally Anglia Super-------------Reg No RHX 272F
By Robin Spencer---Project Engineer
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Today is 26th Dec 2003 and my Historical rally Anglia was re-introduced to the floor, as it has been on axle stands scince July 2001.Looking low sounding good!! ************************************************************************
I am presently building a 1967 Lagoon Blue and Seafoam Anglia Super into an historical rally car and am keeping it within 1966 specification to keep in the spirit of the thing. At the time of writing this article I have been at the project for exactly two years and have finished the body shell and all the mechanical and electrical work. There has been a lot of unseen work to get it to this stage, but all the hard work is behind me. My opinion is that the car needs to be functional and running before a second minor strip down and the paint and final trim are done to finish. Hopefully I will do another feature on it when it is complete.
I bought the car for £250 through Anglebox in July 2001 and trailered it back from Portsmouth. The car was an unfinished project and the body was reasonable overall but with rust in all the Anglia places.
"Strip all parts recondition and bag and box"
I stripped it down to the roof lining and have it on axle stands in my garage. As the parts were removed I reconditioned /repainted them before storage which makes them clean for handling and easy to find. When you strip a car you need ample storage space for all the bits. I was lucky as I hired a local lock up garage for £5/week and it became an Aladdin?s cave of Anglia parts. I recommend buying plastic bins (the type for kids bedrooms etc) at £1 each as they stack and are easy to store and ensure the parts can be found when required. Bag the loose parts and label them its hard to remember where they came from two years later. The doors, boot and bonnet were treated with rust remover where required and put into storage.
Attack the rusty areas of the body shell with a rotary twisted wire disc on a 125mm angle grinder and do not be timid. When the dust settles you know exactly where the work needs to be done. The car was professionally undersealed from new and this had kept 90% of the shell in pristine condition, the other 10% was non-existent. It took me three months to remove the underseal from underneath the car and this was the most awful of jobs. I used a heat gun and a flat scraper and finished the remainder with a solvent rag and a wire brush.
"Weld new panels and bodyfill"
With new steel wings made from unobtanium and far too expensive I decided to repair the existing ones using parts from the Ford Anglia Owners Club Spares dept. The cut lines were marked on the wing and using a nibbling tool the wing was cut and any spot welded joints ground away with a disc grinder. When this piece was removed the door pillar became visible and easily accessible for repair. There was more welding work done on the door pillar that will never be seen than that done fitting the repair panel. The cut edge of the wing was crimped with a joddling tool to stiffen it and allow flusher fitting for the repair panel The spot welded joints at the door shut line can be redone by drilling the repair panel lip with a series of 3mm holes and filling these holes with weld when the panel is clamped in position.
The repair panel was held in place with removable rivets and suitable clamps and tack welded in a couple of points on the door shut line. The local clamps were then removed and the door re hung to check that nothing was out of line before final welding. The welded joint was filled with Dimitrol Aluminumised filler to get the true shape. I modified the front arches to clear 6" x 13 Minilite wheels whilst I was at it. It is only a subtle change and does not distract from the Anglia looks. I have also fitted new sills after removing the old ones to get at the rotten lower door pillar area. I also replaced the front two jacking points and the replacements from the club spares fitted perfectly. As I said all the usual Anglia places. Each spot welded joint was seamed sealed using "Frosts" brush on seam sealer after painting underneath with a remarkable paint called POR15. The colour was brought back on the underside with brush on Lagoon Blue coach paint A coat of self etching primer was sprayed on the body panels in each area when it was finished and progress was monitored on how much grey I could see.
I fitted a bolt together/bolt in roll cage to the now stripped interior and strengthened each mounting position with extra metal plates. The roll cage came from an Anglia racing car at Snetterton Racing circuit.
Part of the fun of a project like this is going to Autojumbles with a shopping list. I have done well with all the items I needed and love getting a result at the right price, (its run around with your shirt over your head time) I have been trying to sell the good standard parts not required to fund the project. As each item was cleaned /painted bagged and labelled things were easy to find.
"Build axle and rear end"
With the body shell now in a sound condition it was build time and I started work on the back axle. The car is lowered 1 1/2" all round with stronger front springs and polyurethane bushes in all positions. I used Milton weld on lowering kit for the rear axle and fitted new brakes and seals where required. The axle was built up with the springs and wheels attached and the whole assembly rolled underneath the car and raised to be located on the four spring bolts. This was done with a mixture of jacks and swearing. Greasing the polyurethane bushes does help to allow easy movement of the spring locating eyes to align the boltholes.
"Prepare engine compartment"
With the engine compartment totally stripped it was painted in POR15 paint. This paint resists attack from petrol and oil and is a more practical alternative to normal car paint for this application. The bulkhead was sprayed in lagoon blue, which enabled the heater, wipers, washers and laminated windscreen to be fitted. Black polyurethane sealer was added to the rubber windscreen moulding on assembly to ensure a good seal.
"Recondition engine gearbox and fit"
I was hoping to fit a 1500 GT engine but one did not come available at the time so I decided to start off with the original 1200cc Anglia engine, which had only done 43,000 miles and keep an eye out for a good 1500GT unit at my leisure. The engine was re-gasketed throughout and fitted with period tuning parts along with a 2000E gear ratios fitted inside the Anglia casing. The cylinder head was modified with information provided by a small book on "Tuning small Fords" written in the early seventies by Car and car conversions magazine. See the build specification for the finer details. The 2000E gears are a close ratio unit and are identifiable by putting the lever into first gear and three full turns of the input shaft at the bell housing end should give you exactly one full turn at the propshaft end. Sticking some tape on the splined shafts and marking a line with felt tip helps this to be done. Again old car magazines were helpful for this information. I picked up an Anglia gearbox as a spare for £15 at Newark Auto jumble and found out that it was already converted with 2000E gears (you lucky B*****d). The conversion was one job I did not look forward to and thankfully it was something I did not need to do.
I built up the engine and gearbox complete with the cross members and hoisted the full unit up into position from underneath. It took 45 mins to fit but I had the advantage of no steering linkage in the way.
In Feb 2007 I managed to find a 1966 1500 GT engine complete unit from a fellow enthusiast in Nottingham and reconditioned the unit(details below in specification section). I was having ignition problems with the standard distributor, the awkward intermittent problems where it runs great for two weeks and then will not start. I changed the existing distributor to the BESTEK electronic ignition kit, and it has run as sweet as a nut ever since and started when asked.
"Fit suspension parts"
The front suspension uses Ford Classic struts and discs and I fitted Mk2 Cortina track control arms. They fitted OK but I felt I needed some adjustment in there and changed to adjustable Anglia track control arms, with polyurethane bushes throughout. I have kept the standard Anglia steering box but the lock to lock has been improved by shortening the link at the base of the suspension leg. This gives a reduced number of turns of the steering wheel to get the full range of steering.
"Fit all new parts to interior"
A lot of period extra equipment was fitted to the dash area along with some modern comforts (see build spec for details). With the battery being in the boot a central console was fabricated as a destination for all the wiring. An 8-way fuse box was added to give modern safety to the major electrical items. The live battery cable ran to this console to an isolator switch from which the feed and earth to all the new and existing gauges was wired. This effectively puts the battery under the dash, which makes the cable runs shorter. From this console the items that needed a permanent earth and those that needed to be switched from the ignition were separated. The battery earth was located in the boot. The dash was built up and wired and having no seats fitted is a must to get access to do this comfortably. I took the time to fit discreet oval speakers in the rear quarter panel area while the access was there.
I treated myself to a pair of Corbeau seats with adjustable mounting frames from Demon Tweeks and the floor was strengthened to remove bounce when driving. The seats were fitted so that maximum slide just cleared the roll cage to prevent possible chaffing in use. When moved forward the gap gave easy access for stowage to the rear seat area, essential as the spare wheel will be located in there.
"Fit new silencer"
I came across a chap at an autojumble( Glynn Jones 07831-516817) who supplied new stainless steel exhausts that were surplus from other vehicles. We had a chat and I bought three oval exhaust boxes and an over axle pipe. I suspended the silencer boxes from wires under the car and made dimensional sketches of the pipes needed to join them up. I returned to his stall at the next autojumble and bought a selection of exhaust pipes that could be cannibalised to suit, along with all the clamps and hangars. I built up the exhaust on the car from these pieces and with stainless wire in the mig welder tacked all the joints in situ. As each piece fitted over the next it was self supporting and twistable to suit the contour of the underside of the car. The exhaust splits before the axle bend, so it was easily removable to the vice to seam weld all the joints. I ended up with a new 2?bore, 3 box stainless steel silencer system for £105.
"Prepare boot area"
The boot contains the battery, the Fuel Tank, an electric fuel pump and the electric washers reservoir. I ordered a 14 gallon one to my design from Rally Weld Fabrications. It is held in the boot by two steel straps and the fuel level is via a "sightglass" on the tank. The boot was isolated from the cab with aluminium plates held in place with pop rivets and polyurethane sealant to create a firewall so that any spillages will not get into the cab. The mounting points for the boot items were welded into position at the firewall stage.
The battery is a sealed unit and can be turned over and will not leak. I asked the shop assistant to prove his sales pitch by doing this on his shop counter and he was nervous at first but to his relief it was a success.
"Re-pipe brakes and clutch"
The entire brake pipe work was replaced with the front to back brake pipe running inside the cab and new seals were fitted throughout.
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If you are still reading this article then you are truly an enthusiast and so I will mention the common sense stuff you need to do a classic car rebuild. Before any rebuild project can be started you need three vital things in place. These are the approval of your other half, money and space. My wife accepted that it was something I wanted to do and was fully supportive. I recommend setting up a separate bank account with Visa and chequebook and have a working cash float. This enables immediate purchases of parts needed. It is a disaster if a part you are after comes for sale and you have not got the money available at the time. Make a list of the major parts you need and be prepared to travel to get the parts you require. When they appear buy them. It is fatal to dither and let them pass you by and regret it when none are available when you need them. Be realistic of their worth in order to keep the project moving along. The bank statement provides you with a good record of your spending. As a rule of thumb, which has proved accurate, allocate how much you think the project will cost you and when it is complete it will have cost you twice that sum.
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The most enjoyable thing to me is building the car and sourcing the parts and the advantage that it is eligible for Historical Rallying at the end of the project and will give me years of pleasure in a new activity.
Its 7th Aug 2003 and I have just started the engine up,exhaust sounds sweet. Another milestone passed!!
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Build specification
1967 FORD ANGLIA SUPER RHX 272F SPECIFICATION to date 15/7/03
ENGINE Existing 1967 1200cc Super ----43720 miles
(43,000 miles) 80 thou skimmed off the head
Minor gas flowing of head cavities. Each cavity opened up to 26.6cc giving finished
compression ratio of 9.5:1 (8.7:1 standard)
Regrind valves
Mechanical petrol pump removed and blanked off (electric to be fitted)
New alternator fitted (Type fitted to Cortina 2.0 1976-1979 Capri 2.0 1978-1988.)
New water pump WFD9
New oil filter
Fan removed (Kenlowe electric to be fitted)
Nikki carb with 4 branch manifold fitted
MkI Cortina GT four branch exhaust with 2" outlet
New gaskets and seals throughout
New Clutch (Borg and Beck 50803)
New seals on all clutch hydraulics.
New temp sensor
TRANSPLANT ENGINE Feb 2007 Cortina Mk1 1966 1500cc GT (pre-crossflow)
1966 Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT engine ------Enthusiast
head set --------------Gaskets for classics
sump set --------------Gaskets for classics
water pump -----------Huddersfield autojumble
timing chain kit --------E-Bay
3 part clutch ------------E-Bay
Block skim. Head skim,New core plugs------------ Bury Engine Centre
New valve guides and valve re seat -----------Bury Engine Centre
Set of piston rings R16106-030" RG 0B1 --------F W Thornton
Main Bearings AEM 5195 010" AA BG 0B1 ---------F W Thornton
Big end bearings AEB 4355 010 SA BG RB1 -------F W Thornton
Starter ring gear S110/10FR GE UW1 -----------F W Thornton
Set Valve springs VSP 601P SG OB1 ------------F W Thornton
Oil pump POL 718 OP OB1 ----------------------F W Thornton
Iinlet valves V33988 VA OW1 ------------------F W Thornton
Outlet valves V33960 VA OB1 -------------------F W Thornton
New flywheel swop for 1500 GT g/box ----------Enthusiast
Set ignition leads SE-1 ----------------------Mk1 Cortina Own club
Distributer Cap push Lucas SE-3 ---------------Mk1 Cortina Own club
Condensor Lucas DCB 101C ----------------------Mk1 Cortina Own club
Set Points lucas SE-5--------Mk1 Cortina Own club
Rotor Arm Lucas DRB 101 ---------Mk1 Cortina Own club
Water Hose 5/8" x 3 ft --------Motolec
1/2" bsp brass hose connectors Carb water ------Thorite
Electronic ignition kit -------Bestek
Bosch distributor clamp --------Bestek
GEARBOX
2000E close ratio gearing in Anglia casing
New gaskets and propshaft seal
New gearbox mount
New rear gearbox oil seal DC17776
CLUTCH New clutch (Borg and Beck 50803)
New spinner plate fitted
Clutch slave cylinder reconditioned (kit Girling 2019/2)
Plastic pipe replaced with copper, ending with rubber hose for engine movement
COOLING New top and bottom hoses and jubilee clips
New heater hoses
Kenlowe fan --9" with automatic control and overide switch
New water pump and gaskets (WFD9)
Existing fan blade on top pulley removed
ELECTRICS Negative earth conversion
New Alternator fitted --Powertrain PEXA54 35A fitted to the following cars
1.6 Cortina 1979-1982 ,Cortina 2.0 1976-1979.Capri 2.0 1978-1988
Distributor Fomoco 12127 C6 AH A AG7 (Condenser removed)
New distributor cap
New coil and ballast resistor
New starter solenoid
Lucas TAC transistorised ignition fitted (TAC 4)
New spark plugs N9YC (25 thou gap)
Boot mounted battery Varta C11 50Ah 540 Cranking Amps
Fiamm dual Air horns
Electric washers fitted (boot mounted washer container from scrapyard)
External and internal cut off switches fitted
SUSPENSION- FRONT Classic front struts with disc brakes
Lowered by 38mm with shortened springs --10" x 180 lbs x 85mm with locators
Koni adjustable inserts
Polyurethane top mounts
Adjustable Anglia track control arms
Polyurethane bushes throughout
Milton Anglia strut brace between inner wings
Shortened steering arms at rear of struts to improve lock
SUSPENSION- REAR Standard Anglia Leaf springs with polyurethane bushes
Milton weld on shock absorber brackets
Mk1 Escort rear shock absorbers
Provision for existing standard lever arm suspension retained
Lowered by 38mm with weld on lowering blocks fitted to Axle.
Over the time of the rebuild my local council infested the area with speed humps and I returned the suspension back the origional height and refitted the lever arm dampers on the rear suspension.Tip for future modifiers reading this article "Low looks good but is totally impractical for modern roads"
BRAKES Period vacuum servo assistance fitted (piped to inlet manifold) Situated in Space where battery tray was removed
New brake pipes
Disc brakes to front
New brake shoes and brake cylinders to rear
Master cylinder reconditioned with new seals
New handbrake cable
LIGHTING Standard headlights, standard tail lights
New headlight pods
Pair of Cibie Oscars 10 DE mounted to front
New front sidelights
Rear reversing fog light
FUEL SYSTEM Alloy 14-gallon boot mounted fuel tank
Electric fuel pump WEBCON 133000
New fuel pipe 8mm Cupro Nickel Tubing Powertrain PBBT 5002 routed through cab
In line fuel filter fitted prior to carburettor
Nikki carb with 4 branch manifold fitted
EXHAUST 2" bore down to 1 3/4" 3 box straight through stainless steel system.
INTERIOR Full bolt in roll cage
Centre console with cut off switch, Fuse box and temp gauge
Extra interior lighting in footwell (courtesy switch activated)
Butler map light
Rear view mirror from Escort
Period dash mounted rev counter
Extra Instruments-- Clock, Cigarette lighter, Elec fan override, Oil pressure, Battery condition, Temp gauge, Cibie on/off switch.
Intertech steering wheel 3 spoke alloy black leather
Pair of 60W 6" x 4" oval Speakers fitted (Alpine SXE-4625) in rear quarter panels
Corbeau Forza sport 2000 seats in Black/Blue FIA approved
Adjustable competition subframes for seats COROO22
FM Radio cassette fitted (Ford 2006 RDS)
8 Track stereo fitted (Binatone)
Rear Anglia seating and quarter panels retained
GENERAL MODIFICATIONS
Front bumper brackets strengthened to reduce vibration to Cibie lights and to add tow point
Mudflaps fitted to rear wheels
Sun visors reduced to clear rollcage
New window seals on rear opening side windows
Boot lower wells foam filled and plated
Firewall seal from boot to cab.
Removable towbar fitted.
Central jacking point at rear, incorporated in towbar frame.
Towbar electrics plug in boot accessed through Anglia fuel cap.
Existing dummy fuel cap fitted.
Laminated windscreen fitted
Roof aerial fitted
6" x 13 Minilite wheels with Yokahoma tyres
Quarter bumpers fitted front and rear
Rear reversing spotlamp fitted
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Robin Spencer
robin.spencer105e@ntlworld.com